Well Buffy and Spike had an awesome last night together.
It was a slow night of patrolling but still got the job done.
Just before daylight struck, Spike walked Buffy back to her house and went upstairs to tuck her in to sleep until her mom arrived.
Spike was a little nervous as was Buffy but he didn’t think he should be there when her mom did arrive home.
Both of them after much discussion in the night had decided not to tell her at first of what had happened and instead introduce him as a boyfriend after Joyce was settled in.
Buffy hit the answering machine to delete the messages noticing there was 15 messages on it and then took Spike’s hand to lead her to her bedroom for the second time of him seeing it and smiled whispering, “We have an hour right? Can you hold me until I’m sleeping?”
Spike nodded and watched as Buffy got dressed in her nightshirt and pants and crawled into bed to appear as a normal daughter would and he removed his boots and shirt and climbed into bed next to her.
Buffy snuggled up close to him and whispered, “Whatever happens Spike, and we are together right?”
Spike smiled a gentle smile at her, placing a kiss on her forehead, “Always kitten. Always.”
With that Buffy closed her eyes and within minutes of Spike holding her close, and feeling safe, she fell asleep and Spike replaced his shirt and boots and climbed out of her window leaving it unlocked and went to his lair alone.
The minions were in chaos at the fact their master was alone.
Dalton followed Spike into his room to question, worried she had been hurt or kidnapped and might need his help.
Spike shook his head after sitting on the bed feeling so tired but unable to sleep as he said, “She’s fine. She’s all asleep and safe in her bed. Safe from me. Her mum returns today in a few hours. Thought it best if I wasn’t there for home coming.”
With that Spike frowned looking obviously nervous and worried.
Dalton had no ties to his feelings but they were written over Spike’s face.
Dalton spoke up then wanting to help ease his master’s feelings, “Anything I can do?”
Spike shook his head again and said, “I need a hospital run for more blood.”
Spike sighed a horribly miserable sigh and Dalton replied, “Tonight I’ll retrieve some.”
Spike nodded and Dalton not knowing what to say sat quietly thinking when Spike was ready, he would just kick him out.
Instead Spike looked up and said, “Think anyone is up for Poker? Does anyone in this place have a phone that I can use to call Clem? I’m awake. Might as well enjoy it for another hour or so.”
Dalton smiled at the idea of a Poker game and said, “Doug carries a phone with him. Some new car phone jig. I’ll send him up with it and I’ll see if any of the others want to join in if that’s ok with you.”
Spike nodded, “Sounds good.”
With that Dalton hurried out of the room to set in motion a Poker game.
Buffy awoke to the sound of her mother returning from her long trip.
Buffy frowned rolling over to look for Spike before she remembered the reality.
She was 17 years old still, living at home with her mother and still a high school student.
She frowned even deeper at the sound of her mother yelling for Buffy to come down and help her with the luggage in the car.
Buffy did as she was told and her mother frowned at her saying, “Why are you still dressed for bed?”
Buffy shrugged and said, “Winter vacation. No school this week, I decided to slum it.”
Her mother stated in a disappointed voice, “I hope you don’t make a habit of that. Perhaps you should get a weekend job to give you something to do.”
Buffy said, “After high school is done maybe. I need to focus on my studies to keep the grades I have now.”
Joyce dropped it knowing her daughter seemed to struggle in school and instead watched as her and Buffy unloaded the few suitcases.
Joyce explained, “Already made a stop at the gallery to unload the others. Had to unload it alone since no one answered the phone here and no one else was at the gallery yet."
Buffy apologized, “Sorry mom, I was working on a paper.”
She didn’t mention she had still been sleeping after going to bed at 5 am.
She groaned thinking of how hard school was going to be to get up for with the schedule she was used to keeping.
Her mom said, “I brought lunch because I'm not sure how much food would really be left and knowing you eat out a lot while I’m away. So sit down and we can talk about how your week was and why you weren’t there for any of my phone calls.”
Buffy opened the link between her and Spike and Spike readily answered with, ‘Lo pet. How are things going?’
Buffy sent a frown his way and saying, ‘How do I explain not answering the phone while at your place?’
Spike answered, ‘You spent a lot of time with your friends and doing homework? Say you did it at the library or somethin' luv.’
Buffy sent a nod towards him, ‘I’ll try that. How are you?’
Spike answered, ‘Missing you but okay. Playing a bit of poker in my place to pass the time until I am able to sleep.’
Buffy giggled and as her mom watched her, she tried to explain with, “Just glad to have you home.”
Joyce smiled at her daughter and gave her a big hug across the table almost knocking over the sodas she had gotten from the fridge, “I’m glad to be here too.”
Buffy quickly then went to answer Spike, ‘I’m missing you too. Just had to explain to mom why you had my giggling but I was able to do so.’
Spike quickly got an image of what had happened as though he was watching it.
He was amazed, ‘Wow pet, did you know you just sent me a playback of your giggling with mum?’
Buffy thought, ‘Wow.’
Spike nodded and said, ‘Wow indeed. Best get back to the game. The guys are staring at me strangely. Enjoy your mum pet and I’ll see you at sundown unless you say otherwise.’
Buffy blew a kiss at him and with the way the claim worked, he felt it actually on his lips and sighed contently causing the guys at the table to look at him as though he was a mutant.
Spike quickly sent a kiss back and closed the link wanting to not make a bigger full of himself in front of his minions.