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He could sense the change in her, the yielding of her muscles as her tough as nails exterior collapsed around her. It had happened without warning, surprising them both. For him it was like catching a snowflake in his palms during the middle of hottest summer. No two snowflakes were the same, each one that fell to earth was intricately craved by the clouds sheltering them, defining them as something different upon closer reflection. She may look like the other women of this world but she was truly an original. Which now that he thought about it, for her that meant she was also alone in a way that no other being would understand. There would always be other humans, other vampires and demons but there would only be one daughter of a Fallen One. She didn’t belong because she was never meant to be of this world. All of the attempts on her life were the fates way of righting the world once again, but she refused to dissipate. She would not vanish by dispersion like ashes upon the wind and to remain unconquered. To do so she had to enclose her true nature behind a shield of unyielding steel.

Now, that defense had fallen and she was exposed and vulnerable. He wasn’t willing to believe that even in this state of emotional emergence that she was without defenses. His girl was to strong to ever surrender entirely. So even if he said the wrong thing or took the wrong course here and now he knew she wouldn’t shatter like glass beneath the rush of a hammer. But since you couldn’t fix something that wasn’t broken what she would do was a thousand times worse. She would cocoon herself away in her metal prison never to let this aspect of her nature free again. He wanted all of her, every part between the warrior and the innocent woman and he refused to lose a piece now. A million words crowded his mind wishing to slide between his lips but he went with what his heart was telling him. “What are you thinking luv?”

Slowly, she raised her face up to his. “Where do we go from here?”

“Time has a way of pushing you to move on before you’re ready. You look down at the clock expecting to see hours remaining yet there are only seconds left as time slowly winds it’s way down to the end. Mortals speed through life hoping to experience everything but they lose the simple pleasure of experiencing a single thing in it’s entirety. It’s like flipping to the next song before the first is finished just to see what’s coming next and our song if far from over yet. Don’t turn away, don’t hide or close your eyes just be still…here with me now. We will catch up with the ticking clock soon enough but for now, let’s just savor the way we are at this moment.” He stroked his hands down her face, soothing away the unspoken fears of the future that waited for them.

“I don’t know if I can. I want to just let go and invest myself in you, devote myself to us. But us, always ends up being me. I am good at being alone, being me instead of we. Then you come out of nowhere and before I knew it had happened I was drowning in you. You make me feel things I never expected, want things I have never wanted. It scares me. In our lives there is a real possibility that one of us could die in the very near future. More than likely it will be me that goes first but if it is you, I have to have something to hold onto when that happens.”

“Hold onto me luv,” he lifted her hands up and placed them on his shoulders. “Never let go and I swear that you will never be alone. Death can’t steal away what we have and even if it’s just the memories that remain, something of me will always be with you.”

Willing to take the chance, to trust in him, she gripped him tightly. Meeting his eyes, she traced her thumbs across his collar bone and sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. She saw the desire color his eyes a deep smoky blue and slid up his thighs positioning herself just above his throbbing erection. She writhed against him, through the thick fabric of their jeans, stoking the moist heat gathering between her legs.

Growling low in his throat his fisted his hand in her hair and pulled her close for a bruising kiss. He had barely began to explore the delights of her mouth, when they heard the door bell chime. He was more than willing to ignore the unwanted interruption but since she was already pulling away, he could tell she wasn’t. He trailed his hands down to her ass, hoping to sway her priories but she was proving to be a hard woman to convince.

“Sorry baby, but it could be important. We can pick this up later.” She disentangled his hands, which seemed like he had sprouted a few more judging by how many times she had freed herself only to find another hand somewhere else on her body. To solve the problem she took both of his hands in hers and finally managed to make her way back to her feet. Which sounded good in theory but sucked when it was applied to the reality of the moment. Doorbells should never come before a sexy vampire with a mouth as skilled as his. For a second…okay a few seconds, she nearly crawled back into his lap but like she had said, it could be important.

Resigned but not very happy about it, she made her way to the front door. She flipped the intercom to on, “Yes?”

“Charles Gunn, looking for my so called partner. He’s an annoying bleached blonde who goes by the name of Spike. Is he around by any chance?”

Buffy opened the door and gave the attractive black man waiting there a considering look. He was impeccably dressed in a sleek tailored suit, with a steel gray shirt underneath and his oxfords were as shiny as his gleaming head. “You know I was beginning to wonder about you two.”

“Don’t even go there baby,” Gunn said leering at her appreciatively. “Talk like that makes a man want to prove himself and something tells me that my business partner wouldn’t appreciate me stealing his girl.”

“You got that right mate.” Spike said walking over to the door. “Kiss my girl and I’ll break your pretty face.”

“Did I interrupt something, because your looking a little tense, while your girl here looks as calm as a kitten. Is the honeymoon over already?” Gunn shot back.

“I have a name and believe it or not I can hear you. If this is how you two treat all your clients, you should just close up shop.” Buffy said stepping back to let Gunn inside.

Spike wrapped one arm around Gunn’s shoulders and the other around hers. “Your not a client luv, your family. So the standard client relationship rules don‘t apply.”

She caught Gunn blanche out of the corner of her eye and since he was obviously Spike’s friend she wanted to be his friend as well. “Don’t worry Charles, you don’t have to return my money.”

“I grew up poor, so I appreciate money and all the things it can buy but Spike’s right, you’re not just a client.” When Spike jaw fell open, Gunn had to grin. “So I’ll take ten percent off and give you the family rate.”

“Keep your ten percent and keep the annoying guy talk behind closed doors where it belongs.” Buffy countered.

“Deal.” Gunn said before Spike could complain. He liked her all ready. He had known she was hot from the photos Har’tuh had provided but he hadn’t expected her to be so personable. Most girls that looked like her, were either sluts or bitches and even though that was a broad generalization it had always been true in his case. Atleast until he had met Lita and now it seemed like Spike had lucked out as well. “I got some information on your attacker. Words out that a powerful demon is after you and he was hoping to make a name for himself by taking you out. He was small time, hoping to go big and you seemed like the easiest route.”

“Bet he’s rethinking that about now.” Spike said walking over to sit on one of the sofas. He was completely at home at her place and it was sure as hell, a lot more posh than his flat. Despite the fact his sister was an artist, his place was sparsely decorated and completely devoid of the little feminine touches that Buffy sprinkled liberally through her own home. “But we already guessed as much already.”

Knowing that Gunn needed to be briefed on the situation but she really didn’t want to go through it all again. Since she was sure Spike would understand, she decided to leave it up to him. “I’ve got a load of work I need to take care of since I’m out of the Styx until this is over. So why don’t you two catch up while I get to it.”

Both men watched her leave and Gunn shot Spike a look. “Was it something I said?”

“Nah, she’s had a rough morning.” He reached over to where he had left his smokes on the coffee table. Thumbing one out, he pulled it to his mouth and after he lit it, he told Gunn what they had learned this morning. He left out some of the more indelicate details, not because he thought they would cast Buffy in a bad light but because he knew she was still sensitive about the entire subject in general.

“I’ve know the Giles’s, they do good work. Their the ones we called in to testify in that wrongful execution suit brought against us by the worshippers of Moloch.”

“That crazy demon who tried to take over the virtuanet?”

“That was the one. He killed five people by mystical malfeasance and we still landed in court after we had Wes perform the exorcism. One of the victims was only fifteen and his parents asked us to take the case.” Gunn hadn’t called Spike in because it wasn’t in his area of expertise, so he gave him a brief recap. “We uncovered the other victims more than satisfying the burden of evidence needed to obtain the order of execution but when it hit the news we still had to explain our actions in court. Rupert testified to the scope of Moloch’s powers while Jenny who is a Technopagan, explained how far spread his reach had become.”

“It’s a sad state of affairs when it’s easier to kill humans than demons these days. You should have heard the cop lecturing Buffy about taking down the demon in her club. She was the one who was shot and he was more concerned about the unconscious demon on the floor.” Spike said stubbing his smoke out in the, delicate glass dish with fluted edges that Buffy called an ashtray.

“You’re preachin to the choir here but then again lawyers have always been the scum of the earth. So I guess that puts me closer to the gray area of the judicial system as it relates to homicide.” Gunn settled back in his seat and gave Spike a shrew look. “But enough about that, lets get down to what’s really important. What’s it gonna take to talk your girl into let me take her bike out for a ride?”





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