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A/N Sorry about the lack of updates. It’s been a crazy week- my little boy turned 2 on Easter Sunday and that’s just barely scratching the surface of the craziness :-) but I think I’m getting back on track. Thanks so much for all the reviews!




Chapter 9 - Splintering


Buffy breathed a sigh of relief when Spike’s lips met hers in a tender kiss. Letting her hands trail along his arms and slowly reach up to play with the soft hair at the nape of his neck.

Pulling away breathlessly, she pressed her forehead to his, snuggling closer to him and inadvertently squirming around as she sat on his lap, unknowingly causing a reaction in Spike as he shut his eyes and suppressed a groan of desire.

It had been two weeks since he’d last been able to see her, to hold her, and Spike thought he would go crazy wondering if she was alright. He talked regularly with Willow, who assured him that nothing had happened between Buffy and Parker lately, but Spike wanted nothing more than to be close to her and see for himself that she was okay.

Sitting in the library in a comfortable silence, he let his hands run up and down her arms, smiling at the content sigh that escaped her lips.

“I’ve missed you,” he murmured into her hair, leaving a tender kiss on the top of her head.

“Missed you, too,” she said, trying to ignore the conflicting emotions that were building up inside of her.

The fear of leaving Spike’s comforting embrace to return to the hell that was her life. The guilt that pained her when she realized that she was essentially being unfaithful to a man she cared about, every time her ‘boyfriend’ decided to spend time with her. And the sadness that welled up inside of her, knowing that her time with him was almost finished.

“What are you thinking about, luv?” Spike asked, trying to soothe the sudden tension in her back.

“Nothing important,” she said with a slight shrug of her shoulders, keeping her face carefully hidden from his probing eyes.

“You’re scared,” he whispered, holding her close to him and leaving soft kisses on top of her head.

“I’m more scared for you,” she said softly, biting her lip as he gently pushed her back to look at her.

“Don’t be,” he said, brushing the hair off her shoulders before cupping her face in his hands. “I don’t want you worrying about anything you don’t have to worry about.”

“Can’t help it,” she murmured, leaning forward and capturing his lips in a tender kiss before pulling away with tears in her eyes. “What if he finds out about us?”

“Buffy-”

“He’ll kill you, Spike,” she whispered with fear coating her voice. “And who knows what he would do to me.”

“He won’t find out. I can take care of myself, and he definitely won’t do anything to you.”

“Spike-”

“Do you trust me?” he asked, seeing her eyes widen in response.

“You know I do.”

"Then trust me."

Biting her lip as she contemplated what he was saying, Buffy slowly raised her eyes to his. “What do you want to do?”

* * * * *

Staring into his beer bottle as he sat at the small table in the bar, Spike seemed to be off in his own little world.

“Boy am I glad I decided to spend some time with my friend tonight,” Angel said, taking a long swallow of his own beer before leveling his eyes on the blonde. “I could be curled up in bed with my girlfriend right now, but no…she’s probably calmly waiting for me, and I choose to hang out with the one person in this town who wants to be alone tonight.”

Waiting for a reply, Angel finally sighed, picked up a handful of peanuts and threw them across the table, hitting Spike directly in the face and chest.

“Oi!” he yelled, immediately standing up and shaking off his duster. “What was that for, you git?”

“Got your attention, didn’t it?” Angel replied, sipping his beer and glancing around the bar as Spike sat down again. “You gonna tell me what’s with the long face, or do we have to sit here and play Twenty Questions?”

Seeing that Spike was zoned out again, Angel shook his head.

“Twenty Questions it is. Is it…bigger than a breadbox? No? Smaller than a breadbox? Ah hah! I got it. It’s a breadbox.”

Finally seeing Spike’s eyes raise to his, Angel offered him a smart-aleck smirk as the blonde glared at him.

“What are you on about?”

“Look,” Angel said, dropping the attitude and watching his friend. “I know what you’re thinking and you can’t do anything, Spike.”

“I have to get her away from him, Angel,” he said softly, shaking his head as he stared at the empty beer bottle in front of him.

“We’ll figure out something.”

“It’s getting worse,” Spike said with a sigh. “She’s trying to close herself off from me. She thinks she’s protecting me from him and…”

With a heavy sigh, Spike looked up at the clock before pushing his bottle away and standing up. “I’m meeting her in an hour. Still have some time to kill- another beer, mate?” he asked with a dejected expression, waiting until Angel shook his head before walking toward the bar.

Angel watched as his friend spoke briefly to the bartender, brushing off the advances of more than one woman. He sat back, marveling at the changes in the other man since the little blonde girl had come into his life. Spike was never someone to let his bed get cold on a regular basis, but ever since Buffy had entered the picture, Spike hadn’t so much as looked at another girl. It proved to Angel just how much his friend truly cared for the young woman. A woman that he and all of his friends had become increasingly protective over. If she was important to Spike, she was important to them.

And Angel knew that Spike would go to any lengths to protect the ones he loved.

* * * * *

Pacing through her room, Buffy wished Spike would hurry up and come over. He wasn’t supposed to be there for another hour, but Parker was at a party with the rest of the fraternity and she was eager to spend more time with Spike. She was grateful that Parker didn’t want her there with him that night.

‘Probably wants the free time to pick up some willing freshman girl,’ she thought.

The thought itself didn’t bother her. She didn’t love Parker- he could cheat on her as often as he wanted, but what would happen to those poor girls if Buffy could ever get away from him? Who would be his next victim?

It terrified her to think that the vicious cycle could start all over again.

“Don’t think about that, Buffy,” she muttered to herself. “Tonight is about you and Spike. He’ll figure out some way to get you away from him…you trust him.”

Running her hands through her hair as she tried to convince herself that it was safe to trust him, she squeezed her eyes shut.

It was getting worse.

She could feel herself slipping away from Spike. She didn’t want to, but she was.

“That can change tonight,” she whispered to herself with a nervous tremor in her voice.

Hearing the knock on the door, Buffy let a bright smile come over her face as she ran for it. “I was starting to get impatient…”

Trailing off as her smile faded, she felt a tremor of fear go through her when her stomach dropped.

“Parker,” she whispered, taking a nervous step away from the door as she looked into his cold eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“What’s the matter?” he asked in a voice that Buffy was all too familiar with. “Not happy to see me? Or were you expecting someone else?”






Thanks so much to: Amanda, spuffette, Spikes Sweety, TammyAsh666, Seraiza, kayla, Isabel, Amanda, Alicia, Brunettepet, Maddie Mae, Crystal Pegasus, melissa, Shady, Jenn, willowmouse, Laine, Sevvy_O, BuffyRat, gypsy_jin, beverly, lindsay, Caitie, Tango, phantomwriter, pj, and Reciprocity for reviewing!





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