Not Beneath Me - Chapter 6 (The Next Step?)
By MissKitty and Tasha

Chapter Summary: Buffy returns home to find Xander and Dawn still there. Now that she's broken up with Riley, what should she do? That is a no brainer to us, but will Buffy do what she should? You know she wants to. Maybe she just needs a little push in the right direction.

Author's Note: The first several chapters were jointly written. It will be noted which chapters were joint and which were single by Tasha only. This story was adopted with the permission of Miss Kitty (and at her request). Constructive criticisms are welcome; flaming is not.

Disclaimer and Distribution notes are listed in the Prologue of this story. Thank you ahead of time for reading and accepting or abiding by them.

'Single' quote marks surround thoughts in this story. "Regular" quotes are around spoken words.

---

Buffy trudged her way up her porch stairs. She'd fumed and kicked stones all along her walk back from the university. "Just who the hell did he think he was, hitting me like that." She muttered to herself. Half of her had wished that it was night time. She would have enjoyed a bit of demon butt kicking to work off these pent up emotions. She opened the front door with more force than necessary. The door hit the wall behind it with a crash.

Dawn and Xander jumped up from their places on the couch. Popcorn flew everywhere and twin squeals filled the air.

"What the ..." Xander's heart raced, and he tried to calm himself down when Buffy peeked her head into the living room.

Dawn stared at her sister in shock. Her own heart picked up its pace to double time. "Buffy, you scared the crap out of us."

"Sorry guys." Buffy gritted her teeth. "I didn't expect you to still be here." She stood with one hand on the railing to the upstairs to support her weight.

"You were only gone a couple hours." Dawn explained. "We were trying to wait for you."

"Oh, yeah." Buffy's voice was low. There was no reason to upset Dawn even more by telling her about Riley. She knew that Dawn didn't really like Riley, but she would be upset to know that Riley had hit her.

While Xander gathered up the bits of popcorn that now decorated the living room, Dawn walked over to her sister. Something was wrong. She just knew it. She loosely grabbed Buffy's arm. "Hey, what's wrong?"

The phone ringing interrupted Buffy's answer. "Just a minute, Dawn." Her mood took another downturn during the phone call. It seemed that Willow had caught some flu bug overnight. She had quite a high temperature. She needed to stay in bed, but she hoped that Buffy would understand. Tara offered to still come to the hospital for the surgery, but Buffy told her that it would be best for Willow if Tara stayed home to take care of her.

Xander's cell phone rang just as Buffy was hanging up the house phone. "Come on. You've got to be kidding. You know that I have an extended family emergency." He sighed. After several more minutes of grumbling, Xander hung up the phone. "Guys, it looks like I have to go into work."

"Man. That sucks." Dawn pouted, crossing her arms in front of her.

"I have no choice, Dawnie." Xander clipped the cell phone to his belt again. "The boss said that I either come in now or I could lose my promotion." He stood up next to Buffy and hugged her. "I'm sorry, Buffy. I have to be to the job site in a half hour."

"I understand, Xander." Of course Buffy did understand about Willow and now Xander not being able to make it, but she still felt like she was being abandoned. "You can't lose your job."

"I can still take you guys to the hospital. We just have to leave now, instead of later."

Dawn ran upstairs. "I'll be right back down. I want to get a couple things for the waiting room time."

"Go ahead and take Dawn. I still need to get the things that Mom wanted me to bring her." Buffy told Xander. She wasn't quite ready to put on the chipper face yet anyways.

"All right. If you're sure." Xander gathered up his coat and keys. "Have Dawn come out to the car when she's ready. I'm going to go outside and call Anya while I wait for Dawnie. She has to stay and mind the store while Giles is at the hospital with you guys."

"Okay, I'll tell Dawn." Buffy walked up the stairs. She headed for her mom's room. She stopped in the doorway, almost afraid to step in any farther. This was her mother's domain. She felt like she was intruding.

Dawn walked out of her own room. She stood in the hallway watching Buffy for a couple minutes. 'She's way too deep in thought for normal Buffy behavior.' She rested her hand on Buffy's shoulder. "Hey you. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Buffy replied absently. She stared off into their mother's room still lost in thought.

"Liar," Dawn accused. She wasn't mean about it, but this wasn't a time to let Buffy clam up on her. They needed to stick together.

"What?" Buffy turned to Dawn, surprised at her tone.

"I know that look, Buffy. That look means you're thinking and pretty heavily too. What's wrong?"

"Well ..." Buffy had no clue where to start. They didn't have a lot of time because Dawn needed to leave. She tried to keep it simple and quick. "I just broke up with Riley."

"You what?" Dawn asked. She was surprised, but hey if Buffy wanted to break up with Riley that was perfectly fine with her.

"You heard me." Buffy didn't feel like repeating herself. Was she mistaken or did Dawn actually sound happy about it?

"Wow. Why?" Dawn had been getting sick of Riley's pushing lately. When he'd taken her from the hospital yesterday he was all over her asking her about Buffy. He should have been asking Buffy those questions, not her. Sheesh.

"It's complicated." Buffy sighed.

"Buffy, just tell me. I think I can handle it." Dawn perked up a moment and made a face. "Unless it's sexual reasons. Then you can just keep that to yourself. Ick."

"No, it's nothing sexual." Buffy laughed. No matter how grown up her sister wanted to act, she still didn't like the whole sex issue. "We've been growing apart for a long time now. We never talk, and we just weren't happy with each other any more. I thought it was best that we broke up."

"Oh. So you broke up with him then? I'll just bet he loved that." Dawn found that interesting. The way Buffy was acting she would have figured that Riley left her sister. There was something in the way that Buffy was looking and acting. She figured that Buffy wasn't telling her all the reasons, but if Buffy was available again, she knew just who she'd rather see her sister with. "Have you talked to Spike lately?"

"Yeah, I saw him last night. We went to dinner after I left the hospital." Buffy replied. "I wanted to talk to him about some things." She still wasn't sure whom she could tell about her growing feelings for Spike. She didn't figure that Dawn would mind though. Spike had always seemed to care about her sister like she was his own sister. She was curious though why Dawn had changed the subject from Riley to Spike without missing a beat.

"Dinner? Really?" Dawn was almost giddy in her response. "Does he know about Mom?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, I told him the night of the CT Scans."

Dawn was silent a moment then asked, "Do you think he would want to come to the hospital with us while mom's in the O.R.?"

Buffy didn't respond right away. She hadn't told Dawn that she was planning on heading to Spike's crypt to see if he would stop by after sunset. She knew that she would probably feel better if Spike was there while they waited, but Giles and Spike didn't get along all that well. "Dawnie," she began but stopped when Dawn stuck out her bottom lip and made a pouting face.

"Please? Mom said she didn't mind if he was there, too. You know how Mom likes him."

Buffy sighed in surrender. Dealing with Giles would be easier to handle than a pouting Dawn. It should be fine if Spike wanted to come earlier and wait with them now. She'd figure out something to tell Giles. "Fine."

"Yeah!!" Dawn heard Xander beeping his car horn. "So you are going to go ask him?"

"Yes, Dawnie. I'll head over there as soon as I get Mom's stuff together." Buffy put her hand on the small of Dawn's back. She gave her a little push to the stairs. "Now hurry. You don't want Xander to be late."

"Okay, bye!" Dawn ran down the stairs and out the front door. Anyone watching would have seen a mischievous smirk on her face. Now that Riley was out of the picture she was going to do her best to see to it that her sister and best friend spent a lot more time together.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy stood outside the entrance to Spike's crypt. She shifted her weight from one foot to another trying to decide if she should knock on the door or just barge in. She finally decided on walking in without knocking. 'Don't want him to fry.' She reasoned with herself that if Spike answered the door he'd get toasted from the sun's rays. She winced when the crypt door opened with a loud squeal. Careful to not keep the door open too long, she shut it again and looked around for Spike.

Spike sat in the chair in front of the television, asleep. Harmony was nowhere to be seen. Buffy was immensely glad that she had not walked in on him and Harmony doing something she really didn't want to see. Vampires looked at sexual intimacy different than humans, but Spike had never seemed like the normal vampire. Just thinking about Spike being intimate with another woman right now made her heart ache. The ache solidified her courage that she needed Spike more in her life. Why would it bother her to see him with another woman if she didn't care?

Buffy walked over to Spike's chair and watched him. He looked so peaceful in his slumber. 'He must have been really tired. Usually I can't get this close to him without him waking up.' She leaned closer when Spike shifted in the chair and whispered something that distinctly sounded like her name. 'What is he dreaming about?' That thought intrigued her. She watched as Spike seemed to shift himself in his sleep. 'Must be a good dream.' She smirked.

Remembering why she came here in the first place, Buffy leaned down next to Spike's ear to talk to him. "Spike." When he didn't respond she said it again. "Spike!" She still didn't get a response. 'He really does sleep like the dead.' She chuckled at that thought. "SPIKE! Wake up!" She practically yelled in his ear.

Spike jumped up from the chair with his arms flailing. He would have knocked Buffy over if she had slower reflexes. "Bloody hell, woman. What're you shoutin' for?" He was still quite disorientated, and he thought he was going to rip Harmony's throat out for this one.

"You awake now?" Buffy giggled. She stepped back and crossed her arms.

"Oh, Buffy. Hello." Spike ran a hand through his hair, a bit embarrassed. "Sorry about that."

"I hate to wake you up during the day, but you know how Mom's having her tumor removal surgery today?"

"Yeah." Spike tried not to look as worried as he felt. 'Did something go wrong?'

"Well, the gang was going to all be there, but now it is just going to be Dawnie, Giles and I." Buffy nibbled on her lower lip. "Dawn wanted me to ask you if you'd like to come sit with us."

"Dawn?" Spike smirked. "You know luv, if you wanted to see me you don't need to use the Nibblet as an excuse." He teased.

"No, I'm serious. She asked me to ask you to come." Buffy said hurriedly. She wanted him to know just how much Dawn thought of him. She noticed an almost hurt look cross his face though, and she quickly added her wanting him there too. "I would like it if you would be there too."

'Now, we're getting somewhere.' Spike smiled happily. "All right." His eagerness left him the moment he remembered about Buffy's boyfriend. "Isn't Captain Cardboard gonna be there?"

Buffy had hoped Spike would not mention Riley, but she should have known better. It made sense for him to ask especially after what happened between her and Spike the last couple days. "No, I doubt that he'll come."

Spike raised a scarred eyebrow curiously. "He doesn't know, or he doesn't want to come?" There was no way he wanted to be around Whitebread any more than he had to, but he was surprised that Buffy's own boyfriend wouldn't be there at a time like this.

"Neither, actually." Buffy lowered her gaze to her feet as she spoke. "We kind of broke up today."

"Kind of?" Spike questioned. He tried to keep the utter joy from showing on his face, but he couldn't help a large grin. Was Buffy trying to tell him that she'd made her decision about the two of them? After their conversation last night, he knew that she had some choices to think over. "Is that like kinda pregnant?" He teased. "Usually you are or you aren't"

Buffy laughed. "Not kind of. We did break up." She wasn't sure what else to say. "I told him today that we weren't working out anymore and that I didn't want to see him anymore."

"So, you're single, huh?" Spike said and quirked a suggestive eyebrow that made Buffy's insides melt.

"Single from Riley, yeah." Buffy wanted to know if Spike was going to let her stay single for long, but she didn't have the guts to ask yet. "What about you? You know, you and Harmony?"

"That is an interesting question." Spike tried to think of how to word it. Harmony was still living with him, but he'd already found a new place for her. "I ... uh ... Sorta single, but ... we haven't done anything for a long time."

Buffy couldn't help but to grin. "Yeah, that's right." She half smiled. "It's your turn to stutter and backpedal, isn't it?"

"Buffy, she doesn't mean anything to me." Spike quickly chimed in. "Honestly. I just didn't think I could kick her out to the curb when she wouldn't have anywhere to live."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Buffy teased. "I'm sure that is it." She gave him a devilish grin.

Spike visibly relaxed when he realized that Buffy was just messing around with him. "My relationship status all depends on this one girl. She's kind of cute, but she's a bit indecisive. She isn't quite sure if she can handle the Big Bad."

Buffy laughed. "Oh really?" She shook her head back and forth and stepped closer to him. "I might just have to have a talk with this girl. She sounds like she needs to have her head examined, if she's thinking about turning you down that is."

"You think so?" Spike reached out to Buffy and pulled her down into his lap as he sat back down in the chair. "I think she's pretty smart, but sometimes she just doesn't notice what is right in front of her." He brushed his lips against hers. "You think I can convince her to give me a try?"

Buffy turned her head into the kiss and pressed her lips harder to his. "Maybe. If she's ready for that next step." Spike's tongue fluttered against hers. She parted her lips to allow him entrance. Again she felt the emotions wash over her and remembered how she had never felt like this with Riley. Turning on his lap to straddle him in the chair, she broke the kiss to whisper, "Spike."

Hearing his name coming from Buffy's lips made Spike want her even more. Just as they delved back into each other's mouths a high pitched voice echoed off the crypt walls.

"Spike!?! Why the hell are you kissing the Slayer?"

Breaking the kiss, Spike looked over at Harmony with wide eyes. She stood by the ladder leading to the lower level of the crypt. No one could miss the completely pissed look on her face.

"Oh bloody hell." Spike muttered.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(To Be Continued)