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With this Ring by Lilachigh


Chp 11 Ten out of Ten


Feeling irritated, Spike followed Buffy down through the trap door in the barn floor, down a ladder into the darkness below. He just wished he bloody well knew what he’d done wrong to make her so antsy.

In the Sunnydale where they weren’t married, he could have guessed at a thousand things that would piss her off, but here where he could remember both worlds, they were husband and wife and happy, so why couldn’t she tell him?

The light from above was just enough to show him a wide empty space with tunnels leading off in several directions. Buffy had found a torch on a ledge and switched it on, the beam bouncing off the rock walls.

Spike sniffed the air. Buffy turned, her eyes questioning. “ XanT’s been here,” he said. ‘But not recently. It’s old scent.”

“Where on earth do all these tunnels go?” Buffy flashed the torch from one to the other. “Sometimes I think the whole of California is sitting on top of a vast maze.”

Spike grinned. “You’re not far wrong, pet. Especially around Sunnydale and the Hellmouth. So much vampire and demon activity. For centuries we’ve been digging out pathways and places to live. Lots have been abandoned for years - I know quite a few, but there’s miles and miles I’ve never explored.”

“Why would XanT be down here?”

Spike shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair. “Knowing the boy as well as we do, perhaps he has a secret store of booze down here somewhere. Nice and private, away from all his friends’ inquisitive eyes.”

Buffy pulled a face. “OK, we know he has a drink problem in this world. But right out here, miles from town? Why not stash it closer to home?”

Spike sat on the ladder. He was trying hard not to show her that he was getting bored with the whole “let’s save Xander” scenario.

Okay, in this world he liked the boy - hell, they’d even gone out for a beer together once or twice and XanT had never been even the slightest bit bothered by him and Buffy being together.

But in the other world - Spike frowned - it was almost as if his life here was slowly dissolving, and he was reverting to the other Spike, the one who couldn’t stand Xander Harris in any shape or form. And the one who definitely wasn’t married to the Slayer.

He felt a shaft of fear jet through him. Was that what all her odd reactions had been about? Did she feel that way, too? Was the magic that Willow had conjured up fading in some way?

“Too many friendly eyes on him all the time, I suppose, luv. You and me - when we’re here and not busy saving another world - Willow, Oz. Now there’s Tara. A nice girl in both worlds, that’s obvious. But sometimes nice girls can be hard on a bloke. Perhaps trying to live up to everyone’s expectations just gets too much for the poor guy sometimes.”

Buffy shuddered. She couldn’t look at Spike. It was chilly down here and his words were making her feel cold. Living up to everyone’s expectations. Well, that was something she could write a book about - a very large book, with pictures and an index.

“Whatever - he still isn’t here. We’d better get back. I want to find Cordelia and have a word with her. She might know something. She’s still the last person to see him at the Bronze, as far as we know.”

She turned to go up the ladder, but Spike was still sitting on it, not moving.

“What’s up?”

“You tell me, Buffy.” His voice was cool and silky and it made little shivers run up and down her spine.

“Tell you what?”

“Why you’re suddenly acting as if I’m a stranger you’ve just met. I can feel the bloody disapproval coming off of you in waves. Just tell me what I’ve done. Or rather, what the precious Slayer thinks I’ve done.”

Buffy tried to push past him, but he was too strong. She didn’t understand what was happening, They never argued in this world.

In the struggle, the torch was knocked from her grasp and fell with a smash on the rocky floor.

“Oh great, Spike. Hope you’ve got some cash to pay Cordy for that. Will you please stop being such a ....a....clod and let me pass!”

In the dark, Spike grabbed her fists and pulled her towards him, to kneel between his legs on the step of the ladder below his.

He could smell the shampoo she’d used in her hair, the fabric softener on her jeans, sweat on her skin, the mint on her breath from a long discarded piece of chewing gum.

“Kiss me!” he demanded suddenly.

“What? No. Stop it, Spike. We’ve no time for this nonsense. Why would I want to kiss you, anyway?”

‘“You’re my wife. Isn’t that a good enough reason?”

Buffy struggled to free her hands from his. “Your wife....I’m not really....” her head felt muzzy. It must be the damp musty air down here that was affecting her.

Yes, of course in this Sunnydale she was his wife, but in the other one she wasn’t. Which world was real? Why did she suddenly feel that if she could turn the torch on again, she would see a thin, blond man sitting there on the ladder. A vampire who irritated and teased her, who was a continual thorn in her side, but not her husband.

But here she loved him. Yes, in the mists of the uncertainty that were swirling through her brain, that at least was something concrete. But in that other place? Why didn’t she love him there, too?

“Buffy...make love to me!”

A flood of desire swept over her. She had the dreadful feeling that what she was doing was very wrong, but oh god, she wanted him so badly.

She leant forward into his embrace and kissed him, softly at first, feeling his lips soft and eager, then hungrily, greedily. His tongue demanded and took her own and she felt the spark of desire that was always present between them ignite and travel down to her breasts, her stomach, that soft, damp place between her legs that would only answer to his touch.

A little moan sounded deep in her throat as his hands slid under her top to caress her breasts, the thumbs moving slowly and seductively over her nipples, sending little ripples of feeling flashing across her nerve endings. Then one hand was sliding down inside her jeans, pushing them down so she could kick them off into the darkness.

And his thumb was - oh god it was inside her, rubbing her clit so slowly, so lightly, she could feel moisture running over her thighs.

Oh god, he was going to fuck her. She began to pant as a finger joined his thumb and drove her on. And she wanted him to. Because she loved him, because he was - her husband? But, he wasn’t, was he? He was just Spike....

She began a soft keening noise as her first climax hit her, and by the time he drove his prick inside her she was screaming his name, begging for him to do it harder, faster, deeper, again and again - and he did.


Buffy didn’t look at Spike as she got dressed. She couldn’t find the words she needed.

“You still haven’t told me what’s wrong?” he said wearily as they climbed back up the ladder into the barn. “You enjoyed that, you can’t tell me you didn’t, sweetheart.”

Buffy gave a little laugh. “Ten out of ten for the sex, Spike. That’s not the problem.”

“Then what in god’s name is it?” he roared, swinging round in game face, his black coat flying.

“I think...I think that’s what holds us together in this world, Spike. Sex. Lust. Passion. Call it what you want. Okay, we loved each other. Got married. But in the other Sunnydale we’re - well sort of enemies. And somehow, Willow’s spell is fading and in this world we’re reverting to the people we are back on the other side of the portal. So yes, having sex is great, but it’s still wrong because our life here is a sham, isn’t it?”

His face reverted to human and his blue gaze burnt into hers. He reached out a finger and traced a line down her face from forehead, cheek and chin. God, how beautiful his golden girl was.

She thought his feelings were a sham? Bloody Hell. How on earth could he make her understand that he felt like this about her in both worlds? Well, he could only try. He took a deep breath -

‘Buffy! Spike! What on earth are you doing out here in the barn? ”

They spun round to find Cordelia Chase standing in the doorway, looking at them with a very puzzled expression on her face.

to be continued





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