CHAPTER SIX

Spike yelled again, and if he wasn’t already kneeling, he would have collapsed. The light dissipated, and the gathering had to blink a few times before they could see again. Wesley collapsed on the couch, exhausted, and Willow had backed into Kennedy and Faith, her nose bleeding.

Angel reached for Buffy, but she was already reaching for the vampire kneeling in front of her, and her face lit up with joy as her fingertip brushed against his bicep.

Spike’s face shot up to stare at Buffy in bewilderment when he felt her hand. Looking down at it, he grinned and jumped to his feet.

“I can feel!” He yelled joyously, grabbing Buffy’s arms and pulling her to her feet and into a tight embrace. Noticing the weakened Willow being lowered carefully into a chair, he grinned. “Red, you are bloody brilliant!”

Willow lifted a shaky hand in a mock toast, smiling wanly. “No problem. Piece of really... difficult cake.”

Spike suddenly found him shoved backwards several paces, stumbling as he came to a stop. Bewildered, he looked up at Buffy, and was immediately punched in the nose.

“OW!” He wiped the back of his hand over his face, smearing the blood across his cheek. “What the bloody hell was that for?”

“That was for dying!” Buffy yelled, and swung again. “And that was for not believing me, you stupid dick!” Grabbing his face before he swore again, Buffy pressed her lips to his.

His mouth felt cool and familiar against hers, and she let her lips linger against his for a few happy moments before pulling away. “And that was for coming back.”

Spike looked shocked for a moment, before his face broke out in a wicked grin. With a loud, animalistic growl ripping from him, he grabbed Buffy around the waist and pulled her up and against his hard body. He gazed into her eyes for a short moment before crushing his lips to hers, the force behind it so great that she would have been bruised if she was anyone else.

Buffy wrapped her legs easily around Spike’s waist, biting his lower lip. He groaned, and she pushed her tongue into his mouth. Letting it battle with his, Buffy slid her hands over his chest and up to his face, one hand cupping his hollow cheek, the other tangling its fingers in the soft hair at the nape of his neck. She felt Spike’s hands slide down to hold her ass, his fingers pressing almost painfully into her flesh.

Spike grinned against her mouth as Buffy moaned loudly, and answered her with a rumble deep in his chest. Her scent was everywhere... she was everywhere. Feeling her begin to grind against him, he bent his knees slightly, angling his crotch against hers...

A pointed cough cut into their bubble, and Buffy immediately pulled away from his mouth, blushing. Gunn was grinning at them as he lowered his hand from his mouth- he had been the one to interrupt. Wesley and Kennedy were looking embarrassed, and Fred was grinning.

“Damn, B. Where’d you learn moves like that?” Faith cheered, her eyes sparkling with laughter.

Buffy blushed again, and moved her hands to alight on Spike’s chest, as he slowly lowered her to the ground. She knew that she would usually pull away, embarrassed, but she left them there happily, and she felt his arms wrap around her waist in a loose embrace. Shrugging as nonchalantly as possible at the other Slayer, she jerked her head once in Spike’s direction, “From him.”

Faith laughed, and Gunn covered up a chuckle, mostly for the benefit of his boss, who was now staring at the floor. Spike beamed at his Slayer, his eyes shining. It was the first real time she had openly and willingly admitted to having a relationship with him. It used to be evasive answers or silence, but now... she was proud to be with him.

 “You willing to rent him out?” the Second-in-Command Slayer joked.

“Nuh-uh. This one is all mine.” Buffy giggled as the vampire in question began to nuzzle her collarbone, his lips brushing softly against the skin of her neck. “Sorry.”

“’s cool, B. Think I’m in the mood for something else, anyway,” Faith winked at Gunn, who flashed her a flirtatious smile. “You live near here, Charlie?”

Shrugging he nodded. “Close enough.” He turned to the others, “Am I still needed here?”

Angel shook his head mutely, a small smile tugging at his lips in spite of himself. Fred and Wesley had already discreetly left, the Texan leading the Brit back to his office to recover.

“Right, I’ll uh, see you all tomorrow,” Gunn said, louder than necessary as Faith pulled him teasingly toward the door. “Pleasure... uh, pleasure meeting you all.”

Awkward, amused silence followed their exit, and Buffy shivered as she felt Spike’s fingertips begin to trail lightly up and down her arm, from shoulder to elbow. Closing her eyes as he planted a soft kiss to the base of her throat, she giggled and pushed his head away gently, quirking an eyebrow at him. He flashed her that canine.

Pressing a kiss to the underside of Spike’s jaw, Buffy turned to face Willow, who was still recovering in the chair behind her. She didn’t bother to push Spike’s hands away, instead letting them continue to hold her, her hands coming down to clasp over his as they rested over her belt buckle. Leaning back against him, Buffy grinned at her best friend.

“You did it, Will,” she congratulated softly, and her friend gave her a weak but happy smile.

“I did. But I have a feeling there is something else you’d rather being doing instead of making chit-chat with me.” She winked playfully at her, letting Kennedy help her stand. “Spike would rather be doing, for that matter,” she added, giggling.

Spike was planting kisses along Buffy’s shoulder, and his arms tightened around her waist as he rumbled in her ear. “Lots of things...”

Buffy shivered, the smallest of moans slipping out of her mouth. Reaching back, she cupped his cheek in her hand and gave him an innocent, but lingering, kiss.

Trying her best to sound like Slayer-In-Command again, she nodded at Kennedy. “Can you go find our car? I’m sure you can hassle Harmony about it.” She grinned, and Kennedy nodded, a small smile playing on her lips as she led Willow out of the room. Turning to her vampire, she added: “You go too, I want to talk to Angel.”

Spike grimaced, but kissed her cheek and left the room anyway.

Turning to Angel, Buffy took a few steps towards her former paramour. “Angel, I just want to say... Thank you.”

“For the blood?” Angel asked, standing up. “No problem, anything to get the pain in arse out of here.”

“For not objecting.” Buffy corrected, not bothering to pull him up for the one objection he had actually made. “For putting up with my insecure crap when I got here, for explaining everything to me...for giving me Spike back.” She planted a chaste peck on his cheek. “Thank you.”

Angel merely nodded, before heading for his elevator. Pressing the button, he turned back to her. “You’ll be back tomorrow? Before you head back to Rome?”

“Yeah, we’ll have to get Faith.” Buffy laughed, “And I want to thank Wesley and Fred for their help... and Gunn for sacrificing his office.”
“If you need anything, you know where I am.”

Buffy nodded, hesitating before saying: “I’m not happy with your decision to run Wolfram and Hart, Angel. But if it’s what you think needs to be done, then I can respect your decision... Just don’t tell Giles I said that.”

With one last smile, she left the room.


*************************************************************************************************************
Author's Note: I know it's short, but I promise the next few chapters make it definitely worth it! Please comment, I want to know what you think. XD