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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.





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