Another thing this last chapter, I got a lot of good reviews, also a lot of insightful ones, which I greatly thank you for. I actually replied to a lot of reviews, so if you gave suggestions or opinions, or insights please check out my replies to answer some of your questions.
I'm glad you guys are liking the story and knowing with getting good reviews it makes me work faster. SO! Enjoy Chapter 23!
Chapter 23: Dance for Me
Buffy stepped out of the Los Angeles Performing Arts Theater, walking towards the black Tahoe that had pulled up to the back parking lot curb. She watched as Xander ate into a jelly doughnut all the while rocking out to the radio.
Opening the back door, Buffy tossed her dance bag into the backseat before climbing into the passenger seat next to Xander.
“Hey Buffy, just got back from a run to the doughnut shop, don’t tell Spike though, he’d kill me if he got word that I had left you to even go down the street. Want one?” Xander help up a box of a dozen variety doughnuts.
“Don’t worry, your deed dies with me. But no thank you, I have to really be strict with what I eat from now until the show.”
“Really?”
Buffy nodded her head. “Yeah. It’s stricter at ABDC. There were girls that were left to starve themselves because if they didn’t meet good weight, they’d get really bad roles.” Xander started the car but Buffy noticed his shocked expression out of the corner of her eye. “It’s true. You guys think that working for Mafias is tough…you’ve never faced the pressures of what a ballet dancer goes through. And, let’s just say having a Russian OCD dance instructor yell at you while standing on the tips of your toes of one foot is not a walk in the park.”
“Sounds scary.” Xander said as an image popped into his head of a Stalin as a ballet dancer standing before a group of girls in tights barking orders. “I never knew. I always you know…thought…well as you said…a walk in the park.”
“Nah.” Buffy giggled.
“If it’s stressful, why is it almost every girl’s fantasy to be a ballet dancer?”
Buffy thought for a second, searching for the right answer. Finally she replied. “Because no matter what your life is, you get to pretend for each role. You get to pretend you’re perfect, graceful, and admired. It’s an escape.”
After that, all that was between Xander and Buffy was the radio. Buffy agreed with her answer, it was a depressing thought, but it was true. She loved dancing, she loved the feeling she got but she also loved the escape. When she was younger, she didn’t realize that was the feeling she got. However, as she got older, more mature, she began to become aware of the bad things that her father took part in, and that was how Buffy figured out why a part of her always hesitated on going home from rehearsals. Going home, she would have to go back to being Buffy Summers, daughter of Hank Summers. Going to ABDC had been the best way to stay in her “escape” for longer.
It seemed now though the need for dance was becoming demanding more and more.
It had been a week. A week since Buffy had learned of the two dead bodies from the marina. The dead bodies of those she was willing to place a heavy bet on were dead in some way due to Spike.
Buffy never confronted him after he had gotten out of the shower. She still hadn’t. But she did try and hightail it out of there.
She expected him to kill, it was not a fact that she had learned recently. Though what irked her more was the fact that he had come into her bed after who knew how long he shot those men.
Buffy tried not to act strained around him. She didn’t want to cause another rioting of yell-fest between her and Spike.
They had settled into a routine within the week, instead. Every morning they woke up, ate breakfast together in her room before Buffy left to go to rehearsal and Spike got ready for whatever things he had that day. The rest of the time, from then until dinner was spent doing what needed to be done. At dinner everyone gathered in the dinning room. That was a time where Buffy forgot where she was. During the whole time for dinner and dessert, Spike, Buffy, and his closest employees sat around the table discussing everything except business, having great laughs. During that time Buffy became to realize that Xander, Anya, Faith, Wesley, Andrew…the whole lot of them were not pure evil.
Buffy would sit in her seat next to Spike laughing and watching as Andrew tried to defend his nerd loves from Faith’s teasing until Anya butted in with her own outrageous comments followed always by Xander’s embarrassed groans. Buffy would catch Spike’s eye who would steal glances of her as much as he possibly could. Every time their eyes met, he’d place his hand over hers and rub it tenderly, giving her a soft smile. Enough that gave Buffy shivers and make her body tingle.
After dinner, the group went their separate ways; Buffy would normally go for a quick swim, while Spike finished his work. At the end of the night Spike would come to her room, wrap her up in his arms and they’d drift off to sleep. All the while Buffy struggled to push out the scenes of the docks she had seen on the news.
Buffy continued to look out the window, watching the people shopping as Xander drove past Rodeo Drive. “Xander…” Buffy spoke up.
“Yeah?”
“How long have you been working for Spike?” She queried.
There was a silence and Buffy looked over at the brunette who had been put in charge of her security. She waited and watched as he thought. “Let’s see…I started a year before I met Anya, and we’ve been together for almost about 5 years. So in total about 6 years. I’ve been with Spike since kind of the beginning. Spike’s dad sent him to run the L.A. branch when Spike was about 23.” He looked over at Buffy. “Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering.” Another beat of silence went between the two. “Did Anya have a problem with your working for Spike?”
“I think I’m getting at where these questions are coming from.” Xander observed, shooting a look over at Buffy. The blonde girl just blushed, embarrassed. “But to answer your question Buffy, Anya was a yes and no girl. She use to be an escort, one that worked for a man who was under O’Connor. Angelus had already been running his families district. When Anya finally got out…she was a mess. She use to be a girl that was hired to work directly in the O’Connor household staying for multiple days to be shared among the employees.” The knuckles of Xanders fists were beginning to turn white. A dark expression that Buffy would never have guessed that Xander could pull off appeared on his face.
“If this upsets you Xander you don’t have to tell me.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s just…the men there, they were almost worse than Angelus. When there was this big city function, all the families were invited and we saw Anya there…she was always a real beauty.” His hard expression fell to show pride, a smile spreading across his lips. “One of our men had been working as a mole in the O’Connor household and he brought Anya to Spike after he had seen how they treated her. She was so vicious…she hated men for awhile and over time we helped her. I couldn’t help falling in love with that woman. After that I asked Spike a huge favor by buying her from Angelus to keep her away from that. I owe Spike a lot. Anya offered to keep working, but under Spike. He didn’t allow her, told her she was free.” Buffy sat there completely shocked. She would never have guessed that Anya had been a working girl and had such a horrible history with the O’Connor family.
Buffy felt a pang of heartache for Anya. The girl was open but no one deserved whatever Anya went through. “You know Buffy; I can understand why you have a problem with Spike. I mean any normal person would.”
“Is it really that obvious that I don’t like Spike’s choice of work?” Buffy asked kind of feeling guilty. She was turning up her nose at Spike’s choice which meant she was probably insulting Xander.
“Nothing to feel guilty about. My dad was part of this work his whole life, and I still hated him, but Spike isn’t like my dad. He’s definitely not like Angelus. Spike respects women. He may be his father’s son, a mafia leader, but he’s also the son to Jennifer Giles and the minute you meet her you’d understand how things were run in her household.”
Buffy was silent for the rest of the ride until they finally pulled through the gates of the Giles estate. She didn’t know why she asked Xander what she had; a part of her just felt she needed to know.
As she got out of the car, Buffy looked up and found Spike standing on the balcony which was to his office that surveyed over the front of the estate.
“Hey boss.” Xander yelled up. Spike nodded at Xander and stared straight back at Buffy. He crooked his finger at her and beckoned her to come up to his office.
“Now?” Buffy shouted up, shielding her eyes from the sun. All Spike did was nod his head and smirk. “Okay…I’ll be right up.” She took her dance bag from Xander and headed through the front door.”
She wondered what Spike could want to see her for. Buffy guessed he was going to take her to lunch. When Buffy finally got up the stairs and down the hall that his office was, Spike came out into the hall, closing the door behind him.
“Come with me.” He spun her around before grabbing her wrist pulling her in the direction she had just come in.
“Where are we going?”
“Surprise, luv.”
Buffy followed closely behind him as fast as she could try to keep up with his pace from his longer legs. “Can I at least put my bag up in my room?” Buffy asked.
“No need.”
The blonde was left baffled as to what he was doing. He led her down the stairs and down in the direction where the game room and where Spike had told her the construction was.
Suddenly he stopped at a door that was closed. “Close your eyes, luv.”
“What? Why?” The expression on her face became further confused, her brows knitting together in a frown.
“Kitten just be a dear and close your eyes.” Buffy gave him a hard look before giving in and shutting her eyes. She felt his lips against hers in a quick peck before he turned her around and guided her in. “Keep them closed, don’t open them until I tell you to.”
Suddenly, she felt the warm sun against her skin, but she heard no sounds except the shuffling of her own feet.
“Can I open them now?” Buffy asked. Her foot tapped on the floor impatiently.
“Patience is a virtue, luv.”
Buffy let out a snort of laughter. “Says Mr. Impatient.”
Suddenly she heard Spike growl close to her ear. She could smell the tobacco and his cologne. “Watch it missy, or I won’t give you your surprise.”
“Well I don’t think it would be a great loss since I have yet to see it. She gave Spike a cheeky smile before sticking out her tongue in his direction.
“I’d watch where you put that tongue, luv.” His remark was dripping with sexual intent.
“I would if I could have my eyes open.”
Spike began to feel aggravated, clenching his jaw tight. “For bloody crying out loud! Just fucking open your eyes you silly bint.” He moved to stand behind her and waited.
“Oh…my…God…”
Buffy’s jaw dropped, her arms suddenly falling limp to her side, her bag landing on the ground next to her feet. She stood in the middle of a 50 by 70 feet room that appeared to have been transformed into a dance studio. The paneled style walls were painted a soft pink. Like any dance studio, a full wall had been paneled with ceiling to floor mirrors. A bar that was waist high, went across the mirrors from one wall to the other; perfect for Barre warm ups. A state of the art stereo system was set up in one corner next to a set of French doors that then lead out to the back gardens. Buffy could tell that lighting would be perfectly permitted at either night or day.
The ballet dancer turned around, trying to take in the whole scene of the room. Across from the mirrors on the opposite wall, a framed theater poster hung. Buffy was left to stand silent again. It was a poster that only the American Ballet Dance Company produced. It was the promotional poster that had been for the big annual production ABDC always put on.
“Where did you get this?” She asked, breathless. Tears began to well up at the memories of that production. It have been Romeo and Juliet. In the poster as ‘Juliet’, she stood with her ‘Romeo’, captured in what depicted the balcony scene.
Spike came to stand up behind her cupping her shoulders in his hands. “I told the designer that the original plans left the walls rather bare. He found out that this studio was actually for you and he got on the phone to negotiate with your company asking them to send a poster of one of your productions,
Buffy looked from the poster and Spike, feeling the tears continue to well up. Spike lifted her chin up to look up at him. “What’s wrong kitten, you don’t like it?”
“No, no…I love it. God it’s so beautiful, everything is. It’s just this was my first leading role production at the company.” Buffy believed that she had seen it for the last time when she walked down the hall at ABDC after resigning to come back to L.A. But here it was…standing in this beautifully made studio. She reached out and ran her fingers across the glass of the frame as if testing to make sure it was real.
Spike observed Buffy as she stared at the poster. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a comforting hug. “Spike…why did you do all of this?”
“Because pet, I know how much dance means to you.”
Buffy looked up at him, searching his piercing blue eyes. This showed more than what he felt about her love for dance. “You really mean that.” Buffy didn’t stop herself, and she pulled Spike by the tie until he bent down, allowing her to kiss him softly. “Thank you…”
“You like having sex with her more than with me!!!” Darla spat with venom. She pointed to the helpless brunette laying on the bed in a heaping mess. Her arms were tied above her head and bound to the headboard.
The girl was a complete mess of blood, semen, sweat, and her own bathroom bodily functions. The smell was retching for her. Cuts and bruises littered her body from hours of pain being inflicted on her. Rape, torture, beatings. Three things Angelus loved to inflict on his flavor of the moment.
Angelus continued to look down at his hands picking at the dried blood under his nails. Darla couldn’t tell if he was really listening to her or just ignoring her. Either way it enraged the blonde more.
“ANGELUS!” Darla snapped, slamming the folding fan she held, against the wood of the headboard. The girl bound and gagged, jumped high even in her horrible state.
“What the hell do you want, Darla?” Angelus asked, his Irish accent slightly drawled from the adrenaline rush that he always got after his time with a tied up girl.
Darla pouted, “You don’t want me anymore!”
“Nonsense, poppet. You know you’re my one and only.” Angelus assured his fiery blonde lover. She looked up at him with hopeful eyes.
“Really?” Darla asked. The little shine came back in her eyes as she looked up at Angelus.
“Of course.”
“Then why did you get far too interested into that slut belonging to Giles?!?” Darla spat out.
“Well we both know that little daughter of Hanks is far from being a slut.” He smiled at the thought of an untouched body.
Darla rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “You and your love for virgins.” She sent a pointed look at the girl on the bed who watched them as she began to go in and out of consciousness.
“Yes but this is not any virgin, my dear Darla.” Stroking her cheek, he continued, “This is Hank’s daughter of a virgin.”
“So?” Her question held attitude. The only one Angelus allowed to talk to him with attitude was Darla and it as usually the first step to their foreplay.
Angelus out of no where grabbed the blonde hair attached to Darla’s head and pulled in the direction that forced her head to look straight into his eyes. “So…get Buffy…get control over Summers. And if we time it right we can probably get control over Giles.”
“Puh-lease!” Darla rolled her eyes and pushed Angelus’ hulking body away from hers but she held a twisted smile to her face at the same time. “All she is is simply a mistress to Spike. A possible trophy wife if anything. That guy runs through girls faster than your fast sports cars.”
“You obviously didn’t pay attention last Friday at Midnights.” He walked over to Darla and wrapped his hand around her neck, forcing her to recede until her back was flat against the wall, and he began to add pressure to his grip. “His outburst went further than normal territory on a girl. That and if she meant nothing to him, he wouldn’t have one of his men on her for 24/7 security detail.” His grip tightened on Darla’s throat. “And need I remind you that she was made as a trade between Summers and Giles for alliance and if Spike allows any harm to come to her, Hank’s going to be looking at another family against him.” Darla began to fight against him as her breathe allowance became less. But it was all to get both their motors going. As Angelus gripped his fingers tighter into her neck they both smiled at each other.
“You’re smart…that’s good.” Her voice began to turn raspy, but she ignored the feeling, compared to the pleasure the rush of danger was sending on her body. “You’re hurting me…that is even better.”
The girl on the bed, who had been tortured for an endless seemingly week tried to escape into unconsciousness. She wanted to escape. Though she was relieved that the sick monster was having his attention occupied by the sick bitch. That would keep him off her for awhile. She just had to bare witnessing the couple’s sick acts on each other.
“We’re having your parents over for dinner, tomorrow night.” Spike said as he watched Buffy slip into her Pointe shoes.
Buffy looked over at Spike. “Really?”
“Yes your father and I have some things to discuss.” Buffy stood up straight and looked over at Spike with a pensive stare. “But not over dinner, no reason to fret.” Spike stood up from his chair next to the stereo system, and turned it on. “Now…dance for me.”
Buffy stepped up, balancing on her toes, before beckoning Spike over to her. She waited with her hands on her hips, completely unaffected at the position she was standing in. Slowly, Spike approached her, both with a predatory walk, and with a stare of one.
“I don’t dance on command buddy.” She said matter-of-factly, walking around him, still on Pointe. He stood perfectly still, repressing the desire he had to simply just pull her to him.
“Really?” Spike challenged as he himself began to follow her circles around him, until they both looked like two fighters gracefully sizing the other up.
“Mhmm.” Buffy giggled as she provocatively swayed her hips, watching Spike out of the corner of her eye. He desired her, beyond the point of simple hormones and male genetics. It was more than just lust deep in his eyes and although it scared Buffy, playing with the fire was something that Buffy liked. Forgotten were the problems that she had inside her and all that she could think of was the man that she was tip-toeing the boundaries with. Literally.
Suddenly his grasp latched onto her wrist and pulled her against him so that her chest was right against his. Nose to nose, breathe against breathe. One step away from melting into each other.
Pressing his fingers against her lips, Spike let his feathered touch slide down to her neck, across her back and onto the leotard that covered her breasts. All the while he held her against him, at the waist and watched as her upper body leaned back with every inch that he touched further down.
Buffy reveled in his touch, and she couldn’t help her leg from sliding up against his.
“I guess you just need to be persuaded then.” His whisper was as soft as the wind, but she didn’t straighten up. Buffy had learned, always trust your partner in dance, they were strong enough to bring you back up, and Spike was more than strong to keep her from falling down.
She gasped as she felt Spike grind his hips into her, the desire becoming physically evident. He took hold of her wrist again pulling her until she was fully straight, and their eyes were staring straight into the others.
“What must I persuade you with then, kitten?” He asked as he pressed kisses against her neck. Buffy breathed in deeply, trying to calm her suddenly racing heart. It didn’t even beat this fast when she danced. She moved when he turned her around so that her back was to his chest, and they stood together looking in the full wall mirror. “Or should I move you myself.” Holding her wrists, Spike moved her arms as if she were a pose-able doll, putting them above her head in the classic ballerina pose.
Buffy broke out into a fit of giggles at the sight of him moving her. Quickly, she moved away from him, pulling off a chaînés tournes, quick turns, going in the direction straight away. Spike watched every move, captivated within seconds, just as he had been when he stopped by at her rehearsal. Her loose hair flew behind her as she spinned. Suddenly stopping, now a good distance away from Spike, her eyes straight on his, as if she had never taken them off him.
“Christ! You’re beautiful.” Spike declared when he walked to stand before her again. He pressed his lips to hers in another kiss. One more passionate and demanding. Both, had emotions flying at them, but they didn’t bother to interpret them, instead allowed themselves to be lost in the moment. Buffy kissed him back with equally as much passion, clinging to his arms as he pulled her closer. The tips of his fingers pressed into her back bunched the fabric of her leotard in his grasp.
Moaning softly against his lips, Buffy felt his tongue slide against hers, persuading hers to play. Her moan seemed to drive Spike crazy and it took a lot of will to keep from tearing into shreds.
Her hands slid up to cup his face in her hands, her fingers unconsciously stroking his strong defined cheekbones. Buffy didn’t stop his hands from pulling down the shoulder straps of her leotard, all her inhibitions were gone, and instead Buffy pulled him harder to her by his tie before beginning to undo the knot.
Her mind…deep down below the fiery lust to raging inside her now, could not actually believe it, but all the while she couldn’t stop herself, especially as Spike’s hands came to explore up betweens her legs and the valley of her thighs.
“Spike…”
A/N: I know...I'm horrible...don't worry, I will update soon.
PLEASE REVIEW!
~Spuffy_obsessed