COUSIN ARABELLA by Lilachigh
Chap. 3 Are you ashamed?
Buffy leaned back in her seat as the sleek black car sped through the night. Spike had the roof of the convertible down and the wind tossed her hair, blissfully cool.
She stared up at the stars wheeling above her head and felt all the muscles in her body relaxing, one by one. It was amazing, just to be able to exist, not to worry or be on guard, have to protect or fight or think...just drive along through the dark with the man you l - ...
She sat up straight and glared at Spike. The wind had tousled his normally severe blond hair into a riot of little curls. ‘You’re very quiet,’ she said suspiciously. ‘What are you thinking about?’
‘How pretty you look in that dress!’
Buffy began to smile and then decided not to. She really didn’t need to encourage him any more than was necessary.
‘Did you bring your cousin a present?’ she asked, changing the subject.
Spike glanced towards her, concerned, and their speed increased as his boot hit the gas. ‘I thought you’d take care of that.’
Buffy could have hit him. ‘Spike, she’s your cousin! I don’t know Arabella, remember? How on earth would I know what to buy her.’
Spike shrugged. ‘It’s a girl sort of thing, isn’t it? I bought some booze,’ he said helpfully, nodding at the back seat.
Buffy twisted round. There was a box of - good lord - champagne!
‘Spike, that’s champagne!’
‘Duh! Anniversary party. What else would I bring?’
‘How about beer or whisky? It‘s what you usually turn up with.’ Buffy felt strangely miffed. Cousin Arabella obviously meant far more to Spike than he was letting on.
Not that she’d have wanted him to supply champagne when they were - well together was not quite the right word - but would have to do because she couldn’t think of another one right now.
‘This Div’vid, her husband - ’
’Regurgitating demon,’ Spike said, nodding. ‘Told you, nice bloke.’
‘Ewww and yes, you did, but is he English, too.’
‘Certainly is! Spawned in Manchester. That’s in the north west of England,’ he said patiently, realising that geography of his home country was never going to be his beloved’s strongest point.
‘Arabella had left London after I....well, after I....’
‘Turned her!’ Buffy said flatly.
‘Hey, vampire. It’s what I did. Anyway, she went north and met Div’vid in a cemetery at some initiation ceremony for regurgitators and they fell in love.’
Buffy blanked the image of that firmly from her mind. ‘And they won’t mind me being the Slayer?’ she asked. ‘Let’s face it, not your usual party goer.’
Spike’s foot went down on the gas again, heavily and the car roared faster. They were way out in the desert now and the black velvet night surrounded them. There were no lights anywhere, just the road unfolding in front of them.
‘Slow down!’ Buffy squeaked. ‘I told you, no speeding!’
Spike eased off then said, with what she could only call a wheedle in his voice, ‘Actually, pet, they don’t know about you and me.’
‘There’s nothing to know!’ Buffy shot back, bristling. ‘We’re just...’
‘Lovers?’
‘Certainly not! Well, yes, there’s sex involved, admittedly - ’
Buffy gasped as he slid his hand under her bare thigh where the white silk dress had rucked up and. ‘Stop it,’ she whispered.
‘Make me!’
She opened her legs and felt his fingers slide inside her. Then she crossed her legs hard and giggled at the look of pain that appeared on his face as his wrist became bent at a very odd angle.
‘You’re asking for trouble, Missy,’ he growled but didn’t pull away.
‘So, Arabella and Div’vid don’t know that you’ve an - acquaintance - who’s the Slayer?’
‘That’s right. Actually, they think I’m still with Dru.’
Buffy stared at him. This night was getting weirder and weirder. Here she was, driving in a stolen car with vampire who was making love to her with one hand while he steered with the other, on her way to meet his cousin and a very nasty sounding demon and they didn’t even know she was coming....and oh god, she was, she was, she was...
She felt herself arch off the seat and uncrossed her legs to get every last ounce of sensation.
She had a mad desire to bury her head in his lap and return the favour, but while he was driving? Possibly not the best idea she’d ever had.
‘So, what am I then?’ she gasped, trying to ignore the way he took his hand away and sniffed his fingers. Why did he do that! ‘Someone you’ve just picked up on the way!’
‘I thought we needn’t mention the whole Chosen One-Slayer of Vampires-and-demons’ bit.’
Buffy shook her head in disbelief. She tended to forget that Spike wasn’t just a vampire, he was a male, first and foremost. And from all she’d learnt from the guys she’d known, they weren’t big on verbal communication. She had watched Xander and Oz sit together for hours, saying no more than a couple of words.
Even Giles, as much as she loved him, had the ability to not talk about what other people meant to each other. Half the time he wasn’t even curious.
But girls were different. How could Spike possibly imagine that Arabella wasn’t going to want to get Buffy into a corner at the first opportunity and find out everything about her relationship to Spike?
Did he, after all these years, have no idea how women reacted to other women? He’d been with Dru forever and Harmony - who okay, not the brightest button in the box, but at least all female. And he’d known Cordelia quite well, Willow, Tara, Anya, even Dawn.
‘Well, I’m certainly not going to lie about who I am.’
Spike looked irritated. ‘Okay, but no fighting. No slaying.’
Buffy looked at him in astonishment. ‘Are you ashamed of me?’ she spluttered. ‘Ashamed to introduce me to one of your family?’
‘You’re ashamed of me,’ came the quiet reply. ‘You don’t want your friends to know about us.’
‘That’s different. And there is no ‘us’. And I introduced you to my mother.’
‘Hey, Joyce introduced herself to me, remember. In school, axe on head, ‘nobody lays a hand on my little girl!’ He smirked. ‘Bit late for that remark, now, of course.’
‘Pig! Double pig!’
‘Anyway, Joyce liked me and I liked Joyce. She wouldn’t have minded us being together.’
He stamped down on he gas again and this time Buffy said nothing as the car shot forward. She fought against it, but knew in her heart of hearts that he was right. For some weird reason, her mother had liked Spike, had never been scared of him, had seen something in him that no one else had, in the way mothers often do.
Her mother had disliked Angel and liked Spike. It was very odd.
Spike’s lips twitched. ‘We sound like an old married couple, Slayer. Bickering about family and relations.’
Buffy tried to keep a straight face, then smiled back. ‘Okay, I’ll play the game your way,’ she said. ‘I promise not to stake anybody or anything, unless I’m attacked. Deal?’
‘Deal!’
‘Right, now for goodness sake, stop when you see a gas station with a shop of some sort. Or any place where I can at least buy some flowers for your cousin. I’m not arriving without a present.’
‘Right, Arabella will like that.’
And Buffy stared out at the dark night, wondering what else Arabella liked, especially if that included her kissing cousin, William.
to be continued
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