Chapter Five: A Long Night
“What are you doing here?” he asked, dumbstruck. For once, he seemed genuinely at a loss as to why she could possibly be here. He thought she would be patrolling or at work. He had also heard from Clem that the Nibblet was staying over at his crypt from now on.
Buffy blinked. “I could ask you the same thing,” she shot back, evading the question. What were the chances of Spike being here…?
Spike grinned goofily. “Asked you first!”
Buffy rolled her eyes at his antics. “Five year old, much?”
Spike chuckled as he looked at her nervously. Awkward silence ensued again. “Well, Clem told me this was the best gambling spot in town. Supposedly.” Rolling his eyes, he indicated that Clem probably hadn’t told him the truth.
Buffy nodded slowly. “Well, he told me that there was some demon rave happening here and that major slayage was needed.”
A troublesome frown marred Spike’s featured and Buffy wanted nothing more than to soothe the worry out of his face. “Did he set us up?” he wondered aloud.
Buffy blinked, not having reached that conclusion yet. Startled, she found herself nodding. “I think so,” she said slowly.
Spike turned his beautiful blue eyes on her and smiled shyly. “Well,” he began nervously. “He did tell me that whatever happened, I should order cookie dough ice cream. Any ideas…?”
Buffy couldn’t control the happy squeal that erupted out of her mouth. Embarrassed, she blushed as he smiled softly at her. “That’s my favorite ice cream flavor, ever,” she explained meekly.
Grinning at her, he nodded. “One cookie dough cone it is.”
Buffy smiled back tentatively, and watched as he turned around to place the order. While he got the ice cream, she glanced around at the near-empty parlor. With the exception of an old married couple giggling helplessly as they fed each other ice cream, she and Spike were alone. She smiled affectionately as she watched the couple in their love-induced haze, and forced herself to look away to find a table. Finding a booth in the back of the parlor, she plopped down on the candy apple red leather and kicked her legs like a little girl waiting excitedly for her ice cream.
Spike returned shortly with two cones, one her treasured cookie dough, and his chocolate. She smiled shyly as she accepted the cone from him.
“Thanks,” she said quietly. “No guy has ever bought me ice cream before.”
Spike looked bashful, as he suddenly decided the black tint of his nail polish was really quite interesting. “You’re welcome, luv. Whatever makes you happy,” he said the last part with love and devotion, sincerity drenching them.
Her tongue darted out to taste the sugary sweetness of the ice cream and for the first time, Spike did not feel lust overcome him. Instead, he found an affectionate fondness and love for the happiness he had brought this woman. He was finally beginning to see what separated lust from love. The old lustful Spike would have dwelled on that sinuous tongue, only focused on what pleasure it could bring. The new Spike could see through that, and appreciate the utter joy of making her happy.
Sighing contentedly, they both licked away at their ice cream in an enjoyable silence. For the first time in a long time, Buffy felt nothing but relaxed. She felt at ease, safe. She didn’t feel the pressure and stress she felt when she was with Willow and Xander. She didn’t feel the overwhelming guilt she felt with Dawn. She didn’t feel the constant struggle to gain Giles’ approval. She simply felt. The torrent of emotions that bubbled inside her were all of the good. These emotions were happiness, joy, excitement. She hadn’t felt that in a long time.
Thinking back, Buffy realized that despite her love for Angel, their relationship hadn’t exactly been very lively. He never made her laugh, only worry and cry. He only made her smile when he did things intentionally and that was rare. Spike on the other hand did things that were absentminded, things he did out of his nature. Whether they were chivalrous gestures like holding a door for her or helping put her jacket on, or affectionate gestures like pulling her hair away from her face or making her hot chocolate on nights when she wore socks to bed. They were sweet and unmistakably Spike. His essence had intertwined with hers and she found herself intensely missing his presence, not just his body.
Buffy had long ago realized that her relationship with Spike was most certainly no longer based on lust and had already been guaranteed that the feelings were mutual. She sighed with contentment as she walked him eagerly eat his chocolate ice cream, his beautiful tongue enveloping the sinuous flavors with passion. She swallowed hard, turning back to her own ice cream as she fought to control her body’s desires. She knew that it was disgusting and perverse to get turned on my Spike eating ice cream but really, when his tongue licked like that, it was difficult to forget all the other things he did with it…
“So, how have you been?” Spike’s soft-spoken question broke the silence. He wasn’t looking at her, instead staring across at his ice cream cone.
Buffy shrugged, biting into the delicious cone and loving the combined sweetness of the ice cream and the cone. “Been better,” she joked, giving him a strained smile.
He nodded stiffly in response. Sighing, she set her cone down onto the table and ran a shaky hand through her blonde locks.
“What about you?” she asked tentatively, folding her arms over her chest as she studied him.
A small smile graced his features and she was breathless again. “Been better.” Winking, he finished the last bits of his cone and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Giggling, she smiled shyly. “You’re really not as much of a pain in the ass as you used to be,” she admitted, playing with the edge of her t-shirt as she returned to eating the last of her ice cream.
He snorted, a mock-offended expression in place. “Well, that’s a great compliment,” he retorted sarcastically.
She chuckled. “Don’t worry,” she soothed. “It’s probably the best one you’ll ever get.”
He tilted his head, a soft, loving expression on his face. “When it’s from you, it’s always the best.”
Ducking her head, she felt her insides melting at his gentlemanly behavior and incredibly sweet company. Maybe tonight wasn’t going to be so bad after all…
Checking her watch, Buffy saw it was only 8:50, figuring she would pick up Dawn later at midnight since she still had patrol.
That gave her about two hours to make the best of this time. Little did she know, these two hours would forever change her life.
*****
TBC
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Author's Chapter Notes:
This is self-beta'd so any mistakes are mine. Thanks to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter *hugs* Your support means more to me than you know and I really, truly appreciate the feedback and kind comments. I realize that Dawn/Clem is an unusual pairing and that the depth to this story, in terms of Buffy's reaction to their relationship, is a tad shallow, I intended for this fic to be Fluffy and light-hearted. =) I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review! It's so nice to hear from everyone, especially since RL has been crap. Hope you enjoy this.