End of week 3
Spike hadn’t let up on Buffy one ounce. In fact, things only got worse.
During a locker inspection one afternoon, he got his first glimpse of ‘that git, Angel’ from a photo she had taped to the inside. He regretted making that little discovery because now he had a face to associate with what he’d read in her letter. Oh, he’d tried not to think about that, but whenever his mind had a chance to drift or he was looking at her, the image filled his head. It aggravated him to no end that he didn’t have a legitimate reason why it bothered him so much and the need to vent that spirit of vexation led him to misplace his anger by focusing it on the source... Buffy. And unfortunately for her, this was happening with increasing frequency.
If things weren’t bad enough from the stress he felt over his unmentionable thoughts about Buffy, Lilah had ‘approached’ him several times over the last two weeks in her own ‘unique’ way about getting together some night for drinks. It would have been all too easy to take her up on the offer, break the long bout of abstinence he’d imposed upon himself and get rid of some sexual frustration. But the last thing he needed was to catch something from her and have his dick rot off. She finally backed off two days ago much to his relief. It seemed when she couldn’t seduce him she’d moved on to Finn, who didn’t put up a fight.
And just as surely as bad luck comes in threes, he also had a new Drill Sergeant added to his cadre, Sergeant Lindsey McDonald. He came from a sister unit and under mysterious circumstances. No one knew exactly why he’d been pulled out in the middle of his own cycle to be placed here, and Spike felt uneasy about the whole ordeal. When he questioned his commanding officer, he was merely told that there were rumors that couldn’t be proved, and McDonald’s own commander had him transferred. Lindsey appeared to be a ‘regular guy’ who performed his duties flawlessly, but there was something about him that didn’t sit right with Spike from the moment they’d met. He hated that feeling just as much as not knowing why he’d been transferred so he decided to watch him, curious to see what, if any, odd behavior would clue him in.
In the meantime, he asked Gunn to see if there was anyone he could find that might be able to ‘dig up’ some dirt on Lindsey without being found out. After a couple days, Gunn came back with some disturbing news. A friend of a friend that used to work with him had this to say... ‘Watch him around the females’.
“The guy didn’t want to say anything more, but after I bought him three more beers he was singing like a lark. Check this, Spike, apparently Lindsey fancies himself a sly enough playboy that he ‘may’ have entered into a sexual relationship with one or more recruits under his care. Seems he has a knack for always having an alibi that CAN be confirmed, which was why he was transferred here.”
They found all this out only after they’d already heard him make a handful of casual comments about their own female soldiers. They hadn’t thought much of it at the time because they were so few and far from being blatantly lewd. Now that they knew, however, Spike and a few select of his most trusted staff watched him like a hawk, particularly because Buffy happened to be the main subject of those comments. He felt like he needed to watch her more often too, fearful she was the slime-ball’s target and that he might decide not to give up on his more than illegal behavior. If anyone caught anything that could be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, Lindsey was gone; Spike would make sure of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the chow hall, Buffy sat across from Willow, pushing her food around her plate.
“I swear if I have to swallow another bite of this rubbery substance they call cheese I’ll puke. I’ve gained so much weight I feel like a cow and he STILL won’t back off from making me eat all this fattening junk. I may as well tape it to my thighs.”
Willow giggled and took the cheese from Buffy’s hand, turned her friend’s palm down and balanced the dairy product on her skin. “Now chant with me.” She closed her eyes. “I wear the cheese, it does not wear me.”
Buffy burst out laughing. “You are such a dork.”
“Made ya laugh though.” They both continued their fit of giggles until they saw Spike round the corner with his own tray of food.
They immediately dropped their gaze and composed themselves. As luck would have it, when Buffy pulled her hand back too fast, her cheese fell to the floor. She bent to retrieve it and when she sat back up, he was right there to greet her.
Setting his tray on their table he stared at Buffy, who was conveniently shoving food in her mouth and averting his gaze. Not gonna get off that easy, luv. He picked up her cheese and looked at it. Sure enough there were a few specks of debris from the floor stuck to it.
He threw it on top of her lunch plate. “Eat it.” Buffy looked up, the horror in response to his direct order written all over her face, making the corners of his mouth curl up. “`M waitin’.”
He was serious, oh, God. Picking it up, she hastily folded it twice and shoved the entire thing in her mouth. She tried to swallow but her gag reflex kicked in.
“`F you don’ swallow that right now, Summers, I’ll make sure you eat five more slices before I leave this table.”
And she just knew he’d follow through on that threat, too. Praying she wouldn’t throw up, she swallowed hard, feeling the disgusting substance slide too slowly down her throat. Her eyes instantly watered as she fought back the funny tasting saliva that filled her mouth, signaling she was close to regurgitating. Grabbing her water, she chugged the entire glass, trying to wash out the taste as well as get the vile food to complete its journey to her stomach.
He picked up his tray, satisfied when it appeared she was going to keep it down. “I’ll be back to make sure you eat the other two slices on your plate as well before you leave.”
Willow waited until he was far enough away and offered Buffy an apologetic look. “I don’t know if this helps, but at least you got it within the ten second rule.” Buffy still looked ill when she glared at her.
“Not helping.”
“Uhm, a little dirt never hurt anyone?” she squeaked. When she got the same response, she picked up Buffy’s other two slices and grinned wide, trying to make a joke out of it by wiggling them.
Buffy put her hand up to her mouth. “Stop that before you end up wearing the one I just swallowed.”
“This is me, putting the cheese down now.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Week 4
My dearest Angel,
I miss you, sweetheart. I hope work is going well for you and your dad. I got your second letter the other day, thank you so much. It’s nice to hear what’s going on at home. It feels like I’m a million miles away here in the third circle of hell. Oh, before I forget, thanks again for not drawing anything on the envelope. That evil Drill Sergeant I told you about gives me extra work to do if there’s anything on it except for a return address. God, he’s such an ass. Oh and Mom sent me our senior prom picture. I have it taped up in my locker.
What’s new with me? Hmm, well, things are definitely getting more intense around here now that we’re in phase 2 of our training. We got to put bayonets on the end of our rifles and run around like idiots, stabbing at the air screaming KILL at the top of our lungs or pretend to hit invisible enemies in the head with the other end of the rifle yelling BUTT STROKE TO THE HEAD. It sounds silly and you feel silly when you do it but I get why we have to learn it. If only they’d let us practice on the Drill Sergeants. I wouldn’t mind landing a butt stroke to the groin on Sergeant Wacko, make him sing soprano for a week.
Oh and the gas chamber? Totally gross. We went in with our chemical masks then had to remove them. My eyes watered up so bad I couldn’t see and snot was pouring through my nose. By the time they let us run out of there, everyone was coughing so bad some people threw up. I didn’t luckily, but it wasn’t until then that it became clear why they let us eat as much as we wanted during lunch right before we went in, so we would puke, sick bastards that they are.
The Drill Sergeants are starting to let up on harassing us individually. Now they harass us as a group or in pairs of ‘battle buddies’. My bunk mate Willow is my battle buddy, which basically means if either one of us screws up, we get punished as a pair. Of course Sergeant Psycho still hasn’t let up on me one bit. We have this thing called Fire Duty where everyone pulls a one hour shift through the night to be on look out for, well, I guess a fire. Anyway, seems I get stuck with it around 2AM. There’s nothing to do during that hour except shine my boots. So stupid because they only get dirty the next day.
We’ve gone to the range quite a bit lately to practice shooting our rifles at paper and pop-up targets as well as throw hand grenades. Can I just say that even with ear plugs they are way louder than how the movies portray them? I got to fire a bunch of other really cool weapons, like the grenade launcher, the AT4 rocket launcher but my favorite was the M60. It’s that machine gun that’s propped up on a bi-pod with a long string of large bullets that feed into the chamber. We had to lie down to fire it because the recoil against the shoulder is so powerful it would probably send me flying back home. I got such a rush from the power that weapon has that I so get it now. I mean guys and their whole fascination with shooting things. You pull the trigger once and it fires off about 100 rounds per minute.
We’re going through obstacle courses now, too. The course started off with three different types of rope bridges, three-rope bridge (one you walk on and two to hang on to), the two-rope bridge (one to walk on and one to hold on to), and the one-rope bridge (where you go hand-over-hand). After that we climbed the tower and swung over the pit and repelled down the 200ft. wall. And that’s only one of the many different stations of the course.
Well, church service is almost over and I really need to end this letter here so I can get it mailed out tomorrow. I love you so much, my Angel, I hope you can make it to my graduation so I can see you at least once before I head out for school.
Love,
Buffy
She made sure she’d hid her latest letter to Angel inside her uniform before heading back to the barracks. She was excited that she would be able to call him today and nothing was going to ruin her good mood. Not the mud pit, invisible chair or any of the new and improved punishments Spike had put her through lately. Well, the cheese thing really grossed her out, but she got over that like she had with everything else. In truth she’d become much stronger over the last few weeks like everyone else had from all the physical training. That didn’t make it any more fun to do, but at least she was learning to tolerate more as ‘pain became her friend’.
Spike watched the soldiers from the window in his office as they called home one after another. Even though both Gunn and Finn were out there keeping an eye on Lindsey, he felt the need to watch him as well. He caught sight of Lindsey looking briefly at Buffy when it was her turn in the booth, but it was only that, brief. He switched his attention back to Buffy and looked at his watch as she dialed the phone. For every second she went over five minutes, he’d have her doing something extra as punishment. He watched as she twirled her hair and smiled away. He’d only see her smile twice, probably because whenever he was present she had no reason to. He looked back in Lindsey’s direction to find him engaged in a conversation with both Riley and Gunn. He was about to look back at Buffy when he saw the trio all look in the same direction at the same time. He followed their gaze directly back to Buffy and it was obvious everyone in line was also focusing on her. He watched her waving her arm around, a distressed look on her face. She looked upset.
When she hung up the phone he glanced at his watch. Nope, she hadn’t gone over her time but... what the hell was she doing? He watched Lindsey walking towards her and Spike immediately tightened both fists at his side. Gunn sprinted past him, however, and waved him off. He relaxed and took in the curious scene before him as it played out. Gunn walked her away from everyone else and back towards the building, stopping twenty feet short from it.
Now that she was closer he saw tears streaming down her face. What the bloody hell? Whether he hated her or not, he didn’t like to see any girl cry. He opened the window a crack and tried to listen in but they weren’t close enough. Gunn was consoling her by talking while she just nodded her head in response, her tears still flowing as she batted them away but agreeing with whatever it was he was saying. After nearly ten whole minutes it looked like he’d sufficiently calmed her down. But something got her started up again and she was crying worse than before. She buried her face in her hands, sat down in the grass and sobbed so hard her shoulders shook. Gunn threw his hands up in the air towards McDonald and Finn as they watched too, as if telling them he tried and didn’t know what else to do. He saw Finn point a finger towards the building and Gunn nodded in response. Gunn crouched down and touched each of her shoulders lightly, getting her to stand up and walk towards the door.
Whatever it was, it must be bad. That didn’t mean he would ease up on her though. If it were a family emergency then that was fine but anything else wouldn’t warrant backing off from her.
He heard the sound of the front door open and sniffling as feet padded up the stairs towards him. He stood back, just inside the door to his office, arms crossed and waited for Gunn to bring her to him to discuss whatever had happened. When they came into view however, Gunn steered her to the right and down the female side of the sleeping quarters. Stepping into the hallway, he watched in confusion at their retreating forms, Buffy still had her hands up covering her face. Why wasn’t she coming to his office? Was it someth... hold up.
Right before she entered her room, her arms dropped to her sides along with something that made a tiny noise as it hit the floor. Gunn stood in her doorway and said something to her then slowly bent down to retrieve the item and headed straight for Spike.
“Wha’s goin’ on?” Irritation laced his voice as Gunn walked towards him, motioning for him to come inside the office.
“Let’s go in here then I’ll tell you.” He waited until Spike closed the door. “Guess that old saying blood is thicker than water doesn’t always ring true.” Spike eyed him questioningly so he held up what Buffy had dropped. “Seems her boyfriend back home has been getting it on with some cousin of hers named Cordelia.”
“Ya don’ say.” Spike took the necklace her boyfriend had given her and noticed she must have yanked it off her neck because the clasp was broken. Very interestin’ indeed. His lips curled into an evil grin. “Guess I better go chat with her a bit, give her a pep talk.” He shoved the necklace inside his pants’ pocket.
“Spike. Dude. Give her a few minutes. I told her she could stay in her room until phone time was through.” Spike must really have it out for her to want to give her a hard time right after she’d just had her heart torn out. Spike gave him a ‘so what’ sneer. “Look. You know what it feels like to get cheated on. All I’m saying is give her a few minutes.”
“Exactl’ why `m goin’ too. Be back in a mo’.” With a bounce in his step and a smile on his face he headed towards her room. He really shouldn’t be glad at this pleasa... ahem, sorry turn of events in her life... but he was.
He stood in her doorway; glaring at her while she sat with her knees curled up against her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around them. Just when she managed to get her tears to cease, he’s here to rub it in. She knew Sergeant Gunn had told him, all the Drill Sergeants knew what was going on with any one of the recruits at all times. For several long seconds he didn’t speak and she kept her gaze anywhere but on him, refusing to shed any tears in front of the evil man.
Spike peered into her trash bin to find the picture of her boyfriend shredded and chuckled. Right where you belong. She was singl...free now. He knew immediately what he wanted to do to help her get over it, oh yes, keeping her best interest at heart of course. Tomorrow, li’l girl. As a plan formed itself in his head, he found his voice.
“Suck it up soldier and look at this for the blessin’ it is.” He expected her to look at him but she remained stone-still. “You don’ have anythin’ to distract you from your trainin’ now.” He didn’t like seeing her tear-stained face, but there wasn’t anything he could do about making it go away until tomorrow. Yup, he’d have her feeling much better about herself once he was through with her. He pulled out her necklace and held it over the wastebasket. “Say good bye to Peaches.” He dropped it in and turned on his heel, feeling quite smug with himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday of week 5
They crowded around one of the four giant circles of sand at the training grounds next the obstacle course as Gunn shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Listen up, privates. I’m going to give you a block of instruction on today’s hand to hand combat training. This,” he held up a five foot long pole with what looked liked cylindrical pillows on either end. “Is called a pugil stick. These,” he pointed at the ground towards a pile of helmets that resembled something a hockey player would wear. “Is the protective gear you need to wear. Sergeant Finn and I will demonstrate offensive and defensive maneuvers using the pugil. You will watch. You will learn. Everyone will then pair off and spar with a fellow soldier. Sergeant Finn?” He held the pugil out to Riley who already had his helmet on.
Buffy tried to pay attention as the pair moved through different stances in slow motion, simulating defensive blocks, offensive parries and thrusts to different parts of the body in order to debilitate an enemy. It was of no use though; her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of the betrayal she’d suffered through after phoning Angel. She cried through the night even though Willow did her best to console her. They’d been going together for nearly four years now. Four years and all it took was her being gone four weeks and her slut of a cousin sank her claws into him.
Willow leaned in to whisper in Buffy’s ear. “This is just like watching American Gladiator.” She heard Buffy snort. “With those giant Q-tip looking thingies?” She was trying to help get her friend’s mind off her break up.
“Ssshhh, I don’t want to get in trouble for talking.” She quickly glanced around for any sight of Spike. There he was, going about the other sand circles unloading equipment at each of them for today’s training exercise. She watched as he bent over to pick something up but the second her eyes traveled to his bottom, Willow elbowed her. “Huh?”
“They’re almost finished.” Willow saw where Buffy’s attention had drifted to. Oh, she didn’t know it was on Spike’s backside, but she didn’t want her friend to get caught staring off in the distance when she was supposed to be watching the other two Drill Sergeants.
“... all of it. Pair off and go to the circles. We’ll be watching and helping.” Sergeant Finn bellowed. “I want to see some real fighting here. You can’t hurt each other with the pugil so feel free to whack the snot out of your battle buddy.”
“Come one, let’s go first,” Willow smiled excitedly and dragged Buffy to the circle farthest away from Spike. He never picked on her too much, but his cruelty towards Buffy, especially the things he’d said to her last night had her hating him just as much as Buffy did.
As the minutes wore on, everyone rotated, taking turns, trying their best to get the better of their opponent. Buffy found it surprisingly fun, but Sergeant Finn had most definitely lied. It did hurt when you were hit hard enough with the funny looking sticks. There were Drill Sergeants at each circle, periodically stepping in to correct where the recruits were doing things wrong, some even went into the circle and sparred with them.
Buffy felt her mood lift somewhat, especially when Sergeant Levinson stepped in to spar with her. He said she ‘hit like a girl’ so when she was finally able to get in a decent shot to his torso, everyone laughed when he whined, ‘owwww’ at the top of his lungs.
Spike looked in Buffy’s direction every now and then, watching, waiting for just the right moment. When the crowd of soldiers laughed as she got the best of Levinson he knew it was time. He quickly strode over to where they stood, watching as Buffy handed off her equipment to the next soldier. He had almost reached her when she suddenly turned around and ran smack into his chest, sending her sprawling on her ass four feet in front of him.
“Oooomph.” It felt like she’d run into a brick wall. Looking up to see what she ran into, she was met with those all too familiar pair of icy blue eyes and a single, scarred eyebrow raised at her in amusement.
“Fallin’ for me, eh, Summers?”
You wish. Damn, his chest was like solid steel. She quickly stood up, shook her head ‘no’ with downcast eyes and went to walk away.
“Not so fast.” Holding his hand out to Jonathon, he snapped his fingers to give up the pugil the nerd still held. “Your attack is weak, Summers.”
“Yes, Sergeant.” She wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but it couldn’t be good. Oh, SHIT!!! The second he held the pugil out to her, she knew she’d be hurting worse than her ass was right now after he was through with her. He stood at the center of the circle with his legs spread in a wide stance, curling his index finger in a clear invitation for her to join him.
The recruits surrounding them ‘ooooo’d’ like she was in troooooubllllle. It was no secret to anyone Sergeant Speichart loved to torture her. She turned to take her helmet back but he stopped her. Even Gunn began looking a little nervous for Buffy’s sake but he remained silent.
“Eh, eh, eh. `M not wearin’ one and neither will you.” He glanced at Gunn who had a worried look on his face. He winked at him as if to say, ‘don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt her... much’.
If there’s a God out there somewhere, help? Please? She stepped into the circle as he took off his BDU top. His thin brown Army T-shirt was stretched tight on his upper body almost like it’d been shrunk in the wash. She didn’t need to know what was underneath his shirt in order to see how strong he was. The clearly defined muscles of his chest were evident through the thin cotton material. He tucked his dog tags in his shirt and barked at her to follow his example.
Her hands began trembling as she removed her top and stepped up to him, mimicking his stance. Again the crowd ‘ooooo’d’ as they faced off and she seriously wondered if he was using this as opportunity to actually beat on her.
“Shut your gobs and pay attention!” He began twirling the stick around like a baton, hand over hand to the left and right of his body. He knew she was intimidated and though it fed his ego, it wasn’t why he was doing this. He was employing his plan on her, he would see to helping her get over her boyfriend once and for all. After he was finished with her, she would never waste another precious second of her time thinking about the ‘great poof’. “We’re gonna keep doin’ this `til you get it right, Summers. I don’ bloody care if it takes five minutes or five hours. You’re not leaving this circle `til `m sure you can defend yourself properly.”
True to his word, they’d been going at it for nearly fifteen minutes and he wouldn’t let up on her. He gave her a few good jabs here and there, but every time she lunged, he easily avoided being hit. He wasn’t the least bit tired, but he was getting tired of her uncoordinated swings and staggering.
“Come on, Summers. Wha’s it gonna take for you to land me a good one, eh?” He swayed side to side, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Wha’s really stoppin’ you?” He curled his tongue behind his teeth and goaded her. “I know you wanna hit me, so why can’ you?”
“I’m trying, Sergeant.” What she wouldn’t give to be able to get that one clear shot!
He stopped swaying and stood up straight, looking bored. “No, you’re not tryin’. Tha’s the problem. You lack motivation. BUT...” He hesitated. “Since I am your Drill Sergeant, `s my job to get you motivated.”
Huh!?!? What the hell does that mean?
“Why not pretend that `m.............. Aaaaangel,” he sang.
Gunn stepped forward, determined to intervene but Finn held his hand up to stop him. “Just watch, he knows what he’s doing.” Gunn looked at him as if he were mad. “He’s channeling her anger, making her use it to get better. Trust me.”
“Alright, man.” Gunn shook his head and watched as his best friend continued taunting the poor girl.
“Come on now. Wouldn’t you jus’ love to take him out right now for pokin’ your cousin?”
“Hell, yeah!” She spoke without thinking and lunged for him. Even though he was standing perfectly still he moved to the side to effortlessly avoid her sudden thrust. “Oh, ah, I’m... I apologize, Ser...”
“Tha’s it. Don’ apologize. Let it out, Summers. Tell ya what.” He set one end of his pugil on the ground and leaned a forearm on it. “`M gonna make it easy on you. Here,” he waved his free hand about. “In this circle. Sod the rules.”
“Sergeant?” By all rights she should be doing pushups or something for having talked back. She wasn’t sure what she was more worried about, the fact he hadn’t dropped her or this new proposal he came up with.
“You heard me. No rules. You don’ have to call me Sergeant while we’re in this circle. Matter of fact... `m gonna allow you to say whatever you want to me and I won’ punish you for it.”
She relaxed from her defensive stance and looked him dead in the eye while raising one eyebrow. “Really?” This might actually be fun.
“Really.” She didn’t get another word out before his stick was back in both hands, giving her a sharp jab to the ribs.
“Arghhh.” She wanted to clutch her side but as she saw him readying to swing at her neck, her reflexes kicked in and blocked his attack.
“Good. Very good. Now attack me.” He flung his arms wide, leaving himself open to her.
“You asked for it.” She aimed low at his waist but he blocked her by swinging the pugil around from the opposite side to protect his left flank.
Five minutes into this ‘game with no rules’ and everyone, recruits and Drill Sergeants alike circled in close to watch as the blonde pair went at it. Buffy seemed to be fairing better now, able to block at least half of Spike’s offensive moves but she still had yet to land herself a hit.
“Come on, Goldilocks, let it out.” He ducked when she swung at his head and sneered at her. “`M your Angel right now and I jus’ fucked your cousin silly while you’re here... whoa.” She nearly did get his head that time. “Tha’s my girl, come on.”
“Fuck you.” She came in with a vengeance, trying two successive strikes to each side of his waist, but with no success.
“Now you’re talkin’. Curse, scream, whatever it takes. LET IT OUT.” He jabbed her ribs with a little more force this time, sending her staggering back to regain her balance.
She righted herself and glared at him. All the hate, all the pain, all the humiliation both this man and Angel had inflicted on her welled up inside her core, wound itself through her heaving chest and broken heart into her head where it grew, trying to break free. As sure as a lit fuse sends a rocket flaring, her rage made her focus on her target. She took a split second to assess Spike’s stance and unleashed her fury.
To the amazement of not only Spike but those around them, she faked him out. Thrusting the padded end towards his waist, she held back just enough of her forward momentum until he moved to block her... then struck. With all her strength, she swung at his face, landing a blow that made his head snap to the side. On gut instinct, when she saw he was stunned, she spun her body in a perfect three sixty and dropped down low to deliver a clean swipe behind his knees, sending his entire body up in the air to land with a loud thud to the ground.
“Fuck you.” She spat on the ground beside him. “BITCH!” She dropped her stick and walked out of the circle not bothering to look back. Everyone around her roared and cheered. Even the Drill Sergeants came up behind her and slapped her on the back hard.
“Way to get some, Summers. HOO-AH!” Gunn cheered. Hey, Spike had it coming. He asked for it... he got it.
As Spike stared at the sky from the flat of his back where he lay, he felt a trickle of blood leave his nose to roll down the side of his face. Mission accomplished, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to her about it either. He knew he got his ass served to him and though he was seething inside at being beat by the tiny blonde, he never went back on his word. She was free and clear of everything she’d done within that small circle of sand.
A/N: I decided Buffy deserved a little compensation, giggles. You may notice I’m taking this story at a fast pace but there’s a reason for it and I think you’ll like my plans, they’re oh so wicked like my muse can be. Hope you all enjoyed, lemme know your thoughts if you have a moment to spare, thanks. Have a very pleasant evening.