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Just a Little Spell by slaymesoftly
 
Chapters 29 - 35
 
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Chapter Twenty-Nine

Just as Buffy reached the door to Spike’s apartment, she realized that she had no way to get in if he was still asleep. She was just raising her hand to knock when she felt his unmistakable signature and dropped her hand. Almost immediately, the door opened and Spike greeted her with a, “Took you long enough to get here, pet.”

He pulled her into the room, kicking the door shut behind him as he lifted her up, capturing her lips in an open-mouthed kiss. Immediately dropping her bag on the floor, she wrapped her arms and legs around him, clinging like a child. Spike walked backward until his knees hit the couch and he sat down, still using his lips and tongue to steal her breath away.

When Buffy finally wrenched her mouth free, gasping for air, he nuzzled her neck until she was breathing normally and could talk. He finally pulled away to beam at her flushed face.

“Did you miss me?” she smiled up at him. “Or have you just been sitting here watching the Playboy channel and getting horny?”

“Bit of both, pet,” he teased. “If you’re going to leave me alone all day while you go to school, you’re gonna have to expect to make it up to me when you get home.”

Buffy played with the front of his shirt, noticing that he had apparently bought another blue button down just like the one Riley had ruined. Her fingers trailed up and down the buttons as she thought about what he had so casually said.

“Um, Spike?”

“Yes, love?” he said, running his lips from her ear back to her mouth. He had felt her heart rate accelerate when he finished speaking and while he kept his tone light, he could feel his stomach clench as he waited for her to react.

(Bollocks! I shouldn’t have said that. Gonna scare her away. Come on, love, don’t panic on me.)

When Buffy didn’t say anything else, he ran his knuckles lightly down her cheek and breathed into her ear, “I’m not trying to rush you into anything, Buffy. It’s just an expression - jus’ slipped out like. Don’t freeze up on me, love. Please.” He knew he sounded like a complete ponce, but for once, he didn’t care.

She took a deep, shuddering breath and turned her head to kiss the hand caressing her cheek.

“It’s ok. You just caught me by surprise, that’s all. I haven’t really thought past the fact that you’re back and we’re still together.”

She looked up at him apologetically and continued, “Let’s just see how it goes – the dating thing, I mean. If it turns out I’m here all the time, then…”

“You’re absolutely right, Slayer. No sense rushing into things. This is my apartment and if you happen to find yourself here so often that it makes sense to bring some clothes over…well, we’ll just think about that if it happens.”

Buffy watched his expressive face as he spoke, and although he had his head turned away, she knew that if the claim was still active she would be feeling an ache in her heart right now. She leaned into him and rested her head on his chest while she tried to think about what she wanted to say to him.

“You know,” she began slowly, “when I was talking with Angel, I asked him to take care of you until you could come home.”

“That right, pet?” he answered noncommittally.

“I didn’t mean to Sunnydale. I meant until you could come home to me.”

She looked up at him with a little frown marring her smooth face.

“I never thought about it until just now. That I just expected wherever I was would be home to you.” Her expression changed to a mischievous smirk. “So I guess I can’t get too upset when you expect me to think your home is mine, can I?”

“Well, knowing you, you could,” he teased, relaxing back into the couch cushions, “but it certainly wouldn’t be very fair.”

She gave him a half-hearted swat for the implied slur on her sense of fairness, but there was no real menace in it. He captured the hand and began planting light, wet kisses on her palm.

Buffy snatched her hand back reluctantly and said, “Not so fast, there, mister. You have some ‘splain’ to do, William…or should I say, Mr. Carlisle?”

She laughed when Spike’s expression went from self-confident to panicked.

“Did you really think you could keep this a secret? Or that research-man Giles and computer-girl Willow wouldn’t be able to find out?”

She looked at him expectantly and watched the emotions play across his face. Anger, fear, embarrassment and finally resignation.

“Dunno, love. I guess I thought I could pretend for a while longer and tell you about it gradually. So much for my plan,” he sighed.

“It went about as well as any of your other plans ever did,” she said with a giggle, earning herself another thunderous frown.

“Watch it there, Slayer,” he growled, baring his teeth. “I thought William went pretty well. Fooled those bloody government wankers, didn’t it?”

“Because you weren’t pretending! You really ARE William, you big faker.”

“Well if you think I really am him, then I wasn’t faking, was I? Not that I am saying I am him, mind you. Cause I’m not. Big Bad, here. Part of the Scourge of Europe. Evil incarnate…”

“Yeah, yeah, vampire, Big Bad, Slayer of Slayers, I know, Sheesh! Insecure much?” She rolled her eyes at his posturing. “I MEANT that you were faking the accent and all that ‘I’ve always been bad, crap’ you tried to feed me. You were a gentleman. William the Bloody was a …a…Victorian Giles.”

“You take that back, missy!” he growled, going into game face.

“Make me,” she whispered, leaning in to him and fearlessly running her fingers over his brow ridges. She stuck her tongue out and lightly ran it around his lips and over his fangs. He groaned and dropped his head back against the cushion.

“Jesus Christ, Buffy, we talked about this. You can’t tease the demon like that, love. You just can’t.”

He was visible trembling with the effort to control himself and she sat back with an apologetic look and waited for him to regain his human face. When, with a final deep breath, his fangs receded and his eyes went back to their normal bright blue, she hung her head and apologized softly.

“I’m sorry, Spike. I should have known that wasn’t a smart thing to do. I didn’t mean to tease you – well, I mean, I did, obviously, but I didn’t mean to tease your demon.”

She peeked up at him through the curtain of her hair and added, “So, just touching your fangs is on the list of no-noes?”

“ ‘M sorry, pet. You already know what touching your tongue to my gums does to me. Running it over my fangs, jus’ begging for a bloody cut…that’s just tempting fate, Slayer.”

“If it’s so hard to control your demon, why haven’t you eaten everybody yet? Or, Xander, at least,” she said with a small smile.

“I’m a master vampire, Buffy. I can control my demon jus’ fine under most circumstances. But not when his…my…not when my former mate is waving her blood under my nose like that. One little knick on that cute little tongue and…” With a shudder, he lifted her off his lap and set her to one side carefully placing her where she wouldn’t be touching him.

“So,” she asked quietly, “even without the claim, we still have some issues?”

“Seems like,” he replied just as quietly, dropping his eyes. “Looks like this might be a little harder than I thought it would be.”

Speaking almost to himself, he mused, “I don’t understand why it’s so bloody hard. S’not like I’ve never shagged a human without biting her…I’ve done it plenty of ti—“ A look a Buffy’s rapidly darkening face had him swallowing the rest of the sentence and looking for an escape route if she decided to grab a stake.

What sounded suspiciously like a full-fledged growl was building in the Slayer’s small body and he back-pedaled quickly.

“Of course, that was over a hundred years ago and usually Dru ate them when she found out. And I wasn’t in love with any of them, anyway, so no claiming urge to worry about. And…. I’m not making this any better, am I?”

In response, Buffy leapt to her feet and went to pick up her bag from near the door. His heart went into his throat as she stood by the door, holding her bag and irresolutely looking back and forth between the bedroom and the door. After what seemed an eternity, her shoulders slumped and she walked slowly across the big room toward the bedroom, dragging her bag behind her.

Spike jumped up and followed her into the bedroom, watching from the doorway as she dropped her bag on the floor again. She just stood staring at the big bed, her back to him and her body rigid. Suddenly her shoulders began to shake and he crossed the room with supernatural speed to grab her arms and whirl her around.

Expecting to see tears and hear sobs, he was rocked back when he saw her face and realized she was laughing and shaking her head. He frowned and started to drop his hands, then saw the near hysteria behind the laughter and gathered her shaking body into his.

“Ah, Buffy, don’t, love,” he crooned as the laughter turned to a mix of giggles and sobs. “We’ll work it out. I promise, sweetheart. Got time, don’t we? S’not like it’s an everyday thing – Vampire/Slayer. We’ll have the watcher look into it. See if there were any other vampires and slayers that fell in love. Some that managed to do it without the claiming part. “

“What if there weren’t any?” she hiccupped. “What if that’s what happens when a slayer and a vampire fall in love? They claim each other and then the Council kills them. What if that’s just the way it works?”

“Then we’ll just have to prove it can be different. What are chances any of those other slayers were as stubborn as you are? Or that those other vamps could hold a candle to me when it comes to getting m’ way?” He put his hand under her chin and raised it until she was looking at him with wet eyes. “There’s never been anybody like us, pet. We’re gonna re-write the books. I promise.”

She stared into his intent eyes for what seemed like ages, then slowly nodded her head.

“Okay. Just so you keep your promise,” she sniffled.

“I never break a promise to a lady,” he said softly, dropping a chaste kiss on her forehead. “Never,” he whispered into her hair, praying he was telling the truth.

Blowing out a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding in, Buffy squeezed him tightly, then moved away, picking up her suitcase and putting it on the bed.

“We need to patrol and then go to the Magic Box for a Scoobie meeting so that I can tell Giles about the Army guys leaving.”

“They left?” he asked, more to take his mind off the sight of her shimmying out of her skirt and into a more slaying-friendly pair of jeans, than because he actually cared what they did.

“Um hm,” she murmured, turning around in time to catch his lust-filled gaze. When he began moving toward her purposefully, she squeaked and dodged around to the other side of the bed, somewhat hampered by the jeans which were not yet all the way up her thighs .

“Get that look off your face, vampire. We’re leaving here right now to go kill things and meet with my watcher. We don’t have time to—mmmph!”

The rest of what she was going to say was smothered by the cool lips that landed on hers when the vampire flew across the space between them and tackled her to the floor.

(Note to self. Vampires are very agile and fast when properly motivated.)

“We’ll make time, Slayer,” he growled, grinding his hard-on into her lace-covered crotch. He could feel the heat flowing off her body and smell the arousal already soaking her panties as she put up a token resistance.

“I told them we wouldn’t be too late…oooooh!…..everybody will know why we weren’t on ti—gah!” she gave up the attempt to argue when his now released cock slid between her legs and rubbed against her sodden underwear. Giving up to the inevitable, she kicked off her jeans and yelped when Spike pushed her underwear aside to slide two fingers into her tight channel. He removed the fingers, bringing them to his lips for a quick lick before reaching between them again and holding the panties to the side so he could position himself at her entrance.

Now that she’d decided to stop pretending she wasn’t just as eager as he was, Buffy arched her hips toward him, trying to make more contact than the light little nudges he was giving her. She moaned in frustration, wrapping her legs around his hips and trying to pull him in.

“Spike,” she gasped out, “I thought you wanted to do this? Come on. Stop fooling around. Stop teasing me.”

Although it was taking every ounce of control he had not to slam into her and bury himself to the hilt, he held back, rubbing the head of his cock gently against her clit. When she whimpered and tried to push against him harder, he dropped down to nudge at her entrance again, laughing at the growing frustration on her face.

Suddenly, Buffy whipped her arms out to the side, hitting his elbows and forcing him to collapse on her, thus losing his ability to keep his hips far enough away to prevent penetration.

With a triumphant, “Hah!” Buffy pulled him in with her legs and felt his cool, thick shaft slide into her aching quim. “Gotcha!” she whispered, sliding her legs down this thighs to increase pressure on her clit as she began rotating her hips and rubbing against his pubic bone.

“That you do, Slayer,” he purred into her ear. “Now what are you going to do with me?”

As he spoke, he was moving his hips in rhythm with hers, keeping a steady pressure on her swollen nubbin as he let the rhythmic clenching of her strong walls pull him closer and closer to the edge. When he heard Buffy’s whimpers change to the gasps and panting that he knew meant she was reaching orgasm, he let himself surrender to the building pressure in his balls. As she screamed his name and spasmed around him, he came in a series of spurts that filled her with his cool semen and left him lying on top of her panting for unneeded air.

“I hate you,” she mumbled into his neck, stretching her limp body and trying to generate enough energy to push him off.

“No you don’t,” he rumbled back. “You wanted that just as much as I did. Don’t try to deny it.”

“Hummph,” was her only reply as he rolled to the side, pulling her with him and kissing her pouting face.

“You’re just a little better at denying yourself pleasure than I am. Must be that Slayer martyr complex or something,” he said, smiling.

“I do NOT have a martyr complex! I just know how to be responsible. Unlike some undead creatures I could name.”

“Yeah, well, evil, you know. Want, take, have. The vampire motto.”

Sitting up and casting him a glare that tried very hard not to look as thoroughly content as she felt, she stood up and headed for the bathroom.

“Now I have to clean up before I can get dressed again. You made me all messy,” she complained as she shed her soaked underwear and reached for a towel. In truth, she loved the feeling of Spike’s spendings running down her legs and the scent of him lingering on her body. Instead of washing, she settled for just wiping off with a towel and putting on clean underwear before coming out and pulling on her jeans.

This time she was able to get them up all the way and fastened while Spike lay on the floor watching her and smirking in an irritatingly self-satisfied way.

“Get up, lazy,” she grumbled, kicking his leg. “We have evil to slay and people to see.”

He kipped athletically to his feet and pulled his jeans back into place while she stashed some stakes around her body and tapped her foot impatiently. He zipped up his pants, moving toward her as he did so.

“Alright, pet. Let’s go find some bad guys to beat up on. I could use a nice spot of violence to top off the evening.”

Chapter Thirty

After a relatively uneventful stroll through Sunnydale’s cemeteries where they dusted all the fledglings they could find, Spike and Buffy headed for the Magic Box. They walked in to find Willow and Tara huddled together at the table, trying very hard to ignore the shouting match going on in the front of the store. Giles was pacing back and forth muttering, “Oh dear, oh dear,” while polishing his glasses.

“I asked you why you didn’t come home tonight,” Xander was shouting at a defiant Anya as the two blonds walked in the door hand-in-hand.

“Well, I’m guessin’ your splendid treatment of her would be one reason,” Spike snarked as their entrance was hampered by the two arguing people in front of them.

Xander whirled on the two new arrivals, almost choking when he saw their clasped hands.

“Sheesh, Buffy! Do you have to walk around town like that with him? What if somebody saw you?”

Buffy’s formerly happy expression hardened and dropping Spike’s hand, she stepped closer to her friend. She tilted her head back to look up at him and said coldly, “I expect people to see us, Xander. This is my boyfriend, William. Why wouldn’t I be holding hands with him?” Her expression dared him to pursue his line of thought.

Common sense would have told anyone else to drop the subject, but Xander couldn’t see beyond his anger at Anya and his disgust at Buffy and he blurted, “Because the Buffy I know wouldn’t have anything to do with a slimeball like him, that’s why. He’s not fooling me with that ‘William’ crap. It’s Spike, Buffy. Why can’t you see that?” His voice had taken on a whining, pleading tone. “What’s wrong with you? You’re the Slayer! You should be killing vampires, not fu-“

Moving faster than the eye, Spike had one hand on the boy’s neck and was lifting him off the floor before Buffy could intervene.

“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence,” he said with quiet menace. His eyes were blue ice as he stared into the frightened brown ones in front of him.

“Spike.” Buffy’s quiet admonition broke through the outrage he’d felt on her behalf and he dropped Xander with an apologetic shrug and moved off into the room.

He gave Willow and Tara what was meant to be a reassuring smile, but he could hear their heart beats accelerate when he approached the table and he mentally berated himself for losing his temper.

“ ‘M sorry, Red. Didn’t mean to scare you. ‘Fraid William’s temper is worse than mine when it comes to his lady.”

He smiled gently at Tara, hiding his surprise at smelling Willow all over her. He carefully sniffed at Willow and smiled when he found Tara’s scent all over the red haired witch. He cast an appraising eye at the nervous girl and raised his eyebrow, grinning lewdly when she blushed to the roots of her hair.

“Does Buffy know?” he whispered, leaning toward the two girls.

“N…no…I’m going to tell her. I just haven’t found the right…”

She was interrupted by a renewal of the arguments in the front of the store. Xander had shrunk away from Buffy after complaining to her that she let her “undead fuck toy” manhandle him and was back to berating Anya for not showing up when he expected her.

Hands on her hips, Anya glared back at him and snapped, “You ordered me to come to your house.” If anyone noticed she didn’t refer to his basement apartment as “home”, they didn’t comment. “I never said I was going to be there. I had…things… to do here. I do have a job, you know!”

“Oh please. So the G-man lets you tell him tales about being a demon and dust off old books. I’m sure he could have spared you long enough to eat dinner with me.”

“It smells to me like you drank your dinner,” she replied in a quieter tone. “Again.”

“So I had a few beers while I was waiting for you. What are you now, my mother?”

She stared at him calmly, forcing him to think about his parents and the alcohol-fueled fights that went on over his head every night.

“No,” she said quietly. “And I don’t intend to become her.”

She turned her back on him and walked over to the table, sitting down conspicuously between Tara and Giles, leaving Xander nowhere to go but the vacant chair next to Buffy. Spike was lolling in his chair, his arm resting lightly on the back of Buffy’s, as he waited quietly to see what the boy would do. After several tense moments of indecision, Xander yanked the chair out and sat down facing away from her, arms crossed over his chest and a thunderous look on his face.

Buffy quickly filled everyone in on what the Army officer had told her about watching her and being willing to leave Sunnydale and the hellmouth to them. Spike snorted when she told them about his offer of assistance and there was a flurry of answering smiles around the table as she handed Giles the card she’d been given.

To everyone’s surprise, the ex-Watcher took the card and carefully put it in his wallet.

“There may come a time, Buffy, when we would be glad to have some well-armed assistance. I will keep this in a safe place just in case.”

“Pfft,” Buffy waved her hand in dismissal. “Maybe if I had to fight an army someday…Oh wait, I already did that. They lost.” She tossed her hair and smiled at Spike’s answering smirk.

Giles shook his head at the lack of imagination she was showing and said quit seriously, “You fought a very small part of an army – and Spike did much of the damage. Don’t be so quick to dismiss this offer. We don’t know what is going to be thrown at us in the future. An army at our disposal could come in quite handy someday.”

“Yeah, OK, whatever,” she said airily. “Are we done here? Cause I’m feeling the need for some major ice cream eatage before we go home for the night.”

There was a noticeable wince from Xander, and a slightly less noticeable one from Giles at the “we go home”, but neither one said anything. Spike suppressed the happy grin that threatened to burst out on his face at her casual remark, and settled for rubbing his thumb gently along her shoulder where it was touching the back of her chair.

“We could use some ice cream, couldn’t we, Tara?” Willow ventured, thinking this might be the best opportunity to tell Buffy about her new relationship.

“I li…like ice cream,” the blond agreed, ducking her head bashfully.

“K, then. We’re off to put some nice cool sweet things in our mouths!” Buffy re-thought her remark as soon as the words were half out, but it was too late to call them back. Fortunately, the only one who noticed Spike’s coughing fit to cover the laughter he couldn’t control was Tara who twinkled at him and giggled softly as the Slayer turned almost purple with embarrassment. The situation was saved by the renewed argument between Xander and Anya which made the two of them and Giles miss the suggestive by-play.

“Let’s go, Ahn,” Xander began. “I could use some sugary goodness. Maybe we can finish up the evening at the Bronze. Stop by for a couple of beers?” He carefully avoided looking at Spike and Buffy, but included Willow and Tara. “I could stand to be surrounded by beautiful women tonight.”

Before Willow could respond, Anya sighed and rolled her eyes.

“I’m not going out with you tonight, Xander. I think we need to take a little break from dating for a while. And,” she added pointedly, “you don’t need anything else to drink tonight.”

There was an uncomfortable silence as his face darkened and they could see Anya begin to cringe as she waited for the explosion they were all expecting. Unnoticed by anyone except Spike, Giles moved marginally closer to the ex-demon as though to protect her from Xander’s reaction.

However, he surprised them all by just nodding his head thoughtfully and turning to walk out the door. He stopped with his hand on the doorknob and turned to look at her again.

“I suppose that’s what I get for falling in love with an ex-demon,” he said quietly, with barely suppressed anger. His gaze went around the room, touching each one there with his scornful gaze. “A bloodsucking dead man, a vampire slayer who dates them, an ex-demon, two witches and a man who runs a magic shop. I’m the only normal person here.” He shook his head and went out the door without further comment.

The sight of Buffy, Willow and Anya tearing up over Xander’s scornful dismissal of them brought Spike’s demon to the surface and he growled softly, rising to his feet as though to take off after the younger man.

“Let it go, William,” Giles ordered to everyone’s surprise. “He’s angry and hurt and, unfortunately, has chosen to strike out at his only friends. We need to give him some time to adjust to the changes that have taken place lately.”

“What if he doesn’t? Adjust, I mean. What if he just stays mad at us?”

Willow’s lip trembled and without thinking Tara put a comforting arm around her, kissing the top of her head. Buffy’s mouth dropped open, but Spike had his hand on her arm in warning before she could say anything. Anya just nodded wisely as Giles blinked and took his glasses off for another round of unnecessary polishing.

“Haruph!” he cleared his throat noisily. “I’m sure he will come around. After all, you ARE his friends, are you not?”

“I thought we were,” Buffy said stubbornly, “but if he doesn’t lay off the complaints about my boy friend choices…”

She didn’t finish her threat, just stepped closer to Spike and faced her watcher with her lower lip sticking out. Giles shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

“Buffy,” he said, with an almost apologetic look at Spike, “You cannot expect any of us to be happy that you are in a…relationship…with another vampire. After the way the last one worked out.” He held up his hand to forestall the growl emanating from the vampire in question.

“Yes, yes, William. I know. You are not Angel/Angelus and you have no soul to lose. And I think we can all agree – Xander being the notable exception – that you seem to genuinely care about Buffy and her family. However, you ARE a master vampire, one quarter of the former Scourge of Europe, and the killer of two Slayers. You cannot expect us to just forget those things from your past and accept you into our bosoms, so to speak.

“Your actions over the past few months have done a great deal to prove that you have good intentions, but actions like your almost decapitation of Xander tonight show us that the demon is still very much a part of you. At this time, we are accepting your presence among us entirely for Buffy’s sake. Whether that grows into a genuine appreciation of your value as a member of our circle or a desire for your friendship will depend entirely on your actions in the future.”

The vampire seemed to be pondering the ex-Watcher’s words for a few seconds, then with a glance at Buffy’s anxious face, he shrugged and said, “Fair enough, Watcher.”

Turning away, he took Buffy’s hand again and said, “So, luv, are we on our way for ice cream?” He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Or did you have in mind something else cool and sweet for your mouth…?”

“Willow? Tara? Are you ready to go?” She looked at them expectantly, trying not to be wigged out by their body language and the way they were smiling at each other. Spike gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as she struggled to hide her shock.

(Ok, think about the things Spike and I have done, or imagined we were doing while we were apart. Not much room for Buffy-squeamishness just because Willow seems to have a girl friend. I can deal.)

“Sure!” Willow responded perkily. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence while everyone looked at Anya, wondering what she would want to do. The ex demon looked at them impatiently and said, “Well, if you’re going, you should go then. Rupert and I have important Magic Box business to discuss!”

Spike couldn’t control the wide grin on his face as the older man turned bright red and removed his glasses to polish the spotless lenses vigorously. When the grin threatened to turn into outright laughter, he sent the vampire a thunderous look and reached for a bottle of holy water. Still snickering, Spike quickly backed up, holding up his hands in appeasement.

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist, there, Watcher. We’re leavin’ now, aren’t we, love?”

Giggling in spite of themselves at Giles’ obvious discomfort, the three girls left the store with the vampire and began walking toward the ice cream shop, Willow and Tara in the lead and Buffy and Spike following closely behind. To the casual observer, they were four young friends out for the evening. A good-looking, if not overly tall, blond couple who appeared very much in love, accompanied by a pair of attractive young coeds. Just what one would expect to see in a town with a college campus.

Standing in the shadows, however, was a very un-casual observer, whose brow crinkled in surprise when he didn’t see a fourth young woman in the group. Staring back in the direction they had come from, he frowned at the closed door of the Magic Shop, wondering why Anya hadn’t joined everyone else.

Chapter Thirty-one

Unaware of Xander’s belligerent stare, they entered the ice cream shop and the girls ordered hot fudge sundaes. Spike shook his head lightly when Buffy asked if he wanted some, going to secure a table near the street while the girls waited for their sundaes.

When everyone was sitting down and digging into their cool goodness, Willow looked up at Buffy timidly and said, “Uh, Buffy. I…we…have something to tell you. But you have to promise not to wig out on me, ‘K?”

“Okay, Wills. But I don’t know why you think I’d wig out just because you tell me Tara’s your girlfriend. I think it’s great that you have somebody in your life again.”

Buffy beamed at Willow’s astonished face and giggled while Tara smiled self-consciously and hid behind her long blond hair.

Willow turned to Spike accusingly. “You told her! I said I was going to do it.” Her lips tightened and her eyes flashed.

With visions of being turned into a frog lending haste to his words, Spike quickly defended himself. “I didn’t tell her anything, Red. Slayer’s not as dumb as she looks, you know.”

Buffy’s indignant, “hey!” and accompanying punch to his arm was no more serious than Spike’s comment about her looks and they were soon sharing her sundae and playing games with their tongues and the spoon that had Willow and Tara eating very quickly and standing up to go back to the dorm.

Spike smiled to himself at the arousal he could smell coming off both girls, but decided that wasn’t information he needed to share with the volatile blond beside him. He did, however, insist that she finish quickly so they could walk the two witches back to the dorm.

“It’s no trouble, Glinda,” he said when Tara protested that they would be fine. “We have to go in that direction anyway. ‘S’not like I don’t think you two couldn’t protect yourselves from most nasties out there, but as long as you can have bodyguards, you might as well enjoy it.”

The shy blond smiled her thanks at him and the small group continued toward the campus of Sunnydale U. Now that Willow no longer felt they had a secret to hide, she and Tara held hands as they strolled through the warm evening air, and Buffy found that after her initial surprise, she was very comfortable with the new couple.

Just before they reached the dorm, a group of college jocks that had clearly been drinking for most of the evening approached and sneered at the two witches. When the sneers turned to ugly remarks and the men surrounded the small group, Spike’s eyes began changing color and Buffy had to clutch his hand hard to keep him from tearing in to them.

The leader of the group cast a contemptuous eye on the athletic-looking, but not terribly imposing man with the three girls and decided he was nothing to worry about. He leaned over Willow, his beer-soaked breath making her cringe away as he leered at her.

“If you ladies are finding there’s a shortage of real men on campus, we can help you out. Can’t we, guys?” he gestured expansively at the men with him.

“We sure can,” said a bulky boy with bad skin as he fingered a strand of Tara’s hair. “Come with me, baby, and I’ll show you what you’re missing…”

“Leave her alone.” Willow’s voice was cold and contained, but oozed power. Spike and Buffy stared at her in shock as she took Tara’s hand and pulled the blushing girl away from the big man.

He attempted to shrug off the way her voice had made him drop his hand by blustering and posturing at Spike.

“Who’s going to make me?” he demanded, pushing his finger into Spike’s chest. To his surprise, the smaller man didn’t flinch; nor did his body move at all in spite of the fairly hard push.

“I ‘spect any one of us that wants to,” he replied mildly, earning a grateful smile from Buffy.

The boys laughed and with a disbelieving snort they moved closer to the small group, effectively surrounding them and cutting off any escape. The less drunk ones in the group frowned slightly at the obvious lack of fear or concern being expressed by these potential bullying victims, but most of them were oblivious.

Rather than cringing in fear as expected, the blond couple just looked at each other and grinned. The man rolled his shoulders and fell into a relaxed, but visibly anticipatory stance; balanced on the balls of his feet, hands hanging loosely at his sides. The small girl beside him gave herself a little shake and went into a similar pose. The two wiccas, still holding hands and staring hard at the man who had touched Tara, began a soft chant under their breath.

Spike looked at Buffy with disappointment. “Bollocks! Does this mean Red’ gonna spoil all our fun with some kinda spell?”

Buffy shrugged and continued to watch the grinning men as they crowded in. “I don’t know, but I don’t think your buddy there is going to wait to find out.” She jerked her head toward the man who had poked at Spike’s chest as he drew back his fist and swung. Unfortunately for him, Spike’s eager face was no longer there, although his hand was. He wrapped his long, cool fingers around the would-be bully’s fist and began to squeeze slowly.

The man’s indignant curse rapidly turned into a moan as he went down to his knees from the escalating pain in his hand. Before his friends could move to help him, Tara and Willow became surrounded by a shimmering wall of light that distracted everyone. The two girls, still holding hands, began to walk toward their dorm, ignoring the confused men standing in their way. Those that didn’t move away, quickly found themselves thrown to the ground by the forces surrounding the two witches.

When they got to the steps of the dorm, the field evaporated and Willow waved cheerfully to Spike and Buffy.

“Night, guys! Thanks for the escort home!”

“Anytime, pet,” Spike called as he continued to crush the now-whimpering man’s hand in his.

The less drunk members of the group had started backing away, having no desire be flung to the ground by invisible forces nor to have body parts crushed by the deceptively small man now grinning evilly at their friend. The original leader looked back and forth from Spike to the disappointed-looking blond girl bouncing on her toes beside him. When she made a “bring it on” gesture in response to his threat to hurt her if Spike didn’t let go of his friend, he accepted that they’d made a serious error in judgment when they stopped to harass the harmless looking group.

“Hey, hey,” he back pedaled, “no need to get nasty here. We were just having a little fun. Didn’t mean any harm.”

“That right?” Spike asked, letting go of the other man’s hand and allowing him to drop to the ground to sob and cradle his swollen fist. “You meant no harm when you decided to be abusive to those girls? Was that before or after you were planning to show them what “real men” you were?”

As he spoke, Spike was gliding toward the much larger man, his face changing as he approached. One look at the demon’s amber eyes and the fangs now visible in Spike’s mouth and what remained of the original group of drunks took off screaming like little girls. By the time Buffy whirled him around to look at him, Spike was wearing William’s handsome human face and he just smirked at her irritated expression.

“You flashed some fang at them, didn’t you, you big dope?“ she hissed at him. “Don’t try to pretend you didn’t,” she added as he tried to maintain an air of innocence.

“Don’ know what you’re talking about, Slayer,” he said cheerfully. “All I did was reason with the big git.”

A groan from the ground behind Buffy reminded them that the young man Spike had injured was still there and Buffy swallowed hard as she turned to look at him. He was trying to get to his feet, but without the use of his injured hand to help push himself up, he just kept falling back down. Spike and Buffy watched with mild interest for a few minutes then with a muttered, “oh, for bloody hell’s sake,” the vampire reached down and grabbed the man by his good arm, yanking him to his feet and holding on until he stopped swaying.

“Prob’ly ought to get that looked at, mate,” he said blandly as he released his hold on the thoroughly confused man.

With a tentative nod, the lone remaining frat member took off after his long-gone friends, whimpering every time he jarred his hand as he jogged after them.

“You couldn’t let me handle it, could you?” Buffy grumbled as he continued to beam in satisfaction. Your first night out with me and you have to let a bunch of drunk frat boys know that William is a vampire.”

“Come on, pet. Those stupid gits aren’t going to be telling anybody that two little girls surrounded themselves with a force field and walked away from them. Or that one bloke chased them all off because his teeth were a little longer than theirs. And if they did, everyone would say they’d been drinkin’.

“Anyway,” he huffed, “how would it have been better for them to be tellin’ people a skinny little blond kicked the stuffing out of them? Either way, somebody’d be busted.”

“So much for secret identities, I guess,” she admitted ruefully. “I’d just hoped William could hang on to his a little longer than that. That’s all.”

Spike put his arms around her and kissed her pouting mouth as he said, “William would have stepped up too, love. He never would have let ladies be insulted like that.”

“Really?” she looked up hopefully, knowing the truth in his words. “He would have fought those guys?”

“Hell, yeah! He would. Course, he would’ve got his arse handed to him,” he admitted, ducking his head. “But he would’ve tried. Stupid git.”

“I don’t think he’s stupid,” she said softly, leaning into him.

“That right, pet?” he purred in her ear, pulling her closer. “What do you think he is?”

“I think he’s sweet and brave and romantic and—“

“And devilishly handsome and sexy?” he interrupted hopefully.

“And incredibly full of himself!” she laughed, pushing him away.

“So, you don’t think ‘m sexy?” he asked, sticking his soft lower lip out in a pout. He ducked his head and peered at her from under his thick lashes, somehow managing to appear both childish and mouth-wateringly good looking at the same time.

Buffy just shook her head at him and began walking away from the dorm toward his apartment building.

(Right then. She’s coming home with you tonight. Don’t push your luck you bloody idiot.)

He hastened to catch up with her, taking her hand when he did and linking their fingers together. They finished the walk to his building in companionable silence, enjoying the chance to feel like a normal couple for a brief period of time. A normal couple who were both thinking about the big bed awaiting them in the penthouse apartment and the time they had left before morning sent Buffy to class while Spike slept.

Chapter Thirty-two

By the end of the week, Buffy and Spike had settled into a routine in which she went to her classes and ran errands in the daytime, then stopped in her dorm room to pick up a change of clothes and the books she would need for the next day before walking to Spike’s apartment. Although he had done his best to stock the apartment with the things he thought she might need, it was still becoming annoying that she had to bring a bag with her every day so as to be ready for the next morning.

Inevitably, she would forget something important like lip gloss or eye liner and have to run back for it in the morning, or buy another one to keep at his apartment. When she got up one morning and realized she hadn’t brought any clean underwear, she sighed and kicked her bag in frustration.

“S’matter, pet?” came a sleepy voice from the bed.

“Nothing important,” she growled. “I’m sorry I woke you. I’m just cranky Buffy this morning. I don’t have any clean underwear with me. And I haven’t done any laundry all week, so I doubt I even have any back at my room.”

Spike leaned up on his elbow, wanting to suggest the remedy for her dilemma, but afraid to upset her by breaking his promise not to push the issue. He settled for offering, “Why don’t you bring your laundry with you this afternoon, love, and we’ll do it when you get here? There’s a washer and dryer in the room right down the hall.”

“I could do that, I guess. It’s a pretty big bag, though – or at least it will be when I collect all my dirty clothes from the floor of my dorm room.” She smiled at him apologetically. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to drive me back over tonight after patrol to get it?”

“No problem, pet.” Striving to be very casual, and not looking directly at her, he added carefully, “You might want to think about grabbing anything else you don’t want to be carrying back and forth all the time, while you’re at it. Your books, maybe? Stuff like that.”

He carefully kept his eyes on the bed clothes while he waited for her reply. He heard her heart beat increase, and braced himself for the expected negative response. His undead heart leaped when, instead, she said in a soft voice, “I guess that makes sense. It’s hard trying to live two places at the same time.”

He looked up to find her eyes on his face while she watched for his reaction.

“Does that mean…?”

“Do you want me here? All the time, I mean?”

Spike couldn’t believe the trace of anxiety in her voice. He leaped out of bed and crossed the room to her, completely forgetting he was naked. He ran his hand down her jaw, tipping her chin up as he looked down at her.

“You know I do, Buffy. All the time. Forever.”

He leaned down to kiss her and they both laughed when his burgeoning erection poked her in the stomach.

“All of me does,” he smirked, pulling her tightly against his body and enjoying the warm pressure on his cock.

Buffy giggled and slipped her hand down between them to give him a little pat. When he drew his breath in with a hiss, she turned the pat into a caress that made him groan and begin pulling her back toward the bed. He flopped down on his back, pulling her down on top of him and planting small, nibbling kisses on her neck.

She let herself succumb to the heat that flooded her body for several minutes, then reluctantly pushed herself up and away from him.

“I really have to go – I haven’t been to this class since last week. And it’s your fault,” she added when he began to pout.

“S’not my fault I wake up wanting you,” he growled, trying to pull her back within reach of his lips. He’d learned that if he kept his mouth on her almost anywhere, she would soon give in to her body’s urges and they could start the day the way he wanted to.

Buffy, however, had also learned her lesson over the previous several days, and she deftly avoided his attempts to kiss her, batting his hands away when he tried to pull her back down.

“Cut it out! You’re the one who keeps insisting I have to get my college education, Mr. I-went-to-Oxford.”

“You just going to leave me like this, Slayer?” he gestured to his throbbing hard-on and tried to look pitiful.

Buffy got a wicked gleam in her eye and moving too fast even for him, she said, “No, I’m going to leave you like this!” dipping down to run her tongue up his cock and plant a kiss on the tip.

Laughing at his groaned, “bloody hell!” and the glare he sent in her direction, she danced away from the bed and blew him another kiss.

“See you this afternoon,” she said cheerfully as she went out the door still laughing at the muttered British profanity coming from the bedroom.

Once she was gone, Spike stopped swearing and settled back against the pillows with a smile on his face. As much as he would have liked a morning shag, the fact that she could be so playful with him, not to mention the fact that she was obviously working her way toward moving in, made it impossible for him to be really angry.

Reaching over the edge of the bed, he picked up the thong underwear she had discarded the night before and held it to his nose. As he inhaled the heady scent, he stroked himself vigorously and was soon much more comfortable. With a satisfied smile, he rolled over and went back to sleep, still clutching the little scrap of lace in his hand.

*********

As Buffy and Spike worked their way around Sunnydale’s cemeteries that evening, finding little in the way of newly-risen vampires to slay and only one harmless-looking demon that scuttled away when it saw them coming, they talked about Anya and Xander. Spike carefully avoided saying anything about the developing relationship between Anya and her surrogate father. He was surprised, then, when Buffy asked suddenly, “So, do you think Giles has a thing for Anya? And isn’t that kind of…weird and…and…icky?”

“Why would it be …ok, I just can’t use the word ‘icky’,” he grimaced. “Why would you think it was weird, pet? S’not like the demon girl isn’t really a thousand years older than he is. He studies demons; she was one. Seems like a perfect match to me.”

“I don’t know. I guess just because she seems like she’s my age and Giles is…well, he’s old.”

The vampire didn’t try to hide his grin as he told her, “You wait about twenty years, pet, and then try to tell me he’s old.”

Buffy rolled her eyes at him, then suddenly sobered.

“What are chances I’m even going to be around twenty years from now?” she asked quietly. “I’m already past my expiration date. I’ll never know what it means to be old – or even middle-aged.”

“You’re gonna be around then because I’ll dust before I let anything happen to you.”

He gripped her arms so tightly it hurt as he stopped her and forced her to look into his eyes.

“Do you hear me, Slayer? You have a bodyguard for the rest of your life. I’ll be watchin’ your back every night and kicking your cute little arse if you take any unnecessary chances. You are going to be the longest-lived Slayer ever.”

Buffy tried to make light of the intense emotion radiating off the vampire as he held her arms with desperation.

“William the Bloody is now a Slayer bodyguard. Who would have guessed it?” she said teasingly.

“Anybody who knows how much I love you,” he countered. “Anybody who knows me and how I take care of the people I love.”

Buffy flashed back to how he cared for Drusilla when they first came to Sunnydale; how she was able to use his love for the mad vampire to gain the release of humans intended for food and how he had risked so much to save her from Angelus’ insane attempt to end the world.

“Yes, you do, don’t you?” she said softly, going up on her toes to kiss him lightly.

“I do and I will. Forever,” he promised, leaning into her kiss and sliding his arms around her back. They remained together for several minutes, basking in the comfort of having each other.

Reluctantly, he let her go after a while and said gruffly, “Best go check in with the Watcher and the rest of your little Scoobie pals, pet, so we have time to go get your stuff before it’s too late. You need to get more sleep than you’ve been getting lately.”

Smothering a yawn, Buffy said, “And whose fault is that? Huh? Who keeps me up all night by giving me happies until I’m too tired to move?”

He smirked at her with pride. “Didn’t hear you complainin’ last night, Slayer. What was it you said? Oh yeah, something along the lines of, ‘can we do that again?’”

Blushing, she turned away from him and started toward the Magic Box.

“I was just saying that so your feelings wouldn’t be hurt,” she threw over her shoulder, giggling at the indignation on his face. When he growled and started after her, she broke into a run, the vampire in hot pursuit, threatening to keep her awake and screaming his name for the next three days straight.

They burst into the Magic Box, laughing and, in Buffy’s case, flushed from the run. Willow and Tara greeted them with indulgent smiles and even Giles looked pleased to see his Slayer is such good spirits. She quickly reported the night’s patrol events, waiting impatiently while Giles jotted them down for his Watcher’s Diary.

Even though he was no longer employed by the Council of Watchers, life-long habits were hard to break and he still kept meticulous records of the events on the Hellmouth. The only concession he’d made to their status as disobedient Slayer and fired Watcher was to keep his own private journal in which he recorded things he didn’t want to share with the Watcher’s Council. Which included the fact that his Slayer had been claimed by William the Bloody and was now romantically involved with him.

If he’d had any doubt about the strength of their relationship, the carefree joy on their faces when they burst through the door banished it. Watching Buffy’s casual banter with the snarky vampire and Spike’s unabashed adoration shining through his deliberate attempts to rile her up, he had to admit that they seemed to be very much in love. He felt the last vestiges of concern about the relationship slipping away as he watched Spike’s interaction with the witches and listened to their story about the previous night’s events.

(There are worse things than having a master vampire of Spike’s reputation and prowess guarding a Slayer’s back. Somehow I suspect Spike will do a much better job of assisting her in her duties than Angel ever did. He’s doing it out of love, not some hope of reward or redemption for his past sins.)

Giles walked over to the table to join the younger people as their conversation turned from the band expected at the Bronze that weekend to speculation about which of Spike’s neighbors were demons and which ones were unsuspecting humans.

“I doubt any of the humans in our – my – building don’t know who else lives there,” the vampire offered dryly. “ S’not like they’re stupid; just open-minded. Most of them are there because they’re friends with somebody already living there. Don’t think you could stay friends with a demon for too long without figuring out something was up.”

“It just seems strange,” Willow said quietly. “To think we could have lived here so long and not figured out that we see demons every day – or at least, every night. And we’re supposed to be the experts!”

Spike’s derisive snort brought glares all around and he grinned in delight at having provoked a reaction. Buffy poked him in the ribs in retaliation for his deliberate baiting of her friends and discovered to her delight that he was ticklish. She was soon chasing him around the room giggling and sending him into laughing profanity every time she caught him. When he turned the tables and began to tickle her back, she quickly called a truce and retreated to the table, hiding behind Willow and Tara who jokingly threatened Spike with flying splinters of wood if he didn’t leave Buffy alone.

Giles watched in bemused wonder at the antics of the master vampire, known for having killed two Slayers, and the girl born to kill him. Watching them running around the shop, there was no way to distinguish either of them from any other young people in Sunnydale. While he knew that Spike was a good 100 years older than he was himself, the vampire’s mannerisms, clothing, and youthful face let him blend easily with the college students at the table. And, the high energy level and constant need for amusement contributed to the illusion of youthfulness that surrounded him.

Shaking his head at the contradiction in front of him, the ex-watcher went to fix himself a cup of tea. While he was in the tiny kitchen, the bell jingled and Anya came in hurriedly. She glanced around the room quickly and then visibly relaxed as she headed for the kitchen. Giles greeted her with a warm smile, standing up straighter and running a hand through his hair. He and Anya were so busy smiling at each other that they completely missed the knowing looks going around the table.

Giles fixed the ex demon a cup of tea and they both moved back into the main room, taking their places at the table and joining the desultory conversation now going on again. Anya quickly joined the discussion about the human-looking demons living in Spike’s building, contributing what she knew about those that actually looked like humans vs those that could take that appearance, but, like vampires, could look otherwise if they chose.

Giles was soon busy, happily copying down descriptions of the various humanoid demons and mentally reviewing which ones he now realized he had seen and done business with through the years. The atmosphere around the table was relaxed and friendly, if heavy enough on the estrogen to have the vampire and watcher exchange the occasional male-bonding look of disbelief at some of the comments.

The comfortable atmosphere in the room lasted until the bell jingled again and they all looked up to see Xander stomp into the shop and walk right to Anya’s chair. He glared down at her, breathing hard, and everyone flinched back at the reek of alcohol on his breath.

“Where the hell did you go?” he asked, somewhat rhetorically, as he could clearly see that he had found her. “I told you not to leave. We weren’t through talking yet!”

“I was quite through, Xander,” she answered primly. “You were being verbally abusive and unreasonable and I saw no reason to stay there any longer.”

The angry brunette looked around the table as though hoping to find support, but encountered looks ranging from sympathetic, from Willow, to cold and threatening. Surprisingly, the threatening look was not coming from the vampire sitting behind Buffy, but from the suddenly dangerous-looking man sitting near Anya.

He changed his tone, saying in a wheedling voice, “Ahn, I just want to talk to you. We need to work this out. You know you can’t get along without me to help you. You don’t know enough about being human yet. You need me to keep you from saying stupid things and making dumb mistakes.”

“I don’t think so, Xander,” she replied as pleasantly as possible for someone who had just been completely insulted. “I have a job, friends “– she bestowed a dazzling smile on Giles - ”my own place to live. What I need is some space to find out who I am and what I want to do with this new life. Why can’t you let me have that?” she finished plaintively.

Instead of answering her, he grabbed her by the upper arm, pulling her out of the chair and toward him, ignoring her gasp of pain and fear. Spike and Buffy immediately stood up, but in spite of their superior reaction times, Giles was already between the two former lovers. His face and voice were pure Ripper as he buried his fingers between the younger man’s neck and shoulder, saying through gritted teeth, “That will be quite enough.” He squeezed until Xander released Anya’s arm with a very unmanly cry. The girl cringed away from him, scuttling behind Giles fearfully.

Without releasing the startled boy’s shoulder, Giles began dragging him toward the door of the shop. He opened the door with his free hand and threw the protesting Scooby out, ordering him to “Go home and sober up and do not come back here until you are ready to behave like a gentleman. And stay away from Anya,” he added coldly. “She has made it clear she does not wish to belong to you anymore. Respect her wishes or suffer the consequences.”

Willow stage-whispered to Buffy, “Is that Giles-speak for I’m going to kick your ass?”

“I’m pretty sure it is,” she whispered back, feeling somewhat proud of her watcher even though it was her friend he was manhandling.

Spike watched with interested eyes as the other Brit returned to the back of the shop and began rubbing Anya’s arm and worrying over the bruises on it. A little nudge from Buffy, and Willow and Tara stood up to join the two blonds in saying a hasty “good-night.” As they left, they could hear Anya complaining that she couldn’t go home as Xander was likely to be camped out in front of her apartment building. Spike’s vampire hearing picked up the watcher’s murmured answer and he puzzled the three girls with the big grin that spread across his face.

The walk back to the dorm was uneventful this time, and Buffy was soon in her room collecting her dirty laundry as well as deciding what belongings to take with her when Spike got back with his car. She told herself that as long as she left something in the dorm room, she wasn’t technically moving in with the vampire, but as soon as she picked up Mr. Gordo and added him to the pile of things for Spike to carry out, she knew she was kidding herself.

By the time Spike was back and had begun carrying bags of clothes and boxes of books out to fill the Desoto’s large trunk, Buffy had left very little behind to indicate someone lived on her side of the room. As she picked up the last bag of clothing and added her jewelry box to the stack, it slipped, falling and allowing the contents to roll across the floor. Spike swooped down to help her pick things up, pausing when he came across the ring he’d given her during their “engagement”.

“You kept it, huh?” he asked nonchalantly, holding it out to her.

She blushed and took it, closing her fist around it tightly. “Yes,” she admitted quietly. “I kept it. I wore it the whole time you were gone – but it was too big to stay on my thumb, so I had to put it on a chain and wear it around my neck.”

“Why’d you stop wearing it?”

She blushed again and looked up at him with a guilty smile. “I was afraid if you saw it I had it, you’d want it back and I didn’t wan-”

“Never,” he said simply.

“So you don’t mind if I wear it sometimes, then?” she asked, already sure of the answer but wanting to hear him say it.

“I would be the happiest man in the world,” he said, paraphrasing his speech when he’d asked her to marry him during the spell.

Forgoing the opportunity to point out that he wasn’t a man, Buffy smiled happily and slipped the ring onto its chain before hanging it around her neck. She didn’t notice Spike’s thoughtful silence as they picked up the last of her things and by the time they got to his building he was his usual snarky self.

Chapter Thirty-three

They drove up to the loading dock entrance to the building and Buffy was surprised to find, Justin, the concierge and two other men, all cheerfully waiting to help carry her stuff up to the penthouse. Spike introduced the three briefly, gliding over the last names. Buffy thought she felt some reluctance on the part of the man introduced as “Teddy” when she went to shake his hand, but it was over so quickly she couldn’t be sure. She peered at him suspiciously, wondering why her slayer senses were activating. When she saw the ease with which he picked up a box full of heavy text books, she realized why he was so uneasy about shaking hands with her.

She pulled on Spike’s arm and said in loud whisper, “I think Teddy is a vampire, Spike!”

He rolled his eyes at her, stepping between the blond Slayer and the obviously frightened vamp holding her books. In spite of being bigger than Spike and Buffy put together, Teddy appeared ready to drop the heavy box and bolt any second.

“Brilliant deduction, pet. Did they teach you that in Slayer school? Cause, you know, loud whispers? Vamp hearing? Not the best way to keep a secret.”

“But…but he’s holding my books,” she said in a voice that even she realized sounded more like a whiney brat than an adult Slayer. “And he’s not dust. Why isn’t he dust, Spike?”

“Because he’s a friend of mine, love,” he said soothingly. “Teddy has never willingly hurt anyone in his unlife. There’s no reason for him to be dusted. And, anyway,” he added, “He’s the night desk clerk/watchman for the building. He works for me.”

Buffy gaped at the still-nervous vamp in disbelief. Teddy was nodding his head rapidly in agreement with Spike’s comments. Fighting down her instincts, she took another look at him and saw the gentle expression on his face and the complete lack of anything but fear directed toward her. She looked back at Spike for more explanation.

“Teddy was one of my minions,” he explained. “He almost starved to death before we realized he wasn’t eating anyone. He doesn’t mind being a vampire, he just doesn’t like the evil part of it. Must have a really lazy demon,” Spike snarked with a laugh at the embarrassed vamp.

Teddy stood, holding Buffy’s box of books and shuffling his feet as Spike explained what a failure the gentle giant was as a minion until they discovered that he was an excellent assistant for Dalton due to his education and love of research. Spike didn’t say it, but Teddy’s gentle nature had reminded him of himself before he was turned and he found himself very protective of their resident non-evil minion.

“So, what does he eat, then?” Buffy was still dubious, but gave Teddy a reassuring smile anyway.

“I bag it most of the time,” he admitted quietly. “Either pigs’ blood from the butcher or the real thing from Willie’s if I want a special treat.”

“So, you never eat people?”

Teddy looked at Spike helplessly and his boss stepped in, turning Buffy so that she wasn’t staring at the nervous vamp.

“Once, he found a man trying to rape a little girl and he ripped the perverted wanker’s throat out. It was well-deserved and I’m sure nobody missed the ugly blighter. Ever since then, if the demon gets antsy, he finds some low-life trying to hurt somebody and he gives them the fright of their life. Usually leaves ‘em alive though, don’t you, Teddy?”

Teddy nodded again, sending Buffy a nervous smile. “I don’t kill them, Slayer. I just take enough to satisfy the demon for awhile and scare them into thinking about changing their ways.”

“Oh,” was all Buffy could think of to say. Her training in a Slayer’s duty was warring with her common sense and it was giving her a headache. In typical Buffy fashion, she chose to ignore the problem.

“Let’s get this stuff upstairs while I still have enough energy to put it away,” she said cheerfully, leading the way to the elevator without actually acknowledging the explanation.

Spike shook his head warningly at the confused vamp and said, “Right, then. Let’s go men. She’s got boxes to unpack and shoes to put away.”

A quick trip to the top floor and Buffy’s things were quickly piled in the middle of the living room floor and she was thanking the three helpers with a sincere smile. Spike added his gruff, “Thanks, mates,” as they left the apartment as rapidly as they politely could.

“Do I make them nervous?” Buffy asked with the beginnings of a pout.

Spike raised one incredulous eyebrow at her and she had the grace to blush.

“I guess I do, huh? Well, they’ll just have to get used it. The Slayer lives here now.”

Ignoring the astonished vampire gawking at her with a widening smile on his face, she began pawing through the bags of clothes for the dirty ones. “Ah ha!” she said triumphantly as she held up a large plastic bag full of laundry. “Here it is! Off to the laundry room with you!”

A bemused Spike followed the chattering girl down the hall to the laundry area wondering who this person was and what she’d done with the usually serious Slayer. She filled two washers with underwear and school clothes, then turned around and crossed her arms across her chest.

“I’m guessing I don’t need to stay here to be sure nobody takes my stuff,” she said, smiling widely at the vampire. “What with you being the boss and everything…”

“Your things are perfectly safe here, love. Anybody who’s not afraid of me is probably terrified of you, so I’m thinkin’ yeah, it’s as safe as houses.”

“Is that a vampire thing? ‘Safe as houses?’ I mean, what makes houses so safe? Unless you’re a vampire, and then I guess…”

“What’s the matter, pet?” He moved closer to her and ran a hand down her arm until he could link their hands. “Not having second thoughts, are you?” he asked, suddenly realizing the real reason for her unusual chattiness.

Buffy squeezed his fingers tightly as she struggled to find the words she needed to say. She sighed heavily and dropped the false cheeriness.

“I…I don’t know. It’s just such a…big step, you know? Living together, I mean. Not us,” she hastened to assure him. “I’m all about the us being…us. It’s just…I mean what’s my mom going to say? And what if the Council finds out? If Willow and Giles could figure it out, I’m sure they will. And then what?”

“We’ll sort it out, love. We talked about this before. I’m going to be William in public. A much less poncy William than before, but not the Big Bad. Unless somebody tells them what’s going on, they’re just going to think you’re trying to have that normal life that most Slayers never get. Nobody in this building is going to be talking to anyone from the Council of Wankers. You can be sure of that.”

“What about my mom?”

He pushed a strand of hair back from her worried face and said carefully, “I think your mum will surprise you. She knows you’re not her little girl any more. And she knows what the life expectancy is for Chosen Ones and that you’ve already exceeded it. Even if she didn’t like me, I don’t think she’d object to you living with somebody whose only goal in his un-life is to keep you alive for as long as possible.”

“That’s your only goal?”

“Well,” he moved closer and ran his lips down her neck, causing her to shiver all over, “that and shagging you silly on a regular basis.”

“Oh,” she breathed leaning into him and sliding her arms around his waist. “I like that goal.”

“We could begin now, if you’d like,” he responded, sounding much more like William than Spike.

He ran cool hands up under her shirt and began stroking her silky skin while his lips continued to move around her face and neck, leaving small moist spots where they paused for seconds. His tongue laved his bite marks, sending tingles directly to her lower abdomen and causing a release of moisture into her last pair of clean panties.

Buffy moaned in barely restrained desire as she melted into his body, trying to feel every hard muscle. He moved his mouth up to her lips and she lost herself in one of his bone melting kisses. She almost passed out trying to maintain the kiss as long as possible. Breaking away for one quick gulp of air, she came back immediately, attaching her lips greedily and sending her tongue out to twist around his.

She was dimly aware of the sound of the door opening, but her back was to it and she didn’t see who came in. She did see Spike raise his head and flash his fangs at whoever it was. There was a frightened squeal and the door shut again abruptly. With a snarl, Spike reached the door and twisted the doorknob so that it was locked securely.

He turned to look at Buffy, leaning weakly against the washer, all flushed and disheveled and his face melted back into William’s adoring countenance. Without seeming to move, he glided toward her, lifting her up onto the washer and running his hands up her thighs until he got to the waistband of her jeans. He teased the warm, taut skin of her stomach with his fingers, running them around the inside of the waistband, then suddenly dipping into the back to cup the globes of her ass.

He leaned down to take one fabric-covered nipple in his mouth, pulling on it gently while his hands slid around to the front and unfastened her pants. Taking his mouth off her breast, he began slowly pulling the pants down, pausing to hook his thumbs in her underwear so as to pull them off at the same time. He pushed her back gently so that she was leaning on her elbows on top of the washer while he tugged her pants off and dropped them on the floor.

Buffy looked at him from her place on the washer, marveling at how much he had taught her in the past week. Instead of blushing and cringing away from his heated gaze, she lay where he’d placed her, legs open while his mouth worked its way from her knees up the inside of her thighs until he was nibbling lightly on her nether lips.

Her gasp and involuntary tilting of her hips made him smile and he nuzzled her soft curls as he whispered, “Something you want, love?”

“Mmmmm, hmmmm,” was the most coherent thing she could think of as she continued to push toward his mouth and the talented tongue that was teasing her with little licks here and there. In one quick movement, he ran his tongue up her slit, pausing to press it into her clit before pulling back again. Buffy had thrown her head back at the first touch of his tongue and he stopped to admire the wanton picture in front of him.

There was something incredibly sexy about the sight of her, completely clothed from the waist up and naked and spread open for him from the waist down. He took one leg in each hand and placed them on his shoulders, cupping her ass in his hands and bring her heated sex toward his face. When he plunged his tongue into her, she choked back a scream as she arched up into his mouth.

Using his lips and tongue, he brought her to the edge of orgasm so many times she lost track, only knowing that her body was crying out for the release he was denying her.

“Spike!” she almost sobbed as she writhed on the cold metal beneath her. She felt him smile against her clit as he worried it with his blunt teeth, turning her sobs to gasps of “oh, God, oh, God, oh God”. Gritting her teeth, and using her strong stomach muscles to pull herself forward, she grabbed the curls on his head and held it against her while she rubbed frantically against his face.

Realizing he had pushed her beyond the point of sanity, and worried about his own safety, he relented and pulled her throbbing clit into his mouth, working it with his teeth and tongue while he sucked on it as only something that lives on freshly pulled blood can. In seconds, she was shuddering against him and screaming his name as the orgasm he’d been delaying for so long tore through her body. He held her tightly while the tremors continued to shake them both, only letting go when he felt her go limp in his hands.

He slid her completely limp body off the washer’s top and cradled her in his arms waiting for her to open her eyes. Instead, he felt her give a contented groan and snuggle into his chest, dropping immediately into a deep, much needed sleep. With a resigned sigh, he opened the locked door with one hand and carried her back to the apartment.

He set her gently on the bed, holding her up with one hand while he took off her shirt and bra. Except for an unintelligible mumble when he kissed her forehead and whispered, “sweet dreams, my love,” she gave no sign that she was aware of anything around her.

With a last, longing look at her naked body, he pulled the covers up and went back down the hall to collect her discarded clothes from the floor and to switch her clean clothes from the washer to the dryer. He gave a rueful growl as he realized what a sight it must make – a master vampire doing the Slayer’s laundry while she slept trustingly in his bed.

(Thank the powers that ole grandpa dusted Darla before she had a chance to see this. That hell bitch would be laughing so hard she’d probably dust from the vibrations.)
Chapter Thirty-four

Spike and Buffy strolled through Restfield cemetery, hands linked and senses alert for any signs of trouble.

“You know, I’m almost afraid to say this out loud, but-“

“Whatever you do, do NOT finish that sentence!”

The Slayer’s idle speculation was interrupted abruptly by the vampire’s horrified voice. “Do you want to bring about an apocalypse, pet?” he continued in a less terrified, but no less serious tone.

“I’m just saying – we’ve dusted so many vamps lately that it seems like there aren’t any left to make new ones. I’m going to get fat and lazy without any work to do.”

Spike pulled her into his body, rubbing against her so that she could feel his rapidly hardening cock.

“If it’s burning calories you’re interested in, I think I can take care of that, love,” he purred into her ear.

“Mmmmm,” she agreed, jumping up to wrap her legs around his waist and let his erection press into her instantly wet crotch. Heedless of the fact that they were standing in the middle of a public place, albeit one with very few visitors after dark, they ground against each other until Buffy gave a muffled shriek and trembled against him.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped, sliding down his body to an accompanying moan from the vampire as her heat left his aching cock. “I didn’t mean to—“

“S’alright, pet. Watching you come is almost as good as doing it myself,” he grinned at her flushed face and tried to adjust himself inside his jeans.

“Here, let me do that for you,” she purred, sliding down the zipper and slipping her warm hand into his pants. His hiss of pleasure and the jerking of his hips brought a wicked smile to her face. “I think I can fix this problem before we go to mom’s” she giggled, kneeling in front of him and taking him into her warm mouth.

“Ah, love. Your mouth – so hot, so wet - feels like heaven…that’s it, love, don’t stop, Buffy… only you, pet…. Slayer… Buffy….I’m…love you, Slayer…need to…. Buffy!”

Licking her lips, and smiling in pure feminine pride at the look on his face, she stood up and tucked him back into his pants. Giving his now softened cock a little pat, she cooed, “See, problem solved.”

As she went to leave, he grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him. She wrinkled her brow in confusion as his beautiful eyes bored into hers.

“Spike? William? Is…is something wrong?”

Shaking his head, he continued to stare into her puzzled eyes until he could see that she was about to say something else and he stopped her with a gentle finger to her lips.

“I love you, Buffy Anne Summers. More than you will ever know.”

He felt her smile against his finger just before she pulled it into her mouth and bit down gently. He growled a warning, but she just held his finger in her teeth until he relaxed and smiled at her.

“I love you, too, William,” she said softly. “Very much.”

“Just so that’s settled then,” he said gruffly to hide the tears threatening to embarrass him.

“Yup, all settled. Now let’s go. We’re going to be late for dinner.”

When they got to Revello drive for what had become a regular weekly occurrence, Joyce greeted them both with hugs and pecks on the cheek. They followed her into the kitchen and watched as she filled plates and handed them to the hungry Slayer.

“Here, honey, you put these on the table while I warm William’s blood.”

“I’ll do that, Joyce. You go visit with your daughter and start eating. I know we’re late. You’re prob’ly starving.”

When Spike joined his lover and her mother at the dining room table, he could tell he’d interrupted something serious.

“Should I go out and come in again?” he ventured as identical pairs of green eyes turned to him.

“Mom was just asking me what our plans were,” Buffy said quietly.

While Spike stared at the older woman in shock, she looked back and forth between them and shook her head.

“Exactly how stupid do you two think I am? And when were you planning to tell me you were living together?”

Suddenly reverting to the socially inept William he hadn’t been for over a 100 years, Spike stuttered and mumbled as he looked anywhere but at the mother of the girl he’d been mated to so briefly.

“How--?” Buffy’s timid question was interrupted by a wave of her mother’s hand.

“Oh please, you haven’t been in your dorm room for weeks. If I need to call you, I use Spike’s cell phone; which he then hands to you no matter what time of the day or night it is. You two act more married than most married people.”

She paused and her look softened. “I’m just a little hurt that you felt you couldn’t tell me about this. What did you think I would say?”

“Dunno, really.” Spike looked up from his feet to meet Joyce’s eyes, saying honestly, “I guess I just thought you’d be wanting something more for your daughter than a monster in a man’s body.”

Buffy’s eyes flew wide as she heard him refer to himself as a monster and she whirled to look at him.

“Don’t call yourself that! You…you’re not a monster.”

He held up his cup of warm blood and with a sardonic lift of his eyebrow, saluted her with it before talking a big sip.

“I am, love. Always will be. You know it. I know it. And your mum knows it. No sense tryin’ to pretend otherwise.” He looked apologetically at her mother, then met Buffy’s unhappy eyes. “The monster loves you, pet. Can’t deny that either. But it doesn’t change what I am – any more than that soul changes what Angelus is. We’re what we are – what we were made to be. Having me fall in love with a Slayer is just the Powers’ way of having a little fun at my expense.”

He turned back to the older Summers woman. “I know I’ll never be good enough for her, Joyce. But nobody could love her more than I do, and I’m going to do my best to keep her as safe as I can for the rest of her life. Any big bad that wants to take out this Slayer is gonna have to go through a master vampire to do it.”

“So, you’re going to take over her slaying?” Joyce asked skeptically, but with the tiniest trace of hope in voice.

One look at Buffy’s scowling face told him he needed to be careful with his answer if he didn’t want to be spending a very lonely evening.

“No, Joyce,” he said quickly, “Got no plans to be the Slayer. Buffy’s the Chosen One – and a damn good one she is,” he sent a quick smile toward the still angry-looking Slayer. “I just meant I’ll be at her side – fighting if I need to, watchin’ her back if that’s all that’s required. I mean to be with her for a long, long time.”

“Oh,” Joyce said, with just a trace of disappointment in her voice.

“Mom, you know what I am. We’ve talked about this. I’m really sorry that I won’t have that nice normal life you want for me. Believe me, sometimes I really want it too. But it’s not my destiny. I’m expendable – I’ve already lived longer than most slayers and had much more of a normal life than most of them are allowed.”

She paused for a minute to remember Kendra with her fixed ideas of what a Slayer could and couldn’t do; and Faith, equally as unorthodox as Buffy in some ways, but just as alone and lonely as Kendra had been.

“Spike is…he’s what I need. He loves me as I am. He loves Buffy, but he also loves the Slayer. He’s my equal in many ways. I don’t have to worry about him the way I would a human man. I know he can take care of himself…” She sent him a warm look that said more than words that she forgave him for sounding like he thought she needed a bodyguard. “And I love him. I love the part of him that’s William and I love the demon. He completes me.”

The vampire was staring at her, struck completely dumb by her words, while her mother nodded her head and covered Buffy’s hand with her own.

“I have no doubt that you love each other. Buffy. And if being with Spike makes you happy, you completely have my blessing. I feel much more comfortable about your pursuit of your duties knowing that you have someone like Spike to back you up.”

When the relieved couple relaxed and leaned back in their chairs, she turned to send a very stern motherly look at the vampire as she said, “That doesn’t mean I am happy that you and my daughter are publicly living in sin, William. What do you intend to do about that?”

Spike had just taken another sip of his rapidly cooling blood and he choked at her question, spraying red droplets out on the white tablecloth. To avoid answering, he continued coughing and making a big production of cleaning up his mess. Buffy was bright red and staring at her mother in mortification.

“Mooooom!” her anguished wail brought her mother’s gaze back to her and Joyce said innocently, “What? I have a right to know what his intentions are.”

Spike watched in amusement as the fierce Slayer, bane of the existence of all evil, the stuff of demon nightmares, blushed and cringed at her mother’s probing questions. He put his hand in his pocket, touching the small package he’d brought with him. Reaching a decision, he pulled his hand out of his pocket and set a small box on the table in front of him.

“I’d planned to do this in a more romantic setting,” he began, watching Buffy and her mother as their eyes were riveted on the small package he’d placed so casually on the table, “but maybe this is a good time to bring it up.”

He reached for Buffy’s hand, holding it in his as he picked up the ring box and moved to kneel in front of her. He flipped the box open to show the delicately filigreed setting for the diamond he was presenting to her.

“I thought maybe you would rather have this to wear instead of that heavy old thing you keep around your neck,” he grinned, still kneeling on the floor and holding her hand.

Joyce gave a gasp and Buffy put her free hand to her mouth and stared back and forth between the ring and the grinning vampire.

“Do you want me to say it, pet?” he asked softly as she continued to be speechless. “This time it would be all me – no spell.”

She nodded dumbly and he kissed her knuckles as he asked her in William’s cultured tones, “Miss Summers, would you do me the honor of being my wife?”

Tears sprang into Buffy’s eyes as she looked into his serious blue pupils.

“Yes,” she said softly, then louder, “Yes, William, I will marry you.”

“Well, good,” he said briskly, back to his usual self. “Let’s get this on you then.”

He slipped the ring onto her waiting finger and sat back on his heels to beam at her as she turned it this way and that, watching it catch the light. She held it toward her mother and Joyce dutifully admired it. She turned to look at the smiling vampire and said tentatively, “That is a lovely ring, Spike. It looks like an antique. It must be worth a fortune….”

“Didn’t steal it, Joyce,” he said tightly.

“Oh, no! I didn’t mean to imply—just, it’s…”

“William is rich, Mom. He owns buildings. I’m sure a little ring wasn’t-“

“It was my mother’s,” he said quietly.

Buffy’s eyes flew to his and she moved to join him in kneeling on the floor.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. “I love it. And I love you.”

“I’ll never get tired of hearing you say that.”

They were quickly lost in a kiss that went from chaste to demanding and moan-inducing before the sound of Buffy’s mother clearing her throat brought them back to their surroundings and they broke apart guiltily.

“So,” Joyce said brightly, “I have a wedding to plan!”


Chapter Thirty-five

Hours of discussion about wedding dresses, possible sites, attendants, and other issues that apparently required double X chromosomes to appreciate, later, Spike was relieved to find himself walking back toward the apartment in blissful silence. Blissful silence that lasted only a few blocks.

“Spike? What do you think? A big wedding in the Knights of Columbus hall or a smaller one in Mom’s backyard?”

He stopped her in mid-stride and turned her around to face him.

“Slayer. Buffy. Love of my live. I need for you to take this in the spirit in which it’s meant.”

She made a puzzled frown, her lower lip already working its way out as she waited for what he was going to say. Spike sighed heavily, hoping she wouldn’t get so angry she would damage his mother’s ring.

“Just tell me when and where I have to be, and leave me out of any discussions about flowers, dresses, decorations and such like, yeah?”

Buffy’s lip trembled. “You don’t want to be involved in planning your own wedding?”

“All I want, sweetheart, is to be married to you. All proper and legal-like. Don’t care how we get there, or how many of your bloody girl friends have to carry whatever kinds of posies to help us do it.

“ ‘M sorry, pet. I jus can’t get excited about all this stuff. Even when we were under Red’s evil spell, you might remember I wasn’t all with the planning and such. All I wanted was to make you mine, any way I could.”

“Oh, and your choices worked out so well for us,” she grumbled.

“Was it really all that bad, love?” He couldn’t hide the hurt in his voice at her casual dismissal of the claim they’d put on each other.

Her stricken eyes flew to his disappointed face and she quickly stepped closer and cupped his cheek with her hand.

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that! You know I didn’t. I’m as sorry as you are that we don’t have the claim any more. And I know this wedding doesn’t mean anything in demon terms. That it’s just a poor substitute for what we had. But it’s all we’re going to be allowed and I just want it to be perfect.”

“As long as it ends up with you belonging to me, it WILL be perfect,” he rumbled, nuzzling her neck and licking the faint traces of his claiming bite. “That’s all I care about, love.”

Buffy shivered when his tongue ran over the almost invisible scars from the claim. The urge to pull on his head and drive his fangs into her neck was almost overwhelming and she moaned, unconsciously tilting her head to give him better access to his marks.

“Bloody hell, love. What are you tryin’ to do to me?” he groaned, fighting back the demon as it eagerly fought to accept what she seemed to be offering.

(Got to be strong for her. It would be so easy to just slip my fangs back into those marks. Would taste so good. Make her mine forever.)

(It would be so easy to let him bite me again. It would feel so good. And we’d be married in both worlds – his and mine.)


“I…I’m sorry…” Buffy reluctantly pushed on his chest, eliciting another groan from the now-trembling vampire. He didn’t respond, other than to release her shoulders and step away, taking quick, unnecessary breaths in an attempt to regain control over his demon.

“My fault, pet. Never should have touched those marks like that.”

As he recovered his control, he looked at her with a cocky grin. “Had no idea I could still have that kind of affect on you, Slayer. Must be my irresistible charm and sexiness.”

“Or, you just can’t resist ME,” she shot back at him, falling back into their easy banter to avoid a serious discussion of how close they had come to slipping.

“You wish, pet. You wish,” he snarked, taking her hand and continuing their walk home.

“Oh, I KNOW, vampire. Don’t think I don’t.”

Wrapped up as they were in the euphoria of their engagement, as well as their relief at not succumbing to the lure of claiming, neither one noticed the witness to their exchange. Spike stopped once and sniffed the air with a frown, but the wind was blowing away from them and he shrugged off the faint scent he’d thought he picked up.

As the passed the street that led to the Magic Box, Buffy suddenly changed direction, pulling him along with her.

“What the…?”

“I want to tell Giles,” she said. “He might still be at the Magic Box. I want to show him my ring.”

“This can’t wait until tomorrow?”

“Nope. Can’t wait.” She paused for a second, suddenly less sure of herself. “You don’t think he’s going to react the way he did while we were under the spell, do you? Do you think he’ll be happy for us this time?”

“Happy might be overstating it a bit, pet. I think he’ll be less surprised than he was the first time around, but I doubt he’s going to be all that happy.”

“Well, he better be,” she muttered, “or I’ll just tell him how icky I think it is that he and Anya—“

The sound of a trash can lid rolling out of an alley, followed by a muttered curse, had them both whirling to stare in astonishment as a shame-faced Xander emerged from the near-by alley.

“Uh, hi, guys,” he said weakly, waving his hand.

Sincerely hoping he hadn’t heard what she said about Giles and Anya, Buffy demanded, “Xander Harris, have you been following us?”

“Well, no, yeah, sorta – but only in the I-was-going-that-way-anyway kinda way. I mean, I was heading for the Magic Box and you seem to be heading for the Magic Box, and I…”

“An you jus’ thought it would be better to skulk around in the dark than walk with us?” Spike’s disbelieving snort made the younger man color with anger and embarrassment.

“Unlike Buffy, I prefer not to walk around town in the company of the undead,” he said haughtily.

“Well then, you’ll be wantin’ to ditch your friend there,” Spike offered mildly, jerking his head toward the vampire that was just emerging from the alley where Xander had been hiding.

Giving an unmanly squeal, Xander quickly came closer to Buffy, subtly putting her between himself and the advancing vamp. The fledgling stopped in confusion, uncertain about why the humans in front of him weren’t screaming and running, but glad that he wasn’t going to have to work hard for his meal. He advanced quickly, mentally choosing between the larger, dark-haired meal, and the more tender-looking blond girl. He ignored, for the moment, the grinning, thinner man, concentrating on the two delicious looking meals first.

Deciding to try to have them both, he backhanded Xander to the ground while he leaped at Buffy with his fangs already aimed at her throat. His surprise at finding himself impaled upon a wooden stake rather than ripping her throat out, was short-lived as he exploded into a dust cloud before he could even protest.

“Wanker,” Spike snorted in disgust, as he brushed the dust off his shirt. “Doesn’t recognize a Slayer when he sees one.”

Buffy helped Xander to his feet and apologized for the fat lip he was now sporting.

“Sorry, Xan. I thought he was just going for me.”

“Cause you’re the vampire magnet,” he grumbled, not noticing Buffy’s tiny flinch and the vampire’s narrowed eyes.

Without answering, she turned away and started toward the Magic Box again. Spike gave the boy a hard look, but resisted the urge to chew him out, extending his stride to catch up to Buffy. Xander trailed behind them, making an effort to stay closer now that they knew he was there. He’d seen them earlier when Spike had been so close to biting Buffy again and vowed to tell the Watcher what happened.

(Surely the G-man will stake him if he thinks Spike is going to reinstate the claim. He just needs to understand how bad the situation is.)

Satisfied that he had the solution to his problem, he scampered to keep up with the super-powered beings in front of him, anxious now to reach his destination.

They reached the shop to find that the door was locked, although the lights were still on, indicating either Giles or Anya was still around. Xander hadn’t seen Anya, except from a distance, in several weeks as she apparently only went to her apartment when she could be sure he was at work.

The one evening she had shown up while he was waiting, the Watcher had been with her and, remembering Giles’ threat if he didn’t stay away from the ex-demon, Xander had refrained from approaching them. Instead he watched as she entered the apartment with Giles, emerging sometime later with a large suitcase. The ex-watcher was carrying an additional armful of things, as well as a rather large box.

Xander frowned in confusion as he watched them load the things into Giles’ car and head back upstairs. When they returned with more armloads of her belongings, he began to worry. If Anya was moving to a new apartment, he would really have a hard time seeing her since the only other place he knew he could find her was at work at the Magic Box where the older man who had appointed himself her guardian was sure to be.

Hoping he could distract Giles from helping Anya by giving him something else to worry about, Xander determined to tell him about Spike and Buffy’s growing closeness. He told himself he had only been spying on them for Buffy’s own good, and he was hurrying to tell the Watcher about the almost-bite when he had to duck into the alley after realizing that he’d almost run into them.

The fact that the people he was going to be discussing were now present did not deter him from his purpose, and he moved closer to the shop and waited for someone to open the door.

Buffy peered in the window, moving around until she could see most of the store. Suddenly, she leaped back and got between Xander and the window, saying, “I guess nobody’s there. We should go now.” She gestured to Spike with her eyes.

His vampire hearing had already picked up the unmistakable sounds of enthusiastic lovemaking from within the small shop, and he grinned widely as he agreed with the Slayer.

“Right you are, pet. Nobody there. Nothing to see here. Let’s just all go home and try again tomorrow.”

Buffy was finding it difficult to remain between Xander and the window and at the same time appear to be leaving. Her friend frowned at her odd behavior and edged closer to the window saying, “We should knock on the door. He might be in the back – or maybe just wrapped up in some musty old book…”

His voice trailed off as he pushed the protesting Buffy out of the way and got his first clear look inside the store. All the color left his face when he realized what he was seeing. Anya was lying across the table in the back of the store, her skirt up to her waist and the watcher’s face between her legs. While Xander stared in undisguised horror, the older man raised his head and slid up to nestle his hips between her thighs. As he did so, her legs came up to wrap around his back and they began to rock together in a timeless rhythm.

Even the vampire felt a twinge of sympathy for the boy as he backed away from the window looking as though he might be physically sick at any minute.

Buffy reached a tentative hand toward her old friend and ventured, “Xander? I…I’m sorry, I—“

He cut her off with a chopping motion of his hand, still backing away from what he’d seen, as well as from the concerned looking couple staring at him.

“No!” he shouted abruptly. “This is all your fault. If you’d never got involved with Spike….”

“Easy there, whelp,” the vampire growled. “I know you’re upset, but don’t go blaming it on Buffy.”

“Oh, it isn’t just Buffy I’m blaming here, bleach boy. It’s Willow and her stupid magic spells. It’s Buffy and her disgusting yen for the undead. It’s you and your…your…whatever. I wish I’d never met any of you!”

He whirled and ran off into the night, leaving Buffy to be comforted by her undead lover as she mourned the possible loss of one of the first friends she’d made when she moved to Sunnydale.

“Don’t take it to heart, pet. He’s just hurt and angry and he took it out on you ‘cause you were here. Trust me, that’s not the most pleasant way to find out your lover has moved on.” He grimaced slightly, flashing back to Dru and her Chaos demon lover.

“I hate this! I want to be happy for Giles that he’s found somebody else. After Jenny he didn’t date at all for the longest time. But now somebody else I care about is hurting because of it. This just sucks!” Her lower lip came out in a pout.

“Not to mention, takes some of the shine off your engagement, doesn’t it, love?” Although his tone was teasing, she could read genuine caring and sympathy in his eyes and she looked down and blushed.

“Is that incredibly immature and selfish of me?” she asked in a small voice.

“No, pet. It’s just human.” He kissed her forehead and the tip of her nose before pulling her pouting lower lip into his mouth and biting down on it gently. “But I’m thinkin’ now is probably not the best time to be showing your Watcher your new bauble, yeah?’

“I guess you’re right,” she said ruefully, allowing him to pull her away from the shop. “I’ll come to the shop tomorrow.” She suddenly looked at him in horror. “Oh my god! I’m going to be afraid to come here from now on. What if they’re…and the table! We put food on that table!”

Laughing at her babbling, he led her back toward their home, promising to make her forget all about everything she’d seen that evening.

“Promise?” she pouted.

“You have my word on it, Slayer. Gonna put those two amateurs and their pitiful attempts at shaggin’ right out of your pretty little head.”

“Race you home, then,” she said suddenly, sprinting toward the building and laughing at his indignant, “Hey, no fair starting without me!”

They fell into the elevator, laughing and groping each other, completely oblivious to the stares of the other residents in the lobby. Just as the doors began to slide shut, Buffy astonished Spike and everyone else by popping back out and waving her ring as she exclaimed, “Look, everybody. We’re engaged! We’re going to get married!”

Bemused looks gave way to enthusiastic applause as the onlookers realized the Slayer was actually sharing her happiness with her demon neighbors. Soon there was a small group of female demons surrounding her and admiring the ring with a chorus of “ooooohs” and “ahhhhs”, while Spike accepted handshakes and back slaps from those who knew him well enough to respond with familiarity.

When they were once again in the elevator and the doors had shut them off from the cheering residents, he pulled her against his body and growled, “I didn’t think I could love you any more than I already do, but I was wrong. You are amazing, pet.”

“You’re pretty special yourself, vampire,” she whispered, going up on her toes to kiss his soft, willing lips. When she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing her heated core against the bulge she knew would be there, he slammed his hand onto the “stop” button, freezing the elevator between floors.

“We’re almost home,” she whispered, even as she was unbuckling his belt.

“Don’t care. Want you now.”

He was pulling her skirt up and pushing aside her underwear before she could protest again, and was soon lodged inside her, basking in the warmth surrounding him. Her gasping whimpers and moans as she rode his straining cock soon turned to cries of pleasure as she clenched him in her strong walls, bringing on his own shout of release.

“I love you, Ms Summers,” he breathed in her ear as she slid down to place her feet on the floor.

“I love you, too, Mr. Carlisle,” she responded, clinging to his strong arms until her legs would support her again. “And if you start this elevator back up so we can get home, I’ll prove to you exactly how much.”

“As good as done, love,” he grinned, pushing the “start” button.

“Hope nobody was monitoring the elevator camera just then,” he added, laughing at her horrified face. “Jus’ kidding, Slayer,” he swore, still laughing as she chased him through the door of their penthouse, promising his dusty demise if there was any chance of anyone having seen them. He made a mental note to get and destroy the tapes as soon as she was soundly asleep for the night.

 
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