“I’m going to escort two lovely ladies to the picture show,” I said with a smile. “Cool,” she said as she grabbed her jacket and spun out the front door. “Bye Buffy.” Tara and I exchanged looks. Buffy looked sad. “Have a good evening, Slayer,” I said as Tara and I went to catch up with Dawn. “So my friend Janice saw this movie,” said Dawn excitedly as we stood in line at the Sun. “She said it was the scariest thing ever.” “I don’t think that I want to see it,” said Tara. “I don’t like scary things.” I smiled at her, and she blushed. The wind picked up and her scarf unfurled into the air. “What happened to your neck?” asked Dawn, as she reached out and touched the bandage at Tara’s throat. “Spike bit me,” my girl said seriously. Dawn smiled and rolled her eyes. “Fine, don’t tell me.” She looked at the list of movies that were playing. “Well, if we’re not going to see ‘Blood Storm’, how about ‘Love In The Heather?’” She turned to me. “But you probably wouldn’t want to see it. It’s all sappy and stuff.” “I’m up for a good love story, niblet,” I said. Dawn munched loudly on popcorn, her eyes riveted to the screen. The hero, looking awfully poofy in a long plaid skirt, ran through tall grass. I leaned back in my seat and craned my neck. Tara sat on the other side of Dawn. The light flickered off her face, and her hair glowed in the dim light. “What do you keep staring at?” Dawn whispered. “Pretty girl,” I whispered back. The hero burst into the room and pulled the villain off the heroine. His fist smashed into the bad guy’s jaw, and he went down for the count. The heroine rushed into the hero’s arms. “I will always save you,” he said huskily, as he swept her into a sweeping Hollywood clinch. The music soared to a crescendo, and the screen faded to black. The credits began to roll and the house lights came up. “That was so beautiful,” snuffled Dawn. She wiped at her face with her sleeve. We stood up and exited the theater. “Did you like it?” Dawn asked Tara. “I thought it was very romantic,” she replied. She had faint trails of tears on her cheeks. I wiped them away, and she smiled at me. We walked Dawn up to her front door. “I almost forgot,” she said to Tara. “Willow wanted me to give you a few magicky things that she found. They’re in my room.” I waited in the foyer while Tara and Dawn went upstairs. “What are you doing here?” asked Buffy as she walked down the hallway. “Just waiting for Tara,” I replied. She grabbed her jacket from the banister and put it on. “I’m just leaving for patrol,” she said. “Do you want to come with me?” She looked at me, and I saw the desire in her eyes. “I’ll pass.” She gave me an assessing look. “Spike,” she said, ”just because we had a fight doesn’t mean that we can’t still hang out.” “All we do is fight,” I replied, “and I’m tired of fighting.” “Fighting isn’t all we do,” she said in a low voice. “We won’t be doing any more fucking, either,” I said harshly. Her fist sped towards my face. I grabbed her wrist. “And I’m not letting you hit me anymore.” “You like it when I hit you, remember?” she said. Her eyes sparkled brightly, and her breath was fast. “Not anymore,” I said as I stared in her eyes. I dropped her wrist. She stared at me in disbelief. “You really mean it,” she whispered. “You really don’t want me anymore.” “I’ll probably always want you,” I admitted. She moved towards me, hopeful. “But I want to be loved, and I know now that you’ll never let yourself love me.” She looked confused. “Who could, Spike? Who could let themselves love a soulless monster like you?”

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