TITLE: Life Is Her Gift AUTHOR: Heather <_AJzkitten69@aol.com_ (mailto:AJzkitten69@aol.com) > DISTRIBUTION: If you want it, just tell me where it's going, and keep my name on it. And keep in mind, it is a work in progress. RATING: PG-13-NC-17 CATEGORY: Story SUBCATEGORIES: Romance SPOILER WARNING: Up to and including Season 5 of Buffy KEYWORDS/PAIRING(S): Buffy/Spike, Xander/Anya, Willow/Tara DISCLAIMER: It's not mine. The characters belong to Joss Whedon, the WB, UPN, and Mutant Enemy. They may be wreaking havoc on all these character's lives and making us all very sad and weepy, but the characters still belong to them, not to me. Trust me, if they belonged to me, we'd have happy endings, to say the least. SUMMARY: What if Buffy hadn't died in The Gift? Instead, Dawn was never even cut, and Buffy realizes her feelings for Spike, and then things go from there. RESPONSE TO CHALLENGE: Issued by valepuiguy@yahoo.com And I apologize for the massive cross post, but the more places I send it, the more people might actually send me feedback, and I live for it, so...send it, please? Chapter Three Giles went to the liquor store, while everyone else returned to the Magic Box to wait for him and the alcohol he would be bearing. "Hey, Buffy, do I get to...you know?" Dawn asked. "No, Dawn, you do not get to drink the alcohol." "What, so I get to be the one person in the whole place who has to be totally sober? Come on, loosen up!" "Slayer, it is better if she gets drunk around you than if she gets drunk around those friends of hers. Least with all of us around we know that no one's gonna hurt her," Spike put in. Buffy just glared at him. "Yeah, Buffster. Let Dawnie have a little bit. She doesn't need to have too much. Can't do any harm, right?" Xander asked. Buffy turned her glare to him. "Yeah, this coming from the guy who thought that love spells don't do any harm, and neither does serving beer that turned me into pre-civilization Buffy, and sleeping with Faith, who, by the way, said very uncomplimentary things about the experience." Xander blanched. "What? What'd she say?" Buffy smiled. "Oh, that you were about..." she held her fingers up, very close together, "that big, and that the whole thing was, at best, mediocre." "Xander's penis is a very good size, and it provides me with much pleasure during sex. Also, he is very good at sex, and Faith is an evil whore who was probably just saying that to make herself seem cooler." Anya seemed satisfied with her defense of her fiance's (though no one else knew that yet) sexual abilities, and stopped there. Giles chose that moment to walk in with enough alcohol to supply a full bar. Everyone but Spike and Buffy rushed to get the first pick, while Spike held Buffy back a moment to ask, "Did Faith really say that?" She giggled. "Nope. Just wanted to see the look on his face if I said she did." Spike grinned. "Don't know if I've ever been more proud." They walked to the drinks that Giles had brought back, now placed on the counter, since everyone had gotten what they wanted (except for Dawn, who was drinking Sprite). Spike grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniels and Buffy, at a complete loss for what she wanted, picked out a bottle based on what the label looked like, which left her with rum. An hour later, everyone was very, very drunk (except for Dawn, who was actually glad she hadn't consumed any alcohol, because this way, she got to point and laugh at her drunk friends, and then embarrass them about it later). "Now, to give a woman an orgasm most effectively, you have to play with the clitoris quite a bit; you'd have to be gay to not know that, and Xander, you are an idiot," Giles said. He didn't realize that he was actually explaining all of this to Dawn, while Xander and Anya sloppily made out across the room. Willow and Tara, for whatever reason, could not stop laughing. Every few minutes, they suddenly felt an urgent need to pee, at the same time, of course, and disappeared to the bathroom for ten minutes or so. No one asked why. Spike was the only one who was only mildly tipsy, as opposed to full on drunk. Vampire constitution and all, plus the natural tolerance that comes from drinking a whole lot. He was also quite possibly the only one, besides Dawn, who would have any recollection of the night past Glory's defeat. And even though he wasn't drunk, he was perfectly capable of pretending he was in order to get away with things that he normally wouldn't. Like pinching Buffy's butt. She was standing a couple of feet in front of him, giggling while watching Giles, who had given up talking to Dawn, dancing the wala-wala. He had found a grass skirt behind the counter and was suddenly struck with inspiration and the need to dance. Buffy found this spectacle incredibly amusing, and everyone else had actually stopped making out for a few moments in order to watch. Spike, of course, was watching Buffy's butt. And it just looked so...luscious. He put on his best drunk act, closed the distance between them, and gave it a good, playful pinch. Buffy, startled because she had been distracted and because it wasn't a place she was normally touched, actually squeaked and blushed a color red that no one had seen on her in a rather long time. Then she turned around to face him and playfully smacked his chest, then went back to watching Giles. "Hm...Hawaii," Xander said dreamily. "All those women...on an island...their clothes soaking wet...and those thong bikinis..." Off of Anya's glare, he hastily added, "Hey, if you were wearing wet clothes and a thong, I would be on you in a second too." "No, it's fine. You go have your women in Hawaii, and I'll just replace you with a new companion." She picked up the bunny that she'd found in the basement earlier. Dawn had brought it up in an effort to freak her out while she was tipsy. "Me and my friend...Bun-Bun the Bunny will go have a meaningful relationship while you're off having sex with the thong women." Having said that, she hugged Bun-Bun the Bunny and stroked its ears, until she realized what she was doing, and it occurred to her that she was terrified of bunnies, at which point she screamed and hurled the toy across the room. Spike felt a sharp sting on his ass, and yelled his surprise. He turned to face his attacker and stood face to face with Dawn, who now had her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. "That's what you get for touching my sister's ass." Spike had to give the Nibblet credit. "Alright, Bit, I'll let you go on that one, but touch my ass again and we are going to have to have a talk." "Aw...Dawnie...taking vengeance for your sister....I'm sure you'd make a great vengeance demon," Anya giggled. "Hey, let me just summon Hallie and she'll tell you all about it." She plopped down on the floor and started drawing. "Hey, Anya, maybe that's not such a great idea," Buffy said, but before she could stop her, there was a loud POP and Halfrek was there. Naked. She glared at Anya, her hands on her hips, seemingly unaware of her lack of clothing. "Anyanka, you know better than to just summon me because you have nothing better to do." She looked down at herself and blushed deeply. "Oh, sorry, I was in the shower. Um...bye." "Wait!" Anya shouted. "There was a reason. Um, um...Xander said he wanted the girls in Hawaii more than he wanted me! Can you, like, make him think he's a monkey for ten minutes, then he can return to normal?" Halfrek seemed to consider it for a moment, then said "Only because we've known each other so long." She waved her hand and Xander instantly started making monkey sounds. He hopped over to Anya and went through her hair, sniffing at her and, it seemed, looking for lice. Halfrek smiled. "Goodbye, Anya. The stupid mortal will return to his former self in about ten minutes." Then she popped back out, presumably back to her shower. Spike watched Xander, amused. "Not that I don't like the whelp better this way, but why exactly did you want him to be a monkey, of all creatures?" "Well, he was talking about the girls in Hawaii, and they have the big palm trees with coconuts on them and there's that image of monkeys dropping coconuts on people's heads," Anya explained. Buffy watched Spike as he continued to speak to Dawn. He was so beautiful. Absolutely the most beautiful man she had ever laid eyes on, and not in a girly way. He was just...gorgeous. She couldn't help but think about how lucky she was to have him (although the thoughts came somewhat slowly due to the amount of alcohol she'd consumed). Those beautiful blue eyes, the perfect cheekbones, those lips...that body... She grabbed him away from Dawn and pushed him down onto a chair. He opened his mouth to protest, but Buffy put a finger to his lips and gave him a mischievous smile. He didn't know what she was up to, but he sat back in the chair, ready for whatever she was going to do. She stepped back about a foot and started undulating her hips and moving her arms up and down her body in ways that nearly made him salivate. 'This is so much better than that lousy strip club I went to when Dru split...I wonder what song she's dancing to.' There was no music in the Magic Box, so he assumed that she was playing something in her head and dancing to that, since there was a definite rhythm to her dance. And then she was on his lap, still undulating her hips, and his pants were suddenly much tighter than they were when the night began. As he put his arms around her waist, she tilted her head and leaned in to start nibbling on his ear, and it was all he could do not to moan aloud. He was putty in her hands, and she knew it. Finally, her lips met his and their tongues moved to explore each other's mouths. The world fell away. It was just the two of them, and the chair and... "Buffy? Uh...what are you doing?" 'Willow...' Buffy thought. The world was back. She pulled her mouth away from Spike's and looked sheepishly around the room. Everyone in it was staring at her. And Spike. Suddenly she felt very, very sober. The only thing making her mind slow to form thoughts at that point was Spike's erection, pressed against her own crotch, making her think all sorts of nasty thoughts. She couldn't get up. She didn't trust her legs to support her, and she didn't want to reveal Spike's excited state to the rest of the Scoobies, particularly Dawn. "She was...uh...just..." Spike stuttered, trying to protect their secret in case she wasn't ready for it to be known. God, why had they been so stupid as to be making out in the middle of the Magic Box? Oh, yeah, drunkenness lowered inhibitions. "I was kissing the man I love," Buffy said. "The man you...oh no, no, I've had this nightmare before. Willow!" Xander almost yelled. "Hey, don't blame me! I didn't do this!" Willow replied. "Buffy, are you out of your mind? He's a vampire! An evil vampire! Do these words mean nothing to you? He'd kill us all in a second if he didn't have that chip!" "You ponce, if I really wanted you dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation. You'd have been dead long ago," Spike put in. "Xander, listen to me. I love Spike. I love him. I have loved him for quite a while now. You know why this didn't happen months ago? Partly because I was too afraid of my own feelings, too afraid to love another vampire, but mostly because I was too afraid of your reactions. I didn't think I would be able to handle exactly what's going on right now. But, you know what? Think about it. I love him, and nothing is going to change that. It's not like I woke up one morning and thought, 'Gee, I think I'll go and fall in love with Spike today and see what everybody thinks of that.' It wasn't a conscious choice, so it's not gonna change. Nothing you can say is going to stop me from loving him. And on top of all that, I am the Slayer. I think I may actually already be past my life expectancy. If I'm not, I'll probably pass it soon. I don't know how long I'm gonna live, and you know that's true. I don't want to live any more of my life being miserable. I want to be happy, and Spike makes me happy. Now, what exactly is your problem?" Xander was at a loss for words. How was he supposed to argue with that? Just as he opened his mouth to say...something, though he wasn't sure what, Buffy continued. "And about him being evil and all that...if he were really evil, why would he have been helping us this whole time? He didn't have to. Why would he have kept Dawn's identity a secret when Glory was torturing him for hours on end? Do you guys have any idea what kind of determination and willpower it would take to withstand the torture of an insane hellgod, especially when you know that all you have to do is say one word and it would all stop? No, Spike is a lot of things, but evil and out for our blood, he is not. Soul or not, he's not evil." Buffy took another moment to look around the room at her friends, all of whom seemed as sober as she felt, even though they'd all consumed enough alcohol to stock a full bar. Her speech might have had even more of an effect if she'd actually been standing up, but she'd remained straddling Spike through her entire tirade. Her neck was starting to hurt from turning to face Xander. "Now do you get it?" She directed the question not at Xander, but at everyone. "I love him. It's that simple." She kissed him again, just for emphasis. Spike, for his part, was speechless. He was still having a hard time convincing himself that the love his Slayer felt for him wasn't merely a dream. To have her express her love so freely in front of all of her friends...well, he hadn't expected that to come so quickly. Xander struggled to find the right words, but he knew he wasn't going to argue with Buffy any more. He spoke slowly and carefully. "Buffy, I do want you to be happy. And, even though I think you're insane and that this is a terribly bad idea, and it's going to take some time for me to get over those thoughts, if I ever can...I hope you and the bleached wonder will be very happy together." Buffy gave Xander a dazzling smile, then looked around the room again. Silence reigned, but no one seemed that they wanted to object, at least not at that moment. Buffy smiled again and looked at Spike. "I love you," she said. "And I love you, Pet."