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Chapter 6
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Spike hadn’t been to a modern zoo in his entire unlife. Back when William was a mere lad, he had begged to be allowed an outing to the Surrey Zoological Gardens with its promised delights of both botanical and zoological offerings. Anne had been fearful of such a trip, having the horrible memory of the great terror that occurred at Cross’s Menagerie when she had been a young girl. The famed Elephant Chunee had run amok and had to be shot to death by a sergeant of the guard from Somerset house, lest all the animals break free and join in the chaos. William’s mother had witnessed the fleeing, panic-stricken patrons and the gathering mob of onlookers and had never trusted the idea of being that close to wild, dangerous animals again. William sneaking a trip to this wondrous place while in the company of a few of his school friends was one of the only times he could ever remember disobeying his mother. The display of the animals was quite different in that day.

He watched the group of teenagers being shepherded by a harried-looking middle-aged man from a distance. Spike was uncomfortable with the feelings of admiration he had as he watched Xander Harris take up for some poor chap who seemed to be the designated punching bag to a group of bullies. Harris had volunteered to come to the boy’s rescue quite readily.

Spike didn’t witness the actual rescue, having chosen to follow the intense, odd zookeeper who had issued a threat-laden bit of nonsense to Red and the Slayer. The man was up to no good, even if Spike couldn’t put his finger on just what. By the time he decided it had nothing to do with the Slayer or Spike’s own interests, he had lost the girls in the crowd and had to move quickly to be certain that Buffy would spot him at a distance, again in the blazing sun.

The glare of the sun paled next to the smile on the Slayer’s face when she did see him as they closed in on one another at the monkey house. "Are you following me?" Buffy asked shyly as she moved to Spike’s side.

"In the sense of physically tracing your movements, no." Spike grinned and flashed his best little boy look at the smitten girl. "I overheard your friend yesterday and thought I’d see what the fuss was all about that had the boy so worried about your footwear. I admit I sort of hoped to run into you though. Hope you don’t mind."

"No, I don’t mind at all." Buffy could feel her heart pounding. William was not just interested but had even made sure to be where she was! She sighed inwardly at how nice it felt to have a guy who had all the qualifications for major crushing take notice of her. "Got a favorite animal?"

"I’m partial to the big cats, actually, all that power and grace." Spike lowered his vocal register and continued, "Dangerous too, even though they look tame enough to pet and cuddle. " Buffy wasn’t sure if he was still talking about the cats or himself. "What about you?"

"I haven’t decided, but so far I like all of them. Except the ones in the reptile house. I just can’t cozy up to snakes, I guess, and my friend has frog fear, so we just bypassed it totally." Buffy waved to Willow, who was watching her and grinning like mad.

"That your friend there?" Spike nodded toward Willow, who was still unsuccessfully trying to look uninterested in the blossoming friendship between Buffy and her hottie friend. "Think I saw her at the mall yesterday, come to think of it. Sweet-looking little thing. Can I buy you ladies an ice cream? It’s kinda hot out here today," he offered.

Buffy motioned for Willow to join them and did the introductions, "Willow, this is William…er…sorry, I don’t remember if you told me your last name?"

Spike held out his hand to Willow graciously. "Just call me Spike, all my friends do," he said, deftly bypassing the issue of his surname. "Nice to meet you. I’ll bet your nickname is the same as mine, Will! Calling me Spike will keep things simple, less confusing, yeah?"

"Yeah. Good thinking…um, Spike." Willow was completely under his spell. Here was an obviously cool guy and he wasn’t treating her like some geek.

Buffy decided she didn’t want to encourage any competition over William’s attention and broke in, "Spike was just saying he’d like to buy us an ice cream. Up for it, Will?"

"Ice cream is always of the good." Willow smiled broadly. "I was going to wait for Xander, but he’ll catch up. Maybe it won’t hurt him to chase me for a change."

Spike looked confused at the mention of the boy. "Xander?" Spike prevaricated, "That the fella with the interest in your footwear?"

"Yup, the one and only! We usually hang together, but he went after this kid who was in danger from the human kind of wild animals, high school style." Buffy was proud of her good friend.

"Good on him. Bullies should be eaten." Spike had always held to that belief.

The two girls giggled at his comment and the happy trio headed for the snack hut and Spike’s promised treat.

Just being around this guy was causing all sorts of tinglies in Buffy and her senses were all highly tuned in his presence. She had never had that reaction to a guy before really and it was making her all kinds of nervous. Fortunately Spike was filled with charm and never did a thing to make her blush or feel any more off-balance than she did already.

Willow and Spike laughed and talked, filling in the potentially awkward silences when Buffy’s brain went to mush after each of his special smiles her way. Spike hadn’t even touched her and Buffy was already goo in his company.

"I guess we should go hunt down Xan before he gets left behind. I don’t think he’d like spending the whole night with the wild animals!" Willow picked up the wrappers from all three places and diligently tossed them away.

"Not the four-legged kind, that’s for sure," Buffy quipped. "Will I hear from you later, Spike?" Buffy had worked up the courage to ask if he was going to call as promised.

Spike touched his duster near his heart and looked intently into Buffy’s eyes. "Got your number right here, luv. Was hopin’ you might be at that club again tonight, get that dance I dreamed of all last night."

"The Bronze? Oh, yeah, we’ll be there tonight. I’d love that dance." Buffy was blushing slightly at the buzz from Spike saying he had dreamed of her at all. "See you then….then."

Spike stood and took Buffy’s hand, drawing it to his mouth before placing a soft kiss on the palm "Until tonight then." The sun had warmed his skin enough that Buffy didn’t notice anything that might set off her vamp radar.

His vamp hearing allowed him to overhear the girls as they walked toward the closed hyena exhibit where they had last seen Xander. He smiled at the ease of his conquests.

"Guh!" Buffy felt like squealing. "Did you see that, Will? I mean he kissed my hand, only not like some old movie, like a love story or something!" Willow was as impressed as Buffy by Spike’s gesture and nodded in understanding. "God, his lips are so soft, Will. I bet they taste sweet as candy."

"Maybe you’ll get to find out tonight, Buff," Willow encouraged her friend. "He’s really nice. At least one of us should get some smoochies." She spotted the object of her interest then. "Speaking of smoochable goodness, there’s Xander." Willow and Buffy both called out to him and waved madly to get his attention.

Spike ducked into the monkey house, setting the primates off into a screeching frenzy. "Oh, shut up or I’ll make you lunch," he growled at the cowering animals.

~~~
The Bronze was filled with sweaty young people, all doing the age-old hormonal dance of courtship while pretending not to be interested in each other.

Xander had confused and disappointed his friends with his unusually cruel humor directed at a fat loner that the class bullies had descended upon. Instead of apologizing, he had just sullenly muttered, "Kid’s fat," to the surprise of the girls.

‘Maybe Xander is not feeling well,’ thought Willow. He sure wasn’t acting like himself. He’d seriously creeped out Buffy by sniffing her earlier and saying something about her taking a bath. Weird. He was looking sexier than usual tonight though; he had an edge of bad boy danger in his dress and attitude. Even Cordelia and the Cordettes had noticed him, and in a good way.

Xander had taken his usual seat with Willow and Buffy, but his interest was not there at all. He was looking at the crowd like a predator seeking a meal. He was throwing off energy that made him seem like a caged animal wanting to prowl.

Buffy spotted Spike the moment he came through the entrance. He was dressed up even though he was still in his trademark black. Dress trousers with a knife-edge crease that fit him perfectly were topped off with a black button-down shirt that had to be silk. Buffy longed to touch it to see if it was as soft as it looked. Of course that would mean getting a chance to check out the well-defined abs she had noticed earlier and that was just a bonus.

Willow glanced over to see what had transfixed her girlfriend and waved at Spike to have him join them at the table. "Someone dressed up for you," she sing-songed in a tease to Buffy.

Buffy was pleased to think Spike had made that kind of effort, since the Bronze was ubercasual. She had taken forever to decide what she would wear as she prepared for the evening too. She had finally opted for a pink halter top and cream miniskirt worn above high-heeled pink boots that had cost her entire month’s allowance. She licked her glossy pink lips and smiled at the handsome guy headed her way.

"Hi, Spike. Wow, love the whole ‘man in black’ variation." She reached out a tentative hand to caress the sleeve of his shirt. Yup, silk.

"I stick to the classics. Including basic black, I guess." Spike smiled at Buffy and arched a look at Xander. "This your shoe consultant then?"

"Huh?" Buffy startled as if from a trance and then realized Spike was asking about Xander. "Oh, I forgot you haven’t met! Sorry. Spike, this is Xander Harris, one of my best friends."

Xander noticed the blond male for the first time and his eyes narrowed at some vague tingle he felt at the older guy’s presence.

Spike’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as he noticed a gleam of gold momentarily flash in Xander’s eyes. ‘What’s that about?’ he wondered. ‘’F I didn’t know better, I’d swear the whelp’s got himself a demon. Well, long as he doesn’t give me away, no need to worry.’

"Heard ‘bout you from the girls. Glad you weren’t eaten by one of those hyenas. Name’s Spike." Spike offered his hand to the boy and saw the flash of gold again as Xander shook his hand slightly.

Buffy stood up to lead Spike to the dance floor before anyone could notice the odd vibes between the two. "Come on, they’re playing a slow song. I wanna dance."

Spike turned his attention back to Buffy and allowed her to tug him onto the crowded dance floor. Only Spike registered the slight possessive growl that Xander gave as Buffy led him away and into her arms. Something odd was going on with the whelp and Spike was going to have to Mulder it out so it didn’t interfere with his plans for the Slayer.

Xander watched Buffy with the older guy. There was something about the newcomer that made Xander feel threatened and on alert. His woman wasn’t supposed to be off dancing with the creep invading Xander’s territory.

Xan startled Willow by getting up and grabbing Cordy’s hand as the haughty girl gaped in amazement as well. "Dance, Cordy," he ordered rather than asked.

Willow wasn’t sure which surprised her more: Xander’s boldness or whom he chose to go caveman with. She and Xan had hated Cordelia Chase since childhood.

Cordy was oddly turned on by this weird version of Xander Harris rather smoothly propelling her around the dance floor to a decent cover of a Depeche Mode song. Xander might be a geek, but he could sure dance, much to Cordy’s surprise. All that clocking in on the dance floor with Buffy Summers had turned the boy into a smooth mover.

As Xander danced with the class queen, he kept his eye on the current queen of his adolescent heart. Cordy didn’t notice the lack of his attention and wouldn’t have believed it if she had. She was used to boys reaching for her star and wasn’t surprised Harris had finally made a move on her. Dancing the way he did made Cordy wonder if she might just have to check him out further. Obviously he’d grown up a bit and gotten a bit of polish.

Buffy and Spike were oblivious to the attention their dance was drawing. Buffy had easily slipped into Spike’s arms as if she had been designed to fit there. She molded her body to his and let the music guide her movements in a sensuous rhythm. He felt hard and buff and she felt so right giving herself over to the sensations of dancing with him.

Spike was startled at his body’s reaction to an armful of Slayer. He wasn’t too surprised to feel his cock harden; Buffy always had that effect on him. What did take him aback was the rightness of the feeling. It was like coming home, finally being exactly where he knew he wanted to be. She was warm and soft and trusting in his arms and he found himself hoping the song would never end. Buffy’s body fit neatly into his with her head resting naturally on his shoulder, her breath a whisper on his neck that sent thrills he felt all the way to his balls. She smelled wonderful, all clean and flowery like a warm summer’s day. Her body was still lush with youth, not yet hard-edged and honed from battle. Her soft curves beckoned and teased with their ripe fullness. He felt poleaxed!

The song ended and the band had the good sense to follow it with another slow number. Buffy and Spike didn’t even seem to notice the change in melody, so wrapped up were they in the feel of each other. Somehow Spike thought he might just dance with this Slayer for the rest of her life.

When their dance took them close to the alcove beneath the stairs to the balcony, Spike maneuvered them into its shelter and reached a hand to Buffy’s chin, tilting her face up to meet his lips in a soft kiss. He hadn’t thought out his action and hadn’t planned for anything resembling a makeout session, but the girls eagerly parted lips made all thought stop and instinct take control.

Buffy’s mind had stopped working as soon as she had felt Spike’s lips touch hers. Her lips parted in a soft gasp of surprise and delight. He must have taken her body’s reaction as an invitation to deepen the kiss because he did. Buffy welcomed his tongue’s gentle exploration and tentatively let her own join in the new dance. Spike’s hand had dropped back down and he gripped her hips drawing her even closer to his hungry body.

Buffy’s hands had begun their own path of caresses over his back and down to the slope of his hip, marveling at the feel of him. Like a candle lit by a flame she went from mere attraction to full-blown desire.

Spike lost all sense of time and purpose as he kissed the Slayer with a passion he had never expected to feel without a spell gone wrong. He remembered how it had felt under Willow’s magic and it was a revelation to find that all the desire he had felt then was present now without the aid of the supernatural. Perhaps Dru had been right about his attraction to the Slayer, but that was as far as it went--pure physical reaction!

Maybe if he told himself that often enough he’d actually believe it himself.

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A/N: the incident at the menagerie mentioned actually took place in 1826.