TITLE: Another Night on the Hellmouth
AUTHOR: Ragna (Obsessive-Compulsive Spike)
RATING: FRT
CLASSIFICATION: Uh...blatant Willow/Angel, Spike/Anya and Buffy/Oz.
SPOILERS: Set in season 5.
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just keep my name on it and let me know.
DISCLAIMER: If you don't recognize it, chances are it's my own creation. If you do, Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kazui Sandollar, FOX and the WB own it or them. I'm just holding Spike hostage. Carolyn's got Xander, May's got Oz, Cathryn's got Ethan, Nikki's got Giles and Shelly has Angel. Gillian, for the hell of it, has Ewan McGregor, but she shares with Rae. You may see them by appointment only. The song "I Love You" is Sarah McLachlan's.
FEEDBACK: Sorry I'm not home right now I'm walking in the spiderwebs so leave a message and I'll call you back...in other words, I want it. Don't care if it's onlist or not.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is in the answer to three challenges: my challenge I issued for Carolyn, Hope's Willow challenge and Alissa's Earshot challenge. Hope I did everyone justice at 1 am... Dedicated to Carolyn.

***

They were laughing so hard tears streamed down their faces.

Willow had decided to show them exactly how she could use her powers by putting on an impromptu magic show for her friends.

So, there was Buffy sitting next to Oz, Xander next to Amber and Angel sitting there on the loveseat. Spike was in the back of the room, arguing with Anya like he usually did while Cordelia looked on, playing referee. Doyle just sat there watching Cordy.

Just a normal night on the Hellmouth at Spike's place.

"Cor, Red. Look at Angel. He looks like those idiot cops in Lethal Weapon 4," Spike said, making Willow loose her concentration as she was levitating a vase of his. The vase came crashing down to the ground right on Spike's foot.

That caused everyone to burst into gales of laughter.

Willow smiled. Everyone had seemed so dour lately, and she wanted to make them smile and laugh, so she did all of the spells she had mastered as badly as possible, in the process turning Spike's spacious living room into a massive mess.

And each time, he'd turn away from his argument with his girlfriend to glare at the redheaded witch. He'd get back at her...

They'd been playing the practical joke game long enough.

***

After Willow was finished and had helped clean up the mess she'd made, Spike went over to the CD player. "I'm in the mood for something...different," he said, taking out his Beatles Anthology CD and putting in Sarah McLachlan's "Surfacing."

Willow looked up in shock. She knew exactly what he was planning...there were four actual couples in the room. Buffy and Oz, Xander and Amy, Cordelia and Doyle and him and Anya.

She'd made the biggest mistake of her young life by confiding in the blonde vampire on night when she got extremely drunk that she had a thing for Angel.

She knew Buffy knew. She had for a long time. In fact, Buffy had basically given Willow the go ahead. About a year ago. Willow, however, wasn't ready to deal with him yet.

Willow looked over at Oz, who made a slight "go ahead" gesture with his hands. She smiled at him. It was a strange thing with them; they really had broken up, and it had something to do with Buffy.

Because of a demon, Buffy was able to read thoughts. It was strange, but she picked up that Oz had more than friendly feelings for her. It was actually something Willow had suspected for a long time.

When Oz was a wolf, he would only get super worked up when the small blonde Slayer was around. And even regular Oz would get slightly more interested if Buffy was involved in whatever was being done.

So Buffy confronted him and he admitted it. Willow wasn't hurt or shocked. Not really. Much as she cared for Oz, she really just wanted him to be happy. So she broke up with him, making sure they would be able to be friends afterwards, and watched as her best friend and her boyfriend began dating.

If she and Oz had been sweet, Buffy and Oz had been even more so.

The CD went to song number two, and by then the couples had paired off and most had left the main room. Spike and Anya had even stopped fighting long enough to start cleaning up a bit. Spike headed over to Willow.

"Pet, I am tired of the practical joke contest. Let's call a draw, okay?"

She took the Mountain Dew he offered her. "All right. Truce. Now...can you please turn this CD off?"

He grinned at her. "No way in bloody hell."

Angel looked over at the two of them, amused. He said nothing, just watched. And listened. And thought.

Willow had changed. A lot. He knew what had been going on; Cordelia had started talking to Xander again before she left and they still met up once in a while, normally when Xander came up to visit Amy at UCLA.

So he knew about the second bout of telepathy of Buffy's, and the breakup. And the fact Willow told Spike that she liked him. Him being Angel, a thought which made the vampire feel...special.

Willow turned away from Spike, who was picking up after everyone. He did it so often it wasn't even noticed anymore. It sort of shocked the others at first that Spike was maniacally tidy.

Now, it was just part of a normal Friday night.

Her gaze fell on Angel, who was smiling over at her. She blushed, something she rarely did anymore. No longer a virgin, she noticed her first year and a half at college had loosened her up immensely.

He had been staring at her and motioned for her to sit next to him.

She walked over to him, sitting down. "So..." she began, looking at her hands.

"So," he replied, looking at her. "Did Spike set this up? My childe...reminds me of my sister Carolyn."

"You had a sister?" she asked.

He nodded. "She was the village matchmaker. Pretty good, I suppose. Except she couldn't get me or her married off, no matter how big her dowry was or how good-looking I was."

"I don't believe it," she said, catching the tail-end of Spike commenting to Anya that his bloody sire better not be talking about his sister again.

He grinned. "Afraid so. I was too much of a drunkard, and she was...well, she was too smart to be treated well, and the men who lusted after her knew that. She was a lot like you, actually. Except not as beautiful."

Willow blushed even more, which was the reaction Angel had been hoping for. "Really?" she asked quietly, turning her head to look at him.

Instead of replying, he kissed her softly, ignoring the mutterings around the room. Most of them were of the word "Finally" or "Thank goodness."

When she pulled away, Angel felt disappointed.

"Not here," she muttered. "Too many other people."

And with that, she stood up and headed for the door, giving Spike the finger before she let herself out.

"No fair!" he said, laughing slightly. He watched Angel get up and quickly follow her out.

"So, Spike. You played matchmaker, but they only kissed for less than a minute. I told you, I could have done better," Anya said from behind him.

"Much as I care for you, sweet...shut up. I owe her a thousand dollars."

"Really?" Anya asked, moving closer to him. "And why's that?"

"I bet her that she and Angel wouldn't get together. I thought she'd be so damn nervous she'd leave."

"Beat at your own game. How like you males," Anya said, walking away from him.

"Love you too, Anya," he muttered, shaking his head.