The power of Spike's punch drove Buffy to knees. It was the first time he'd managed to actually get through her defences and she had seriously forgotten how hard he could hit. She glanced up at the bouncing vampire who, if his fangy smile got any larger, was in danger of having his face split in two.
Buffy narrowed her eyes, put her right foot on the ground and leaned on it but instead of using it to lift herself back into a standing position she pivoted on the foot, stretching her other leg out straight and attempting to take Spike down with a spinning sweep.
He jumped over her leg, landing easily, and wiggled his eyebrows. "What's the matter, Slayer? Don't tell me that's all you've got?"
Buffy returned smoothly to a standing position and started circling the cocky blond. He'd managed to improve with each attack. At first he'd just blocked her blows, seeming to know instinctively when and where they were coming from. His style had been completely defensive. But now he'd changed his method to include intermittent attacks. The Slayer marvelled at his ingenuity.
Giles had slipped in to the training room earlier to watch the sparring session between the two warriors. The more he saw, the more he was impressed by not only Buffy, but by Spike as well. He watched in awe as his slayer and her vampire traded barbs and punches. His brow furrowed in consternation, If Spike was this good at this time, how was it that he had never successfully beaten Buffy in their own time? They were fighting as equals, but that was with his returned slayer- a slayer with nine years experience and not a few improvements. How was it possible that this warrior Giles was seeing had not been able to beat a slayer with barely two years experience? And most of that with fledglings! It didn't seem to be conceivable. The very real possibility was that the Spike they had originally known had unknowingly already been attracted to Buffy and had not really tried to kill her regardless of how it had seemed at the time.
Buffy decided that she needed to up the ante by trying to do to Spike what he had always managed to do to her. "Oh, baby! You should know better than to question a slayer's stamina," she challenged with a cheeky grin. Pointing to the large encumbrance trapped within his straining jeans, she grinned. "Why don't you let it out to play?"
As Spike automatically looked down at the highly visual outline of his rock hard cock, Buffy threw a triple spin kick with a high low combination at him. The unexpected third kick connected and knocked him halfway across the room.
"That's bloody cheatin'," he grumbled as he pulled himself to his feet.
Buffy grinned. "I thought that's what you called a head job?" She batted her eyes innocently as she watched him stalk towards her.
"Little girl, you are playing with fire," he growled before flipping over her and throwing a powerful left cross as she spun to face him.
Buffy casually wiped a drop of blood from the side of her mouth with a finger and offered the digit to him. "Fire pretty," she whispered huskily.
Spike widened his eyes and jumped back from her. "Are you coming on to me?" His voice raised a few decibels as he squeaked out his question.
Buffy gaped like a landed fish. "And you're just getting this now?!" She couldn't believe he'd been so far in denial. Where was her insightful guy? Because a Spike who had to buy a vowel - when, if she was any more obvious she would be drawing him directions - was seriously disturbing!
His eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline. "You were serious?" The squeaking thing continued.
Buffy seriously wondered when Spike started taking ‘stupid' pills.
"But...you're the Slayer; I'm a vampire. It...It's bloody b-beyond wrong," he stuttered in indignation.
At this point Giles was unable to contain his laughter any longer.
~*~*~
Buffy wandered around Giles' living room as she waited for Spike to finish his shower. She was determined to get through to him. With renewed resolve she contemplated the whole situation. She knew damn well that the stubborn bastard was attracted to her, although getting him to admit that was a little more difficult than she'd originally envisaged. How he could ignore the permanent hard on he developed whenever she walked into the room was a complete mystery to her. But really, even if she could get him to admit to the attraction, it wasn't enough. She wanted his love. She thought back to the night, in her own time, when he'd been the strength she had needed to get back into the fight, when he had told her why he loved her.
When I say, "I love you," it's not because I want you or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman. You're the one, Buffy.
Buffy gasped as the memory washed over her. She could almost hear his voice as he spoke. Tears filled her eyes and she realised with startling clarity that there was every possibility that this Spike would not fall in love with her. Because with all the changes they were making, there was nothing to really challenge her; she couldn't show him how hard she could try.
As her misery engulfed her, she wept.
"Buffy?" Spike's face mirrored his concern. He just couldn't imagine the girl he was coming to know and, as much as he hated to admit it, care about, weeping with such abandon. She looked like someone had just killed her best friend.
Buffy inhaled sharply as the pain in her chest threatened to tear her apart. She felt like she was bleeding inside. "Oh, God," she whimpered in despair. "You're never gonna love me, are you?"
Without waiting for his response she ran at full speed out the door and away from the one being with the power to destroy her. She really feared he already had.
"Love?" Spike whispered in wonder.
~*~*~
She watched from her carefully concealed position as the four girls talked, listening carefully to every word.
~*~**~
"So you ran?" Willow frowned as she listened to her distressed friend's tale of woe.
"God, Buffy! Could you be any more lame?" Dawn rolled her eyes in disgust.
Cordelia levelled a hard look at the blonde slayer. "Let me get this straight. You have this flash bulb moment telling you that one of the reasons why Bleach Boy loved you was because you never stopped trying, and what do you do? You run away and...GIVE UP WITHOUT TRYING! Can you spell ‘idiot'?"
Buffy frowned at her friend, blinking back her unshed tears. "Huh?"
Willow giggled. "You ran away. You ran away like a big scardy slayer."
"It's nice to know some things never change," Cordelia snarked.
"is it possible the monks gave me all your common sense?" Dawn giggled at her flummoxed sister.
Buffy's eyes widened as she realised exactly what she'd done. "Oh. My. God. What the hell was I thinking?" she whined, mortified and then the panic set in. "I need to fix this. How do I fix this? What...how...help?"
Cordelia lightly set her hand on her friend's shoulder and grinned. "If we can convince Sir Broods-a-lot to move to L.A. and start a detective agency with the motto ‘we help the hopeless', we can do anything."
Dawn looked at Cordelia in curiosity. "I thought it was meant to be ‘we help the helpless'?"
Cordelia gave an unconcerned shrug. "Help the helpless, help the hopeless, whatever, it could be worse I suppose, we could have used ‘we hope you're helpless'!"
~*~*~
With an irritated stamp of her foot, she vented her frustrations that her plans for the Slayer were not going as well as planned. She was so focused on her pique that she failed to notice anyone approaching her and jumped when the large masculine hand came to rest softly on her shoulder. She turned to see who it was.
"I know you're the Patron Saint of Scorned Women and I'm just a guy but would you consider listening to my story before you blow me off? Please?" Xander held his breath and waited for her response.
Anyanka narrowed her eyes and considered the impudent boy. There was something in his eyes that intrigued her. She gave one sharp nod to indicate her agreement.
He took a deep breath and began. "I want to tell you about the woman I love and how much she means to me. Will you hear me out before you leave?"
Something about the emotion so visible in those warm brown eyes tempered her normal impatience and she nodded. He visibly relaxed and began to tell her about a beautiful, quirky girl that he had hurt badly. He cringed when her eyes narrowed, continuing hastily, "I was an ass. No question about it. She was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I blew it. But, and I'm not trying to make excuses here, what I did, I did with the best of intentions. It wasn't that I didn't love her. It was because I loved her so much and I was afraid that I would turn out to be like my father. I knew she deserved so much better than that. I didn't get it at the time that just being worried pretty much guaranteed that I was already nothing like my father. I do now. I really do now," he whispered the last few words softly, his eyes indicating his momentary visit to the place in his mind where he held her memory close. "I hurt her for nothing," he offered his regret quietly as he lifted his haunted gaze to her troubled one.
Anyanka started slightly at the unexpected emotions the boy's words had evoked. She frowned as she tried to identify feelings that she had assumed were long gone. ‘Was that sympathy?' she thought in horror. She started to panic. She was the Patron Saint of Scorned Women, she didn't do sympathy...well...not for men. Actually...she didn't really do it for women either but that was completely beside the point! She was a vengeance demon, not some nausea inducing bleeding heart. This feeling of sympathy was really too much to expect of a demon. It was a clear sign that she needed to be someplace else. And as soon as he stopped looking at her with those big, pleading puppy dog brown eyes, that was exactly what she was going to do.
Anyanka stamped her foot in annoyance and whined, "Stop looking at me like that. I didn't cause it, what do you want from me?"
"I wish my Anya was here with me now."
"Wish granted."
Xander blinked as a powerful flash of light momentarily blinded him.
Anya looked around in disgust. "Alexander LaVelle Harris! What is wrong with you? You couldn't have waited until after graduation?"
Xander smiled adoringly. "I don't know how I managed to wait this long as it was."
"Oh, Xander," Anya sighed in wonder as her eyes brimmed with tears. "You're gonna make me all puffy and blotchy."