Ten o’clock at night came and went, and still the group sat in the vinyl chairs. They hadn’t talked much, because there was really nothing to say. Tara came out often, staying with them for as long as an hour at a time. After talking for what felt to almost everybody like forever, Faith managed to convince one of the (male) doctors to let them go into Tara’s grandmother’s room. Willow and Xander knew the woman, so they went in and talked to her for awhile.
Buffy sighed and laid her head on Spike’s shoulder. She could understand why they were there, even though they were completely useless, but she still hated the situation.
“G-guys?” Tara’s quiet voice interrupted everyone’s thoughts. “Look, it’s late, and the doctors say that her condition isn’t likely to change. You should head home.”
“Tara, we’ve been through this. We’re here to support her, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
“Xander.” Tara’s voice was quiet but firm. “You need to leave. You guys have school tomorrow.”
“And you don’t?” Xander said challengingly.
“I’m excused. Family emergency.”
Buffy wrinkled her nose at Spike. “Think we should go?” she asked in a whisper as the others continued to argue.
Spike nodded. “Like she said, it’s late. We’re damn near useless and ‘f we don’t get come rest we’ll be completely knackered come tomorrow.”
Buffy sighed. She knew he was right, but still...”I don’t wanna go home,” she admitted, resting her head on his shoulder.
His fingers came up to touch her hair. She almost sighed at the emotions that simple touch could elicit. “We can’t live at the hospital, pet.”
“Why not?” Buffy pouted.
He tapped her bottom lip playfully. “Now, don’t you be gettin’ all pouty on me,” he said teasingly. “And we can’t live here ‘cuz hospitals are for sick people, you silly bird.”
“But...” she trailed off, recognizing the futility of the situation. “Oh, fine,” she said, sighing and getting up. “Although you’re pretty sick, you know.”
He smirked. “Wrong kind, kitten.”
After they said goodbye to Tara, Willow approached Buffy. “My mom’s gonna come and pick me up,” she told the blonde. “Do you want a ride home?”
Buffy looked at Spike, who took her hand again and said, “I’ll get her back, Red.”
Willow smiled, which made Buffy frown. She didn’t like that smile. It was too...smile-ey. “What?” she said grumpily.
“Nothing,” Willow said quickly. “You guys just make a cute couple, is all.”
“Bloody hell, pet. Did you just growl?”
~*~
They argued about it almost the whole way back. Buffy claimed that she hadn’t growled, and that even if she had it had nothing to do with the fact that Willow had called them a couple. There was really nothing unusual in it. She was perfectly fine with them being called a “cute couple”.
He just laughed at her.
Both their laughter died when the DeSoto reached Buffy’s house, though, because all of a sudden they both realized that their ridiculous half-argument had been stalling and nothing more. The fact was that in a few minutes they’d be parted, she’d be back in her home—and they still hadn’t talked about what had happened after the couch incident.
Spike glanced at the girl beside him and sighed. She was staring at the house, eyes wide, clearly reluctant to go in. He still couldn’t believe what he’d heard her father say. If her mum didn’t divorce the bastard, he might just kill him, messy or not. No one get to treat her like that, he thought savagely, gripping the steering wheel.
“I guess I should go in,” Buffy said quietly, interrupting his mind-rant.
“Uh, right.” He tried to focus on her. Her head was down, much the way it had been when he’d seen her that evening at the hospital. All of a sudden his anger drained away, to be replaced with an overwhelming urge to hold her, protect her, from everything that made her beautiful face bear that expression.
Suddenly he had an idea. Granted, it was an idea that was rather stupid, but—“You wanna come home with me?”
Her little mouth fell open. “Huh?”
God, she was adorable when she was all confused like that. “I said, you wanna come home with me? I mean, I doubt the ‘rents’ll notice ‘f you don’t slip in tonight.”
She grimaced. “Probably not. But I can’t anyway.”
“Why?”
“I don’t have any clothes,” she explained.
“So I’ll get you some. You just stay here, an’ I’ll shimmy up the tree and grab ‘em.” he started to unbuckle his seat belt. Part of him was feeling like a complete ponce for being so pushy about this, but the other part was insisting that now that he’d voiced the daft idea, he’d be damned if he let it go.
“Spike! Would you think about this, just for one second? How in the world are you planning on sneaking me past your parents? They’ll, like, kill me! Especially your uber-bitch of a mother!”
Okay, she had a point. But still...”Fine, then. ‘ll come into your room.”
Now she was staring at him, which in his book wasn’t such a bad thing, because he got to look at her eyes to his heart’s content. “Spike, you’re really insane, aren’t you?”
“What? No!” Silly bird, why’d she think he was insane?
“Okay, first of all, if you didn’t come home your parents would, like, start a search party. And also, you don’t have any more clothes, so unless you want to go to school tomorrow stinky or naked...” she trailed off, giving him that smug little I-told-you-do look that he’d so loved back when they fought all the time.
Two could play that game. He smirked and sidled closer. “Bet you’d like ‘f I came naked, wouldn’t you, luv?”
Her eyes widened. “N-no,” she stuttered. “Not a bit.”
Though she was truly adorable when she got all flustered like that, he left off—he was tryin’ to charm his way into her house. “Look, you go on into your house, an’ I’ll drive back in a few minutes and come up through your window. Just keep it open, yeah?”
She frowned at him. “You’re gonna stay in my bedroom?”
“Yeah, pet.” He smiled gently, trying as hard as he could to seem unthreatening. He really couldn’t understand why, but the thought of not being near her tonight was damn near torturous.
She blinked, and for a second he was sure she’d refuse. Then, to his amazement, she smiled her beautiful smile and said, “Okay!”
His mouth was open. He probably looked like a soddin’ fish, but he couldn’t seem to concentrate enough to close it. How could he be so spellbound just by her smile?
Wonderful. Now he’d drifted off again like a complete poof. “Uh, right then. Guess I’ll go get m’ clothing and...stuff.” Bloody hell. Welcome back, William.
She smiled again, a slow smile that he’d seen only a few times on her face. It was the smile that said she knew exactly what she was doing to him. Oh, balls. “See you, then.” She opened the passenger-side door and slid off the seat, an action that made him gulp, before walking bouncily to the door—another action that made him shift uncomfortably. Dammit. He knew he was in trouble when just watching a pretty bird walk gave him a stiffy.
With a resigned sigh, he headed back to his house. Sneakin’ in might take awhile, and he wanted to be back at the Summers house as soon as possible.
*
Her bouncy step and happy face disappeared as she crept up the stairs. She was still waiting for the eventual talk with Spike about what, exactly, was going on between them. Because the whole him staying the night thing? Totally, insanely freaky.
Not that she didn’t want him to stay, or anything. Because she did. A lot. But at the same time, she wasn’t so sure, because she didn’t know how far he wanted to go. She was a girl, so she was thinking they’d just cuddle. But she hadn’t exactly missed Spike Jr. in the car, and she didn’t know if he’d want to...act on his urges.
The idea that he did, and that he’d be mad if she didn’t want to, was uber-freaky.
Once she was safely in her room, she opened the window before going into her closet and changing into gym shorts and a loose t-shirt. She kept her underwear on.
Ears perked for even the slightest sound outside, she crawled into bed, hesitantly pulling the covers over herself. This is not a date, this is not a sexy late-night rendezvous thingy, this is just...comfort. And some really uncomfortable talking about what a butthead Dad is. That’s all.
And that sarcastic inner Cordy said, Right, Buffy. Just how long are you going to keep telling yourself that?
She sighed and lay back on the pillows. Whether or not she was nervous, she had invited him in, and he was coming. She just had to wait for him.
Twenty minutes later, she was still waiting, and starting to fall asleep. Geez. He wore the same thing every day—what was taking him so long?
Thud. “Bloody hell!”
Buffy smiled as the body fell into her room. “Hi, Spike,” she whispered. “Keep it down, okay?”
He righted himself. She couldn’t really see very well in the dark, but somehow she knew he was glaring at her. “That window’s damn hard to get into, you know that?”
She giggled. “Because my parents don’t approve of boys who sneak into my room as eleven at night,” she told him as he came closer.
“That so?” His voice was quiet, thoughtful. It made her shiver. “Do your parents approve ‘f boys who come into your room to ravage their daughter?” He crawled onto the bed until he was hovering over her.
She laid her hands on his shoulders. “You’re still dressed,” she said in surprise. Why wasn’t he in pajamas? Unless...
Oh, crap. She could feel her face getting redder. “Oh.”
He smirked and lowered himself till he lay half beside her, half on her. “Didn’t wanna scare you, luv.”
“What if I wanna be scared?” she asked playfully, wriggling under him.
“Oh, God. Pet, ‘f you wanna actually get some sleep, don’ do that.”
“What’re you going to do, spill it in your pants?” Buffy challenged playfully.
He gritted his teeth before doing something completely unexpected: he swept down and blanketed her lips with his, scraping her lower lip, plunging his tongue into her mouth. It made Buffy’s world spin, so she clung to him—and then blinked in confusion when all the heat and spinney-ness left.
He rolled over so that he was lying next to her. “That answer your question, luv?”
“Um...yeah, I think so.” Buffy almost scowled when she heard her voice. Could she be any more frightened schoolgirl?
That thought in mind, she rolled over and ran a hand down his chest, taking time to fully appreciate his muscles, before skimming down and just barely flicking the zipper fly of his jeans. “Think you should give yourself a little more freedom? I’d hate to see you ruin a pair of jeans.”
“Right, ‘cuz you’re so irresistible that ‘ll spill it just by lyin’ next to you,” Spike shot back, his voice heavy with playful sarcasm.
She let her knuckles graze across his hard-on just the slightest bit. When he jumped, hips thrusting in the air, she smiled smugly and said, “You know? I really do.”
Not that she wasn’t just as turned on herself. The whole underwear thing was turning out to be a really good idea, because the bottom of her panties were completely soaked.
“Bloody hell,” he moaned. “You’re gonna kill me, pet.”
“But what a way to go, right?” She grinned.
“Actually, if ‘m gonna kick the bucket right now, I’d rather be—“ he broke off, lunging for her. Before she even had time to squeal he’d pinned her to the bed, his lower body weighing her down, emphasizing just how much her little brushes had aroused him. “—here,” he finished, smirking down at her. “Hello, kitten.”
She couldn’t make herself say anything—she was too shocked.
He pushed his hips into hers slightly, making her catch her breath. God, was he making with the sexiness or what? “You are such a pig,” she managed to get out, wrinkling her nose at him. “Jeez, you’re even so pale you’re practically pink.”
His smirk didn’t diminish in the slightest. “Oink oink,” he whispered, letting a hand stray to her breast and just graze the nipple, imitating what she’d done to his cock a few minutes ago.
“Oh God.” The exclamation flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. “You really are a pig, you know that? Being all sexy and everything.”
“What can I say?” he shrugged, a purely evil grin on his face. “Just can’t help myself.”
“Spike.” Her tone stopped the half-playful banner.
His face became immediately serious. “Yeah?”
“I just want you to know—“ she broke off, taking a deep breath. It would be nice if she knew what was going to come out of her mouth before it actually happened. “I’m not—this isn’t gonna be easy, with the fact that both our sets of parents suck beyond the telling of it and everything.”
“I know,” he said quietly. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to her lips before again rolling off of her. This time, though, he pulled her into his arms. “You’re right ‘bout one thing, luv—‘m a right pig when I wanna be. I get what I want, an’ now, I want this to work. So it’s going to, simple as that.”
She smiled at his assured tone. “Yes, sir,” she said, snuggling into his arms. She could still feel his—erm—thingy—but neither of them really wanted to act on it.
Yet.
“Look, baby. Your dad’s a bastard, your mum’s not that much better. ‘f I could knock some sense into ‘em, I would.”
“You didn’t mention Dawn,” Buffy felt the need to point out.
She felt him smile. Funny how she was so close she could feel his expressions. She snuggled a little closer. How could muscles that were so hard and strong-looking be so soft and comforting?
“Bit’s okay,” he told her.
“Humph.”
Now he chuckled. “Anyway—point is—‘m here for you. Always,” he said seriously.
Now she smiled, squeezing him in a horizontal hug. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem,” he assured her, before adjusting them so they lay more comfortably against the pillows. “Now, get some sleep, yeah?”
Sleep. That sounded good, especially since given the muscles and the warmth and the fact that this was Spike, and right now she really didn’t want it to be anyone else, she was drifting off already. “Night, Spike,” she whispered.
“’night, kitten.”
And then, just like that, she fell into the best sleep she’d had since she was a toddler.
~*~
A/N: Schmoe—I lied. Well, actually, I changed my mind and decided to give it some Spuffy. I knew everyone here would be so disappointed =D Thanks so much to everybody for the reviews!!!!!
[Reviews - 480]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 4968 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
At bottom.