Chapter 56 - Rests

Buffy woke up to someone gently shaking her.

“Time to get up, love.”

She groaned and rolled over. The training mat was not so comfortable, but she was tired enough that she really didn’t care. “What time is it?”

“Twenty minutes till sunrise.”

“But what time is it?”

“Dunno.”

“Then how—”

“Can feel the sun, pet.”

“Right. Vampire.” Buffy pushed herself up into a sitting position. A moment more and she stood. “I’m good. Awake now.”

Spike got up as well, shrugging on his coat. “Patrol tonight?”

“Yeah.”

Spike leaned in, planting a kiss on the top of her head. Then he was gone, the back door closing behind him.

Buffy stood frozen for a moment, slightly stunned. There was nothing at all intimate about kissing her on the head, but he’d done it so naturally. It was casual, couple-like. And it made something in her flutter.

Quickly shaking it off, she went into the bathroom to make herself presentable and then grabbed her coffee drink out of the fridge. Buffy put the weapons back up, afterward plopping herself down at the table in the front of the store.

As sunrise approached, she heard noises, and after the sun had been up for a few minutes she ventured toward the training room.

“Oz? Are you, um, covered up?”

“Yeah.”

Buffy went back, grabbing the key off the wall as she walked over. Oz had his jeans on, but was unable to put on his shirt until she unlocked him.

“So what’s it like?” she asked.

“The chains are kinda cold.”

Buffy smiled. “No, I mean the whole werewolf thing.”

“Not as traumatic as you’d think. Yet exactly as traumatic.” Oz shrugged, rubbing his wrists as he stood up. “There’s duality.”

He pulled the T-shirt over his head.

There was a sudden noise at the back door, and for a tense second Buffy thought Spike had returned.

“It’s Willow,” Oz said. At Buffy’s blank look, he said, “I can smell her.”

“Oh.” She walked to the door. “Can you always do that?”

“With her,” he said, nodding. “Other people, not so much. It’s sharper around the full moon.” He inhaled again and frowned, but didn’t seem to have anything to add.

Buffy was about to turn the knob when the door swung open. Willow had keys in one hand and a bag in the other. She beamed at Buffy.

“Morning! I brought doughnuts.” Willow shared a quick kiss with Oz. “So, how’d it go?”

He shrugged. “It went.” Then he looked at her. “But you shouldn’t have come down so early.”

“I drove the van,” Willow said. “Only walked from the dorm to the parking space in the dark. I’m not a complete dummy.”

“Not one at all. I just worry.”

“And I worry about you. Hence the early Willow visit.”

Oz smiled.

Buffy cut in. “As sweet as both of you not worrying is, I’m beat. I’ve got to call it a day.”

“You want something to eat before you go, Buffy?” Willow smiled and waved the bag. “Sugary goodness.”

“Thanks, but my bed is calling.”

“Mine too, actually,” Oz said. “Jumping around all night? Not as rejuvenating as one might imagine.”

“Yeah,” Willow said. “After a moon night, he always sleeps until three.” Then she turned to Oz. “Though you kinda do that anyway.”

He shrugged again. “It’s a gift.”

-----

Buffy had gone home and slept Friday away, only waking up in time to eat and head out for patrol.

On Saturday she went shopping with Willow, buying a few new things for the impending semester. And while she was more than pleased to be buying a smaller size of jeans, she was less than thrilled when she pulled tops off the rack, only to try them on and find herself not filling them up.

Buffy put finding a good bra on her to do list.

After sunset, they walked to Giles’s, where he was going to go over some magic with Willow.

“And last week, he showed me this really cool meditation,” Willow said. “Giles says the key to power is control. Which I do get. I’ve seen out of control. I even did a little out of control. I mean, it was so cool at first, magic. I could make things happen. Add this, say that, and poof! Though sometimes it wasn’t the right poof. I mean, things happened, but not the things that I meant to happen. But Giles has shown me a lot.”

“Well, you can’t own a magic shop without knowing something,” Buffy said. “Plus, Watcher.”

“Yeah. But the way he talks about spells going bad, sometimes I think he knows more about it.”

“Maybe Giles hasn’t always been so Watcherly?”

“Maybe. But I mean, he’s so proper. Can you imagine him being all bad mojo?”

Buffy laughed. “The bad guys in movies always have British accents, and are all suave and elegant. He could totally pull it. He just needs a pipe to smoke and a fluffy cat to pet.”

“And one of those big swively desk chairs.” Willow paused. “Though, there was this sorcerer guy here last year. Giles wasn’t happy to see him, but it seemed like they were pretty chummy back in the day. That guy definitely had the cult vibe going on.”

Buffy snorted. “Could you see Giles in a cult? Wearing his tweed?”

Willow giggled.

“No, I take that back. Giles could lead a cult. A cult of tweed.”

They had reached the apartment complex, and Willow walked across the courtyard and knocked on Giles’s door. A moment later he opened it, fully dressed in a tweed suit.

Buffy and Willow exchanged looks and giggled.

“May I ask what is so amusing?”

“Nothing,” they said in unison.

Buffy followed Willow in. It was the first time that she had been at Giles’s apartment, she realized. It was neat but cozy, with dark wood furniture and lots of books.

Giles offered her a seat, and after a few words about patrol and such, asked how her mother was coping with everything.

“She’s okay, I guess. Still adjusting a little, but at least I don’t have to hide it.” Buffy laughed. “When I put the mats in the basement I moved all my weapons down there. You should have seen her face when she realized her daughter knew how to use a crossbow.”

“Rather hit home, I imagine?”

“Yeah. But she’s totally supportive. She even asks how my Slaying went, the same way she used to ask about my day at school. But it’s nice to get the weapons out of my room, because they so did not go with my stuff.”

Giles then began setting things up with Willow. Buffy sat quietly in the chair and watched as Willow performed simple spells. Calling a book to her, making a flower bloom, conjuring a ball of light that danced around the room. It was all so, well, magical.

Only when Giles and Willow began to discuss substitute ingredients, theories, and books with lots of Latin in them did she slip out for a moment.

Buffy closed the front door and walked into the shadows of the courtyard.

“You don’t have to stand around until I’m done,” she said. “Patrol’s not until later.”

“After dark, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah, but I’m hardly in a public place. No vamps are getting into Giles’s uninvited.”

Spike shrugged. “Stalkin’ you as requested.”

“It’s just, I mean, I know what I said, but don’t you get just a little bit bored following me around?”

“No.”

That was a fast answer. “Really?”

“Not gonna get bored of you.” He shrugged again. “Besides, huntin’ and stalkin’—kind of what vamps do. Feels natural-like.”

“So you like the watching. Doesn’t the watching out for part feel unnatural?”

“Not if it’s you.” He met her eyes. “Now, toddle back inside before they miss you.”

Spike smirked, melting back into the shadows.

Buffy turned toward the door. However, instead of going in, she found herself sinking down on the nearby bench.

She knew Spike was watching her. He knew that she knew he was watching her. It was an interesting feeling, knowing that she was doing absolutely nothing but being watched. It felt like there was an invisible string between them, though she wasn’t sure which one of them was leading the other one.

It was over several silent minutes later that Willow stuck her head out the door. “Buffy?”

“Hey. Just getting some air. Anyway, you guys were talking pretty intense. Way over my head.”

She nodded. “It’s a little overwhelming at first. Which is why in the beginning I jumped right in with the hocus pocus and not so much the focus. But it’s like science,” she said, perking up. “Theories and reactions. I mean, I wouldn’t just start adding chemicals if I didn’t know what they could do, so I shouldn’t do that with magic.”

“Giles give you that analogy?”

“Yeah. Pretty much after the chemistry lab thing. He has a point. Plus, after I nearly set myself on fire I was open to suggestions.”

“How’s the ball of sunshine thing working?”

“Not working. I thought I so had it once, but it blew up in my face. Pretty much literally. Trying to create new spells is more explode-y than doing ones that are already written. But I can do locator spells now. And binding spells. And unbinding ones.” She nodded. “Never bind what you can’t unbind.”

“Good advice. So, you ready for patrol?”

Willow nodded.

Buffy stood up. “All right, let’s do it.”

-----

After she got home, Buffy took a long bath and completely relaxed. However, as she closed the door to her room and finished toweling her hair, she couldn’t help but catch her reflection in the full-length mirror on her door.

Buffy hung up the towel and put on a pair of panties. Then she turned back to the mirror, looking at her body from all angles. After several turns, she realized it was officially true.

Her boobs were shrinking.

It had been so gradual that she hadn’t noticed it. But there was no question now that her curves were less curvy.

Ever since she became the Slayer, she had been getting thinner, losing the extra fat from her body. All the patrols, the workouts, the training—heck, she could have a higher metabolism now for all she knew. Her arms were beginning to have definition, her legs as well. Her stomach was toned and completely flat, and her butt, well, her butt had never looked better. She had finally lost that little bit of jiggle that she’d hated.

Unfortunately, losing all the fat on her body meant that there were only so many places to lose it from. And now she was losing it from the place that she most definitely did not want to lose it.

She couldn’t exactly cut down on the physical activity, though. Maybe she needed to eat more, even if she wasn’t hungry. Because honestly, she’d already done the flat chest thing during freshman year.

Buffy turned, twisting her shoulders around. It really wasn’t any better from the side. Sighing, she dropped her arms to her sides and stood in front of the mirror with a dejected look on her face.

A scraping noise caught her attention, and she turned in surprise to find Spike on the windowsill behind her. He was frozen, like he thought he should go back out, but was somehow unable to move. She hadn’t seen him in the mirror, of course.

Buffy immediately put her hands over her chest.

“Close the window!” was the first thing out of her mouth, though she hadn’t intended it to be.

He complied, sliding the glass back down and pulling the curtains shut as he fully entered the room.

Buffy looked down. She started to say something, but then turned to her dresser in search of a shirt to put on.

He was behind her before she realized it, his hands coming up to softly rest over hers. “Don’t. Let me see you.”

“I’m don’t—I’m not…”

“You’re beautiful,” he said in her ear.

Despite the voice in her head saying that this was really not where this should be going, Buffy let him guide her hands down as he turned her back to the mirror.

She stood in it, reflected alone, yet not alone. She anticipated that he would touch her, but he didn’t. He only held her wrists, loosely, lightly, as if to counter the urge to bring her hands back up.

Then he turned, moving away from her, pulling her by one hand over to the bed. Still in nothing but her underwear, she found herself beneath him. His duster fell open, shrouding her as he crawled on top of her, making her a part of him as his hands found her flesh and his mouth her neck.