This has already been a little longer than they usually manage to get alone, and she's about to reluctantly say they should probably get ready for the girls showing up again when she hears the crack of wood -- maybe a small branch snapping in two -- not too far away.

It could just be an animal, but she automatically straightens and reaches for Junior, who holds out her own little arms and gets passed over easily enough.

If it was just an animal or something, she'd rather feel silly later than assume nobody was close and have Spike in plain sight for anybody to see.

Before he can gather the cloak around him, she leans in for a kiss that's far too quick.

"Love you."

It's just a whisper, and she gives him a crooked smile. Sometimes it feels kind of like a goodbye when he needs to put the cloak back on again, even though he's not really going anywhere.

She looks forward to regaining some of that sense of normalcy in their relationship, to say the least, but it's definitely not just for her own sake.

He made her a promise, and while he's already demonstrated a knack for keeping promises against the odds, this might just be the first she's asked him for and counts on him to keep.