He dropped down and quickly traversed, using all his upper body strength to pull himself along.
Bloody hell, my arms are burnin’, he thought. Better grab as many flags as I can before I collapse from exhaustion.
Due to Spike’s lighter body weight, he could climb and move faster compared to the other two men. By the time he had reached the rope, he eased over it quickly, yanked the flag that was flapping in the wind violently and continued traversing hand over hand along the other skid.
Two more flags and Spike let go, a feeling of unbelievable euphoria flooding his being. He closed his eyes and held his breath before he felt the slap of water on his back.
Standing there under the shade, Spike looked at Joe anxiously.
“Your time to beat is 35 seconds, Spike,” Joe began. “Your time is 32 seconds!”
“YES!!” Spike shouted in ecstasy. He made it. He made it. He made it.
Beside him, Riley hung his head in shame.
Buffy felt a ‘whoosh’ of relief wash over her and wondered why on earth was she feeling that way about a guy who kept getting on her nerves.
“Har-mo-ny!” Joe sang out, grinning at her. “It’s your turn now. How do you feel? Do you think you can do it?”
“Oh I have a strategy in mind,” Harmony replied in an almost bored manner.
“Really? What kind of strategy, airhead?” Faith asked her, *really* interested to hear what kind of plan Harmony was able to hatch without being sidetracked by Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo and Dolce & Gabbana.
“Well, DUH! Just do what the guys did!” Harmony replied, rolling her eyes.
Buffy briefly mused to herself if Harmony knew that the real reason why guys can do that; just hanging by their arms without using their legs to traverse, was because they have the upper body strength? Probably not. Harmony had never exercised in her life. It would be interesting to see how this played out.
The rest of the contestants watched with ill-disguised excitement at how this was going to turn out as the helicopter with Harmony in it soared over the lake.
“OK here we go!” Joe commented when Harmony dropped onto the skid. “She’d predicted she would get all of them!”
Buffy chuckled in disbelief.
She lowered herself and grabbed onto the skid, letting the rest of her body dangle with just her arms supporting her, just like how the guys did it.
Before long, Harmony realized that she couldn’t support her entire body weight on merely her arms, and began to slip.
“Oh God!” Harmony squealed. But it was too late.
She lost her grip and fell into the lake below with a hard smack.
“Wow, that was quick,” Riley smirked.
Joe turned to the other two women and said, “OK, since Harmony’s score is zero, all you have to do is grab one flag – just one flag and you move onto the next round. Who’s next? Right, you – Faith. Let’s go.”
“Don’t look so nervous, pet,” Spike said to her. They were standing slightly apart from the rest under the tree while Joe was walking Faith down to the chopper.
Buffy snorted in response. “Easy for you to say. You’ve done it and made it out alive.”
“It’s not that hard, luv.” Spike smiled at her, then looked at her up and down. “Although, I can’t say the same for you. At least that Faith bird has some muscles on her. You? I think you stand a chance to be poster girl for Appeton Weight Gain adverts.”
“What about you? Have you ever heard of the sun? And all those peroxide must have finally seeped into your brain and made you moronic!”
“Bloody bint.”
“Asshole. And what the hell is ‘bint’, anyway?”
“Airhead.”
“Pig.”
“Bitch.”
“Bastard.”
When Joe came back, he itched to make some kind of a comment about the verbal spar in front of him, but since he could feel the sparkage too, he decided to stand apart from them and observe Faith. This was one relationship he should not butt into.
Faith made it across towards the rope with no trouble, but she had to use her legs to maneuver across the skid. Even though it was slower that way, Faith knew time was not of the essence then. She could have all the damn sweet time in the world to perform this stunt.
Unfortunately for her however, her arms grew tired after she made it across the rope and fell down, before she managed to snag the sixth flag.
“OK Buffy, this is it!” Joe said, turning to her. “Are you ready?”
Buffy glanced at Spike. He gave her a sarcastic smile and said, “Don’t break a nail now, luv! And mind you don’t mess your makeup!”
Her eyes narrowed in anger. Yes, she could do this. It’s for mother, right?
That, and to kick that bleached moron’s ass.
“Well Buffy, remember, you don’t have a time limit to do this, you and Faith are automatically in the next round if you manage to get even one flag,” Joe said to her.
“I know I don’t have a time limit, but I still want to beat Faith’s score, hell, I even want to beat Spike’s score!”
“You don’t like them both, do ya?” Joe asked her. Buffy shook her head.
Joe laughed. Then he said, “I believe you’re doing this for your mother, correct?”
“Yes,” Buffy answered. “She’s really sick, she has tumor in her brain and we’d been struggling to pay the medical bills for a while now. With this money we could finally afford to send her to the best hospital and hire the best surgeon to operate on her.”
“Well, would you like to say a shout out to your mum then?” Joe asked.
Buffy beamed, turned towards the camera and said, “Hi Mum, and Dawn. I’m doing this for you both. You’re my inspiration! Mwuah!”
“OK, let’s get you suited up!”
As Buffy stripped down to her white bikini, Spike’s breath hitched in his throat and every single taunt and insult he’d thrown at her went flying out of his mind. Hell, he’d even regretted calling her skinny. She was absolutely breathtaking. Her hair shone like a halo on her head under the sun and she moved with such sensual grace.
Spike didn’t know why he loved to tease her so much, but he knew he was enjoying it. This little spitfire roused something in him, something so primal, that demanded for an equal – a mate that can keep up with his pace and match him blow for blow. He’d always felt something was missing with Dru, and this past few weeks their relationship had been rocky. Ever since he had proposed to her, she’d been distancing herself from him and went out almost every night. Thinking that she must have felt the pressure of finally settling down, and wanted to have “last minute fun”, he’d let her act this way without questioning her. She wouldn’t cheat on him. She wouldn’t.
“Alright, there she goes!” Joe’s yell jarred him out of his musings. Spike watched as Buffy maneuvered quickly, her speed surprised even him. He knew she was doing this for her mum, and that can be a powerful inspiration.
Buffy gasped as she almost lost her grip on the skid and grabbed a flag quickly. She continued on, the wind whipping her hair fiercely around her face as she traversed quickly over the rope.
“20 seconds in and she’s already on the rope!” Joe exclaimed. “She’s fast!”
By the time Buffy got to the last flag, she gave it a fierce yank and let go, plopping down into the water below.
“OK Buffy, how well do you think you did?” Joe asked her when she returned to a crowd which were clapping enthusiastically for her.
She shrugged, but her face betrayed her anxiety.
“41 seconds! You’ve succeeded to move onto the next round!” Joe said.
Buffy felt disappointed that she did not beat Spike’s score. Nevertheless, she’d advanced, and that was all that matters.
“Alright, let’s get you back now, and we’ll see what’s in store for you next,” Joe said as he led them away.
A/N: What do you think of it so far? Keep in mind there's actually a plot to this story. Spuffy of course. ;)
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