Chapter VII
“And you didn’t saw the need to tell me any of this before, especially after what happened with the Frakor demon yesterday?” Giles asked exasperatedly, after Buffy finished telling him about the letters.
“Trauma, Freud, blocked, ringing any bells yet?”
“I don’t understand how you can be so flippant about these things, Buffy. You almost died yesterday.”
“Believe me, Giles, I’m painfully aware of that.” She grimaced, and boy, if she wasn’t, she still was sore after the beating the damned demon gave her. “But, really, do you think there might be a connection between that demon and William’s letters?” she finished, throwing him a pointed look as she bit her lower lip to restrain herself from shouting at her Watcher, ‘How could you even think that? There’s absolutely no way that something, or rather someone, as sweet and pure as William could be associated with a horrible thing as that demon!’
“Well, how could I be sure if I haven’t even seen the letters?”
“I wasn’t about to endanger them, Giles,” she explained, as if talking to a small child. “I have patrolling with Spike afterwards and can you imagine what could happen to them then? I couldn’t risk it.”
“You could have left the letters here so I could study them and come back later or tomorrow to pick them up.”
She looked at him as if he had said something sacrilegious. “Never! If you want to read them, fine. I’ll bring the letters with me tomorrow, but I won’t let them out of my sight for even one minute, capisce?”
Giles rolled his eyes at her and sighed, nodding and deciding to change the tone of the conversation. They weren’t going anywhere like this. “So you say that this 1880’s man is communicating with you through your desk?” Giles said, taking off his eyeglasses to polish them with his handkerchief. “Hmmm, interesting.”
“Interesting?”
“Yes, quite fascinating in fact. And it seems that only the secret panel is affected by this?” She nodded, not sure where her Watcher was going with this. “Hmm, we could be dealing with some sort of time portal. Of course I’ll need to examine the desk,” he rolled his eyes again at the protective vibes emanating from his Slayer at his suggestion, “under your constant supervision, of course.”
‘And you better believe it will be under my supervision and don’t even think for an instant that I’ll let you take the drawer away to examine it, either. Because if you even try... Oh, my poor Watcher, I wouldn’t envy your painful fate...’ she thought, but her answer was very different from what she’d been thinking of course, although her eyes held a clear threat to Giles so he would know that she wouldn’t let any harm come to her desk or the letters. “Fine, whatever you want so you can make sure that William is not some demon going after me, but a true gentleman, that well, hopefully is going after me.” She smiled dreamily.
“Hmm, right.” He cleared his throat, uncomfortable with this new revelation of how smitten his charge was with this William Pratt. “Weren’t you meeting Spike for patrol?”
“Oh, yes, I do.” She glanced at the clock on one of the walls, noticing that it was a quarter ‘til nine. “And I’m late already. I’ll have to run to get to Restfield now.” She pouted and Giles relented.
“I can give you a ride if you wish.”
“Would you?” She smiled brightly, at least now she wouldn’t be all disheveled when she met Spike. Not that she cared of how she looked, but one never knew who they could meet in the way. ’Yeah, right, Buffy, keep telling yourself that and maybe some day you’ll start believing it,’ she thought as she followed Giles to his car.
* ~ * ~ *
“Err, Buffy, I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now, but between the Frakor demon and now the letters, well, I’d sort of forgotten,” Giles said a little while later, without taking his eyes from the road.
“What? You know you can tell me anything, Giles. Well, anything within reason of course, nothing to do with my mom or any of those band candies memories, please? I still have nightmares about that.” She shuddered visibly.
“Ha-ha, you’re hilarious. But really, well, I’ve been talking with Quentin Travers, you do remember him?”
“As if I could ever forget the little rat!”
“I think you might have to change that opinion of him if he turns into your employer.”
“Employer?”
“Yes, since Faith is, well… unavailable at the moment, I might have implied that if you weren’t paid for your services as the Slayer they might find themselves Slayer-less and then they would have to wait until any of you…”
“I get the picture, continue.”
“Right. I told them that I could convince you not to quit, provided they agreed on giving you a decorous salary and they reinstated me as your Watcher, of course.”
“Of course.”
“So, he said that he’d consult it with the other members of the Council, but I’m quite sure that he will end up agreeing,” he said as he parked outside Restfield Cemetery, which was really good timing because at the next second he had his arms full of a very happy Slayer.
“Oh, Giles, you’re the best Watcher/surrogate dad a girl could ask for!” she said enthusiastically. “When will we know?”
“Hmm, this week most likely,” Giles replied, uncomfortable with the girl’s effusive display of affection. “Err, look at the time, you should go or who knows what kind of damage Spike might do.”
“Oh, you’re right, I better go now. Thanks again, Giles!” She blew him a kiss and jumped out of the car.
“Oh, dear Lord, what have I gotten myself into!” he asked, dreading her reaction when the Council granted his petition.
* ~ * ~ *
Spike kept throwing side glances at the obviously very happy girl walking by his side. He wasn’t sure what had happened—not that he minded that much, she was being nice to him after all—but damned if he wasn’t awfully curious as to what could make her that happy so he could do it ag… ‘Argh, no! What the bloody hell is wrong with me? As if I didn’t have enough problems trying to control my attraction to the sodding chit, now I’m thinking of ways to make her happy? No, no, no!’ He pouted.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked instead.
“Wrong?”
“Yeah, something’s gotta be wrong for you to be smiling like a bloody robot.”
“Hmph, not that it’s any of your business, but I got pretty good news recently, so that’s enough to make me smile like a bloody robot,” she imitated his accent with terrible results, but not even that or Spike’s seemingly gloomy mood could put a damper on her good mood. How could it? She was going to have money to buy all the pretty things she wanted and that she could use for pat— Wait a minute not for patrol, for college, yep, that's what she’d been thinking. ‘Damn vampire! Now he’s making me doubt expressing my own thoughts to myself.’ She pouted.
‘Oh, no, no. That’s even worse than seeing her smiling. Think, Spike, think dammit!’ he groaned to himself. “Eh, so, care to share the good news?”
“Huh? Oh, no, not sharing or it might not come true. You’ll find out soon enough,” she said, throwing him a flirty smile.
“Right, don’t tell me you believe in all that rot?” He stopped walking, tilting his head as he tried to think of what it might be.
“Well, maybe, maybe not, but just in case I won’t say anything,” she said, clearly pleased with herself when she noticed that Spike was getting more curious by the minute. ‘Well, well, it seems that stakes and holy water aren’t the only way to torture a vampire...’ she observed pleased. After all, whatever troubled him, even if it was simple curiosity, it inevitably pleased her.
“Let me guess, you found a way to make the chip useless... no, wait... that's something that would make me smile like a bloody robot!”
“You're wasting your time if you think I will tell you. You won't get anything from me!” she pointed out.
“Nothing, really? And... are we still talking about your news?” he stepped closer to her, looking deeply into her eyes as she stared back at him, uncertainty at what was happening clearly defined in her green eyes.
‘He’s too close. Why is he so close? He seems to have suddenly slipped into predator mood, but for a different kind of hunt. And now he’s staring at me. Bad, very bad, Buffy, back off now!’ She was alarmed by his closeness, but found that her body refused to listen to her and it wouldn’t back off as she’d ordered.
He brought his hand up to her face to tenderly caress her cheek and threw Buffy even more out of balance. ‘Oh, God, why is he looking at me like that? Do I have something in my face? No, no, please, God, don’t let it be that, it would be awfully embarrassing if it is. Although if it were, he probably would have made sure to tell me so I would get embarrassed. So, why is he looking at me like this?’ she thought, unable to stop herself from asking, “What?”
“Huh?” he asked dazedly. He’d been so completely lost in the moment that even if his un-life depended on it he wouldn’t have been able to answer to whatever she’d asked. No, that wouldn’t do. He couldn’t lose himself in another woman, even if the woman was as beautiful as the Slayer. Nope, not this vamp, not again, not ever. “Err, you had something in your face?” he replied hesitatingly, taking his hand away from the temptation of her soft flesh.
“I did? What?” she said, blushing as she thought of the things she could have had in her face. Oh, God, could this be any more embarrassing?
“My hand,” he said; a bright smile showing in his face when he noticed how embarrassed he’d made her and how adorable she looked as she tried to understand his answer now. He knew perfectly well the moment when she finally did, as shame gave way to fury. Uh-oh, maybe he’d gone a little too far with this?
He wracked his brain trying to find something to distract her…Bingo!
“Say… isn’t that one of those Frakor demons?” he said pointing to something behind her back.
Buffy didn’t even think of checking if he was telling the truth before jumping and climbing onto the nearest available tree. “Are you sure?” she said, peeking from her perch on the highest branch that she could reach and that held her weight. No way was she up for a second round of ‘Beating up the Slayer’, especially not when she wasn’t fully healed from the first one.
“Stay there, I’ll go check!” he said, before disappearing in the darkness. After a little over ten minutes, that had felt like ten hours for Buffy, he returned.
“So?” she asked as soon as she saw him, not even attempting to climb down from the tree. No way was she going down until she was sure that the damned demon was dead. She was aware she came with an expiration date, but that didn’t mean that she wanted it to be anytime soon, especially not now.
“Well, it seems I might have been mistaken, that tree over there looks pretty much like the little bugger, wouldn’t you say?” he said, biting his lip to stop himself from laughing at how quickly she’d fallen for his trick... and for how long! Oh, God, this was too good! He wished he had a camera so he could have captured that moment forever.
”And did you have to wait all this time before telling me that you were wrong?” she snapped at him.
“Well, what can I say, that tree suits you, sweetheart,” he teased her. But then he saw the way her eyes narrowed at him and how her face darkened.
“Grrr, you never saw the damned demon, did you? You might have fooled me, but you’re so gonna pay for that!” she threatened before jumping from the tree.
‘Oh, fuck, do you have a death wish, mate? What were you thinking?’ He began running, followed closely by an enraged Slayer. Or rather, had he actually been thinking or just reacting as he tried to escape from the spell that her eyes were weaving? Because either way he’d be buggered as soon as she caught up with him.
He stopped when he suddenly realized that he couldn’t hear her running after him. He turned and extended his senses to try to figure where the Slayer was.
The sound of her heartbeat and her unmistakable scent hit him almost a second before he heard something rustling behind him. Fully aware of what he would find, he took a deep unneeded breath before turning back.
“Boo!” she said teasingly, before neatly sweeping his legs out with one of hers, making him lose his balance and fall to the ground, before straddling his waist to keep him in place. Weird, she should be at least a little mad with him after what he did to her, but instead she felt…exhilarated after the chase and the knowledge that she’d been able to be all sneaky and surprise him. His expression had been priceless; she wished she could have had a camera to capture the moment for posterity.
‘It would have been cool to show it to my friends, they would’ve enjoyed that. Or it would’ve been even cooler to show it to my kids one day... of course, that doesn’t mean that Spike would be their father! So why should I show the picture to them, then? And anyway, it’s not like vampires can have babies, can they? And even if they could, that’s so not the point! Damn you, Buffy, what the hell are you thinking? You don’t even know if vampires show on film. Oh, well, why dwell on…Ouch!’
“Boo!” he said from his new position as he hovered over her. Taking advantage of her distraction after she straddled him, he’d taken her by the waist and twisted his body to change their positions. The only thing he hadn’t taken into consideration was the precarious situation he’d found himself in when he did it. Because now he was nestled between the Slayer’s thighs, with their chests much closer than they had been when it had been her the one on top. He groaned and lowered his head to her shoulder, embarrassed—although he had no idea why—when little Spikey decided to show just how very much he liked the current situation he’d been placed in. Uh-oh, there was no way that she hadn’t felt that.
‘Oh, God, what the hell happened here? One minute I was on top straddling Spike and now…I’m…under him…getting…oh, no, no, no, this can’t be happening and what is…oh my, don’t tell me that’s…Oh God, oh God, oh God…’ She fought the urge to push against the bulge that was pressed against her increasingly moist center and that seemed to grow harder with each passing second.
‘Well, that’s just because I’m happy for the good news and...’ she tried to justify to herself. ‘So what? You mean you get aroused when you’re happy and allow any demon that’s close by to pin you on the ground like that? the annoying inner Buffy asked. Oh no, no, I’m so not...aroused—’ She couldn’t continue that train of thought as she shivered, overwhelmed by the sensation of being this close to Spike again.
He pulled up his head from her shoulder as soon as he smelled her arousal and felt the shiver that ran through her, looking at her flushed face in fascination. Bloody hell! Is she getting as aroused with this as I am? Maybe she… He lowered his head slowly, getting closer and closer to her, his lips just a breath away from hers.
‘Why haven’t I noticed how blue his eyes were before? … Oh, don’t lie, Buffy, you did notice before today. … Yeah, I did, but then I was under a spell… Oh, would you stop with the spell already? You liked him before that, and I’m not just talking about his eyes… What? No, I didn’t. You don’t know what you’re talking about. … Sure I don’t, keep telling yourself that. By the way have you heard of a pretty river in Egypt called The Nile, ‘cause it sounds awfully similar to what you’re doing… Uh-oh, tell me he isn’t… No, stop, I should stop him, I should… Oh, God, don’t stop, please don’t stop…’
‘Should I?’ he asked himself, looking from her eyes—that were looking back at him uncertainly—to her lips, that looked oh so very tempting at the moment. ‘But, what about not being love’s bitch anymore? To hell with that, to hell with everything,’ he decided before covering her lips with his, softly at first and then with increasing passion as she began responding to his kisses.
‘There must be a logical reason why this feels so right. Dru. Of course, that’s it. She reminds me of Dru… Yeah, right, because they are soooo alike! Vampiress vs. Slayer, brunette vs. blonde, violet eyes vs. green, moonlight vs. sunshine… Well, they are both women. Yes, that’s it, I knew they had something in common!’ Spike decided, proud of himself for finding a reason why he was doing this as he ran the tip of his tongue over her bottom lip and as soon as he felt her sigh, he plundered her mouth with it, moaning as he got lost in the taste of her.
Buffy felt as if she was in heaven as she closed her eyes, weaving her hands into his hair to pull him closer. ‘Mmmmm, the kissing part was so not part of a spell,’ she thought as his kisses elicited the same sensations inside her that they had that day. But, if that was true, what other things hadn’t been because of the spell? And just like that the haze Spike had created with his kisses lifted. Oh God, what the hell was she doing?
She pushed him away from her, immediately getting up from the ground as she walked backwards trying to get as far away from him as she could, holding a hand to her now slightly swollen lips, trying to think of something, anything to say. She knew she couldn’t stay there with him any longer as the temptation of continuing what they’d started kept growing inside her.
“Err, you know since there don’t seem to be any freaky demons around tonight, I guess we should split. You remain here, and I‘ll… go... in the opposite direction. We’ll meet... hmm, some other day, bye now,” she blabbered confusedly before she turned and ran away from him as fast as she could; while he remained on the ground looking at her disappear through the crypts wondering what the hell had happened.
* ~ * ~ *
London, November 8th, 1880
“I can not believe I’m this clumsy. Well, I can, but damn it! How could I drop the ink bottle over my entire paper stack? I should have answered Elizabeth’s letter by now, what if she thinks that I’m not interested anymore?” William scolded himself, passing his left hand over his already mussed hair as he hurried back to his house after buying a new lot of paper in the store, only to stop suddenly when someone blocked his way. He looked up to find the person, the woman, that only three days ago had occupied most of his thoughts and dreams. ‘What did I ever saw in her?’ He asked himself, staring blindly into her upturned face. ‘She’s not even that pretty to begin with.’
“William? Oh, this is such a surprise. We were just talking about you, we missed you at the party yesterday,” she said, batting her eyelashes coquettishly at him. She’d just been telling her friends that he turned into a blabbering mess when she did that and she wanted to demonstrate her power over him.
“Good morning, ladies,” he answered, nodding at them. “Hmm, if you excuse me…” He tried to walk away, but Cecily wouldn’t have that, how could she when the only thing he’d shown her so far was indifference? So she put her hand on his arm, smiling sweetly at him, sure that that would do the trick.
“Have you written any more poetry, William?” she asked, sugar dripping from her tone, noticing the paper on his hand.
“Yes, in fact I have.” He tilted his head, what was the bint trying to do? She’d never acted like this with him. And wait a minute, since when did he say bint?
“Is it for me?” She rubbed her hand over his arm, almost repenting from her action at the icy cold look he threw her.
“No, it definitely isn’t. And if you excuse me, I have important things to take care of.” He shook her hand from his arm as if it burned him and walked away, leaving Cecily blushing, completely embarrassed by his dismissal.
“It seems he’s not as fond of you as you thought, Cecily,” one of her friends said laughing, glad that she’d been there to witness the time when finally a man put the insufferable redhead in her place. “Quite the contrary.”
“Hmmph, this is far from being over! Before this month ends, William Pratt will be on his knees begging for my forgiveness. Mark my words!” Cecily said; holding her head high as she turned and walked back to her home to nurse her pride back to health.
tbc
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you, kalahara, cordykitten, Bridget, slayercaro, Amelia-Jane and Im_bloody_English, for reviewing. :D