A/N : Of all the ideas I've been having for Spuffy fic, this is the one that's been in my head the longest. I only hope I can pull it off and that it is as popular as some of my other stories have been. Please let me know what you think so far, by reviewing this opening chapter.

Title : You're So Vain

Rating : PG-13

Summary : AU-All Human. Spike lives for two things; his music and the Bronze. When his friend sells the club and the new owner's rich-bitch daughter, Buffy, becomes the boss, Spike's priorities start to change.

Disclaimer : Most characters and places mentioned are based on Joss Whedon's creations from Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel The Series, they do not belong to me.

Chapter 1

At the back of the dark and empty club, a figure sat all alone, his legs dangling over the edge of the stage and a guitar balanced on his knee. To his right stood a bottle of beer and a cigarette expertly balanced against the side of an ashtray, whilst he scribbled frantically with a pencil on the scraps of paper to his left.

Putting down the writing implement he took another drag on his cigarette before stubbing it out and re-positioning the guitar so he could play. Following notes he'd written on the page next to him, his fingers worked the strings of the instrument until it sung his latest composition for him. The sound echoed around the empty space, his eyes falling shut as he started again from the beginning, feeling the music more than just playing and hearing.

He grinned in apparent delight at the sound he achieved, his whole body rocking with the rhythm of the song in his head, only a fraction of which could be conveyed by himself and the guitar alone, still it was going to be one of his best. In his mind he heard the lyrics in his own voice, the drums and bass pounding out behind him as he made the guitar sing in a way that only he could - at least he'd like to think so.

"Yo Spike!" a voice called, interrupting his concentration completely and almost making him snap a string.

"You plannin' on going solo without telling us, man?" a second voice, this one female yelled across the open floor before someone hit the lights and made the new-comers' arrival all the more apparent.

"Like you lot could get anywhere without me" Spike scoffed offering a hand to Faith who pulled herself up onto the stage beside him, Oz and Xander weren't far behind.

"Wow, this looks pretty good" the girl looked impressed as she picked up the papers Spike had been scribbling on. She picked up his beer bottle and took a swig without a care as she looked over the arrangements some more, trying to show it to the boys.

"It's not finished yet, you nosy bit" Spike snapped good-naturedly as he pulled the paper from her grasp. His eyes twinkled with fun as he handed his guitar to Xander, got to his feet just as Faith did, and purposely held the pages higher than she could possible reach.

"Come on, baby" she said seductively, stepping in close and running her hands up inside the back of his T-shirt, "You know you wanna give it up"

"Piss off" he tried to repress the laughter that rose in his throat as her fingers tickled his skin, "Here, read the bloody thing if you must" he said eventually, thrusting the paper back into her hands, "but don't start with me if you don't like it, I told you it's not done yet"

"Looks good" she said after a few minutes perusal, Spike glanced at her over his rescued beer bottle as he drank, "Lyric could use some work though..."

"You always say that" he rolled his eyes.

"And she's usually right" Xander threw in, earning himself a threatening look that he ignored since he knew no real malice lie behind it.

"Hey guys" Oz called their attention as he expertly fiddled with the amp he was crouched next to, "I thought we came here to practice" he reminded them.

Faith took her place behind the drum-kit whilst Spike hooked his guitar up to the amp and Xander flicked the controls on his keyboards. Oz already had his bass ready, and waited for his band-mates to get tuned up.

"Let's start from the top of the original set" Spike suggested, adjusting the strap of his guitar, "Welcome to the Hellmouth, on three" he looked to Faith who nodded, waiting a moment before beating the drum sticks together three times.

When they all began to play together the volume was enormous but that didn't mean there wasn't a decent melody in there. One thing that could never be said about The Chosen was that they played loud to hide the fact they sucked. Every song was a veritable master-piece, mostly written musically by Spike with occasional help from Oz. The lyrics came from all four of them for different songs, but Spike sang lead on almost every one.

'It's not what I expected, well whoever said it would be
Your lies were undetected, didn't know how you would use me
I should've learnt my lesson, but babe you know it's true
When all is said and done I will come crawling back to you'

Sometimes Spike hated singing this song, the one he'd written during a larger off period of his on-off relationship with Drusilla. At the time his writing of music was all that kept him going, kept him relatively sane, but the pain he'd instilled in this song seemed to leak out a little more every time it was sung

'Welcome to the Hellmouth, the voices scream so loud
Maybe it's the danger that draws me from the crowd
Welcome to the Hellmouth, it's written in your smile
Know that you don't love me, happy burnin' in denial'

He launched into the guitar solo, eyes closed as he played that which he knew so well. He felt every chord, every note, vibrating through his body like electricity, nothing else made him feel so alive and the painful memories that haunted him when he sung the words were soon lost into nothingness when the guitar took over alone.

Spike jolted from his semi-dream state when he realised the rest of the band had not come back in when they were supposed to. He opened his eyes and looked around at them strangely until he heard someone clear her throat behind him, down where the audience would be should they have one.

"Hello cutie" he smirked as he turned and looked down at a small blonde woman, dressed in a stylish business suit, at the edge of the stage, "Enjoying the show?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. He wondered how she'd got in since there was a limited number of people who had keys - himself, Oz, Doyle the barman, and the new owner of course, but he wasn't due to arrive til next week. She didn't look the rock band groupie type anyway.

"How do you enjoy a noise like that?" she shot back in a truly condescending tone, her nose wrinkling in apparent distaste.

Faith snorted in the background, clearly unimpressed by the newcomers attitude.

"I'll have you know, pet" Spike told the blonde, head tilted as he crouched down on the stage in front of her, pushing his guitar around to his back, "That the 'noise' we make, is bloody popular around here"

"Aaw, is your little town here populated by mostly deaf people?" she said as if she were sympathetic for the suffering and Spike looked ready to explode. You could diss him for a lot of things, his clothes, his attitude, whatever, but nobody said anything even slightly derogatory about his music.

"Uh, hey" Xander interjected, running round to Spike's side and physically pulling him back from the edge of the stage, "I'm not sure who you are" he told the girl below them, "but I'm guessing you're new around here and I'm thinking maybe insulting people isn't the best way to make friends" he suggested.

Though the stranger answered him, her eyes and Spike's stayed locked onto each other.

"I'm not here to make friends" she said coolly, "and certainly not with people like him" she gestured vaguely towards Spike.

"If you were a bloke, I swear to God..." he threatened, voice dangerously low.

"Spike" Xander reprimanded, pulling him back once again. The girl looked suitably unimpressed anyway, to the point where she almost laughed.

"Oh I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be scared now?" she smiled, "Yeah, that'll happen" she told him, sarcasm all too evident as she turned her back on him and surveyed the sight of the club around her.

"Bitch" Spike seethed from the stage as Faith stepped up to his side and Xander still held onto his arm, knowing he wouldn't hit a woman but not trusting him to not take his frustration out on their instruments or something else instead.

"Hey Spike, you want her smacked down, let me know" she told her friend, always protective of 'her boys' as she often referred to them. She might be the youngest in the band, just twenty, where her cousin, Xander, and Oz were twenty-two and Spike was twenty-four, and of course she was the only girl but she was almost their equal in strength and they knew it.

"Er, I don't so much want to get in the middle of this" Oz admitted as he hopped down off the edge of the stage, his hands half up in mock surrender as he glanced between his friends and the new girl, "but I find it kinda interesting that you just barged right in here, didn't give a name or anything, and just started a fight" he said, looking quizzically at the blonde, "Is this your hobby or something? Trying to get hit?"

The young woman rolled her eyes, folding her arms over her chest as she observed the slightly calmer Spike on the stage.

"My name is Buffy Summers" she said smartly, like a five year old proud to have learnt it, "and as of now, the club you're standing in belongs to me"

The band members all looked at each other with more than a little astonishment.

"You own the Bronze now?" Faith checked, unable to believe it, "Why in the hell would a chick like you want a place like this?"

"What I think Faith meant to say" Xander cut in, giving her the dark-haired girl a look, "was greetings and welcome, and we apologise for anything upsetting we might have said, cos y'know we really like playing here and would not want to get on the wrong side of the new boss" he grinned over-zealously, "Am I right, guys?" he urged them to agree which Faith did eventually, though she was clearly unhappy about it. Spike pulled from his friends grasp and stormed off the back of the stage, disappearing behind the curtain.

"Well, thankyou" Buffy spoke condescendingly to Xander, "but right now I need you out of here. I have things to do and people due to arrive so if you could all clear out..."

"But what about our practice time, we..." Faith began, Xander shoved his hand over her mouth and led her away.

"Not now Faith" he told her, yelping like a wounded puppy when she bit his finger to make him let go. Still she dutifully followed on out of the club with the boys, assuming Spike had gone out the back door.

Once they were gone, Buffy took a proper look around. When her Dad had told her he'd got a surprise for her, she never in her wildest dreams imagined it'd be a club like this. To be honest she hadn't ever been to a place like this, her social life was limited to high class events that she attended with her parents, up until last year that was. It was nine months now since Hank Summers had up and left his wife and daughter. Though she was a young woman of twenty-two, Buffy had cried like a child when Daddy left and didn't come back. She'd seen him on just three occasions since he and her mother decided to divorce, all of which he'd spent apologising and promising to make it up to her. His answer to fixing a problem - throw money at it till it goes away. Though Buffy knew that's what had happened here, she didn't like to think of it that way. Daddy knew she wanted to be a woman of business and so he'd bought her a successful night-club in the nearby town of Sunnydale. The owner had decided he was too old for the club scene and had coined in enough cash he could afford to live quite comfortably after the sale.

Buffy was starting to wonder if she wanted to be part of this particular scene that Rupert 'Ripper' Giles had recently left. If all the people were like the four she'd just met, or rather two of the four, she didn't think she was going to like it much.

She glanced up at the stage they'd been on, walking around to the stairs and going up onto it. She looked down at the dancefloor and imagined it packed with people, thought how great it must feel to be up there and have all those people cheering for you. Perhaps that was why Spike and his friends seemed to think they were so important, because a bunch of drunken teens screamed delightledly and whistled loudly when they made their noise that they called music.

With a sigh Buffy walked off down the back of the stage, past the curtains, and spotted Spike's guitar abandoned by the door that led out into an alley. She could hear him yelling but he seemed to be the only person in the conversation, if one could call it that.

Pushing on the door and stepping outside she saw him pacing agitatedly at the other end of the alley, a cigarette between the fingers of his right hand, his left holding a cellphone to his ear.

"I tell you, Ripper, if she was a bloke I'd've ripped her bloody lungs out, stupid bint!" he cursed and yelled at the older man on the other end of the line, "Yes, I get that you couldn't handle this place forever but sellin' it to a bitch like her? She'll be the downfall of a great club I'll tell you that for nothing!" he continued and Buffy looked on, her face hardening with anger at what he was saying about her.

"I don't give a sod if her father's the King of the World, Ripper, you know what this place means to me...yeah, I know, but how the bleedin' hell could I have bought it. You know the state of my cashflow, flowin' straight down the soddin' drain" he sighed, taking a long drag on his cigarette as Giles spoke.

"Me get along with her?" he almost laughed at the concept his friend put to him, "S'like askin' a vampire to go on a no-blood diet" he snorted, but seemed to give up the fight anyway, "Whatever, I oughta get goin' anyway. Talk to ya soon, mate" he said his goodbyes and hung up the phone, taking one last drag from his cigarette before flicking it to the ground and crushing it under the heel of his Doc Marten boot. As he turned to go back inside he came face to face with a pissed off Buffy, arms folded over her chest and eyes flashing with anger.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asked, standing toe to toe with her.

"Long enough" she told him icily, "What's the matter Spike?" she spat his name, "Intimidated by a female boss?" she asked him.

"M'not intimidated by anyone, luv" he replied seriously, "Least of all some high and mighty rich kid who's only here cos Daddy would rather spend cash than time" he said nastily.

Reacting before she thought it through, Buffy's hand came up and slapped him round the face for that. Spike grabbed her wrist before her arm made it back to her side.

"Let go of me" she ground out, trying to pull herself free. He was surprised at how much he had to tighten his grip to keep her from escaping, and his face stung like hell where she'd struck him. Still, she might be strong, but he was stronger, and at this point the physical part of that strength was the least important.

"You're goin' to regret getting on the wrong side of me, sweetheart" he told her with a smirk, "I'm goin' to enjoy makin' your life hell, y'know that?"

Finally he let her pull her arm free as he walked past her. He got as far as the door when she called to him.

"What're you gonna do?" she said smartly, "Rip my lungs out?"

"Nothing so unpoetic, luv" he smirked as he pushed the door open, "You'll just have to wait and see" he told her, leaving the question she'd posed mostly unanswered as he disappeared into the building.

Buffy was too surprised to follow him immediately and by the time she ventured back into the club Spike and his guitar were gone.

To Be Continued...