Spoilers: All of the Buffy series.
Dedicated: To the BLO girls (Candice, Jo, Ali, Trina, Crystal, and Lainey) and Andrew (spikyboy) – thanks for all the support and encouragement guys! You’ve been my biggest fans and some of the best friends I’ve been lucky enough to find. I love you all!
It was nearly noon by the time their food was served. Buffy devoured her plate of Belgium waffles with large hungry eyes, a thin line of syrup dripping from the corner of her mouth. Without a word, Spike reached across the small Formica-topped table and whipped it away with his thumb. She glanced up at him sheepishly flashing a wide grin, lips pressed tightly together mid-chew.
He stared at her, eyebrows raised; a strange amused look playing over his face. "You've always had a healthy appetite, luv, but I promise you no one is going to be stealing your food."
She choked down the remainder of food stuffed in her mouth and raised her napkin to her lips. She couldn't look him in the eyes, suddenly embarrassed, but she offered a weak smile. He had a point. She had been scarfing down her meal like the waitress was going to come back any moment and pull the plate away. Usually she was only this hungry after a good fight, but then again she’d been busy with a lot of other physical activities lately. The thought made heat rise up the sides of her face and she smiled against her napkin. Finally she lifted her eyes to his.
"Guess you really have been giving me a work out," she offered, the corners of her lips trembling with the promise of laughter.
Spike just shook his head with a smile and turned his attention back to his own plate, stabbing his fork into the stack of chocolate chip pancakes cooling before him. Buffy watched him eat as she took a long drink from her cup of coffee. She loved watching him eat. He ate so slowly, carefully, rolling each bite around in his mouth savoring it. But then again who wouldn't be after a century of nothing but blood. Sunlight and food were just two of the new perks that Spike's renewed humanity had earned him and he still approached both with an tentative innocence, as if he was still afraid both would vanish the moment he took them for granted.
"What?" he blinked at her as he swallowed the last bite of pancake. She realized then that she had been staring at him.
"Oh it's nothing," she smiled softly at him before glancing back down at her plate. Lifting her fork she began to polish off the rest of her own meal.
They finished off their meal in a contented silence before joining the rest of humanity flittering back and forth through the crisp autumn air. They walked quietly along the waterfront for awhile, fingers entwined, watching the sunlight dance across the waves of the San Francisco Bay. It had only seemed appropriate to them both that they share their honeymoon and start their life in San Francisco. After all, it was along the shores of the bay that they had been reunited at last. That exact thought passed through Buffy’s mind as she glanced up at Spike, a pair of dark sunglasses hiding his blue eyes from her, a broad smile planted firmly on his lips. A moment of deep happiness washed over her and she paused, rising up on tiptoes to give him a soft kiss on the lips.
“Not that I’m complaining, luv, but what was that for?” his arms held her waist close to him, the sunglasses slipping down the bridge of his nose just enough so she could see the brilliant blue of his eyes; the same swirling blue as the water behind him.
“Does there always have to be a reason?” she raised an eyebrow coyly.
“No, no I suppose not,” he smiled, leaning down and kissing her deeply. She let out a small yelp against his lips as he leaned backwards, lifting her up off the ground.
“Ok, ok put me down already,” she laughed, trying to break away from his lips, playfully pounding his shoulders with her fists.
With a laugh he dropped her to her feet. “You know most women like that sort of thing.”
“Really? And where pray-tell oh Dali Llama of Femininity did you pick up that little tidbit of knowledge?” She grinned up at him, her arms crossed over her chest, her body language daring him to try and prove her wrong.
“Cosmo,” he grinned down at her victorious.
“Oh please,” she huffed, turning on her heels and marching a few paces ahead of him. But try as she might she couldn’t hide the smile smeared across her face. “I think, dear William, you need some male friends and fast!”
He let out a soft laugh so close to her she jumped. She hadn’t realized he had caught up behind her. “To be honest, luv, I’m enjoying the present company too much to consider sharing.” He kissed her lightly on the top of the head before slipping his left arm around her waist. She leaned into his shoulder and smiled as they continued to walk lazily along the pier.
The rest of the day passed too quickly for Buffy’s taste. After strolling along the waterfront they had done some window shopping and site seeing. They may have spent nearly a month in San Francisco but they hadn’t seen much of the city. With the sun setting they had enjoyed a nice romantic dinner at one of the numerous restaurants along the water, savoring delicious seafood to the melody of violins; followed by dessert at the Ghirardelli’s Chocolate Factory ice cream shop. It was nearly midnight by the time they headed back towards their hotel through a small park.
“Enjoy your evening out, pet?” Spike glanced down at her as they moved in out of the shadows along the tree lined street. The moon was full, a brilliant white light in the thick velvet of night sky.
“Very much so,” she smiled back at him, her eyes glowing softly in the moonlight. She gave his hand that she was holding a gentle squeeze. “We need to do this more often. I like seeing you out among other people in the daylight. The sunlight really suites you well.”
He stiffened slightly at her words, his eyes staring off into the darkness before them.
“Spike?”
“It’s nothing,” he shook his head, “Just this bloody mind of mine. Can’t help but feel this is all just some spell or nightmare, a wonderful nightmare mind you that I hope never ends, but one just the same. Still waiting for the part where the pain and the fighting start and everything falls apart around me.”
They had stopped walking and she stood before him holding his hands at his sides. He stared off to his left, watching the shadow of a nearby branch shift back and forth in the breeze that had started to blow. Reaching up she turned his face back down to her own.
“You don’t have to be afraid,” she whispered up at him.
“I know,” he sighed, “It’s just…I just can’t help it, Buffy.”
“I know,” she breathed, her hand cupping the side of his face, her thumb gently rubbing along his right cheekbone. “But believe me this is real.” She took his other hand in hers and pressed it first against her heart and then against his own. “Your heart is real and what we have is real. You just have to let yourself believe in it. Believe in us.”
“I do,” he whispered, his head leaning down towards hers. “More than anything I believe in you.” His lips captured hers before she could correct his ‘you’ to an ‘us’ but she didn’t protest. She released his hand, wrapping her arms around his neck, his arms wrapping tightly around her waist. Their kiss deepened and she could feel his heart beginning to race, reflecting the pace of her own heart.
Suddenly she sensed it. Like a prickle of electricity she realized what was happening a the very last second and with a burst of adrenaline, she dove forward, pushing Spike and her body on top of him to the ground. They hit the ground hard, rolling slightly to the left, the soft whirl of a bullet flying high above them right where they had been standing. Instinctively they both rolled to their knees, bodies tense, and eyes searching the shadows around them.
“Buffy…” Spike’s voice was soft but even.
“I don’t know,” she replied, her senses straining.
She had barely even sensed the bullet before it had been on top of them. Their little make-out session had nearly cost one or both of them their lives. Spike could definitely be categorized as a dangerous distraction, or rather Spike’s lips could or his body or… “Shit” she swore silently to herself. Here they were under attack and her mind was still all clouded with warm and dizzying lusty thoughts of Spike. She shook her head as if to shake the thoughts out through her ears. She needed to get her mind clear, open.
But before she could even attempt to focus, eight long-haired biker-clad vampires raced yelling out of the trees. Without so much as a thought, the two met the oncoming vampires halfway. Buffy slammed into the first vampire with a roundhouse kick to the jaw, sending him spiraling backwards and into another vamp behind him. Two more attacked from her left and right, but she deftly avoided the punch from the tall black vampire to her left and used his own momentum to send him careening into the blond-haired David Lee Roth wannabee vampire to her right. The dark-haired vamp she had initially dealt with raced at her in a football stance preparing to take her out at the knees but instead her sneakers met his jaw yet again and he went flying back through the trees.
She pushed herself up to her feet quickly, pulling out the stake that had been sheathed in a thong tied along the inside leg of her jeans. Without turning she stabbed backwards and up, dusting the blond-haired vamp mid-leap, showering herself in a fine rain of dust. Two more vampires hit her from the right, rolling her head over feet and tearing the stake from her grasp. Her body slammed against the slender trunk of a tree and for a moment she wasn’t sure which side was up.
The foul breath of dark the haired vampire snapped her from her daze and her eyes focused on his scarred face only inches from her own. His nose was broken and blood ran freely down his face. He sneered a mouthful of yellow broken teeth, spraying her face with a mist of blood as he exhaled.
“Now you die Slayer,” he hissed, his voice thick with some accent too foreign and broken for her to place.
“No, I don’t think so,” she glared back, slamming her forehead forward into his broken nose.
He slid off her with a howl, his face completely covered in blood. She dove over the top of him, hitting the ground with her shoulder and rolling across the grass. She pushed herself up into a crouch, stake back in hand.
“What are you waiting for, hurt her!” the dark-haired vampire cried, his hands clutching the bloody mess that was his face. “Hurt her a lot!”
The other two vampires glanced from the bleeding vampire and then back to Buffy, hesitating, weighing their options as too who could cause them the most pain in the end.
“Now!” the vampire roared again, and the two other vamps charged forward. They grabbed and swung and roared but in a matter of minutes they were nothing more than a pile of dust on the ground.
“Just you and me now, Rudolph.”
He roared and launched himself forward, bloody and all. She took his weight full force, using his momentum to push him up and over her head, landing him square on his back. She swung her leg around and had him pinned beneath her in no time. The vampire lay beneath her wheezing and laughing, spraying blood everywhere.
“And what is so funny?” She held the stake steadily above his heart.
“Just that I may die but I get to watch you watch your lover over there die too,” he laughed again, his laughter fading into a deep bloody cough. “I cause you pain either way.”
Buffy jerked her head up from the vampire, her eyes scanning desperately for Spike. He was a few yards away from her having a nasty time with four other vampires. Two had his arms pinned, his back against the tree, while the other two took turns playing the scales on his kidneys.
“Spike,” she whispered, for the first time fear seeping into her voice. The vampire beneath her laughed again. “Will you die already,” she growled, slamming the stake home and watching him dust away beneath her.
Seconds later she was on her feet and racing towards Spike. She crashed into the side of one of the vampires hitting Spike, taking him to the ground with her on top. The vampire tried to throw her over his head but only got her partially up in the air before he dusted away, her stake stuck into the earth. She pushed off of the stake, flipping over her head and landed ready for the next attack. The vampires holding Spike had released him and with a growl and they rushed at her. She punched the first one several times in the face before getting hit herself, her body flying a few feet backwards. She got back to her feet to the sounds of fighting. Turning she was relieved to see Spike swinging away, holding his own against two vampires. But where was the other one?
Suddenly strong arms grabbed her from behind, and she felt herself being lifted off the ground. A thick Spanish accent hissed in her ear, “Squirm all you want, Slayer. Te quiero amor mio.” He laughed softly, his tongue flicking up and down the side of her neck as he squeezed tighter.
“Are you seriously getting off on this!” she cried, kicking her feet forward, desperately trying to find some footing to help give her lift.
“I hear Slayer blood is the greatest aphrodisiac out there,” his voice was low and husky now, his tongue still sliding along her neck.
“Ok that’s it!” With a deep growl of her own, Buffy slammed her head backwards into the vampire’s head causing him to stagger backwards. Momentarily stunned, he swung her wide in his arms bringing her close enough to the trunk of a tree for her to get her feet up against it. With one push, she flipped herself over his head, breaking his hold on her and regaining her footing. “Now let’s dance.”
The Hispanic vamp growled, baring his teeth white in the moonlight. He raced towards her with incredible speed but she was one step ahead of him, as her fingers wrapped around a branch by her foot. Slamming her right sneaker down on the branch while pulling up on the other end at the same time, she broke off a jagged sliver, and flung it forward right at the charging vamp. He dusted before he knew what hit him, the breeze catching up the falling cloud of dust and sending grains spinning across the park.
She rose slowly to her feet, panting, her hand wiping at the drying saliva still wet on her neck. Picking up the branch she’d used to kill the Spanish vamp she turned just in time to see Spike take down the last two vamps with duel strikes. Slowly she made her way over to his side.
He had slumped down to the ground, his back resting against a nearby tree, his eyes closed, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His face was bloody. A nasty looking bruise had started to form just beneath his right eye, and there was long thin cut across his left cheek bone. His lower lip was split, and blood dripped down his chin, but he was alive and from what she could tell his injuries weren’t that bad.
She dropped to her knees and crawled towards him, stopping close enough to touch him but refrained from doing so. “Spike,” she whispered, her fingers longing to touch his face, to check his injuries. “Spike, are you alright?”
He tilted his head towards her, his eyes opening lazily, taking in her face, her unblemished face. He nodded slightly, closing his eyes and resting his head back against the tree. “I’m fine.” He felt her fingers ghosting over his face and he opened one eye. “I’m fine, Buffy,” he repeated, this time his voice hostile, angry. He pushed himself up wincing with the help of the tree. She reached out to him to help but he pulled back. “I just told you I’m fine, so stop acting like I’m going to bloody well break!”
She froze, her heart pounding in her chest. Spike had yelled at her before, hell they used to beat the crap out of each other on a regular basis but that had been before, before his soul, before his rebirth, before they had been married. She felt emotion starting to strangle to her throat and swallowed hard, pushing them back down. What was wrong with her? She never got this emotional over something as small as being snapped at before. Silently she chided herself as she picked up her other stake and followed Spike’s limping form back to the hotel.