Chapter 70 - Days

How hard was it to steal a car with gas already in it?

Apparently it was beyond the capabilities of his minions. Irritated, Angelus pulled over at the next late night convenience store they passed. He didn’t have time for this.

“Why don’t you go in and pay, Dru?”

“I am a bit hungry,” she said, slipping out the door.

Drusilla came back while he was filling up the tank. She licked her bloodstained lips.

Two minutes later, they were back on the highway.

“I just remembered I’m cross with you,” she announced. “I haven’t any pet now.”

Angelus tightened his hands on the wheel. She had wailed for days about Darla, but the second they’d left Sunnydale, she’d started in about not having her dog anymore. “I’ll get you a new dog. Would you like that?”

“Oh, yes!” Drusilla clapped. “But what will you get?”

He smiled. “I need to hunt down several things.”

“May we have another party? I would so like one when we return.”

“Of course.” Angelus looked back at the road. “But we have to get ready for the guests of honor first.”
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Spike was being weird.

Weird for Spike even, which was, well, weird.

For starters, he was stalking her again.

Okay, so maybe stalking was the wrong word. But he was loitering in the commons area outside her classroom. She hadn’t seen him—and she knew she’d left him at his apartment when she’d gone to class—but she could feel him on the other side of the wall.

When the lecture was over, Buffy filed out with the other students. She found him sprawled on one of the couches. He looked up at her, arms crossed behind his head. For some reason, she noticed he was wearing his red shirt. She hadn’t seen him in anything but black in forever.

“Done with class?”

“For some reason, I think you know that I am.”

He grinned and sat up.

“You’ve been out here for a long time.”

“Got nothin’ else to do.”

“Uh-huh. Cute as this may be, let’s not make it a habit.” Buffy adjusted her bag. “I don’t need a codependent vampire who can’t be left by himself for a few hours.”

“Came to take you out.”

“Oh. Well, okay. But I was coming back, you know. Besides, what if Willow saw you? There aren’t too many vamps out during the day.”

“You’d be surprised. A blanket will get you pretty far,” he said, standing up. “I used to have this old Desoto—blacked the windows out and went down the road as free as you please.”

“That’s strangely not comforting. Now I have to worry about vampires in the daytime.”

“Only the daring ones.”

They started to walk.

“So where are we going?” she asked brightly.

-----

It was a nice restaurant, though not a super fancy restaurant. But it was also the middle of the afternoon, and they were relatively alone in their secluded booth at the back. All of the tables had single carnations in bud vases and white votive candles.

It was like a date.

Buffy looked at her menu, and after deciding what she wanted, closed it. She absently played with the flower in the vase and happened to see what part of the menu Spike was looking at.

“Please don’t order a rare steak,” Buffy said, leaning in. “I can watch you drink a bag of blood, but I can’t watch anyone eat a bloody piece of meat.”

He just smirked at her. But he ordered one medium done with a side of potatoes.

After the waiter was gone, she raised a brow and said, “Garlic mashed potatoes? Is that a benefit of the—you know.” She played with her bracelet.

“Hardly. Garlic is an overrated myth. Very tasty.”

Buffy reached into her purse, quickly flipping open her mirror and checking her lipstick. “I’m supposed to be at the Magic Box later, so after this I should probably go. But thank you for this. It’s really nice.”

Spike nodded. His hand moved against the table as he looked at her. “You comin’ over after?”

It was so cute the way he tried to sound casual.

She nodded. Then she took a breath. “In fact…if you don’t, you know, mind, I thought I might start staying over more.”

Spike tilted his head just a bit, staring at her intently. “Why would I mind, Buffy?”

“I don’t know. I guess you wouldn’t. But it is your place. You might want alone time, without someone there every waking minute.”

“I’ve been alone long enough.”

“Oh…” Buffy trailed off. She looked down, unsure of what to say.

“Don’t look like that, pet. Wasn’t so bad.” His hand covered hers for a moment. “Point is, you’ll never hear me complaining that you want to be around.”

Then he smirked. “Though who knows, you might end up gettin’ sick of me.”

Buffy smiled. “As if. Not going to happen.” Then she paused. “But seriously, though, you can’t follow me to class. You were out there for almost two hours—much longer than needed just to pick me up.”

“Missed you.”

He looked just like a little boy, ducking his head slightly, looking at her from under his lashes.

She bit back a smile. “We just spent the last twenty-four hours together.”

“First days of an ‘official’ relationship,” he said. “Codependency comes with the territory.”

“Ha ha, very funny. But seriously.”

“All right.” Then Spike gave her a suggestive look, grinning with his tongue behind his teeth. “Know what else comes with the territory?”

The way he was suddenly looking at her sent a shiver through her system.

“I think so,” she said, flushing slightly.

“Course, you’ll have to explain to your mum where you’re disappearin’ to every night.”

Buffy glanced at the table, running her nail along the edge. “Yeah…that’s the other thing. She kind of already knows. In fact, she kind of said you weren’t allowed to sleep at the house anymore.”

“Figured it out, did she?”

“Yeah.”

“Smart lady, your mum.”

“Yep.” Buffy gave an exaggerated nod. “She also sort of encouraged me to spend more time with you.”

Spike grinned. “Very smart.”

-----

Late in the afternoon, she went by the Magic Box. Willow was helping a customer while Anya stood near the door, ready to pounce on someone as they came in.

But as no one immediately arrived to spend their money, she walked up to Buffy after a moment.

“So. Giles said your hot and dangerous boyfriend dusted Darla.”

Giles looked up from where he sat at the table. “I beg your pardon. I’m quite certain I did not describe him as ‘hot and dangerous.’”

Anya frowned. “Maybe it was Xander who said he was hot. Is he hot?”

Xander sputtered. “I said he was mysterious. We’re talking about the same mysterious guy Buffy danced with at the Bronze, right?” He looked at Willow.

She nodded from behind the counter.

“See? Mysterious. And strong, what with killing the vampires.” Xander grinned, looking at Buffy. “So Buffy likes the bad boys.”

“He’s not—” Buffy cut herself off. Okay, so Spike’s pretty much the definition of bad boy.

Giles cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. “Buffy, I realize it’s hardly my place to comment on certain aspects of your personal life, but I do hope you haven’t gotten involved with anyone…well, dangerous.”

“I haven’t. He’s not—not anymore.”

“Anymore?”

Now would be a good time to tell him and get it over with. / No, not all at once while everyone is standing here listening.

“Well, I mean… Everyone has a past, don’t they? But it’s over—in the past. Besides, I’m the Slayer. Not like I have to worry about a violent boyfriend.”

“Yes, well, there are other things—”

“If he wasn’t a little dangerous, I might not be alive,” she interrupted. “Besides killing Darla, he did save me from Angelus.”

Giles sighed. “Quite right, I suppose. But do be careful.”

Anya spoke up. “If I still had my powers, I’d offer you vengeance. Even though you weren’t scorned by Angelus, I’d make an exception. You needed avenging.”

“Um, thanks. All avenged here, though.”

“And Buffy,” Giles said, “I thought we might continue our sessions again, since you’re fully recovered.”

She nodded. She had to be ready the next time she was confronted by Angelus.

A moment later, Willow caught her eye, and Buffy followed her into the stockroom. Willow pulled her to the back.

“Start talking, missy.”

Buffy gave her a puzzled look.

“Oh, no,” Willow said. “You don’t get off that easily. Every time I’ve seen you today, you’ve been all floaty. Something happened with Spike, didn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

“Well?”

Buffy smiled happily, glad she could tell someone what was really going on. “He’s going to stay. He promised he’s not going to kill anymore. We’re together. Together together. It’s official. And I just feel so happy, and almost…relieved, like I don’t have to worry and wonder when it’s all going to end. Because it’s not.”

Willow beamed. “I was right, he changed his mind. Did it have to do with Angelus?”

“Yeah, he said it made him realize things.”

“Yay! So now you’re all happy couple! Ooh, we could go on double dates.”

Buffy shifted. “I don’t know, Spike’s sort of a loner. Well, in a weird way.” She thought back to what he’d said about having been alone long enough. “But I don’t think he’s big on group activities.”

“So… Are you going to tell Giles?” she ventured.

“I am. The next really good opportunity that comes up. Really. I just have to figure out what to say.”

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The next day, Buffy and Spike were in the basement getting ready to spar.

Buffy had just finished dragging the mats to the center of the room. She stood by the edge and rocked on her heels. “Well, let’s get started.”

Spike was looking at her strangely, like he was deliberating about something.

“I’m gonna start aiming for your head more,” he informed her.

For a moment, she stared at him. Then she realized that in their sessions together, while he didn’t completely avoid her face, it was never his first target.

Buffy also realized what was behind this sudden announcement.

“Angelus didn’t get me because he hit me in the face.”

He sniffed. “You still need more practice.”

“He got me because Drusilla went all girl fight. So hey, if you wanna work on that, I’m game. You can pull my hair, grab me by the bra straps, and try to yank my earrings out.”

“You’re wearing studs,” he said flatly.

Buffy glared at him. “Look, what I need is practice fighting with two opponents.”

Spike seemed to consider. “All right. Good point.”

He looked around the basement and then dragged an old wooden chair over. He set it on the concrete about a foot away from the edge of the mat.

“That,” he said, pointing, “is Angelus. He’s just gonna watch. But if you get too close, he’ll kill you. And besides tryin’ to kill you myself, I’m gonna push you toward him.”

It was actually a fairly good training plan. If Buffy ended up with her back to the chair, she lost. She had to keep track of Spike and the place where her second opponent was. It was somewhat limited, in that the chair was always stationary, whereas a real opponent could move as she did. But it was effective in that it made her think about more than what was in front of her.

After a while, they switched to another tactic, pretending the chair was Willow, or ‘some other bird you feel the need to defend.’ She fought with Spike in a different way—his sole purpose being to get past her and kill the chair.

They went on to regular sparring towards the end, which was when her mother walked halfway down the stairs. Buffy hadn’t heard her come in, of course.

“Buffy? Are you down here?”

“Yeah, Mom!”

She paused, looking up.

“What are you doing, honey?”

“Sparring. Spike’s helping me train.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Um, he goes patrolling with me, too.”

“Oh,” Joyce said, frowning slightly. “Well…that’s nice. I’m starting dinner in half an hour or so, if you want to stay, Spike.”

Buffy looked back at Spike as her mother walked up the stairs. “I think that’s probably enough for today.”

He nodded, helping her put the mats back up against the wall.

She paused, leaning back against the upright mat. “Do you think it’s bad we haven’t heard anything from Angelus?”

“Maybe.”

Buffy raised an eyebrow.

“Probably,” he admitted.

“That’s what I thought. I figured he’d be tearing up the town, but nothing’s happened. It’s like he disappeared. Is he the plotting type?”

“Not usually. With this, he might be.”

“So it’s probably really bad that he hasn’t come to find us yet.”

“We can go up to the mansion, check it out.”

“If I go there, I’ve got to be able to kill him.” She sighed. “I don’t think I can yet. But I was ready to fight him again if I saw him. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, pet.”

Two seconds later, the basement door opened and Joyce was back, hovering on the stairs. “Honey, I’m not sure how I feel about this. You’re a slayer, you’ve got these powers— And your friends are like professionals, aren’t they? But Spike could get hurt. Him helping you here is one thing, but going out every night?”

“Mom—”

“Not that—I’m sure you can handle yourself,” she said, looking in his direction, “but these aren’t people you’re fighting.”

Buffy sighed, arms falling to her sides. She just couldn’t handle lying to another person.

“Mom, Spike’s a vampire.”