The next morning, Willow stretched. She smiled in her sleep and snuggled closer to the body she was pressed up against. <It's been so long since I've been in someone's arms. Either this is a really good vivid dream, or I DID sleep with Graham last night.> She slowly opened her eyes.

She smiled softly, seeing big blue eyes watching her. He was on his side, his cheek propped up in his palm, and he was watching her. "What?" she asked softly.

He reached out and brushed a strand of red out of her eyes. "You are beautiful when you sleep, that's all. And when you blush, and when you bite your lip while you are thinking of something, and while you are all frustrated trying to get me to listen to you and when you babble...when you have an orgasm....your eyes get real bright and almost shine. You were glistening, Willow. I've never seen someone actually....glisten. Other than the movies, you know."

She covered her mouth and giggled. "Stop, Graham, you are going to make me spontaneously combust from all the blushing!"

He leaned forward and kissed her softly. "As long as you died happy, I wouldn't mind."

She laughed. "But then I wouldn't be here anymore!" She crawled out of bed, grabbing his sweater from the night before.

He laid back, hands behind his head. "Yea, that wouldn't be too good."

She grabbed her jeans and slid them on. She looked around, finding her purse. She pulled out a brush and started to brush her hair.

He quickly got up and pulled on his jeans. He went to her and grabbed her hand, pulling the brush out of her hand. "Let me," he said softly. "I've always liked brushing women's hair." He pulled her to the bed, sitting her in his lap. He started to brush her hair. "Why did you cut it?"

"Hmm?" she asked contently.

"You...er...the other...Willow, her hair was longer. Why did you cut it?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Makes me feel more mature. Do you like it longer?" She frowned.

"No, I like it like this. It does make you look older."

"Yea, plus, she was a lot younger than me," Willow said, "so she looks younger."

He smiled, putting his hand on her stomach under the sweater. "Yea, you have more of a woman's body than she did." He frowned, concentrating on her hair for a moment. "Is it weird for you? I mean, to know that somewhere else, on another world, there is a vampire you running around?"

Willow shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I've seen some things in my life, Graham, that would turn your hair white. We've defeated some of the baddest things that has ever existed....hell, one of my best friends is Angelus with a soul."

"Angelus?"

"Oh, he, um, used to be one half of the Scourge of Europe. Two really bad ass vampires that ravaged Europe in the 1800's. The other one was Spike...um...Hostile 17, I think you named him."

Graham was surprised. "He's that old? That's why he's so crafty. I can't believe we haven't caught him yet."

Willow looked down, avoiding his gaze.

"Willow?" he asked.

"Yes?" she replied, looking at a poster on his wall.

"Where is Hostile 17?"

She got out of his lap. "Graham, I just experienced the best night of my life, with someone that I've pined over for quite a while now." She took a deep breath. "I don't want to ruin that by talking about this. If I tell you what I know, then you will go all Commando on me and then I will walk out that door, and I won't come back."

"You would choose him over me?" Graham asked.

Willow took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She pinched the bridge of her nose. She thought about how to word her answer. "I am loyal to my friends, Graham. Spike is a friend of mine. I will not allow him to fall into the hands of those that will hurt him. If anyone is going to be doing any hurting, it's going to be me and Buffy." She put her hands on her hips. "He can't hurt us, he has the chip. He helps us with fighting demons, he's saved my life before."

"Do you trust him?"

"With my life? Yes. With someone else's? Not even close. Spike isn't your normal bloodthirsty demon. He has...feelings and emotions." She bit her bottom lip. "I think it has something to do with the fact that he's so old."

"How long have you known him?"

She shrugged. "Couple of years. He tried to kill us at Parent-Teacher Night couple years back. When Angel lost his soul, he joined up with Spike and Dru, but Spike decided to make a deal with Buffy, to stop Angelus, because he was going to send earth to hell. Ahhh...he kidnapped me and Xander to get me to perform a spell..."

"Woah, woah, hold on," Graham said. "Perform a spell?"

"I'm Wicca," Willow said. "I can do magic."

He smiled. "Yea, I knew there was something magical about you."

She blushed. "ANYWAY, he kidnapped us to perform a spell on Dru, the love of his undead life. She left him because he made a deal with the Slayer, which sucks, because he did the deal to protect her. Dru is crazy though. Angelus turned her years and years ago, and drove her crazy before he did, so she's not functioning with many marbles. He left again, then came back to get the Gem of Amarra, which is a piece of jewelry that makes vampires pretty much indestructible. Nothing can kill them. Buffy kicked Spike's ass ANYWAY, and we sent the gem to Angel, who destroyed it. He's a pretty good guy, with the soul and all."

She frowned, chewing on her bottom lip. "Then you guys caught him and he escaped. And he came to us, because he couldn't feed. Oh, yea, he tried to eat me that night in the dorm...."

Graham glanced around, not catching her eye.

"You were one of them! You wanted to take me to the lab!" She crossed her arms. "Thank Goddess Buffy was there."

"She kicked our asses."

"She's good at that," Willow agreed. "Anyway, we took him in. He lives in a crypt now."

"So you guys like him?"

Willow shrugged. "I do. He helped me a lot when I was upset about Oz, because he was upset about Dru. We related. He's the bane of everyone else's existence, but I think we'd all be upset if he turned to dust."

"You've been through a lot," he said softly.

She laughed. "That was just Spike. There's a lot of other stuff..." She glanced down and chewed on her bottom lip. "Do you...still...I mean, are you still interested?"

Graham grinned. "Yea. I know that if I'm with you, I won't ever be bored."

Willow laughed out loud. "I can promise you that."

*-*-*-*

"Bye, Graham," she whispered, leaning up to kiss him. "Are you sure you don't mind if I steal your sweater?"

He glanced down and chuckled. "It's about five sizes too big for you, but I don't mind. I think it's cute."

Willow pushed up the sleeves for the millionth time that morning. "Thanks. Call me, ok?"

"I will. Maybe I will even ask you out on a date."

She giggled. "That might be nice," she said. "I might say yes."

He kissed her again. She turned to walk away from his room and bumped into someone. "Oh, I'm sorr--Buffy! Hey!"

Buffy looked at Willow, surprised she was still at Lowell. "Willow, didn't you go home last night?"

"I...uh..."

Buffy realized that she was wearing Graham's sweater. Her eyes widened. "Come on!" she squealed, pulling Willow out of the house.

The two girls walked slowly back to their dorm. "So?" Buffy asked.

"So."

"Did you have your talk?"

"Yea, this morning." Willow blushed.

"Did you...?"

"Oh, Buffy, it was wonderful! I never ever thought it could be that good! I mean, Oz was great, don't get me wrong, but Graham..." She sighed. "I like him. A lot."

"Apparently. Nice sweater."

"Shut up, Miss I Wear Riley's Shirts Home All The Time And I Don't Know If He Has Any Left Cause I Stole Them All."

Buffy grinned. "It's nice, having a reminder of him."

Willow inhaled the smell from the sweater. "Yea...smells like Graham," she sighed.

Buffy laughed. "Come on, we need to get home and take showers. Giles said we needed to be at his house this afternoon, and I want to hear ALL the details before we go."

*-*-*-*

"We are here!" Buffy said, her voice ringing through Giles' house. "Is anyone else?"

Spike looked up from the couch. "Xander and his pet aren't yet, Giles is upstairs."

"Cool," Buffy said, going to the kitchen to raid the refrigerator.

Willow walked in and shut the door, going to sit by Spike. She picked up one of the various books on the coffee table and started flipping through it.

"What, no hello, pet?" Spike asked.

"Hello, pet," Willow grinned.

Spike laughed. "You are unusually chipper - more so than often. What brought this..." He sniffed the air, then leaned towards Willow, taking a deep breath. He grinned, sitting back. "So, was he good?"

"What?" Willow squeaked, looking at him.

"Was the bloke good? Whomever you shagged?"

"I didn't..."

"Pet, I can smell him ALL over you. You shagged all night long. Was he good? Did you have a good time?"

She blushed. "Yea, I did."

"I will inflict bodily harm on him if he hurts you, chip or no chip."

Willow smiled. "Thanks, Spike, that's sweet."

Spike rolled his eyes. "I'm not sweet, pet. Just protective of what's mine."

She chuckled and went back to her book.

*-*-*-*

"Right," Buffy said, nodding into the phone. "Giles said it's a not good nasty, and to call all the help we can."

Back at Lowell House, in his room, Riley threw his foam ball into the hoop above his door. "Yea, I'm coming. I'm off tonight, so I have no prior engagements." He was quiet for a moment, then: "Should I bring Graham?"

"Yea," Buffy said. "We need all the help we can get. This will be a tough one."

"Right. See you in a few."

"Be careful," Buffy said.

"Always. Love you."

"Love you too, Riley." She hung up and sighed. <It's going to be a long night,> she thought.