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Buffy shook her head "I know it seems like a long time, but Mom doesn't get to see Jacie very much, so if she wants to take her to Sunnydale for two weeks, I think we should let her. And when I go to pick her up I'll get to see everyone there."

"Peachy, my daughter gone for two weeks and then my wife leaves me too!" He said sullenly.

Buffy reached up on tip toes and kissed his nose, "But we get two weeks alone... can you think of anything we can do to fill the time?" She smiled as she took the bag from Spike and went to join her Mom.

Spike smiled to himself, he'd miss Jacie terribly, but two weeks alone with her Mum wasn't a bad tradeoff. They would have the house to themselves for the first time in the 10 months since Jacie's birth. He followed Buffy into the living room. She was hugging Jacie tightly. "You'll call if you need anything at all, right?" Buffy asked.

"Buffy it's going to be fine, I've taken care of a baby before you know." Joyce said with a small laugh "I think our taxi is here. Say bye bye to Mommy, Jacie."

The plump baby smiled at her mommy , waving she said "Bye bye." Spike helped Joyce take the bags down to the taxi, the night was clear and warm and Jacie was still waving at her Mommy over Joyce's shoulder.

"Bye sweetheart." Spike said gently as he kissed the top of head. "Joyce if you need anything... "

"I know Spike, I'll call. Go enjoy your wife, I think she has some plans for you." Joyce smiled.

Spike would have blushed if he could have, what did Buffy tell Joyce. He grinned as he went back to the condo. "Buffy, what kind of plans did you tell Joyce you have for me? "

"Shopping, Spike. Get dressed, they are having an antique fair in town and the stores are staying open late, so you can go antique shopping with me. Shops on Beale are staying open late, too. We'll take a look there too. We can go to Schwabb's, I wanted to look at their iron skillets." She smiled and talked animatedly about one of her favorite hobbies.

"When you said plans, I kind of imagined something a little more intimate." Spike said softly, placing his arms around her and pulling her in for a soft kiss.

"We have plenty of time, Spike, two whole weeks, with no interruptions at inopportune moments." She pulled away and reached for her purse. She had been worried about Spike, he seemed too quiet lately, too contemplative, it worried her. Maybe some time alone would be good for them.

Spike parked the car and followed Buffy into one of the many antique shops Memphis had to offer, he watched her picking up pieces of glass and holding them up to the light, inspecting for even the smallest chip. When satisfied she made her purchases and they went to the next shop.

I am turning into a really boring guy, Spike thought to himself as he walked along the street with Buffy. I'm shopping with my wife on a Friday night. What happened to the adventure in our lives?

They returned to the car and Spike drove further downtown, they parked a block behind the Hard Rock Cafe and stepped in for a bite of cheesecake, Buffy's favorite. Buffy was concerned, Spike had been much too quiet. "You okay? You've been much too quiet lately."

"I've been contemplating how my life has gotten...well kind of boring." He said hesitantly.

"Boring?" Buffy asked slightly hurt.

"Well, we don't have the same adventures we used to, do we?"

"No, but I'm still happy, we have each other and we have Jacie. Are you unhappy?" Her voice took on a serious note.

Noting her tone of voice he said quickly, "Of course I'm happy. I love you and Jacie with all my heart."

"But you find us boring?" She asked slight annoyance in her voice.

"No, I don't find you boring you could never be boring," He told her as she kissed her cheek, "I just haven't had a spot of excitement lately, nothing to fight."

"Not having to fight a big bad is a good thing, Spike. And I believe our last bit of excitement included Dru kidnapping our child, boring is good." Buffy's she smiled at her husband.

Spike laughed "I suppose that's true enough." The music was good and when they finished thier cheesecake, Spike took her hand and they began to walk to Schwabb's.

Buffy's Slayer sense was tingling, she ducked into an alley between two shops to find a scared woman pinned to the wall, she was soon joined by Spike, he pulled the vamp off of the woman, Buffy told her to run and then discreetly staked the vamp. Spike was smiling broadly, "We haven't had to do that in ages, we make a pretty good team still."

Buffy took his hand and they resumed their walking "You're hopeless, you know that, right?" She giggled softly as he squeezed her hand. Schwabb's was a small general store that has been in Memphis for a hundred years, the upstairs housed a small museum with some examples of the merchandise they had sold over the years. It was a quaint little store and had an excellent selection of cast iron cookware. They found the perfect size skillet that Buffy was looking for, the proper joke about using it on errant husbands was made as she paid for it and they left the store.

"You do realize our lives are different now, and thats good. We have Jacie to be concerned about now." Buffy told him as they walked down Beale, reading the names of the various Blues artists that had plaques in the sidewalk.

"Yeah, yeah, but sometimes I miss it." He searched his pocket for a cigarette, he wasn't allowed to smoke at home anymore, because of Jacie. "I'm gonna duck in this restaurant and see if they have any cigarrettes."

"I'll meet you at the car." Buffy told him as she walked back to the secluded parking lot. She was surprised by a vampire, who shoved her to the ground, she fell holding up her package so it wouldn't break. She was quickly back on her feet, and in a fighting stance when Spike showed up, spurred by the fact that Buffy could be hurt, he grabbed the vamp and had a stake bared in seconds.

Buffy looked at him, "Thanks," she turned to the vamp and spoke menacingly,"You are dust, and furthermore if I open this box and this glass is broken, you are going to suffer before your dust." She began to open the box.

Spike grinned at her, the vamp looked at him confused "It's a cup and saucer, depression glass, pink dogwood pattern, manufactored by MacBeth - Evans Glass Co. circa 1929-1932 and if it's broke you are going to wish I had just staked you immediately."

Buffy smiled as she opened the box, both pieces of glass were still intact, she sighed with relief and looked at Spike nodding her head. The vamp was dust before he realized what had hit him. Spike picked up the iron skillet he had been carrying and went to Buffy. "Are you okay?" It had been along time since Buffy had been in any real danger and it bothered him more then he wanted to let on. He put an arm around her and led her to the car.

"I'm fine. Was that enough excitement for you?" She laughed softly.

" More the enough, I think I prefer you safe to the excitement of danger." He started the car. "I can live with boring as long as I have you and Jacie in my life."

Spike locked up the house, peeking in Jacie's empty room tugged at his heart a little, but he knew she was safe. He went to join Buffy in bed. She was sitting up her hair cascading over the pillow she looked angelic. He undressed and climbed in beside her. She had just got off the phone with Joyce who had assured her that Jacie was fine, she was sound asleep.

"That was Mom, Jacie is fine."

"Good, I already miss the little sweetheart." He told her as he settled under the covers.

"Me, too."

She turned to him and began tracing small inticate circles on his chest. It achieved the desired effect soon he had turned and pulled her on top of him, tickling her and joining in with her loud giggles. "Shh..." Buffy quieted quickly, the she giggled even louder, "Oops. Jacie's with Mom, we can be as loud as we want."

"That sounds promising." He laughed out loud before he caught her mouth with his, the laughter soon turned to soft moans and sofltly whispered declarations of love.

"You were impressive tonight." Buffy told him as she cuddled closer to him, her head resting on his chest.

Spike smiled broadly, "I thought I was always impressive, Luv." He said raising his eyebrows..

She laughed and rolled her eyes, "You are, but I meant about the glass, you knew the pattern, the manufactorer and the circa dates. You really paid attention to what I was saying, even though it was boring." She teased.

"Well of course I did. I told you, you could never be boring." He kissed on top of the head and held her a little bit tighter, realizing that it was true as long as she was in his life he would never be bored or lonely again.