59. Out of Time
Buffy glared suspiciously at the
closed door
through which her mother and sister had just disappeared, before
turning her sullen gaze on her mate, who was just closing the curtains,
after having watched from the window to be sure that Joyce and Dawn got
into the second room safely.
After all, one couldn't be too careful.
When he turned to see the look of anger and hostility that she was
sending his way, he flashed her a mocking smile, flopping down casually
in a chair beside the bed across the room from the one she was lying
on. Fully aware that his careless, dismissive attitude with her would
surely enrage her, he commented flippantly.
"Oh, don't worry, pet. I'm sure they'll be back whenever they get bored
with talking about you." He glanced slyly up at her to gauge her
reaction as he finished his words.
He barely had time to register the flash of anger in her eyes of jade
before she was across the room, her hand fisted viciously in his hair,
one knee resting on the chair, pressed between his legs in a way that
elicited a frightened gasp from his lips.
Before he could release the startled cry that rose in his throat, her
other hand was pressed firmly over his mouth forcing his head back as
she leaned in closer, a malicious smile on her face as she whispered,
"You know what I think, Sweetheart? I think you're very stupid."
He winced as she pressed her knee in harder against his groin, but made
no attempt to fight her off. In fact, he was remarkably calm,
considering his position – a condition that the power-hungry Slayer
demon found intolerably annoying, and planned to quickly remedy.
Spike's eyes widened in pain and shock as she drove her knee sharply
inward, yanking his head in closer to her to hiss in his ear in a tone
of mock apology and concern, "Oh, I'm sorry – you were planning on
using that later, weren't you?"
She met his eyes with a chilling look of angry, accusation and triumph,
reminding him that she knew about their plan, and was *not* pleased
about it – and apparently had some rather alarming ideas of ways to
keep it from happening. She hadn't done any *real* damage yet – but he
had the feeling that she meant to change that very quickly.
"On second thought," she whispered with a cold smile. "Kinda *not*
sorry..."
*By the time I get through with you,* she continued, her voice in his
head all the more oppressive and intimidating for its unsettling
intimacy. *you won't be claiming anybody, you presumptuous little fool!
Did you really think that you could...*
The thought was cut off abruptly when, as before, Dawn's small, firm
hand closed on the Slayer's arm. The older girl immediately stood up
and turned around, but she had been so thoroughly focused on her
assault on her mate that she had not even noticed the return of Joyce
and Dawn to the room, and it took her a moment to recover enough to
even attempt to pull away from the younger girl's grip.
And by then, it was too late.
The moment that Dawn's hand came into contact with her sister's arm,
Buffy began fighting, struggling her way back to the surface of her
consciousness. And as she was beginning to learn how better to fight
the thing that was trying to gain mastery of her body, it was only a
minute or two before Buffy was back in control.
She started to pull out of Dawn's grip, but to her surprise, her sister
just held on tighter.
"No, Buffy – not yet," she instructed firmly, frowning in concentration
as she focused on pushing the demon back as far as possible.
Buffy was a bit confused, but complied with her sister's words,
focusing on the struggle that she would have abandoned as complete,
until she could no longer feel even the slightest trace of the demon's
power within her. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought
that it was gone completely.
Of course – she *did* know better.
"That was weird," she remarked, a dark look of worry in her eyes. "She
like – snuck up on me. Gradually. It wasn't like she just all at once
took over. It was – sort of – little by little..."
"We noticed," Spike replied dryly, his voice coming out a bit hoarse
with the pain she had caused him. The shift in Buffy's attitude from
the moment she had gotten back into the car had made it clear that she
was no longer completely in the driver's seat, even before the demon
took over more thoroughly.
Buffy frowned, concerned when she remembered what she had just done,
but Dawn quickly drew her attention away from Spike for the moment.
"Don't worry," she reassured her. "We'll go ahead and get this thing
beat, and then you won't have to worry about what nasty tricks she's
picking up."
"So – how do you feel, Buffy?" Joyce asked cautiously, her concerned
gaze searching her daughter's expression intently.
Dawn had quickly filled her in on the plan she and Spike had discussed
while they were in the other room. And, while she did have her doubts
as to the wisdom of the first step, it seemed to have gone off without
too much trouble.
Now if only it had worked...
Buffy considered for a moment, still a bit disoriented from the whole
incident. Her answer was slow and careful when she gave it. "Better.
Stronger. Like – like we just knocked her unconscious or something."
Dawn and Spike exchanged a look of excited satisfaction – and just the
fact that Buffy felt no stirring of anger, as she usually did, at the
evidence of their closeness, was a good sign that she was fully in
control, at least for the moment.
"So – what exactly did we just do again?" she asked, hesitant.
Things were still far from clear to her.
"Well, it's like this, love," Spike said, standing up from the chair
with a little wince at his more sensitive bits being rather – well,
sensitive. "When Dawn said what she did about the thing conserving its
strength – and you said how it seems to be weakened after fighting us
and not able to put up much of a fuss for a while – I thought...maybe
that's our solution to how to perform the claim..."
Dawn broke in then, too excited to let him tell the whole story. "So we
tricked her! We made her angry on purpose and made her come out,
instead of just hiding away getting stronger! And then me and you
managed to fight her back – that's why I said to keep on fighting,
because we want her as weak as possible so you guys have as long as you
need to – get it on like Donkey Kong."
"Dawnie!" Joyce gasped, eyes wide and startled as she looked at her
youngest daughter.
Dawn looked genuinely confused. "What?" she asked. "Please, Mom, I'm in
high school! Would you rather I said..."
"*No*, she wouldn't," Buffy hurriedly cut her little sister off. "No
time for conversation, anyway, if I understand the situation
correctly." She looked at her mate as she went on in a serious, no
nonsense sort of tone, "She's not even putting up a fight at all, and
she would be if she could, since she's obviously violently against the
idea of the claim. She's as weak as she'll ever be. Let's do this now."
Spike nodded grimly, finally feeling able to stand from the chair where
he was sitting. "Right then – no time to waste, yeah?" His voice held
just a hint of nervousness at the realization that the moment of
battle, so to speak, was upon them.
It was all happening so quickly.
Much *too* quickly for Joyce.
"Wait – wait a second!" she objected with alarm. "Are we sure that this
thing is really – restrained, or weakened, or whatever? What if she's
just waiting to get Spike alone again?"
They all fell silent for a moment, considering the frightening
implications of her words.
"No," Buffy said at last with certainty. "I can feel it. She's weak
right now. Now's the time to do it. Didn't you feel it, Dawn?" She
looked to her little sister to back up her assessment of the situation.
"Yep," Dawn agreed with a nod. "She fought hard but we beat her. We
shouldn't give her time to get her strength back."
"What if she gets her strength back *during* the – the claim?" Joyce
persisted, a thousand worries coursing through her mind. The whole
thing was so dangerous, so uncertain, so – permanent. Of course, she
knew that Buffy's life was full of decisions like this. She faced
dangerous, life-altering choices on a daily basis, due to her calling.
It was something that Joyce would never get used to.
They fell silent again at that question, before Buffy turned to Spike
decisively.
"When I got the cooler out of your trunk back at the mansion, I saw a
set of manacles in there. Maybe you ought to go get them."
"You keep *chains* in your *trunk*?" Dawn exclaimed, wide-eyed. Then
after a beat, "That is *so cool*!"
"Dawnie, honey," Buffy said in a sugary sweet, overly patient voice,
"not so much with the 'yay, go bondage!', okay? Mom's freaked out
enough."
"You keep chains in your trunk?" Joyce echoed Dawn's words quietly, but
in a much less amused tone.
"Hello! Vampire!" Spike objected defensively. "You never know when you
might want to tie somebody up, and a good set of chains might come in
right...I'm really not helping my case, here, am I?" he finished flatly.
Buffy shook her head, smiling at him with a sudden feeling of amused
affection. "Just – stop talking and go get the chains, Spike."
"Um – if you remember, Honey," Joyce reminded Buffy anxiously as Spike
made his way past them out to the car, "that didn't work out so well
last time. Even though you were chained up, you were able to force him
to come to you and set you free. So he could still end up hurt, whether
you're chained or not!"
"She's still to weak to put up any kind of fight," Buffy reassured her
mother. "Otherwise she'd be fighting right now. She knows what we're
planning – she just can't do anything about it at the moment." She
paused, her expression becoming sober at her next words.
"At least with the chains – if she *does* start to come back too soon –
Spike should have a little time to work with, to get to you guys and
get Dawn." She frowned, as Joyce's eyes widened in alarm at the mental
images that thought called up, adding as an afterthought,
"*After* he covers any nakedness that might be happening, of course. So
as not to scar the child."
"I'm not a child," Dawn groused, almost automatically.
"But – but Buffy..." Joyce began again anxiously.
"Mom."
Buffy gently cut her off, pressing her fingertips to her mother's lips
lightly for silence, and giving her a smile that was reassuring and
apologetic at once, as she stated matter-of-factly.
"I'm having sex with Spike. I'm becoming his eternal mate. I – I know
that's a lot to accept, but try to remember that I'm doing this to save
my family, the Slayer line, and possibly the world. Okay?"
Joyce sighed, looking away for a moment, before meeting Buffy's eyes in
a rueful smile of reluctant acceptance. "Okay, Buffy. It's – it's hard
to think of my – my little girl..." Her words broke off, and she shook
her head in dismissal of her own worries. "...but you're doing what you
have to do, Buffy. I know you have no choice, really..."
"No choice at all," Buffy confirmed, shaking her head with a slight
smile.
"Dawn, honey, let's go ahead to the other room," Joyce said softly,
giving her daughter's arm a light, affectionate squeeze before moving
away to gather up the bags that they had brought into the room, but
thankfully not unpacked yet.
Dawn obediently picked up her bags, stopping at the door to smile
sarcastically at her sister. "Yeah," she said dryly. "you're all with
the big sacrifices, arentcha?"
Buffy grinned, caught – and unashamed. No, she had to admit. This time,
what it was going to take to fulfill her Slayer duty to the world could
have been decidedly less pleasant – a *lot* less pleasant – than
sleeping with Spike.
"Well, you know...sacred duty and all that," she shrugged with a cheeky
smirk.
Dawn just rolled her eyes and walked past her sister out onto the
walkway. She stopped, turning to face Buffy as her amused expression
became softly serious.
"Don't die," she instructed softly, a teasing light in her blue eyes –
but the affection, the genuine concern, was clear in her voice. Then
she cocked an eyebrow at the Slayer and added in a dubious tone, "And
don't kill my best friend."
"I won't – either thing – I promise," Buffy assured her, her own eyes
serious as they met her little sister's. "Dawnie, have Mom's cell out
and on where you can hear it immediately. If you hear my ring, don't
wait. Get to our room, *quick*, okay?" As she spoke, she pressed the
key card to the room she and Spike would be using into Dawn's hand.
"Okay," Dawn agreed solemnly, accepting the card – before suddenly
dropping her bags and leaning in impulsively to give Buffy a quick,
slightly awkward hug. "Iloveyou," she breathed out in a barely audible
rush, slightly embarrassed by the sentiment, as she began to pull back.
But Buffy held her there for a moment longer. "I love you, too,
Dawnie," she whispered in her ear before releasing her.
Joyce gathered the last of her things and headed toward the door,
giving Buffy a troubled, anxious look.
"Mom – it's gonna be fine. We have to do this," Buffy reminded her
mother firmly, looking her directly in the eyes. "I promise,
everything's gonna be fine."
Joyce stared at her for a long moment, fear for her little girl and
respect for the woman she had become warring within her. Finally, she
forced a brave smile and nodded decisively.
"Okay. Call me when you're – well..." she hesitated, frowning, as she
amended. "Call me if you – if you need..."
"Mom – just go."
At that point, Joyce had to acknowledge that the soft, understanding
order was a good idea. She nodded quickly, letting out a deep nervous
breath.
"Yes. Go. This is me going, now," she smiled ruefully at Buffy, as she
turned and followed her youngest daughter, who was already unlocking
the door to the room a few doors down.
Buffy watched them disappear safely into the room before closing the
door and turning to face her mate.
Spike was standing by the bed, watching her through blue eyes darkened
nearly to midnight with his unquenchable desire for her – the same
desire that was slowly engulfing her, for him.
It had been only a little more than a day – but it had been far too
long.
The fever of her longing blazing in her eyes, she gave the
uncharacteristically silent blonde vampire a slow, almost shy kind of
smile as she started toward him, as she murmured in a soft, ironically
matter-of-fact sort of voice.
"Well – I guess this is it...time to save the world."