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Author's Chapter Notes:
To all of my wonderful and supportive lovlies! Thank you again for your responses to the previous chappie! I'm afraid this one isn't the happiest, but I do consider it an important juncture in Spike's growth and also in Buffy and Spike's relationship, so I hope it's not a complete and total bore or anything :)

I've also received some feedback that teenage!Spike isn't exactly ticking satisfaction boxes, but I do think it's important to remember that this isn't the same Spike we're all used to. In nearly every way he's just a normal teenager and hasn't had the 100+ years of vampiric history which shaped him into the vampire we all love. He's still learning and still growing which is why I didn't make him exactly the same. I'm sorry if I've disappointed, but I am thankful for the feedback.

Thank you! p. xx.
Oh.

She let out a helpless whimper when he tentatively ran his tongue across hers and parted her lips just a little more.

This was a really bad idea. She should...really...stop...
But he was so gentle and he made the most heavenly sounds. Maybe she could just...

He brushed a stray lock of hair from her forehead so tenderly; she felt her body melt into his arms just a little bit more.

This wasn’t right. She knew it. This wasn’t Spike, not really. Sure, he looked like him, talked like him. And from what she remembered from their magical engagement, he sure tasted like him too. He felt the same way under her touch has he had then. He even smelt the same. Everything was exactly the same and....what was she saying? Oh yeah, he wasn’t really Spike.

She heard him release a contented sigh before pulling out of the kiss and touching his forehead to hers.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

She raised a hand to his cheek, searching for the right words to say—

“Buffy!” Dawn was hurrying towards them, the panic in her eyes blinding her from suspecting what they’d been doing. “There’s a girl in the bathroom, she...she needs your help.”

Instantly flashing out of their romantic haze, Buffy and Spike rushed to the restroom, stakes held discreetly, but at the ready.

~

Just hidden behind the door, they found a young fledging of a vamp, fangs embedded deep in the throat of a young girl who was very quickly losing consciousness.
Buffy raised her stake. “Having dinner in the toilets on your own? What’s the matter? Don’t you have any friends?”

The vamp looked up at them with a questioning grunt, blood still dripping from his fangs. The girl moaned weakly.

“Hey, Spike! It’s Spike, isn’t it?” He looked over at the peroxide blonde with something akin to adoration. “You’re really gangin’ up with the Slayer? Did you wanna bite?”
He offered the girl’s torn and bloodied jugular to him.
The teenage vampire let out a deep growl and Buffy shot out a hand to grip his bicep. “Spike.”

“Hey, no worries, man.” The fledging raised his hands in defence. “I heard she had you whipped.”

Vampiric ridges on full display, Spike lunged at the fledging and threw him towards Buffy’s raised stake where he finally exploded in a cloud of dust. He caught the girl before she could fall. A trickle of blood pulsed from her gaping wound and Buffy shivered as a hungry growl rumbled through his chest and he licked his fangs.
Buffy approached them carefully. “Spike? Bring her to me.”

In response, he only tugged the girl roughly towards him.
“Please,” she rasped. “Please don’t.”

“Spike. No.”

His lips curled back to bare his fangs and he let out an animalistic growl. The girl began to sob, causing only more blood to escape her wound. Another growl and he plunged his fangs into her jugular, taking a hearty mouthful with one hand splayed across her stomach.

“Spike!” Fearful that she might hurt the girl even more, Buffy threw herself at him in a way that would only force him to withdraw his fangs. The girl collapsed in an unconscious head whilst she pinned Spike’s vicious form to the tiled floor.

She shouted for her sister who stood guard outside the bathroom. “Dawn! She’s hurt. Get someone to look after her.”

Pulling Spike to his feet, she dragged him as discreetly as possible out of the Bronze and into the alleyway. She hid them behind the safety of a rubbish tip, kneeling beside the vampire’s crouched and snarling form.

“Spike? Look at me, you recognise me, don’t you?”

He tilted his head, eyes glowering and blood still smeared across his lips and chin. Buffy brushed her fingertips along his jaw.

“I never explained to you, did I?” She whispered. “What you are. It’s just the demon, Spike, just the demon that made you do it. But it doesn’t have to control you. You aren’t the demon. The demon’s inside, but you’ve got the heart...the heart of a man. And that’s what counts the most.” She stroked his temple. “Do you understand me? Will you come back to me, Spike?”

His eyes gentled. He turned his head, sniffing her skin then nuzzling against her palm.

“Yes, it’s me, Buffy. Remember?”

His eyes flashed blue and his ridges disappeared for just a second. “Buffy?”

“It’s me. I’m here.”

He traced the palm of her hand with careful fingers and his demon front melted away.

“What did I—“ His brow furrowed and he ran his tongue across a lingering droplet of blood. “Buffy, what have I done? Did I— is she...?”

“No, Spike. She’s okay.”

“But I...bit...her. I drank her blo—”

If it was possible, Buffy would have sworn he turned a paler shade of pale. He pulled his knees up to his chest, his body started to tremble.

“It’s alright, Spike. I’ll help you get through this. It’s you and it’s me, and we’ll get through this together.” She ran comforting strokes down the denim of his pants, reaching to push his peroxide curls away from his forehead. “We won’t let it happen again, okay? Tell me how I can help you.”

“Please, Buffy. I don’t...don’t want to hurt anyone. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m just... hungry, Buffy. So hungry...all the time.”

“Alright,” she whispered. “We’ll get you some blood. You won’t hurt anyone, sweetheart. I’ll take care of you. Come on, let’s get you home.”

~

“Buffy, I know he’s a growing teenager and all, but this is ridiculous! We’ve only got two more packets of blood left! He just drank ten in one go!” Willow’s eyes were wide with a combination of fear and anxiety.

“You didn’t see him there, Will,” Buffy replied quietly. “We really haven’t been feeding him enough. Being a teenager makes him hungry, he can’t control that. It’s the demon, the demon is never sated. Spike’s had decades to learn how to control the hunger, but now...he’s got to learn all over again. Except now, we don’t have decades; just a couple of days at the most. If we don’t do this right, by the time Spike transitions again, we could well have another William the Bloody on our hands.”

She approached him slowly, watching as he dropped another empty bag in the sink.

“How are you feeling?”

He turned to her, his head ducked uncertainly. “Better. Thank you. I’m sorry I was...how I was.”

Buffy took both his hands in hers.

“It’s not your fault, Spike. But it’s important that you know. The demon that’s in here,” She pressed her palm to his chest. “It’s strong, yes. But what matters is what’s here and here.” She touched his temple and his heart. “And the power there is stronger than any demon. I know it’s hard, but never forget that the demon doesn’t control you. You’re strong and brave, and I’ve never known anything to defeat you. You can hold it at bay, and that is what makes you so much more of a man.”

She swallowed hard as she watched him blink rapidly to hide his tears.

Her voice suddenly sounded so small. “Okay?”

He gave her a shaky nod and stepped towards her, eyes lowered bashfully. He took one hand from hers and touched her waist. He shuffled a little closer, flickering his gaze through his eyelashes. She gave him a soft smile and stood up on her toes to pull him into an intimate hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed at the comforting feel of his hands on her back.

“Oh, Spike,” she murmured. “How you’ve grown. But you’re still my little boy, aren’t you?”

She felt his breath against her skin.

“Yes. Can I...can I be yours forever, Buffy?”

To be continued...





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