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DREAMS and DESOTOS

Major thanks to the beta-age of Spikeskat and Chicklet


Part 2



Two weeks had passed in peaceful bliss since Buffy's last trip down memory lane. At times, it almost felt as if she'd been reborn; that this small piece of heaven was her reward for past sacrifices and the risks she'd been forced to take night after night. Yet, that small thread of pain that continued to shadow her laughed at her naivety.



Because the world just did not work in that way.



If it did, Buffy wouldn't have felt compelled to flee her family and friends with her mortal enemy rather than face them. But while content and happy, a part of her couldn't completely forget those she had left behind, and yearned for reconciliation.



Not enough to do anything about it though.



Six months had passed since Buffy and Spike had first arrived in town. Outside their previous influences - it had ceased to matter that he was a vampire and she was the Slayer. Now they were simply two people starting over and falling in love.



The people of the town had yet to learn that a monster lived among them. At the beginning, Buffy had been seriously paranoid about anybody stumbling onto the fact that Spike lacked a heartbeat, constantly on the lookout for things that would identify him as different. Mirrors. Sunlight. Invitation requirement. Luckily, that was something easily dealt with due to the friendliness of the town. Buffy found herself keeping an eye on Spike at first, not quite able to put aside the fact that he had killed more people than she wanted to even think about.



Eventually, her paranoid vigil relaxed and she began to get the feeling that it wouldn't be such a total big if Spike was found out. He was different now, no longer the cocky, evil vampire from Sunnydale. The Spike she slept with every night was the real Spike, and the real Spike was far less evil than he'd made himself out to be. She also knew that Spike considered this town his, and not in a diabolically evil Master vampire way either. He didn’t view the town’s people as his own personal food source; rather, a lot of them had become his friends.




A month after settling in, Buffy had obtained a position working the evening shift four days a week in the emergency room of the town’s only hospital. She had needed something to fill the void that her new non-slayage status had left, so she'd gotten her Emergency Medical Technician certificate. Since driving an ambulance was out of the question, Buffy applied for an open position in the ER.



Her first job. Thanks to the false paperwork that Spike had managed to acquire, her age was listed as twenty-one and she had the same last name as Spike. There had been moments of wig wondering if the false papers would hold up under inspection, not to mention that she was supposedly married to Spike. Marriage was something she had never given much thought to, but once Spike had explained why he had arranged it that way, it made sense. As a married couple, they wouldn't pique anybody's curiosity or disapproval.



Buffy hadn't been sure what to expect working in the medical field, but soon found herself looking forward to going to work each day. Her hours of four in the afternoon until midnight meshed perfectly with Spike nocturnal habits, leaving them plenty of time together while letting Buffy discover her own independence.



Working at the hospital was completely different from her 'chosen' occupation and for the first time. Buffy had been thanked for her help. Even the fact that she didn't have as direct a role in the life save-age aspect as before didn't bother her because she was part of a necessary medical team. Not having to be the one to make all the decisions?



No complaints there.



Plus helping people through some of the bleakest hours of their existence rewarded her in a way slaying never had. Buffy was appreciated for her efforts, by the patients, and especially by the staff. She just fit in - yet another thing that she would have missed if she had stayed in Sunnydale.



While Buffy would work, Spike indulged in a pastime of his prior life - writing. When she had finally caught him diligently working on a laptop that had been recently purchased, Spike confessed to working on a novel. But instead of the ridicule he had expected in his paranoid fashion, she had managed to surprise him with a smile and a nod of encouragement.



And Spike began writing in earnest, the horror story that had played out in his head demanding to make it onto paper while his fingers struggled to keep up. The words flowed and within a month, he had completed more than half of it, finally allowing Buffy to read it.



She had been astounded.



Her enthusiasm and praise gave him the conviction to continue, secure in the knowledge that his writing had meaning, had depth.



That it was good.



Buffy would often watch him as he worked, barely able to believe that a creature who had so much nervous energy could keep still for so long to write. She loved watching him; the way his eyebrows knitted together in concentration, the way the tip of his tongue would just peek out from between his harsh determined lips... Often times it was the smell of her acute arousal that would alert him that she was home. Of course, Buffy would then find herself tossed over his shoulder and taken upstairs to be properly shagged.



Not that she ever complained.

+++


Once bowling had been added into their life, it was something that neither Spike or Buffy ever missed.



Now, two weeks later, Spike and Buffy strolled hand in hand through the glass double doors, their bowling bags slung casually over their shoulders. Greetings were immediately tossed their way, and they replied in kind. They headed over to where their group had settled a few minutes earlier for their requisite session of weekly gossip.



Spike left Buffy with the other women to attend to an important detail Namely, the manly beer run.



Buffy sat down in one of the plastic chairs next to her friend Elaine, who immediately launched into informing her of the new products she had just started stocking in the beauty salon she owned. Elaine's husband, Rick, was off with Spike, and Elaine was more than anxious to get in some girl talk.



On the low end of thirty, Elaine wore an extra twenty pounds around her middle, although insisting she'd had quite the figure at one time. Her features were attractive, though somewhat muted by the slight fullness of her face, and her long blonde hair was always artfully coiffed. Buffy had never seen Elaine when her make up hadn't been carefully applied, and had even requested her friend's expertise in that area. Elaine had not let her down either.



From the moment they had been introduced, Elaine and Buffy had clicked, and she had become Buffy's best friend since moving to Windmont. Rick and Spike had developed an easy friendship, and the two couples usually spent two or three nights a week together.



"Sooooo..." Elaine began meaningfully, "how are you and Spike doing?"



Buffy laughed, commenting, "Geez, you ask me that every time I see you!!"



"Yeah, and you always smile your little happy smile and say 'good' in that dreamy voice of yours," Elaine replied in exasperation. "I mean, come on. Look at the guy." Buffy couldn't help but do just that as Spike came back carrying several pitchers of beer. The well-built physique of Elaine's husband trailed a step behind, a pitcher locked in his grip as well.



Spike had come up with a retro black bowling shirt he'd bought in a local second hand store, and had Spike embroidered over the pocket. The shirt, together with his black jeans, black and white bowling shoes and his bleached blonde hair slicked back in its familiar style, cut quite a stunning picture. His retro bowling outfit was always cause for ribbing, but he took it good-naturedly. Little did they know that prior to their arrival in Windmont, Spike would have ripped the throat out of anyone who mocked him. Now he just took it in the spirit it was intended.



"Oh yeah, I'm totally looking," Buffy announced, staring unabashedly. Spike caught her gaze just then, running his tongue slowly over his pearly whites, his smoky intense gaze boring into her own eyes. "And I think I'll be doing a whole lot more than looking after we finish bowling tonight," Buffy added carelessly, causing her friend to laugh. Spike winked at her, knowing full well the direction of Buffy's thoughts, handing her the coke that had been requested.



League night had begun.



By the fifth frame, the other five couples were watching what they had long since coined the Spike and Buffy show , as the two blondes tried to out bowl each other. Both exhibited such smooth grace and dead-on precision, sending the ball hurtling down the lane, almost always destroying all the pins sitting in its path. They were a sight to behold.



All the women, married or not, couldn't help but watch Spike, each deciding long ago that he possessed that animal magnetism they had only read about in books.



There was little doubt that Spike was popular among their group. All the men liked his outspoken, sarcastic British views and considered him a lucky bastard for being independently wealthy like he apparently was, and for being married to a girl like Buffy. There was a dangerous edge to him, something that had made them pause for just a moment when they had first met him, but now it didn't even register anymore. The women of the group liked Spike's gentle teasing and appreciated the sex appeal that just seemed to ooze from him. It was the general consensus that Spike and Buffy were perfectly suited, and nobody doubted their affection for each other. Theirs was a close knit group, aware of the aspects of the others lives. And while the deception sometimes weighed heavily on Buffy, she valued being treated like a normal person for once, far too much to tell her friends the truth.



Sometimes she wondered just what her new friends would think if they knew just what exactly Spike was. And what she had been in her former life. This town was so far off the radar of the demon populace that it had taken Buffy a few seconds to react when she had been confronted with the one and only vampire she had seen in the entire six months that they had lived there. Luckily, she had been by herself, and had dispatched it with little difficulty.



No, the supernatural and Windmont were unmixy things, and that suited Buffy perfectly. Spike, her new friends, bowling, and her job were more than enough for her.





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