The shrill sound of a phone ringing caused both Buffy and Spike to jump. Buffy groaned in frustration. “You have got to be kidding me! Any chance we could just ignore it?” She giggled as Spike nibbled at her neck before sighing and pulling back.
“Bloody hell! Now what?!” He rolled over to reach for the phone on the bedside table, giving Buffy a nice view of his well-shaped, naked ass. She let out a ‘mmm’ in approval, only to smile innocently when he glanced over his shoulder and gave her a questioning look.
“All right, whoever this is, it better be important!” Spike practically growled into the phone, causing Buffy to roll her eyes and giggle. It was just something about him that made her feel both like a love-sick schoolgirl and a grown-up woman at the same time. She had never felt anything like this before, and it was wonderful.
Buffy couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have met someone like Spike. Things had been going really fast, but she couldn’t be happier. For some reason, she felt like they had known each other forever and not just for a few days. She realized there were still a lot of things they didn’t know about each other, things that would have to come out in the open sooner or later, but right now she just didn’t care.
She really wasn't looking forward to explaining her relationship with Riley, for one thing. Her mind actually cringed at the thought of that conversation. Buffy knew that come the morning, Spike would want to know the full details, with absolutely no skimming over the less happy times.
Oh well, after all, I was the one who brought up this whole ‘let’s be honest’ crap in the first place. I should’ve known it would come back to bite me in the ass, she thought, somewhat bitterly.
“Xander? What are you…? All right, listen mate, this is really not a… Oh. Right, I’ll tell her.” A pause. “Look, we were just… Never mind. Thanks for calling, bye!” Spike hung up before Xander got the chance to object, quickly throwing the phone aside and crawled back into bed. He wrapped his arms around Buffy. “Now, where were we?”
“That was really nice of you to come all the way here just to tell us that Buffy left her cell phone at the Magic Box. Now, please leave.” Anya said the last part with a bright smile, gently pushing Willow and Tara towards the front door. The two girls just looked at each other, rolling their eyes, but Xander looked horrified at Anya’s behavior.
“Anya! That’s rude!” He gave Willow and Tara an apologetic look, but they just smiled.
“That’s okay, we’re sorry to just show up like this. It’s just that we couldn’t reach Buffy, and neither one of us had Spike’s number and we knew that you guys are friends so we figured you’d be here and…” Willow blushed a little. “I’m babbling, sorry. I tend to do that… sometimes.” She casted a nervous look at her girlfriend, who nodded in agreement.
“Don’t you wanna stay for a cup of coffee or something?” Xander looked from Willow to Tara. “We have…”
“Xander!” Anya interrupted him, an incredulous note in her voice. “What are you doing?”
Xander turned to Anya in confusion.“Well, unlike you, I’m trying to be polite here.”
“Aw, that’s sweet, but we were right in the middle of something, remember?” Anya made a gesture with her hands, putting one finger into her other hand and pumping it up and down.
Xander chuckled nervously, glancing at Willow and Tara who obviously had a hard time trying not to burst into laughter. Tara took pity on Xander and decided to save him from the awkward situation. “Thanks, but we really have to get going.” They said their goodbyes quickly, and left Anya’s apartment giggling madly.
Buffy tried to hold back a yawn, failing miserably, and Spike smiled. “Tired, pet?”
Waving her hand in dismissal, Buffy shook her head. “No, of course not. I could be up all night.” She yawned again, causing Spike to chuckle and place a soft kiss on her nose. She frowned. “Nice, but what was that for?”
Spike smiled again. “You’re adorable.” As Buffy giggled, he cocked an eyebrow. Although he was pretty certain that she was not laughing at him, his past insecurities were still very hard to overcome. “What?”
“Oh, nothing.” She paused. “It’s just funny to hear you use a word like ‘adorable’, that’s all. In fact, I think it’s sweet.” Buffy's eyes swam with amusement at Spike’s scowl.
He quickly turned his face away in embarrassment. “M’not sweet!”
Buffy giggled even more, then stopped abruptly at the look he gave her and pretended to zip her lips closed. “Right, of course not.” Another yawn. “Dammit!”
“Wanna sleep for a couple of hours, luv?” Spike tilted his head to the side. “Bit knackered myself, been a long day and all.”
Considering his words for a moment, Buffy finally gave in, nodding gratefully. “When you put it that way, sleeping sounds really good. But what about…?” She blushed, hoping that he would understand what she meant.
He did. “We got the rest of our lives for that, yeah?” Buffy smiled, and he hurried to add; “Not that I’m saying we have to wait forever, just saying. We got time, right?”
“Of course.” Buffy snuggled close to him, pulling the covers over them. “Good night, Spike.”
“Night, luv. Sweet dreams.”
“This is good. Better than good, it’s perfect.” Riley looked through the papers again, grinning widely. He had hoped that Willie would be able to dig up something about Spike that he could use to get Buffy away from him, but this, this was better than he had ever imagined. Willie had also worked surprisingly fast; having found the information Riley was now holding in his hand after merely a couple of hours. Imagine what the guy could dig up in a week! But this was quite enough for now. Riley filed the snitch away in his mind; it wouldn't hurt to stay in touch with a reliable contact such as the bartender. He might just be useful again some time.
“Then I believe you owe me some money.” Willie raised his eyebrows, and held out his hand in expectation.
Riley sighed, but pulled out his wallet from his pocket. “Fine, here you go. Three hundred dollars, like we agreed.”
Willie took the money and started counting them. Riley laughed a little. “What, you don’t trust me?”
The weasel faced man in front of him did not even dignify the question with an answer. Instead he just snorted. “It was a pleasure doing business with you, buddy.” He counted the money one more time before giving Riley a nod and left to serve a customer at the far side of the bar.
Riley was very pleased. Sure, this had been a little more expensive than he had expected, but it would all be worth it. Tomorrow, he would go talk to Buffy. Then it was only a matter of time before Spike would be out of the picture for good. And after that... Riley gave a self satisfied smirk. Well, after that, he would do everything in his power to make Buffy remember who she really belonged to.
TBC