Buffy glared suspiciously at the closed door through which her mother and sister had just disappeared, before turning her sullen gaze on her mate, who was just closing the curtains, after having watched from the window to be sure that Joyce and Dawn got into the second room safely.
After all, one couldn’t be too careful.
When he turned to see the look of anger and hostility that she was sending his way, he flashed her a mocking smile, flopping down casually in a chair beside the bed across the room from the one she was lying on. Fully aware that his careless, dismissive attitude with her would surely enrage her, he commented flippantly.
“Oh, don’t worry, pet. I’m sure they’ll be back whenever they get bored with talking about you.” He glanced slyly up at her to gauge her reaction as he finished his words.
He barely had time to register the flash of anger in her eyes of jade before she was across the room, her hand fisted viciously in his hair, one knee resting on the chair, pressed between his legs in a way that elicited a frightened gasp from his lips.
Before he could release the startled cry that rose in his throat, her other hand was pressed firmly over his mouth forcing his head back as she leaned in closer, a malicious smile on her face as she whispered, “You know what I think, Sweetheart? I think you’re very stupid.”
He winced as she pressed her knee in harder against his groin, but made no attempt to fight her off. In fact, he was remarkably calm, considering his position – a condition that the power-hungry Slayer demon found intolerably annoying, and planned to quickly remedy.
Spike’s eyes widened in pain and shock as she drove her knee sharply inward, yanking his head in closer to her to hiss in his ear in a tone of mock apology and concern, “Oh, I’m sorry – you were planning on using that later, weren’t you?”
She met his eyes with a chilling look of angry, accusation and triumph, reminding him that she knew about their plan, and was *not* pleased about it – and apparently had some rather alarming ideas of ways to keep it from happening. She hadn’t done any *real* damage yet – but he had the feeling that she meant to change that very quickly.
“On second thought,” she whispered with a cold smile. “Kinda *not* sorry…”
*By the time I get through with you,* she continued, her voice in his head all the more oppressive and intimidating for its unsettling intimacy. *you won’t be claiming anybody, you presumptuous little fool! Did you really think that you could…*
The thought was cut off abruptly when, as before, Dawn’s small, firm hand closed on the Slayer’s arm. The older girl immediately stood up and turned around, but she had been so thoroughly focused on her assault on her mate that she had not even noticed the return of Joyce and Dawn to the room, and it took her a moment to recover enough to even attempt to pull away from the younger girl’s grip.
And by then, it was too late.
The moment that Dawn’s hand came into contact with her sister’s arm, Buffy began fighting, struggling her way back to the surface of her consciousness. And as she was beginning to learn how better to fight the thing that was trying to gain mastery of her body, it was only a minute or two before Buffy was back in control.
She started to pull out of Dawn’s grip, but to her surprise, her sister just held on tighter.
“No, Buffy – not yet,” she instructed firmly, frowning in concentration as she focused on pushing the demon back as far as possible.
Buffy was a bit confused, but complied with her sister’s words, focusing on the struggle that she would have abandoned as complete, until she could no longer feel even the slightest trace of the demon’s power within her. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought that it was gone completely.
Of course – she *did* know better.
“That was weird,” she remarked, a dark look of worry in her eyes. “She like – snuck up on me. Gradually. It wasn’t like she just all at once took over. It was – sort of – little by little…”
“We noticed,” Spike replied dryly, his voice coming out a bit hoarse with the pain she had caused him. The shift in Buffy’s attitude from the moment she had gotten back into the car had made it clear that she was no longer completely in the driver’s seat, even before the demon took over more thoroughly.
Buffy frowned, concerned when she remembered what she had just done, but Dawn quickly drew her attention away from Spike for the moment. “Don’t worry,” she reassured her. “We’ll go ahead and get this thing beat, and then you won’t have to worry about what nasty tricks she’s picking up.”
“So – how do you feel, Buffy?” Joyce asked cautiously, her concerned gaze searching her daughter’s expression intently.
Dawn had quickly filled her in on the plan she and Spike had discussed while they were in the other room. And, while she did have her doubts as to the wisdom of the first step, it seemed to have gone off without too much trouble.
Now if only it had worked…
Buffy considered for a moment, still a bit disoriented from the whole incident. Her answer was slow and careful when she gave it. “Better. Stronger. Like – like we just knocked her unconscious or something.”
Dawn and Spike exchanged a look of excited satisfaction – and just the fact that Buffy felt no stirring of anger, as she usually did, at the evidence of their closeness, was a good sign that she was fully in control, at least for the moment.
“So – what exactly did we just do again?” she asked, hesitant.
Things were still far from clear to her.
“Well, it’s like this, love,” Spike said, standing up from the chair with a little wince at his more sensitive bits being rather – well, sensitive. “When Dawn said what she did about the thing conserving its strength – and you said how it seems to be weakened after fighting us and not able to put up much of a fuss for a while – I thought…maybe that’s our solution to how to perform the claim…”
Dawn broke in then, too excited to let him tell the whole story. “So we tricked her! We made her angry on purpose and made her come out, instead of just hiding away getting stronger! And then me and you managed to fight her back – that’s why I said to keep on fighting, because we want her as weak as possible so you guys have as long as you need to – get it on like Donkey Kong.”
“Dawnie!” Joyce gasped, eyes wide and startled as she looked at her youngest daughter.
Dawn looked genuinely confused. “What?” she asked. “Please, Mom, I’m in high school! Would you rather I said…”
“*No*, she wouldn’t,” Buffy hurriedly cut her little sister off. “No time for conversation, anyway, if I understand the situation correctly.” She looked at her mate as she went on in a serious, no nonsense sort of tone, “She’s not even putting up a fight at all, and she would be if she could, since she’s obviously violently against the idea of the claim. She’s as weak as she’ll ever be. Let’s do this now.”
Spike nodded grimly, finally feeling able to stand from the chair where he was sitting. “Right then – no time to waste, yeah?” His voice held just a hint of nervousness at the realization that the moment of battle, so to speak, was upon them.
It was all happening so quickly.
Much *too* quickly for Joyce.
“Wait – wait a second!” she objected with alarm. “Are we sure that this thing is really – restrained, or weakened, or whatever? What if she’s just waiting to get Spike alone again?”
They all fell silent for a moment, considering the frightening implications of her words.
“No,” Buffy said at last with certainty. “I can feel it. She’s weak right now. Now’s the time to do it. Didn’t you feel it, Dawn?” She looked to her little sister to back up her assessment of the situation.
“Yep,” Dawn agreed with a nod. “She fought hard but we beat her. We shouldn’t give her time to get her strength back.”
“What if she gets her strength back *during* the – the claim?” Joyce persisted, a thousand worries coursing through her mind. The whole thing was so dangerous, so uncertain, so – permanent. Of course, she knew that Buffy’s life was full of decisions like this. She faced dangerous, life-altering choices on a daily basis, due to her calling.
It was something that Joyce would never get used to.
They fell silent again at that question, before Buffy turned to Spike decisively.
“When I got the cooler out of your trunk back at the mansion, I saw a set of manacles in there. Maybe you ought to go get them.”
“You keep *chains* in your *trunk*?” Dawn exclaimed, wide-eyed. Then after a beat, “That is *so cool*!”
“Dawnie, honey,” Buffy said in a sugary sweet, overly patient voice, “not so much with the ‘yay, go bondage!’, okay? Mom’s freaked out enough.”
“You keep chains in your trunk?” Joyce echoed Dawn’s words quietly, but in a much less amused tone.
“Hello! Vampire!” Spike objected defensively. “You never know when you might want to tie somebody up, and a good set of chains might come in right…I’m really not helping my case, here, am I?” he finished flatly.
Buffy shook her head, smiling at him with a sudden feeling of amused affection. “Just – stop talking and go get the chains, Spike.”
“Um – if you remember, Honey,” Joyce reminded Buffy anxiously as Spike made his way past them out to the car, “that didn’t work out so well last time. Even though you were chained up, you were able to force him to come to you and set you free. So he could still end up hurt, whether you’re chained or not!”
“She’s still to weak to put up any kind of fight,” Buffy reassured her mother. “Otherwise she’d be fighting right now. She knows what we’re planning – she just can’t do anything about it at the moment.” She paused, her expression becoming sober at her next words.
“At least with the chains – if she *does* start to come back too soon – Spike should have a little time to work with, to get to you guys and get Dawn.” She frowned, as Joyce’s eyes widened in alarm at the mental images that thought called up, adding as an afterthought,
“*After* he covers any nakedness that might be happening, of course. So as not to scar the child.”
“I’m not a child,” Dawn groused, almost automatically.
“But – but Buffy…” Joyce began again anxiously.
“Mom.”
Buffy gently cut her off, pressing her fingertips to her mother’s lips lightly for silence, and giving her a smile that was reassuring and apologetic at once, as she stated matter-of-factly.
“I’m having sex with Spike. I’m becoming his eternal mate. I – I know that’s a lot to accept, but try to remember that I’m doing this to save my family, the Slayer line, and possibly the world. Okay?”
Joyce sighed, looking away for a moment, before meeting Buffy’s eyes in a rueful smile of reluctant acceptance. “Okay, Buffy. It’s – it’s hard to think of my – my little girl…” Her words broke off, and she shook her head in dismissal of her own worries. “…but you’re doing what you have to do, Buffy. I know you have no choice, really…”
“No choice at all,” Buffy confirmed, shaking her head with a slight smile.
“Dawn, honey, let’s go ahead to the other room,” Joyce said softly, giving her daughter’s arm a light, affectionate squeeze before moving away to gather up the bags that they had brought into the room, but thankfully not unpacked yet.
Dawn obediently picked up her bags, stopping at the door to smile sarcastically at her sister. “Yeah,” she said dryly. “you’re all with the big sacrifices, arentcha?”
Buffy grinned, caught – and unashamed. No, she had to admit. This time, what it was going to take to fulfill her Slayer duty to the world could have been decidedly less pleasant – a *lot* less pleasant – than sleeping with Spike.
“Well, you know…sacred duty and all that,” she shrugged with a cheeky smirk.
Dawn just rolled her eyes and walked past her sister out onto the walkway. She stopped, turning to face Buffy as her amused expression became softly serious.
“Don’t die,” she instructed softly, a teasing light in her blue eyes – but the affection, the genuine concern, was clear in her voice. Then she cocked an eyebrow at the Slayer and added in a dubious tone, “And don’t kill my best friend.”
“I won’t – either thing – I promise,” Buffy assured her, her own eyes serious as they met her little sister’s. “Dawnie, have Mom’s cell out and on where you can hear it immediately. If you hear my ring, don’t wait. Get to our room, *quick*, okay?” As she spoke, she pressed the key card to the room she and Spike would be using into Dawn’s hand.
“Okay,” Dawn agreed solemnly, accepting the card – before suddenly dropping her bags and leaning in impulsively to give Buffy a quick, slightly awkward hug. “Iloveyou,” she breathed out in a barely audible rush, slightly embarrassed by the sentiment, as she began to pull back.
But Buffy held her there for a moment longer. “I love you, too, Dawnie,” she whispered in her ear before releasing her.
Joyce gathered the last of her things and headed toward the door, giving Buffy a troubled, anxious look.
“Mom – it’s gonna be fine. We have to do this,” Buffy reminded her mother firmly, looking her directly in the eyes. “I promise, everything’s gonna be fine.”
Joyce stared at her for a long moment, fear for her little girl and respect for the woman she had become warring within her. Finally, she forced a brave smile and nodded decisively.
“Okay. Call me when you’re – well…” she hesitated, frowning, as she amended. “Call me if you – if you need…”
“Mom – just go.”
At that point, Joyce had to acknowledge that the soft, understanding order was a good idea. She nodded quickly, letting out a deep nervous breath.
“Yes. Go. This is me going, now,” she smiled ruefully at Buffy, as she turned and followed her youngest daughter, who was already unlocking the door to the room a few doors down.
Buffy watched them disappear safely into the room before closing the door and turning to face her mate.
Spike was standing by the bed, watching her through blue eyes darkened nearly to midnight with his unquenchable desire for her – the same desire that was slowly engulfing her, for him.
It had been only a little more than a day – but it had been far too long.
The fever of her longing blazing in her eyes, she gave the uncharacteristically silent blonde vampire a slow, almost shy kind of smile as she started toward him, as she murmured in a soft, ironically matter-of-fact sort of voice.
“Well – I guess this is it…time to save the world.”
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