Title: Just a Summer Romance (1/6/05)
Author: Slaymesoftly
Rating: NC17 (at some point)
Season: Between Season IV and V, but totally non-canon as it moves into Season V
Disclaimer: Just playing with characters that belong to Joss, ME, etc.
Summary/notes: A sequel to my (Are We Friends?) Challenge 31 fic for the Bloodshedverse - Buffy and Spike deal with the consequences of their night together.
JUST A SUMMER ROMANCE
Chapter One
Buffy awoke gradually as light from outside filtered into the crypt, chasing away the gloom and forcing her out of her peaceful sleep. She started to stretch, and found that she was sore in several places. She was also somewhat pinned down by a muscular arm across her waist.
Memories of the previous night came flooding back as she noticed the black-painted nails on the hand at the end of the arm. Her heart raced and her breathing became faster as what she’d done and with whom she’d done it became perfectly clear.
(Oh my god! I had sex with Spike! Spike – sex – words that should never be used together. I had sex with him. That is just...okay, want to say disgusting, but it wasn’t. It was...unusual. Yeah, that’s a good word. Much better than mind-blowing, wonderful, want-to-do-it-again sex. It was unusual sex.)
Beside her, the increase in her breathing and heart rate woke Spike from his normal, heavy, early-morning sleep. He remained still, judging from her body’s responses that she wasn’t necessarily happy about finding herself in his bed, but unwilling to give up the physical contact until he had to.
Unfortunately for his attempt to remain inert, one body part woke up immediately when it noticed Buffy’s warm rear end tucked up next to it. As soon as it poked its way between her thighs, she gasped and sat straight up. Spike opened his eyes unwillingly and saw what he’d been afraid he would see – Buffy staring back and forth from her own naked body to his and clearly getting close to hyperventilating.
(Guess a morning shag is out of the question, then.)
When she grabbed the quilt and yanked it up to cover her chest, she accidentally pulled it off him, leaving his lean body and eager cock completely exposed. She moaned and tried to pull the bottom of the quilt back over his lower body without exposing more of hers. Deciding he’d have a better chance of calming her down if she wasn’t so worried about what they weren't wearing, he took the edge of the quilt and carefully spread it out across both of them. The way Buffy was clutching it to her chest made it impossible for him to cover his chiseled chest and muscular shoulders, but he did the best he could.
He rolled away from her onto his back and crossed his arms under his head as he waited to find out if he was going to be adding his dust to that already on the floor of the crypt. He tried very hard to keep his expression bland and respectful, knowing one sign of cockiness or smirking on his part and the previous night’s beating would seem like a massage.
(Was hopin’ she’d wake up happy to be here, but I guess that was too much to wish for. Bloody William tryin’ to make last night more than it was. We had a good shag, and if I don’t bollix it up too badly, we might be able to come out of this still friends.)
He carefully suppressed the demon that was insisting he had no desire to be friends with the woman he’d tried to claim.
Buffy ran her eyes up from his chest to his face, pausing to wince at the tooth marks she had clearly left near his neck. When she got to his face she suddenly chickened out and looked down at the quilt, her face flaming.
With a resigned sigh, Spike rolled off the bed and pulled his pants on, keeping his back to her as he did so. When he had them zipped up, he collected her clothes from the floor and silently handed them to her before going over to his “kitchen” and opening the refrigerator.
As soon as she realized he was giving her some privacy in which to get dressed, Buffy jumped off the bed and pulled her clothes on haphazardly. She glanced at him once or twice to see if he was peeking, but he was always turned away, his pale back the only part of him visible back in the dark corner.
Finally she put her head up and said softly, “I’m dressed. You can turn around now.”
She put her chin up and for the first time since she awoke she looked him in the eye. She couldn’t interpret the look on his face. It wasn’t the smirking self-satisfaction she had expected to see, but neither was there anything apologetic about it. The vampire was just looking at her. He seemed to be calmly waiting for her to tell him where they stood.
There was no way for Buffy to know that there was a war going on behind the impassive face across the room from her. William wanted to throw himself at her feet and beg her forgiveness for presuming to touch her, and the demon wanted to push her back onto the bed and take what he now considered his.
None of that showed on Spike’s face as Buffy studied him carefully, looking for some clue as to his reaction to the night before. Finally she gave up trying to read his blank expression and admitted in a shaky voice, “I don’t know what to say to you.”
“ I’m guessin’ ‘it never happened’ isn’t gonna get it this time,” he responded with a rueful smile.
“A world of no, ” she agreed, rolling her eyes. Her hand went to the bite marks on her neck and she rubbed them absently as she stood there. Somehow, now that they were dressed again, it was easier to remember that they were friends who could talk to each other and she closed the distance between them until they were only a few feet apart.
She looked up at him anxiously and said, “You know this can never happen again, right? I mean, I’m the Slayer, you’re a vampire. I have a boy friend...oh my god! I have a boy friend. I cheated on Riley! With you!”
She was so wrapped up in her own sudden dismay that she didn’t catch the pain that went across the vampire’s face at her words. Nor did she see his hands clench into fists as he struggled to control himself. By the time she looked back at his face, there was no sign of the ache that had taken up residence in his unbeating heart.
Moving a little closer to her, he rubbed her arms in what was meant to be a comforting manner as he said soothingly, “Nobody knows about this except us, love. By the time anyone is here to see you again, those bites will be gone and...and last night will be just a memory.” (A wonderful, once in a lifetime memory)
Without thinking, Buffy moved into his comforting embrace and rested her head on his chest as she said, “I suppose you’re right. If nobody finds out about it, nobody will get hurt.”
Grateful that she couldn’t see his face, the vampire squeezed his eyes shut as he kissed the top of her head softly and agreed, “That’s right, pet. Nobody will get hurt.”
She pulled back from him, frowning slightly as she found that inexplicably difficult to do. For some reason the bite marks on her neck started to ache as he dropped his arms and let her go. She reached up to touch them again and shuddered as he ghosted his fingers over hers, immediately replacing the ache with a tingle that went all the way down to her toes.
“Spi—what...what did you do? Why do I feel like this? I’ve been bitten before – it never felt like this.”
He sighed and took her hands in his as he braced himself for a storm.
“Are you holding my hands so I won’t hit you?” she asked with a worried attempt at a smile.
He laughed gently and squeezed them a little as he admitted, “Well, maybe that’s one reason. But not the only one,” he added, moving his thumbs softly over her palms. He brought one hand up to his mouth and planted a kiss on her knuckles.
“Jus’ let me tell you what’s goin’ on before you decide to beat me up again, okay?”
She looked at him dubiously, but nodded her head. “Okay, ‘splainy, please.”
Shaking his head at her abuse of the English language, he began hesitantly, “When I bit you – the second time. While we were mak-“
“Having sex,” she interjected. “We were having sex. I remember.”
“Right, then. While we were having sex, I might have said...something...that made my demon think I wanted to claim you. What you’re feelin’ is just the effects of the partial claim. It’s not a big deal. It’ll go away as soon as the marks do. I promise. It’s not permanent.”
He waited anxiously as she digested the information, absently rubbing the marks again as she did so. Her knowledge of vampire lore was not as great as it probably should have been, but she had some idea what he meant. She thought back to the night before and tried to remember what he’d said when he bit her. She could remember that he had murmured things in her ear almost the entire time they were making love (having sex! We were only having sex.), and she really had no idea which endearment might have been the trigger.
“So, you didn’t mean to do it, then?” She cocked her head at him and waited impatiently as he took his time coming up with his answer.
He gazed back at her and decided to go for complete honesty.
“My demon did,” he said flatly. “I didn’t expect to lose control of him like that, but when you bit me...”
“Are you saying this is MY fault?” She fixed him with green lasers as she waited for an answer.
“No, pet. No, no. Not saying that at all,” he hastened to assure her. “I’m jus’ explainin’ why it happened is all.”
Somewhat mollified, she poked her lip out in a pout and relaxed.
“Well, okay then. I guess I’ll just have to wait for them to heal up. It shouldn’t take that long. Slayer healing and all that.”
“No, pet, it won’t take long.” He tried to keep the sadness out of his voice as he agreed with her.
Buffy shuffled uncomfortably for a minute, not sure if she wanted to know why he didn’t seem happier about losing the claim quickly.
“I guess I’d better be getting home,” she finally said quietly. “Mom will be calling as soon as she gets to New York.”
“Alright, pet. I’m jus’ goin’ to get some more kip. I’m still a little knackered from last night.”
She shot him a guilty look as she remembered the beating that had led to the rest of the night’s events, but he wasn’t looking at her as he climbed back onto the sarcophagus. She decided she really didn’t want to know specifically what had made him so “knackered” and held her tongue. When he was lying down again on his back, bearing an uncomfortable resemblance to the corpse that he actually was, she walked over and pulled the quilt up over his immobile body. She ran the back of her knuckles over his cheek before she turned to leave.
As she went to go, she was reminded of how fast vampires could move when his arm shot out and grabbed her hand. She raised startled eyes and found him looking at her intently.
“I’ll see you tonight, love.” It was a statement, not a question and she felt a bolt of anger shoot through her. The anger quickly dissipated when she saw the fear on his face.
“Yeah, Spike. I’ll see you tonight. You promised me double the slaying, remember?”
“Double it is, Slayer.” He let go of her hand and closed his eyes again, not wanting to watch her walk out the door.
Chapter Two
When Spike showed up on the front porch just after sunset, Buffy tried to tell herself the stab of happiness that went through her was a result of the claim, but since the bite wounds were completely closed and already well on their way to being invisible, it was a hard sell.
They began walking toward the nearest cemetery, an uncomfortable silence taking the place of their usual bantering conversation. Just when the silence was getting to the point that almost any sound would be welcome, a piercing scream saved the day. The two blond super beings sprinted toward the source of the sound and found a young couple pinned against the side of a crypt by two fledgling vampires.
Spike pulled the first one off the screaming girl and tossed him toward Buffy who was holding her stake out for the vamp to land on. As soon as the dust cleared, she lifted the stake a little higher so that the slightly taller second vamp would hit it in just the right spot. She saw his eyes widen as he found himself moving through the air toward a smiling blond girl holding what appeared to be a piece of sharpened wood. With a “thump” he hit the stake perfectly and exploded into dusty particles.
Spike was glaring at the two teenagers in disgust.
“I hope you two morons are usin’ some kinda birth control,” he growled at them. They blinked at him in confusion and looked at Buffy for clarification.
“He thinks you’re too stupid to be allowed to reproduce,” she said sweetly as she pushed them toward the gate. “Stay out of cemeteries at night. ‘K? Bye now.”
The burst of speed and the brief interaction with the teenagers broke the ice, and Buffy and Spike were soon walking around their usual patrol areas with the same comfortable camaraderie that they’d had before. Unfortunately, the two fledglings were the only evildoers they found all night and they were soon back at Buffy’s house, both filled with pent up energy.
Spike was bouncing on his toes and shadowboxing around her back yard, trying to entice Buffy into sparring with him.
“Come on, Slayer. You know you want to dance with me. Let’s go.”
“Don’t be silly, Spike. You know you can’t hit me back – and if I can’t go all out, it won’t be any fun.”
“I could make it fun, pet,” he said, curling his tongue against his front teeth and wiggling his eyebrows at her.
She rolled her eyes at his blatant innuendo and smacked him on the head.
“Speaking of dancing...”
He stopped clowning and looked at her intently.
“You still want to go clubbin’, Slayer?”
“Yes. You promised me a night in LA – and you told me you always keep your promises.”
“Ok, then. I’ll pick you up as soon as the sun goes down tomorrow. Wear somethin’ sexy, “ he added with a leer.
“Oh, to accompany somebody in jeans and a tee shirt?” She sneered and rolled her eyes at him.
“Jus’ do what you’re told, you silly little bint, and don’ worry about me.”
“Someday Giles is going to tell me what a bint is and I’m going to have to hurt you for that, “ she grumbled.
He just laughed and danced out of her reach when she swatted at him.
“You’re full of energy tonight,” she laughed, shaking her head at him from her seat on the back porch.
“Had Slayer blood last night. Feel like I could take on the world.”
“Yeah, well, you’d better try to make it last, vampire. It’s not like you’ll be getting more any time soon,” she snapped at him, angry that he had reminded her of what he was.
Spike’s good mood vanished and they were suddenly once again uncomfortable with each other, and he mentally cursed himself for bringing it up. When he saw that her face had settled into unhappy lines, he sat down beside her and reached for her limp hand.
Holding her hand in one of his, he used the other to turn her face towards his.
“I also got to make love to a beautiful woman, and that was much more important than anything else that happened,” he said with complete sincerity as William took control of the conversation.
Buffy blushed and ducked her head. “More important than Slayer blood? I find that hard to believe, Spike.”
“Believe it, love. Your blood made the demon roar, but kissin’ you, feelin’ you around me... that’s the memory I’m taking with me to my dusty end.”
Buffy was left completely speechless by his confession of what the night meant to him. His words gave her a warm glow inside, at the same time that her brain was screaming, “Vampire feelings! There will be no vampire feelings. They have no feelings. He can’t mean what he’s saying. Not listening. Nope, not listening. La, la, la, la...”
Her internal monologue was interrupted by his hand waving in front of her face.
“Slayer? Buffy? You in there?”
He wasn’t sure how to take her reaction to what he’d said. The expression on her face and the increase in her heart rate said one thing, but the way she leaned toward him and the way her fingers curled around the hand still holding hers said something very different. His interruption brought her attention back to him and she met his worried gaze with an embarrassed shrug.
“Sorry, Spike. I guess I zoned out there for a minute. I’m not used to hearing you say such nice things to me.” She raised her free hand to touch the side of his face. “I’m not sure I know how to react,” she added, stroking his cheek softly.
“I’d say you’re doing just fine, love,” he whispered, leaning into her hand and closing his eyes.
The sound of the phone ringing inside the house jarred them out of the moment, and Buffy dropped her hand and moved away from him quickly. She avoided looking at him as she stood up and prepared to go inside, missing the disappointment that flashed across his face when she broke contact.
“I...I guess I’d better go in. That might have been an important call. Could have been Mom, or Dawn, or...” She stopped herself just before she said Riley’s name, but the amber eyes flashing at her told her it didn’t matter. They both knew who was likely to be calling her this late at night.
“Right,” he said through gritted teeth. “Don’t want to be missing any important phone calls, do we, Slayer?”
“Spike—“ She hesitated, not sure exactly what she wanted to say, but knowing it was important to remind him that she belonged to somebody else.
“Don’t,” he said flatly. “Just bloody don’t, alright?”
“All right,” she said meekly. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow night?”
The fact that it sounded more like a question than a statement, made him realize how close to the surface his demon was and he forced it back as he tried to look nonchalant.
“Oh, yeah. You’ll see me tomorrow. And I’d better see you dressed to impress, Slayer.”
He lifted his eyebrow at her and ran his eyes up and down her body, trying to get back the easy bantering they’d enjoyed earlier in the evening.
Buffy was grateful to have the tension relieved and immediately responded with a huffy, “As if I need fashion advice from you! I just hope you don’t embarrass me, Spike.”
He studied her for a minute, then smiled his cocky smile and said, “I’ll do my best, pet. See you tomorrow,” he threw over his shoulder as he disappeared into the darkness in a swirl of leather.
Buffy sighed at the mercurial changes of which the vampire was capable, and opened the kitchen door to go in. The phone had long since stopped ringing, but she was pretty sure she knew who it was and that he would call back soon. With a guilty start, she realized that she hadn’t talked to Riley in several weeks, and hadn’t been the one to initiate a call since the first week of his leave. She vowed silently to be a better girlfriend to him for the rest of the summer and went upstairs to shower and get ready for bet.
She was just finishing brushing her hair and preparing to climb into bed when the phone rang again. She picked it up as she slipped into bed, piling pillows against the headboard and pulling the covers up.
“Hello?” she said into the phone as she squirmed into a comfortable position for a long talk.
“Buffy? Where’ve you been? I’ve been calling all night.”
“Uh, well, I was patrolling...you know, Chosen One and all that. Vamps to slay, demons to hunt. The usual. I did hear the phone the last time, but I was still outside and couldn’t get to it in time. I knew it was you, though,” she finished brightly. “That’s why I came in.”
“You wouldn’t have come in anyway?” Riley asked in surprise. “It’s the middle of the night, Buffy. What were you doing still outside?”
Opening her mouth before she had totally engaged her brain, Buffy responded cheerily, “Oh, Spike and I were talk—“
“Spike? Spike was there? Did he bother you? Did you have to stake him?” She could hear the anger in his voice and the trace of hope as he asked about staking.
“No, Riley,” she said with a sigh. Deciding it was safest to go with as much truth as possible, she went on, “Spike isn’t bothering me. He’s been helping me patrol and keeping me company while everyone is out of town for the summer. He’s been very helpful, actually.”
There was a tense silence from the other end of the line until Riley finally asked, “And does your mother know you’re spending time with another soulless vampire?”
Buffy was astonished that Riley would think that her mother would be upset, and angry that he would obliquely refer to Angel as though he had a right to comment on that relationship.
“Angel has a soul,” she said shortly, making it very clear that was going to be the end of that subject. “And my mother happens to like Spike. A lot.”
“Well, doesn’t know him like I do,” he muttered, sounding very much like a spoiled child. “She wouldn’t like him so much if he didn’t have that chip,”
“On the contrary,” Buffy said sweetly. “She’s known him for years. He’s always been welcome in my mom’s house.”
“Spike’s been in your house? Before he was chipped? What the hell were you thinking, Buffy?”
Riley’s righteous indignation reminded Buffy of how little he really knew about her life before she met him and how complicated it could get, being a Slayer on the Hellmouth.
“Long story, Riley. I really don’t feel like going in to it right now, okay? I’m tired and I want to go to sleep.”
“All right, Buffy. I’m sorry I yelled. I just...I miss you, you know? And I worry about you when I’m not there.”
She could hear the affection in his voice, and smothered the impatient sigh that wanted to sneak out of her mouth.
“I’m sorry, too, Riley. Let’s just forget it, okay?” She forced herself to sound interested as she asked, “So, how is your visit going? Are you catching up with lots of old friends?”
“Oh yeah. Having a good time. We had our high school class reunion and I got to see all my old buddies. We’ve been fishing and just riding around in the truck. It’s been great.”
“Well, that sounds...great. I’m glad you’re having a good time.”
“I am. But I miss you. I’ll be glad to get back. Getting really horny... I hope you’ll be rested when I get back.”
Buffy smothered her laugh, but did roll her eyes since he couldn’t see that. The idea of Riley being horny enough to wear her out was even funnier now than it would have been two days ago.
“Uh, yeah, I think I’ll be okay,” she said with a smile in her voice, trying to ignore the little one in her head that was saying, “unless you let Spike wear you out in the meantime...”
(Bad voice! Bad, bad. Not listening to bad voice. La, la, la...)
For the second time that night, someone had to bring her back from la-la land as Riley said, “Buffy? Buffy are you there?”
“Oh, yes. I’m here. Sorry, guess I just got carried away thinking about when you get back.” She winced at the blatant lie, but when she heard the happiness in his voice she decided it was a good lie.
“Well, on that happy note, I guess I’ll let you get to sleep. I’ll talk to you soon, okay? Love you, Buffy.”
“Um, okay. Bye-bye,” she chirped, hoping he wouldn’t notice the lack of “I love you” on her part. She told herself it didn’t mean anything. “I just didn’t feel like saying it right now, that’s all,” she mumbled to herself as she slid down on the bed. “Doesn’t mean a thing.”
Which would have been a lot more convincing if her dreams hadn’t been filled with piercing blue eyes, smooth alabaster skin and a very talented tongue...
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Author's Chapter Notes:
the storm is playing up with our satellite, so I don't know how much I'll be able to post, if anything.