Abstractly, she had known that it would happen sooner or later. Whether it was due to her worries about the whole debacle with her sister or the curse of the season or even just the inevitability of the universe itself, she wasn’t sure. But, nevertheless, it had to happen sooner or later.

Elizabeth woke up that morning wrapped up in Spike’s arms, the rays of dawn just beginning to stream in through the skylight above the bed. She lay there for a minute, just admiring how the rosy glow lit up the woodwork, making the room seem cozy, safe, inviting…

The man beside her was all those things as well – well, maybe just a tad dangerous, just to keep things interesting – and Elizabeth ran ephemeral touches over his bare chest, enjoying its sculpted beauty. Whatever she had done to deserve a man like this, she was profusely thanking her past self for it now.

He lay curled up on his side in his sleep, facing her as he always did. His arm had been wrapped around her waist before she had woken up, but then she’d shifted out of their comfortable spooning position to face him, and it had ended up resting casually on her thigh instead. That was one of the things she was beginning to enjoy the most about being with Spike – how it could be passionate and casual at the same time. She’d never really had that before since…well, since none of her ‘boyfriends’ had ever bothered to stick around before. But the way she and Spike fit so perfectly together, even when they were just lying like this, set off a deep warm feeling in her chest. She’d never felt comfortable like this before – in her nudity and in her sexuality. But she found it quite liberating, and now that she had it…

A shiver went through her. OK, so there was one disadvantage to falling asleep naked in your lover’s arms after a night of tender lovemaking. Especially if said lover hogged all the blankets come morning. Elizabeth snatched up the oversized gray T-shirt that hung over the headboard on her side of the bed for just these kinds of emergencies. She slipped it over her head and smoothed it into place over her thighs. Her fingers lingered over the lettering at the front, the navy blue ‘College of New York, Class of 2002’ already perfectly memorized. It was Spike’s shirt, of course, and that was why she loved wearing it to bed. Surrounded by him, his scent…

She let out a dreamy sigh and slipped back into his arms, welcoming the warmth of his pale, lean body. She held him against her now, encouraging him to lie across her, tucking his head into the crook of her neck. She smiled at the feel of his warm breath tickling the soft hairs at the back of her neck and decided that she could stay like this forever…

He let out a little murmur and stirred in her arms, snuggling in closer. She stroked his hair lazily in response, tracing the paths of the platinum curls and encouraging him to wake up.

He did so slowly, yawning against her before stretching out every muscle in his powerful body in turn. The sight of his muscles rippling sent a little jolt of feminine pride through her. Mine, her mind seemed to snap.

“’Mornin’, luv.” Sleepy blue eyes turned up to look at her, and she felt herself melt into a sticky puddle of goo in response.

“’Morning, cutie,” she countered, placing a quick peck on the tip of his nose.

“It late?” He scratched the back of his head with one hand.

“Early,” she assured him. “We’ve got hours before anyone expects us to be up.”

“Good,” he mumbled, resting his cheek against her shoulder once more.

She sighed in satisfaction. Now, this was what life was all about… “My big, cuddly kitty-cat.” She kissed his brow affectionately.

He let out a little growl of annoyance in response to the nickname.

“Is kitty-cat purring?” she couldn’t help but goad him.

“Kitty-cat’s preparin’ to sink ‘is claws in,” Spike retorted grumpily.

“Maybe kitty-cat just needs to have his tummy rubbed,” Elizabeth countered with a coy smile. Her fingers stroked down the center of his rock-hard abs to find something else that was just beginning to harden.

“Don’t think that’s kitty-cat’s tummy you’ve got there, luv,” Spike teased, his eyes squeezing shut in pleasure.

“Whatever makes him purr,” she shrugged, wrapping her fist around the steadily growing length of him.

“Christ, luv!” he exclaimed. “After last night? You’re bloody well gonna kill me this way…”

“But what a way to go,” she countered with a smile. The tip of her thumb flicked across the head, eliciting a gasp and a moan.

She gave him a wicked smile in response. She figured this was fair play, given that he had spent half the night with his head between her thighs, making her beg and whimper for his touch. A little pang of guilt had shot through her afterwards that she couldn’t return the favor, not after what had almost happened with…

She brushed the thought from her mind and continued to make him squirm. She loved watching him like this, seeing him lose control as the pleasure overcame him. He was usually so confident in his sexuality, but when she got him like this…she felt powerful, desirable, beautiful.

“Yeah, like that,” he whispered against her throat, urging her on. “Yeah, right there. Oh, you know me so well, baby. The way you touch me, the way you… Yeah! Oh…” He trailed off as he spilled his pleasure into her waiting hands.

She wrinkled her nose slightly at the sticky, white fluid. “Looks like a shower is in order,” she suggested slyly.

He gave her an eager grin in response…

So, up until then, it had been a nice morning. The problem began after they’d finished their shower and gotten dressed.

Elizabeth had been happily debating whether or not shower sex was evidence that god did, in fact, exist when Spike abruptly let out an excited little shout from where he was checking his e-mail.

“Grades are on-line, pet,” he ushered her over, clicking on the link to the college’s on-line access page.

Elizabeth groaned. “Can’t I live in denial just a little bit longer?” she protested, her lower lip jutting out in a playful pout.

“You did great,” he assured her. “Plus, first semester and all. Your dad doesn’t approve, just say you were adjustin’.”

“But he’s already pissed at me for breaking up with Riley,” she pointed out. “And he’s probably more pissed now that I’ve granted Dawn asylum.”

Spike merely shook his head with a smile and checked his own grades.

“Ooh, can I see?” Elizabeth bounced up behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she leaned over his shoulder. “Oh…wow.” Her eyes widened slightly at the transcript before her. She hadn’t seen straight A’s since…well, since her own high-school report cards, but college was actually hard.

“Yeah, well…guess you finally found out my dark secret.” Spike was blushing slightly, nervously fidgeting in his chair a bit.

“You never told me you were a genius.” Elizabeth was still slightly stunned. Spike had always seemed like just an ordinary slacker guy. She knew he was smart, yeah, but this…

“Yeah, ‘m a nerd.” Spike was looking decidedly uncomfortable now. “Don’t tell anyone, right?”

Elizabeth’s finger drifted to one of the long list of A’s. “It was you,” she said in surprise. “You were Steinberg’s 20th A.”

“Er, yeah…”

“Do you have any idea how often Riley hinted that it was him?” Elizabeth shot back. “And you never said a word.”

“Don’t like to brag,” he insisted in a shy voice, looking anywhere but at her.

“Since when?” she demanded in disbelief.

A hint of his usual sly smile lit up his face at that. “Not ‘bout school stuff, then,” he agreed. “Other talents ‘f mine, ‘d be happy to show you…in intimate detail…”

Elizabeth couldn’t help but smile at that. She placed a quick kiss on his forehead and gave him a quick squeeze. He pulled her into his lap in response, and they enjoyed several blissful kisses before Spike finally pulled away for breath.

“You wanna check?” he offered her the use of his computer.

“Let me live the happy life just a little bit longer,” she insisted. “Let’s go eat breakfast first.”

“You got it, luv,” he agreed, helping her to her feet as he rose himself. “After all, we need to keep our energy up…”

“One of us needs to keep more up than energy,” she couldn’t help but tease.

He gave her a mock-offended gasp and proceeded to stick his nose up in the air haughtily before stomping down the stairs to breakfast.

Elizabeth giggled as she followed him, but something was different. It was like there was all this weird new stuff about Spike all of a sudden that she’d never known before, and… She shook her head when he turned back to smile at her, blue eyes flashing. Still the same old Spike, right? Right.

“I was thinking that we should go buy a tree today before all the nice ones are sold,” Joyce said, sipping her coffee and looking around at the assembled faces at the breakfast table. By some random quirk of fate, they’d all shown up for breakfast at the same time. “Who’s with me?”

Dawn bit her lip, debating the coolness of bouncing up and down in her seat with her hand raised high in the air, going “Me, me!” It severely failed the cool test. “Yeah, sure, I’ll go,” she said disinterestedly, pushing a lock of her long silky hair over her shoulder gracefully. Coolness still intact.

“Us, too, hey luv?” Spike inquired of Elizabeth.

She bit her lip. “Sure, yeah,” she said dully.

Spike cast her a curious look, but she shook it off.

“We should probably take the van,” Giles commented. “We’ll need the space.”

Joyce nodded. “I’d like to stop by the gallery first, and we need to make another grocery run this weekend…”

Elizabeth’s mind wandered as the normality of every day life overtook the Giles’ table. She watched a grape bounce off of Spike’s forehead while Dawn attempted to look as innocent as was physically possible, yet only a ghost of a smile crossed her lips.

She just didn’t get it. Why did she feel so tired all of a sudden? And not hungry, too. In fact, it seemed that she had the beginnings of a headache coming on and…

“You all right?” Spike’s whisper was just quiet enough that no one else could hear it.

“Fine,” Elizabeth insisted with a tight-lipped smile. “You know, I’m feeling really tired. I think I need to go back upstairs and sleep some more.” This last part was directed to the table at large.

“Do you want us to wait until this afternoon to get the tree?” Joyce offered.

“No, go on ahead,” Elizabeth gave her a grateful smile. “I’m sure you can carry on without me.”

“You want me to stay here with you, luv?” Spike asked, mildly concerned.

“No, I’m fine,” Elizabeth repeated. “Don’t let me ruin your day.” She left at that.

The four remaining at the table just blinked at each other in surprise.

“Wow,” Dawn commented, “you must’ve really pissed her off.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Spike insisted, completely baffled.

Joyce sighed. “Maybe she’s just feeling a bit under the weather,” she suggested. “She probably just needs some sleep.”

“Yeah…” Spike said thoughtfully. “Sleep…”

“So, you’re still coming with us, right, Spike?” Dawn asked hopefully. Hey, just because cute guy was totally taken by her sister didn’t mean that she couldn’t innocently enjoy being crammed together in a back seat of a car with said cute guy.

“Just give me a minute to see if ‘Lizabeth’s all right,” he excused himself, heading upstairs after her.

“Oh dear,” Giles wiped his glasses. “I really do hope that was nothing.”

“You want anythin’ before we head out?” Spike asked in a soft voice from the doorway of his room, watching Elizabeth curled up in a ball on his bed. “Tylenol? Soup? Back-rub?”

“No,” she said in a feeble voice.

“I don’t hafta go if you don’t want me to,” he assured her, approaching the bed and sitting on the edge of it beside her.

“Go,” she insisted. “I’m fine.”

“’Lizabeth,” he began carefully, “you’re obviously not fine. I can’t help unless you tell me—”

“Maybe I don’t need your help,” she huffed, yanking the blanket over her shoulder so that she couldn’t see him out of the corner of her eye anymore.

He frowned at that. “Luv, have I done something to upset you?” His voice turned a shade more upper class at that, his rough edges softening to accommodate her obvious distress.

She sighed. “No,” she assured him. “I think I just need some alone time.”

“If you’re sure…?” he sounded hesitant.

“Positive,” she insisted.

He leaned over to place a quick kiss on her lips, and she let him for a second before pushing him away.

“Stubbly,” she explained, rubbing at a couple of her dark, coarse hairs that were just beginning to shadow his chin. “You should shave.”

“Right,” he agreed, fingering his cheek. She hadn’t even seemed to notice earlier. “Look, luv, ‘m gonna offer to set up the lights. ‘ll be downstairs if you need me.”

“You don’t need to stay on my account,” she repeated.

“Yeah, but I—”

“Go,” she insisted a bit grumpily. “I’ll be fine.”

“All right then…if you’re sure…” He got up and went to the bathroom to shave. “Shouldn’t be gone much more ‘n a couple of hours.”

“Fine,” Elizabeth practically sulked before drifting back off into sleep…

“Well, what about this one?” Giles gestured to a Scotch pine leaning against the wall.

Dawn bent backward at a funny angle in imitation of the tree’s trunk and giggled when she leaned back too far, only to be caught by Spike’s waiting arms.

“Yes, well, I suppose it is a bit lop-sided,” Giles agreed, shaking his head at the impossibility of the four of them ever agreeing on anything.

“Ooh, check out this one!” Dawn practically squealed, slipping from Spike’s arms to flaunt over to a dark green fir.

“Is this one painted, too?” Spike teased lightly, examining the branches.

“It’s got a nice shape to it,” Joyce agreed, reaching over with her heavily gloved hands to hold it upright. “Straight trunk, too. What’s the verdict on the paint?”

“Looks clean,” Spike grudgingly admitted.

Dawn couldn’t resist the childish urge to stick her tongue out at him at that. He waited until his parents weren’t looking before he retorted, adding an obscene gesture to the mix as well. Dawn laughed at that. This was so cool, almost like having real parents and a brother and a sister…well, a sister who was at home sick. But still…

“There’s quite a bit of space underneath for presents as well,” Giles added excitedly, his eyes practically sparkling in anticipation.

The other three members of the party, all of whom were pretending that were mature enough that that hadn’t been their primary consideration also, gave him condescending looks.

“It’s what you were all thinking,” he accused, confident in the accuracy of this statement.

Spike and Dawn exchanged a sheepish glance, and Joyce wrapped an arm around her husband in response. Giles gave them all a triumphant smile.

“Now, where is the lot attendant?” he inquired, searching around for their means of a quick and easy escape…

By the time they’d gotten back, Elizabeth felt bad. That is to say, she felt good, health-wise, but she felt bad about snapping at Spike and being all bitchy and moody. Determined to make it up to him, she greeted him at the door with a quick kiss, winning a delighted little smile in response before he practically dragged her outside to see the tree they’d bought.

The high ceiling of the living room allowed for a nice, tall tree, and they had all helped carry it into the house with the exception of Dawn, who guided what looked to be a large walking mass of fuzzy green needles. Spike and Giles had gotten into the requisite manly fight about how to get the tree upright most efficiently until the levelheaded women had subtly intruded and done it the right way.

All in all, fun, humorous, entertaining…

And yet Elizabeth still felt that strange distance from Spike that had been bothering her earlier. She half pouted that they’d left her behind on what had obviously been an entertaining trip, and then banged herself on the head because she really had no one else to blame but herself that she hadn’t gone. There was also that nasty voice in the back of her head that wanted Spike to have read her mind and stayed with her all morning…except she also would’ve been pissed at him then and… And, she just didn’t know. But something wasn’t right, wasn’t as perfect as it had been when she’d woken up this morning.

She managed a weak smile when Spike flopped on the living room couch beside her, though, and squeezed his thigh gently.

“How does she keep that up?” he wondered in disbelief, staring in amazement as Dawn continued to wrap the strings of lights around the tree, seemingly never tiring even for a second.

“That’s just old age catching up with you,” Elizabeth teased, taking a sip of her hot cocoa.

“’m only nineteen!” Spike protested in outrage.

“Old man.” She couldn’t help herself.

“That means you’ll be an old woman next month,” he pointed out.

“Nope,” she insisted, shaking her head. “Once I turn nineteen, twenty’s the age of geezer-dom.”

“So I won’t be an old man for four months?” Spike rolled his eyes at the delightful illogic of her argument.

“Yup!” she agreed, popping the ‘p’.

He gave her a bright smile and leaned in close, his lips only inches from hers so that he could…

“Hey!” she complained, wide-eyed. “Hot chocolate thief!”

He gave her his patented sexy smirk, complete with hot chocolate mustache. She giggled in response before moving her mug safely away from his larcenous lips.

“’m ready to steal more than that,” he informed her with a sexy purr, leaning in once more.

She shooed him away. “You’ve got hot chocolate all over your mouth,” she informed him. “Wipe it off.”

“Sure you don’t wanna do it for me?” he suggested, one eyebrow raised.

She sighed and conceded his point. Her tongue flicked out, tracing the lines of his mouth and licking up every last bit of the chocolate on his face.

“You guys are so gross,” Dawn felt obliged to point out from where she was tangled in the garlands.

Elizabeth shot her an annoyed look. “Tinsel head,” she shot back.

Dawn eyes widened when she found several of the silver strands in her hair. With a squeak, she ran for the bathroom and the mirror it provided. After all, it wouldn’t do to look anything less than her most gorgeous, even if there was no one there to see her…well, except Spike, but after the hot chocolate mustache, she had enough dirt on him to last for a lifetime.

“Bit’s leapin’ back and forth from actin’ like a kid and a grown-up faster’n a Ping-Pong ball,” Spike commented, leaning back on the couch and pulling Elizabeth forward so that she rested on his chest comfortably.

“Ah, the high-school years…” Elizabeth reminisced before scrunching up her nose. “You couldn’t pay me to go back.”

Spike chuckled at that. “With you there,” he agreed. “Didn’t have a nice, warm ‘Lizabeth in my arms then.”

“Yeah,” she agreed with a little smile.

“So you’re feelin’ better now, pet?” he asked cautiously, loathe to break the comfortable silence between them.

She stiffened slightly. “Better,” she agreed tersely.

“I wish you would—” he began.

“What?” she cut him off, pulling back out of his arms and into a sitting position.

He frowned up at her. “I wish you would tell me what’s wrong,” he finished his sentiments.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she insisted, getting up and walking over to the tree. She quickly picked up the garland where Dawn had left off and began looping it over the branches.

“Yeah, that ‘nothing’s a real bother.” Spike was standing behind her now, unlit cigarette between his lips.

“What does that mean?” she demanded, not liking his sarcastic tone.

“That you’ve been weird all day!” he explained, his arms flinging outward helplessly. “You’re bein’ all weird and secretive, and then pushin’ me away one minute an’ actin’ like everything’s normal the next. ‘S like you’re a faucet, runnin’ hot and cold!”

“Well, I’m sorry if you don’t approve,” she said tightly.

“Luv,” his voice softened immediately, “I just wanna make things right between us…” His hands rested gently on her shoulders.

She shrugged them off. “Then maybe you should quit keeping things from me,” she spit out before she knew what she was saying.

“Like what?” he asked in disbelief. “Christ, Summers, what with everythin’ ‘ve told you and all the stories my dad’s been spillin’, you prob’ly know more ‘bout me than I do!”

“Like how you’ve been secretly mocking me all along?” she countered, tears in her eyes.

“What?!” he exclaimed, completely flabbergasted.

Dawn reentered the room at that point, took one look at the bleached couple, and fled upstairs to the room she was staying in. No way did they need an audience right then.

Elizabeth and Spike barely even noticed. “What’re you talkin’ about, sweetness?” Spike asked more softly, catching her elbow and turning her to face him.

“You were lying to me all this time,” she insisted, tears in her eyes. “Pretending like you were just this normal guy. I guess I know now why you kept brushing aside all my academic concerns. After all, to you it’s all trivial.”

“’S not trivial,” he insisted with a frown. “Is that what this is all about? Well, ‘m sorry I didn’t hand you my entire transcript the instant we started datin’, but I didn’t think it mattered.”

“You lied,” she insisted. “You were faking all those times you complained about classes, and-and…”

“Everyone complains about homework,” Spike said with a roll of his eyes. “I don’t wanna to it anymore than you do.”

“Yeah, but you could’ve at least told me so I wouldn’t have been looking stupid all this time!” she practically screeched.

“Oh no, now,” Spike shook his head vehemently, “that’s not fair. ‘ve never thought you were stupid. Annoyin’, bossy chit, yeah,” he tried to tease.

“You’re not helping,” she practically hissed.

“’Lizabeth, this is nothin’, not important in the slightest. There’s no reason to suddenly be all intimidated—”

“By you?” she snorted, shoving him away from her. “That’ll be the day…”

“Then what?” he demanded at a loss.

“You tell me since you’re so smart,” she grumbled, “know how to fix all my problems and everything.”

“Well, I don’t know!” he retorted. “’m an idiot! Spell it out for me.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and refused to look at him.

“Is this just some mood-swing thing, or what?” he demanded. “Time for you monthlies or—” He froze and flinched at that. He really knew better… Thus, proving my ‘I’m an idiot’ point, he decided.

She turned on him then, eyes flashing. “You…” she was so enraged, she was at a loss for words. She took a step closer to him, and he gulped noticeably. “Just leave me alone,” she finally finished wearily. “I don’t want to even see you…”

It had taken Spike all of five minutes lying alone in his bed to realize that there was no way in hell that he was going to sleep. Elizabeth had been cold and distant that entire evening, although only towards him. He honestly didn’t know what he’d said – well, before the rather foolish comment about her PMSing – but it took him even less time to decide to do something about it.

The door to the second guest room was slightly ajar when he approached, and then light was on inside. Cautiously, he rapped on the solid wood, trying to compose what he was going to say to her when he did so. Everything else he’d tried had just blown up in his face, and he was still at a loss.

Elizabeth answered within seconds, leaning against the doorframe in a long silken nightgown, worrying her lip between her teeth as she looked up at him.

All words escaped him at the sight of her looking so beautiful…and so unreachable at the moment. Intelligent, coherent thought faded to nothing, and emotion overcame him so much that he had to fight back tears from the corners of his eyes. “’m sorry,” he managed to whisper raggedly. “’m so, so sorry…”

She broke at that as well, practically collapsing into his arms. The bed in this room had looked so cold and empty, and she’d been fighting the urge to go up to him ever since she’d retired.

A gasp of relief escaped his lips when she was in his arms once more, hands ephemerally caressing his body as she held onto him tightly.

“I should’ve told you,” he whispered into her hair. “Just didn’t occur to me, luv. So sorry. Shouldn’t’ve let this happen.”

“No, I was weird,” she shook her head insistently. “I kinda overreacted. I guess I was just surprised and… Hey, my boyfriend’s a genius!” she said somewhat proudly.

“Not really,” he pointed out. “Somehow managed to make a complete ass outta myself.”

“Not too hard to do,” she teased lightly, her face still pressed into his chest, “given that you’re an ass already and all…”

He let out a mock-annoyed snort before smiling slightly. “Our first fight was about nothin’, wasn’t it?” he couldn’t help but shake his head at the ridiculousness of it.

“I guess we didn’t have anything else to fight about,” she agreed with a giggle.

He smiled shyly down at her and cautiously reached up to stroke her cheek. “Come to bed?” he pleaded softly. “Can’t sleep without you there.”

She smiled at that as well and brushed a gentle kiss across his lips. “OK,” she agreed before leaping up into his arms and letting him carry up to his room…

The next morning she woke up and felt like an idiot.

First of all, she discovered while going to the bathroom that, oops, yes she had been PMSing yesterday. Although still, even if it was true, any guy in his right mind would have the sense not to mention it.

Second, she finally got up the courage to check her grades on-line – while Spike was still sleeping so he couldn’t see, of course – and discovered that, hey, he wasn’t the only straight A student in their little relationship.

This second fact had her so giddy that she woke him from his peaceful slumber with a passionate kiss, informed him what a complete idiot she was, and then kissed him several more times in celebration.

So, in summary, she was an idiot.

Hey, things can't be absolutely perfect all the time, right? But that wasn't too painful, huh? Be sure to review for Christmas next chapter... ~_^