[Reviews - 190]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 4473 times

- Text Size +




Chapter 13

Inside the room, Spike turned to face Buffy, his features no longer distorted or demonic but smooth and handsome. "Sorry 'bout that, luv."

Buffy had been lost in a virtual daze of mortification of truly gargantuan proportions, and her head jerked up at the sound of his voice, her eyes blinking rapidly to bring him into focus. Spike's face was an open book to her at that moment. She clearly saw his concern, his hesitation, the barely suppressed anger coursing through him. But what leapt out the most to her was the utter fear in his eyes, fear of her reaction.... To him, to what they had done together, and her heart opened to him just a bit more. She found her lips curving up into an amused smile as she regarded the tense vampire in front of her.

"Well, bet that's not something they're going to forget seeing anytime soon."

She saw saw his whole body relax, the tension pouring out in a torrential flood when he realized by her light hearted comment that she wasn't regretting what had been shared between them, and her smile widened. She dropped the sheet and got up on her knees and held her arms out to him. "Want to try this morning thing over again?"

His smile seemed to light up the darkened room and he reached her side in two rapid strides. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a soft meaningful kiss, loving the feel of his capable hands stroking their way over her body. She was the first to draw back, commenting, "Ah yes, now that is MUCH better."

"Was afraid you'd be all panicky, having your Watcher and your mate seeing us like that." Spike admitted to her quietly

"Have to admit, I was all majorally panicky girl at first. But now? Not so much."

``````
Outside the room, Giles and Xander could hear muffled words being spoken. They didn't want to admit to eavesdropping, but Giles justified it by telling himself that he was merely making sure his Slayer was all right. After all, she was behind a closed door with a dangerous vampire who last seen, had charged them in full game face. It was then that the reality of what they had witnessed finally hit home, and Giles at least realized that this would have to be dealt with in a truly delicate manner. Spike had been protecting Buffy from them. Good lord, he thought, rubbing his temple where a pounding was starting up with all the subtly of a full symphony.

The next moment had Xander checking the crotch of his pants for accidental leakage when the door to the bedroom was suddenly thrown open and Spike came striding out, wearing only a pair of jeans, his chest and feet bare. He gave Giles and Xander a withering glare and announced coldly, "The least you two sods could have done was gotten the boy up."

They watched Spike walk down the hallway, and it was then they realized that Blake was yelling in his crib. Giles surmised that the door slamming probably was responsible for waking him up, and he moved to follow Spike down the stairs when he emerged from Blake's room carrying the boy easily in his arms, with Blake laughing and hugging him tight. Spike pointedly ignored the Watcher's presence as he grabbed a diaper out of the basket and quickly changed Blake's diaper, finding himself proficient at the task after just the one time. Xander came downstairs just at the tail end and gaped at the sight.

"William the Bloody changes diapers? Well, there's something you don't see every day." Xander wisecracked, unable to keep his mouth shut. Giles sent him a pained look, and after Spike set Blake back on his feet and turned the telly on for him, he stalked slowly in Xander's direction. The smell of fear coming from Buffy's idiot friend was invigorating, and he allowed a dangerous look to take over his face. Xander gulped and backed away, with Spike following his movements with lethal precision. When he had Xander backed up against a wall, he told the boy fiercely, "You shut your gob, boy."

Xander's fear had now escalated to pure terror, and he called out, "Giles, little help here."

Giles was just reaching for the stake in his back pocket when Spike sent a hard look in his direction, stilling his movements. "Won't be needing that, Watcher. Just be having us a bit of a talk, is all." He took a step back from Xander, and crossed his arms across his chest. "Now then, this is the way it's going to be. Neither one of you is going to say one bad word to Buffy about what you saw this morning. Either one of you gits makes her feel ashamed of what she did with me, you'll be finding one very pissed off vampire after you. Understood?"

Giles did not hesitate to agree, causing Xander to look at him in shock. "What? Are you crazy? How do we know he didn't have her in that thrall thing so he could have his evil way with her?"

"She wasn't in a thrall, Xander." Giles informed him.

"Oh? And how do you know this, oh Mr. Book Man?"

Giles ripped his glasses off and allowed his calm composure to slip a little. "Because Xander, if she was under a thrall, she wouldn't have been embarrassed that we saw her, that's how I know this."

"Oh."

"You guys talking about me?" A voice from the top of the stairs said, causing all four males present in the room to look up in that direction.

"Mama!" Blake squealed, tearing himself away from the tv set to go greet her. Buffy walked down the stairs, now properly attired in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, her previous sex tousled hair now tied back in a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She saw Giles immediately search her neck for any evidence of bite marks, and she rose an eyebrow in his direction. Blake wrapped himself around her legs, and Buffy picked him up and kissed him good morning. She turned to her best friend and her Watcher and asked if they wanted any coffee. Without waiting for a response, she winked at Spike and carried Blake into the kitchen. Spike eagerly followed, watching the swing of her ass as she walked, barely resisting the urge to grab it and shag her until she came screaming his name over and over.

Once in the kitchen, Spike took Blake from Buffy and put him in his highchair while Buffy made a pot of coffee. While it was brewing, she handed Spike a box of cereal to start feeding Blake, and he attended to that while Buffy got the coffee ready. Xander and Giles just watched, it not escaping their notice the way they were interacting with each other now, the easy familiarity that was now present.

When Buffy finally turned to them, a mug of coffee in hand, Giles took that as his cue. "Buffy, I apologize for the way we barged in here."

"Yeah, me too, Giles."

"However in our defense, we came over here because we were concerned. Willow and Xander came and told me that you had missed the first couple periods of school, and in light of recent circumstances, well, I felt it would be remiss of me if I did not investigate."

"Ever hear of an invention called the telephone?" Buffy asked.

"I did try to ring you, there was no answer. And when we got here, there was no answer to the doorbell. So, we decided it warranted further investigation." Giles continued, ignoring Spike's snort.

"Yeah, and you got yourself an eyeful, dinnit ya?"

"Yes, well...." Giles muttered, his discomfiture becoming increasingly obvious.

Spike noticed Xander's continual glare and finally gave into his irritation. "You got something you want to say, you ponce?"

Xander's hand went to his back pocket and his grip tightened around the stake he was keeping handy. He met Spike's irritated look with one of defiance. "Yeah, guess I do. I don't trust you. And I don't particularly like you either. I don't like seeing you around Buffy or Blake, I think you're a whole lot of bad news."

Xander tensed up preparing to have a enraged vampire charging him once more, but Spike managed to surprise him again. The vampire laughed, and cast an amused look towards Buffy. "Hey, I'm bad news, baby." He informed her smugly.

Buffy gave a indelicate snort and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, tell me something I don't know, Spike."

Spike gave her a wicked grin, then turned his attention back to Xander. The amusement left his eyes and his face hardened as he regarded the teen. "Well I'm thinkin I don't particularly care what you think of me, it's what Buffy thinks that I'm more concerned about."

"Oh really? Like you can't manipulate her feelings to suit your diabolical fiendish plans?"

A hint of amber was now clearly visible in Spike's gaze, which was hard and cold. "I don't have any diabolical fiendish plans at the moment, unless you count getting to know my son."

Xander threw his hands up helplessly and turned to Giles. "See? I told you we shouldn't haven't left Buffy alone with him. One night, that's all it took. One night and he managed to seduce her and have his evil way with her."

Buffy rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Xander knock it off, ok? "

"Buffy, I'm just trying to watch out for you, ok? You're too close to this, you can't see what he's doing..."

"XANDER! I said stop! Besides, there was no seducing involved here, I jumped HIM, ok?" At the shocked glances of her Watcher and friend, Buffy turned her mortified face towards Spike's smirking one and said, "Did I just say that out loud?"

"Yeah, you did, luv."

"Oops."

Xander opened his mouth to rebuke her statement, but Giles intervened. "Xander, do shut up, won't you? Buffy, we'll be going now. Will you be in school later today?" Buffy shook her head, and Xander opened his mouth to argue, but at Buffy's lethal glare, he wisely shut up.

"No, I'm going to go see my mom later." She explained, feeling a tinge of guilt that she hadn't called to check up on her yet.

Giles nodded, and with a nod to Buffy and Spike, and a wave to Blake, the Watcher dragged a complaining Xander out of the house, and Spike and Buffy found themselves alone.

"Don't care much for your mate." Spike announced.

Buffy laughed, crossing the room to sink down on his lap. "I think the feeling is more than mutual."

Spike snaked one arm around her middle, the other still engaged in feeding their son breakfast, and this cozy domestic feeling should have had him flying out of town, tires screeching. But it just made him want more of it. The persisting restlessness he'd had was all but a dim memory now.

They spent the morning with their son, watching TV with him, cuddling on the couch, subtly learning how to be a family. And Spike was learning how to be a father, which Buffy noted was a role he seemed to have no problem stepping into . Buffy had called her mom and had been informed that they would be doing surgery on her ankle later that afternoon, and Buffy told her she would be there when her mom went into the operating room. She immediately felt ashamed of herself when the first thing she thought of at hearing of the impending surgery, was that it gave them one more night alone.

At nap time, they all fell asleep on the couch again, Blake sprawled on Spike's chest and Buffy cuddled up next to them. The feeling of closeness was growing stronger, and Buffy was having a hard time remembering that she had feared this man. She knew she and Spike still had quite a bit of talking to do, and felt a tinge of apprehension about it. But for now, she was just basking in the delicious sensation of being in his arms.

That afternoon, Buffy learned how vampires got around during daylight hours, and she had to admire Spike for his ingenuity. Of course the paint blackened windows on the car were wicked conspicuous, but they did allow Spike to accompany them to the hospital. This time there was no hesitation when he offered his hand after they had parked in the underground parking structure, Buffy grabbed it without thought.

When they stepped into Joyce's room, Buffy's mom immediately noticed the change in their demeanor. There was an acceptance present between the two that had not been present before, an easy familiarity in the way they regarded each other and their son. To her surprise, Joyce found herself glad that things were apparently working out between them. It had taken her aback learning the truth about Blake's paternity, but Spike was proving to be somewhat of an enigma. She would have to ask her daughter's Watcher if this was typical behavior for vampires, but she was under the impression that it wasn't. No, having a vampire in her daughter's life was certainly not one of her first choices, or even one of the last ones, but he WAS Blake's father, and Joyce herself was a bit of a old fashioned romantic. As long as she could be sure this vampire wouldn't hurt them, she would support whatever decisions they made.

This self revelation had Joyce entering the operating room with a much lighter heart, her unease about this situation fading as well as the helplessness she had been experiencing that she was stuck in a hospital bed while her daughter might potentially be needing her. Now there was someone else there for Buffy, and for that, Joyce was grateful.

The next week seemed to pass by in a blur. Joyce's surgery was successful, and she was discharged home under the care of her daughter. Her helplessness persisted when she found it cumbersome and painful to the almost fatal laceration on her inner arm to get herself around on the rented crutches. She was unable to cook, unable to care for Blake, and all around felt generally useless. She was continually amazed at how Spike had picked up the slack in the Summers household, taking care of Blake while Buffy was at school even though Joyce knew those were his typical hours of sleep. He even helped with meals and household chores, and every time Joyce would express her gratitude, it always managed to infuriate the vampire. Joyce soon realized he was embarrassed, and stopped thanking him, and he seemed much happier that way.

After the fifth night she had been home, after watching him make a big production of making up his bed on the couch and knowing full well he wouldn't be using it, she told him to just go ahead and sleep in Buffy's room. He had looked at her in shock, then she watched as a wide grin overtook his face, and he quietly thanked her than sauntered up the stairs, whistling.

When Buffy came home from patrol that night, she saw her mom sitting in front of the TV, then looked around for Spike. " Where's Spike?"

Her mom gave her a pointed look and announced, "I'm sure he's waiting for you in your bed."

Buffy's face turned crimson, and she looked at her mom in horror. "Huh?"

"Well, I figured since he snuck up there every night anyway, it'd be nice to be able to watch tv down here for once. Since he wasn't really sleeping on the couch anyway."

"Oh GOD!" Buffy wailed, sinking down on the couch.

"What, you don't want him up there?"

Buffy couldn't help but smirk. "Well, yeah, I do. Just kinda embarrassing being busted on it, you know?"

"Well, I can't say as I'm entirely happy with it, but I'd rather we have honesty from now on. Ok?"

Buffy nodded, and stood up to give her mom a well deserved hug. "Thanks, mom."

"You're welcome. Every time I try to thank your vampire for his help around here, he gets all bent out of shape."

Buffy smiled. "Yeah, I think the Big Bad gets embarrassed about being domesticated."

"That's what I figured." Joyce laughed.

Bidding her mom a good night, Buffy ran up the stairs and just as her mom said, found Spike reading in her bed. "Well, well, well, this is a nice surprise to come home to." Buffy announced wickedly as she walked in and closed the door.

"Yeah, your mum shocked the hell out of me, all right." Spike replied, watching her as she got undressed and changed into a tshirt and gym shorts in lieu of pajamas. She slid into bed beside him and was immediately engulfed in a pair of strong arms. "Think I like this."

Buffy sighed contentedly. "Yeah, me too."

Joyce turned the volume up on the TV to ignore the sounds that soon were heard coming from her daughter's bedroom, mentally berating herself for allowing this to happen under her own roof. But so far Spike had not been a deterrent in Buffy's life, had only been helpful, and Joyce was afraid of losing her only child if she tried to keep them from each other. So, for that she would suffer, and pretend she didn't hear the bed slamming against the wall upstairs.

Buffy's relationship with her friends had suffered since Spike had made his unexpected appearance, and both Willow and Xander found themselves missing their friend. He loomed like a shadow over their heads, and Xander usually was unable to keep his mouth shut around Buffy, causing the wedge in their friendship to become like the Grand Canyon. Willow was cautiously optimistic about him, she could see he made Buffy happy. But she found it hard to forget what Spike was, and also what Buffy had told them that day she found out she was pregnant. So she kept herself in cool judgment of him, but managed to be supportive. At school, she managed to be the same ole Buffy, albeit a little happier now. But where before she would spend time with them after school, now she would fly out of the library as soon as Giles dismissed her after training, never inviting them over to her house anymore. And the more times she did it, the more Willow found her feelings being hurt.

Finally, after two weeks of the same routine, Willow had her Resolve Face firmly in place, and when Buffy turned to leave the library tossing a "Later Wills, later Xander" casually over her shoulder, Willow blocked her exit.

Willow's face did not break at the sight of Buffy's confusion, she just pointed at the table and told Buffy to sit down. Sending her friend an odd look, Buffy moved to comply.

"So...what's up, Wills?" Buffy asked.

Willow sat down opposite her, with Xander next to her. Giles, sensing trouble pending, beat a hasty retreat to his office to get out of the crossfire.

"We miss you, Buffy." Willow said simply.

Buffy looked at her aghast. "Willow, you see me everyday!"

"Yeah, but not like we used to."

Buffy fell silent at that, and realized she had been kinda disappearing girl lately. "Guys, I'm sorry, things have just been way hectic with my mom getting hurt and the slayage, and everything."

"And Spike." Xander added.

Buffy nodded. "Yes, and Spike."

"So, can we all go out and do something tonight?" Willow asked, her eyes pleading. "Oz's band is playing at the Bronze tonight."

Buffy was silent for a moment, biting her lip, then she looked up and saw the hopeful looks on her friends faces and found herself agreeing. The happy look on Willow's face made Buffy realize she'd done the right thing, and she just hoped her mom would be able to watch Blake. It wasn't that she was trying to keep Spike from her friends, it was just that the time they got to spend alone together with their son was special, especially now that her mom had gone back to work. Spike watched him during the day, and Buffy usually got home in time to get in on the napping action with her two favorite guys.

But tonight she'd make it up to Willow and Xander. Especially Willow, since Buffy was still a bit wigged at Xander having seen her naked, and his snide comments didn't help things either.

Feeling better about things, she headed home to her guys to tell Spike the news that they were going out tonight. She was well aware that Willow hadn't extended the invitation to Spike, but Buffy felt no qualms about bringing him. Willow had hardly gotten to know him at all, and well, that just had to change.

As it turned out though, Spike didn't want to go. He told Buffy he didn't fancy spending the evening with Xander and a bunch of other gits at a club, but when Buffy saw her mom's haggard looking appearance, she guessed the real reason for it. He wanted to stay home to take care of his son, and Buffy was oddly touched by this. He was really a sensitive guy, even though he snarled and growled if she even hinted that she was on to him. But he was, and he showed it in a ton of little ways.

So Buffy found herself getting for the Bronze that night with a profound sense of nostalgia. She could see Blake in the mirror behind her as she pinned up her hair, but this time, when she turned around, she saw what the mirror refused to reflect, a vampire who was quickly filling her heart and giving her a sense of peace. Buffy strutted across the room towards him, asking, "Sure you don't want to go?"

Spike forced himself to look into her eyes, she looked so bloody amazing that he was having trouble concentrating. Did he want to go? Bloody hell, that was an understatement. He didn't want to let her go out without him, and he found his resolve weakening. To be able to dance with her, just the two of them.... Spike shook his head to clear the lewd thoughts parading through it, and told her regretfully, "Your mum isn't up to watching our little boy tonight. S'not fair to ask her."

Buffy tipped her head to the side to regard him, her eyes searching his powerful blue ones. Sometimes she could see right through him, and this was one of those times. He was trying to make up for not being there the last two years, that was his primary motive for not coming with her tonight. Her mom could have watched Blake tonight, but it would have been a bit rough on her, and Spike didn't want to put her through that. Wow, didn't know vampires could feel such guilt, she thought. He really was turning into quite a nice surprise, never did she think there would be such...depths to him.

"What are you smilin' at?" Spike asked, as he grabbed her hips and drew her close.

"You. You're kinda cute, you know that?"

He gave her that look again, that threatening 'don't call me cute' look but she could always tell he was flattered by it. She leaned down and kissed him fast and hard, then backed out of his hold. "See ya later!" And with a saucy wink, and a kiss for Blake, she was bounding down the stairs and out the door. Without him. And that thought made his gut clench.

With a heavy sigh, he turned to his son and slung him in his arms. "So, let's go see what your grandmum is up to, shall we?"

TBC....

This next part coming up was another suggestion from Maidenro. Ok girl, from now on? Keep your bloody suggestions to yourself, dammit!!! Oh why, you ask? Well, because they make me keep writing this fic and ignoring my other WIP's that are screaming for some attention! Just kidding, thanks for giving me direction, cos god knows I need it!

And thank you soo much everyone for all the pretty reviews!!!





You must login (register) to review.