Chapter Four
As they sat around the table in Giles’ apartment the next evening, Buffy found herself wondering briefly where Spike was. She gave a mental shake, chiding herself for including him in their group.
(He’s not one of us. Never was, never will be. Just because he can help me slay demons once in a while, doesn’t mean he...)
Apparently she wasn’t the only one thinking that way as Willow looked around and asked Xander, “Where’s Spike?”
“I dunno. Out doing creature-of-the-night kinds of things, I guess. He said something about checking on a place to live.”
“He’s not going to stay with you anymore?” Buffy asked more sharply than she intended.
“No,” Anya piped up. “We need our privacy so that Xander can give me more orgasms. Spike has been inhibiting Xander. He had to go.”
“It’s all right, Buffster. We know he can’t hurt anybody. Nobody human, anyway. Maybe he’ll just leave town and we won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
Buffy tried very hard to ignore the way her stomach was clenching at the thought of Spike’s being gone from Sunnydale.
,I>(I don’t care if he leaves. Leaving is good. It means no more kissing, or touching, or....)
She leaped to her feet and in a shrill voice announced a sudden need to patrol. When her friends just looked at her incredulously, she flinched and added lamely, “I mean, if I want to find the commandos as well as stake vampires, I need to get an early start. Evil is afoot and I need to...to....find it.”
She bolted from the house before anyone could ask her any more questions, and let her feet carry her toward the closest cemetery. She told herself very sternly that she was not looking for Spike, did not want to find Spike, and certainly wasn’t worried because she wasn’t finding Spike. As the night wore on and she found no trace of the bleached vampire anywhere, she repeated her litany of denials as though saying it often enough would make it so.
As she was skirting the edge of campus and muttering to herself, “I don’t care where he is. I don’t want to see him. I don’t need him. I don’t –“ she was interrupted by her head’s abrupt collision with a large, heavily armored chest. She looked up in surprise and fell back in to a fighting stance.
She found herself looking up into what seemed to be the face of one of Riley’s friends. However, the face she remembered had not had artificial eyes and pieces of metal embedded in it.
“F-Forrest?” she asked carefully. “Is that you?”
Without answering her, the zombie-like soldier swung his fist and connected with her unsuspecting chin. Buffy flew backwards and landed hard on the ground, staring up at the creature in front of her. She kipped back to her feet and took another fighting stance.
She aimed a roundhouse kick at Forrest’s head and smiled when she felt it connect. Her smile quickly faded when he appeared to barely register the blow and continued toward her. A series of punches and kicks later, and she found herself tiring as the former commando repeatedly aimed his owns punches and kicks at her. When a particularly hard punch connected with the side of her head and sent her back to the ground, she felt the first tinge of fear.
Giving her an inhuman smile, the creature that looked like Forrest lifted a large rock over his head and prepared to smash it down on her. As Buffy frantically rolled to the side, she thought she saw a flash of black and white shoot past her and she heard a thud as something connected with robotic man, knocking him away.
If she’d had any doubt as to Forrest’s apparent loss of humanity, it was quelled as she saw Spike exchanging punches with the creature. There was no sign that his chip was firing at all. There was also no sign that he was going to be able to take the half-robot, half-man by himself. As he came flying back to join her on the ground, he shook his head and growled, “I don’t think we’re winnin’ here, pet.”
“Yeah, got that message when he knocked me down for the third time,” Buffy agreed.
They both leaped back to their feet and went into fighting stances as the creature that used to be Forrest charged them
“I’ve got a plan, luv,” the blond vampire said as he dodged a haymaker.
“Oh good. Cause those always work out so well for you-” Buffy leaped into the air and planted both feet in Forrest’s chest, knocking him to the ground briefly.
Before she could ask what the plan was, Spike had grabbed her hand and was pulling her after his swiftly moving feet.
“Good plan,” she gasped out as they rapidly outdistanced the former commando.
Once again, as soon as they appeared to be safe, they slowed down and began walking. This time, he started to release her hand as soon as they stopped running, but was surprised when she laced her fingers through his. Spike took a quick glance at her out of the corner of his eye, but she stared determinedly ahead and refused to meet his eyes.
After several minutes of uncomfortable silence, Buffy said softly, without pausing to look at him, “Thank you.”
Spike squeezed her hand gently and replied, “You’re welcome, pet.” He waited another minute then asked, “What were you doing out there anyway? Thought you guys had a Scoobie meeting tonight at the Watcher’s.”
Buffy mumbled something unintelligible and hoped it was too dark for him to see the rush of blood to her face. He couldn’t actually see it, but he could hear the increase in her heart beat and feel the extra heat coming off her body.
“What was that, pet? I don’t think I heard you.”
“I said, ‘Iwaslookingforyou’,” she got out quickly, then stiffened in anticipation of what he would say next.
He stopped abruptly, shocked by her admission.
“Why?”
“Why, what?”
“Why were you looking for me?” He waited patiently; wondering if she was even aware that their hands were still linked, but unwilling to let go until he had to.
Buffy looked around frantically for something else to talk about. She looked at the sky, behind her at the campus lights, down on the ground as though there was something terribly interesting crawling on her boots. When she ran out of other things to look at, she finally raised her eyes to his and said reluctantly, “Xander said you might be leaving Sunnydale and I just didn’t want....I mean, you can go wherever you want to....but I..... Look. I just was! OK?”
He looked at her embarrassed face for a few seconds then, surprised her by nodding his head and continuing their walk. “OK, pet. That’s all right, then.”
They walked on slowly, neither one paying much attention to their surroundings and neither one ready to stop holding hands. Suddenly Spike’s vampire hearing picked up another sound besides the soft noise of their feet in the leaves and he went into game face in an effort to see better in the dark. He threw his head up and sniffed the air, then yanked Buffy with him into the shadow of a large crypt.
His cool hand over her mouth smothered her angry questions and when she realized he was listening intently, she stopped struggling and relaxed against his chest. He dropped his hand from her mouth, but kept his arms around her, pulling her tightly against his body as he shrank back against the rough stones.
Using his vampiric ability to be perfectly still, he blended into the shadows on the building. He knew whatever was coming toward them, if it was human, would never be able to spot him. Just then, the approaching men got close enough for him to see that they were commandos with infrared goggles on. While he would remain invisible to them, Buffy’s heat signature would stand right out, shadows or no. Without questioning why it would be necessary for Buffy to hide from the Initiative, he quickly he turned them both so that she was pressed up against the side of the crypt, completely hidden by his body and his flowing leather coat.
Buffy’s face was pressed uncomfortably against the rough stones in front of her, but she remained silent and still as she felt Spike become completely immobile. She had no idea the hyper active vampire could be so still for such a long period of time and wondered briefly what else she didn’t know about his capabilities. She tried hard not to squirm, as she remained flattened between Spike’s hard body and the wall.
(Potentially dangerous situation here. Not going to be distracted by the hard body pressed up against me. Nope. Slayer here. Totally focused on the situation. Can’t even feel that object pressing itself into my butt......oh my god. There’s something long and hard pressing into my butt!)
As luck would have it, the soldiers chose the area in front of the crypt to stop and discuss their mission. They casually glanced around periodically, looking for signs of activity, but completely overlooked the immobile vampire and the human he was sheltering. Even without vampire hearing, Buffy was able to pick up a word here and there. She startled slightly when she thought she heard them say “Slayer”, but from her position behind Spike she couldn’t really hear what they were saying.
When they finally moved on and Spike could no longer see or hear them, he shifted his weight and pulled Buffy away from the wall. She turned around, trying not to notice that his arms were still encircling her, and rubbed at her cheek where it had been pressed against the stones for so long.
“Whew! And Ow,” she said as she gingerly touched the scratch on her cheek. “
“Sorry, love. I didn’t mean to mash your face into it; was just tryin’ to.....”
“It’s Ok, Spike. It’s not like you haven’t done more damage than that throwing me into walls through the years. At least this time you weren’t trying to hurt me.” She gave him a small smile to show she wasn’t mad. In the shadow of the crypt, she couldn’t really see his face, but she could feel his eyes on her and she felt the heat as blood rushed to her cheeks.
Spike almost groaned as he felt her temperature go up and smelled the blood seeping from the scratch on her face. His arms were around her loosely, not really touching her, but keeping her within his reach. He was sure he was trembling as he leaned in slowly and offered, “Could stop that bleedin’ for you, Slayer.” He paused with his lips not quite touching her cheek and waited to see what she would say.
“Why?” she asked breathlessly. “It’s just a scratch. It’ll stop by itself any second now.”
Before he answered her, he ran his tongue quickly over the small cut, effectively stopping the bleeding and closing it.
Buffy gave a surprised squeal and pushed him away asking, “Why’d you do that?”
“Because,” he growled, dropping his arms, “I’m having a hard enough time just being this close to you without having to smell your blood too!”
Buffy gasped and flinched back from him, suddenly remembering what had been pressed up against her when she was against the wall. Spike stepped away, struggling to gain some control over his demon.
The easy camaraderie that they had been sharing before they ran into the commandos was gone as both Slayer and vampire tried to pretend they weren’t being affected by the other’s proximity. In an effort to change the subject, Buffy asked, “Could you hear what they were saying? I thought I heard them mention the Slayer, but I wasn’t sure.”
“You heard it all right. Seems like your soldier boy toy is having a hard time convincing them that you’re for real. They think the Slayer is a fairy tale to frighten baby demons with and they want to prove it to him by capturing you.”
“What! What good would that do them? I wouldn’t let them-”
Spike made her look at him and see the seriousness of his expression as he reminded her, “That place is a giant prison and laboratory designed to hold supernatural creatures. Remember what they did to me? I don’t want you takin’ any chances around those wankers, Bu-Slayer. I can’t help you fight off humans. Much as I might want to rip their throats out.....”
Buffy smacked him on the arm and said, almost absently, “Don’t talk about killing humans, Spike.” She was thinking rapidly and trying to decide what her next move should be.
“I need to get back to Giles’ and tell him about Forrest and....what you heard just now. Let’s go!”
She turned and started off at a brisk trot, not even looking back to see if the vampire was following her. It took Spike a minute to realize that he was following her obediently, and another one to decide he was indignant about her casual assumption that he would come. He opened his mouth to protest, then shrugged as he admitted to himself that he would have gone with her anyway.
(Turnin’ into a bloody ponce, I am. Couple of quick shags and I’m the Slayer’s lap dog.)
Chapter Five
By the time Buffy and Spike returned to Giles’ apartment, the others had given up waiting for her and gone home for the night. The older man shook his head as Spike told him about the overheard conversation concerning his surrogate daughter.
He suddenly shot a suspicious look at the vampire. “Exactly why were you hiding Buffy, anyway? You had no reason then to think she had anything to fear from the Initiative. It is her boy friend’s unit; after all, “ he huffed. He was still annoyed that Buffy had begun another romantic relationship without his knowledge and the fact that Riley belonged to a covert group of soldiers had done nothing to allay his concerns.
Spike was momentarily at a loss for an explanation for his actions; then perked up as he reminded Giles, “Well, we’d just finished fightin’ with Frankenstein, hadn’t we? Not like I knew for sure what was comin’. Coulda been more of those....things.”
“Ah, yes, quite. Well then. Buffy, we’re going to have to keep you out of sight until we find out exactly what those men have in mind. I suppose you could stay here, but I would guess they know to look for you....”
“I could go home, Giles. My mom was expecting me this weekend anyway. She’s got to go on a buying trip and I told her I’d watch the house for her. No one from the college knows where I live......”
“Not even Capt’n Cardboard?” Spike grumbled.
She gave him a glare, then snapped, “No, I’ve been too busy to introduce him to my mother yet.”
“I suppose that’s as good as anything, “ her Watcher said dubiously. “But it would be very easy to get your mother’s address through the school. I really think we need to find someplace less....obvious.”
Spike shuffled his feet for a minute then offered softly, “There’s an apartment on the edge of town, she could use. They won’t look for her there.”
“An apartment? What apartment? Whose?” Both Slayer and Watcher looked at him expectantly.
“Uh, well, it’s....it’s mine, actually.” At Buffy’s skeptical look, he quickly said, “Being aroun’ Harmony too long can...wear on you, you know? I just needed someplace to get away, so I rented this place. Haven’t been back since the chip, but no reason why it shouldn’t still be empty.”
“You RENTED it?” The Slayer looked at him in disbelief. “Or you killed the rightful owner and moved in?”
Spike rolled his eyes and stretched his neck as he fought down his irritation. “I rented it, you stupid bint. It’s in a demon-owned building.” He paused and tried to look uninterested as he said, “Look, I’m just offerin’. Do you want it or not?”
He thought if he had a beating heart it would be thudding hard as he waited for her to decide. Buffy looked at Giles questioningly and he studied the vampire for a second then said, “They certainly won’t be looking for you in a demon’s apartment.”
Buffy stared hard at Spike, but he showed nothing but mild curiosity as he waited for her decision. There was no trace of guile or lust on his face, just a willingness to help.
(Ok, he said he’d give me space. I’m an adult. We can do this. I can stay in Spike’s apartment without wanting to get him naked. I can do that.)
“Well,” she exhaled forcefully. “I guess that’s a plan, then. I’ll just run by the dorm and get some clothes and my toothbrush-“
“Do you think that’s wise, Buffy? Your dorm would be an obvious place to look.”
“Fine, I’ll call Willow in the morning and ask her to bring me some things. Let’s go, Spike. I’d like to get at least a few hours’ sleep tonight.”
Giles offered to drive them to the apartment building so as to avoid any more potential run-ins with Initiative personnel. The trip only took a few minutes in his car and once again Buffy reminded herself that she really needed to learn how to drive some day. He dropped them off with an admonition to check in frequently and drove away leaving them on the sidewalk arguing about who had actually stopped Forrest long enough for them to get away.
“I hope they don’t kill each other before tomorrow,” he muttered as he watched them in his rear view mirror.
As the argument tapered off into growls and mutters, the two blonds turned and started into the building. Spike held up his hand and stopped Buffy before she opened the door.
“Let me go first, Slayer. Wouldn’t do for you to be seen here – or for me to be seen bringing you in. Be worth my head, it would.”
When he could see that there was no one around, he gestured for Buffy to follow him and led her up the stairs to a second-floor apartment. He pulled out a key and unlocked the heavy oak door, holding it for her so that she could precede him into the room.
Buffy almost laughed at the thought of Spike holding a door for her, but bit back the sarcastic remark she wanted to make and just smiled her thanks at him.
(Spike holds doors for women. Who knew?)
She stopped abruptly as she got inside and stared around the apartment. Instead of the garish blacks and reds she expected, it was tastefully, if soberly, decorated in what appeared to be genuine Victorian era furniture. The walls were muted shades of gray and green, with heavy dark green curtains hanging over the windows. One wall was completely lined with built in shelves full of books and there was a large comfortable-looking chair set under a reading lamp.
The room smelled a little musty from being closed up for so long, and Spike pulled the drapes and opened the windows to allow some fresh air in the room. He showed Buffy to the small bedroom and the bathroom attached to it but didn’t actually enter the room himself.
He waited in the doorway as she surveyed the large bed and then sat down to remove her shoes. Without looking up from her feet, she asked carefully, “And where will you.....?”
“Vampire, pet. Not ready to go to sleep yet. You get some kip and I’ll see you in the morning.”
Before she could register her surprise and disappointment, he blew her a kiss and walked out, shutting her door softly behind him.
Buffy was too tired to dwell on his unusual behavior and just crawled under the crimson sheets and covers and closed her eyes. Her last thought was that the pillow smelled like Spike and she found that oddly comforting.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
It occurs to me that this fic is pretty much a long pwp - so if you're looking for an actual story - um, sorry, there isn't much of one. :)