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28 Sessions
 
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Chapter 28 - Sessions

After Wesley left, Buffy stood in the room listening to the silence. The words echoed back at her.

Rarely longer than a few years. A year is average. … I’m sorry.

Buffy kicked the punching bag, and then she went back to hitting it. I didn’t ask for this, I didn’t ask for any of this. Bad enough that I don’t have a choice, but now I have an expiration date?

She was determined not to cry. With a sudden mental hardening, she knew she couldn’t whine about it, she simply had to beat it. She attacked the punching bag with a new fury. I’ll be the best Slayer. I am not going to die young. I will be a better fighter.

“You’re gonna break that.”

She whirled around to find Spike right behind her.

“How did you get in here?” she demanded.

“I’ll have you know breakin’ and enterin’ is a necessary skill.”

“Did you break Wesley’s door?”

No.” Spike sounded almost insulted. He quickly flashed a thin, twisted piece of metal before putting it back in his pocket.

“What are you doing here?”

He raised an eyebrow.

Buffy sighed. “I suppose I should thank you. Again.”

Spike suddenly kicked her legs out from under her. Less than a second and he was on her; his thighs trapped hers and his hands locked her arms down.

“Geez Spike, mood change much? What are you doing?”

“Continuin’ our little dirty moves session. Now, what are you gonna do?”

“Wait until you unzip your pants?” she asked dryly.

He smirked. “You gotta stop thinkin’ like a girl, and start thinkin’ like a Slayer. I don’t need my hands free to get what I want.”

Spike leaned down and slowly sucked at her neck. It wasn’t quite a kiss, but it definitely wasn’t hickey-leaving territory. He pulled back and grinned at her. “See?”

“Fine. Are you going to let me up now?”

“I haven’t decided.”

“Spike…”

“You’re the Slayer. Throw me off yourself.”

Buffy writhed and struggled against his weight. “I can’t.”

“Seriously.”

“Seriously, I can’t.”

Spike sighed and stood, pulling her up with him. “Right. Then you just gotta work on not gettin’ in that position.”

“Right. So—”

She was cut off as Spike swept her legs out from underneath her. Another second and he was on top of her again, pinning her arms at her sides.

“Spike, what the hell?”

“Gotta keep your guard up.”

“Not with you I don’t,” she complained.

“Why not?” He leaned in, and whispered in her ear, “I’d have you dead right here.”

“I am going to be able to beat you one day, you know.”

“Not if you keep lettin’ vampires get this close to your neck.” His lips grazed her throat.

“I will.”

“Maybe,” he agreed, pulling back slightly. “But you can’t kill me.”

“Because of that gem? It’s that dumb ankle bracelet, right?”

“Smart little thing, aren’t you?”

“I have seen you naked one and a half times.”

“If you think you’re gonna seduce it off me…” He smirked.

“Puh-lease,” she huffed. “Well, you can’t kill me, either.”

“I could kill you right now.”

“There are different kinds of can’t,” she said softly.

Spike’s jaw clenched as his face hovered over hers. “You think I couldn’t do it? You think I couldn’t drain you? Your Watcher thinks I could. Do you know what a boost Slayer blood is to vamps?”

“Let me up.”

“No.” His grip on her tightened.

Buffy felt the edges of panic beginning to set in. He might not kill her, but she didn’t want to be bitten like this. “Spike, I’m not kidding.”

“Neither am I.”

“Let me up!”

“Maybe I will take a taste.”

She brought her head up in a quick motion and cracked her forehead against his.

“Bloody hell!” Caught off guard, Spike brought a hand to his head, and Buffy pushed him off the next second.

As soon as Spike was on his feet, he moved to kick her legs out from under her again, but Buffy jumped to avoid it. She fell back into a fighting stance and stuck her chin out defiantly.

Slowly he began to circle her. She turned, moving opposite him and waiting for his move or her own opportunity. He punched, she blocked. He lunged, she feinted.

She kicked, and he caught her leg in midair.

A twist and she was suddenly down on the mat, Spike straddling her hips and holding her hands in place with his own. Buffy struggled, but it was useless; she wasn’t getting any sort of leverage this time. He had her again.

She met Spike’s gaze a bit uncertainly. “Well?”

He looked down at her. Then he suddenly jumped off and moved away. Buffy also stood, falling back into a half crouch as she stepped back. Spike, however, didn’t seem inclined to make another move. He was just staring at her like he couldn’t quite believe what they were doing.

“What, Spike?” she demanded.

Spike shook his head and muttered something about ‘sparring with the sodding Slayer.’ Then he straightened his coat and walked out of the room without a word. Buffy stared after him. He had officially lost his mind, she decided.

In a flash it occurred to her that Spike had repeatedly pinned her the exact same way that the vampire who had almost killed her had.

A thought struck her.

It was stupid. It was asking for trouble. It was possibly suicidal.

But she was doing it.

-----

The last thing Spike expected to see was Buffy. But here it was, nearly two in the morning, and she was knocking on his door. She threw a paper bag that smelled of burgers in the trash as she entered, and then she took a sip of her icy orange drink.

“We need to talk.”

Spike regarded her. She was obviously in a state about something. Her heart was pounding furiously. “Didn’t figure you had much to say to me, pet.”

Buffy took a deep breath. It had taken her hours to work up the nerve to come over here, and now that she was here, she wasn’t sure it was such a good idea. Or at all a good idea.

“As much as I don’t want there to be an us right now,” she started, “there’s something. I know it, you know it, hell, even Wesley knows it. But it’s all twisted and complicated and I need to have it all worked out in my head before— If I ask you a question, will you answer it?”

“Whatever you want.”

“Okay.”

“You wanna sit down?”

“No.”

Spike watched as Buffy started pacing. Oh yeah, she was agitated.

She took another gulp of her jumbo drink. After a moment, she stopped and turned to face him.

“Are you in love with me?”
 
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