Quid pro Quo

By MadRog (madrog@ev1.net)
www.sunnydale-tales.com

Summary: Post ATS & BTVS. Surprises abound in different lands, different cultures, different times and a different relationship between Buffy & Spike. Magic and action thrives. The ATS crew is bitter after their treatment during S5 ATS by Giles, Andrew and Buffy. Starting w/a dream and phone call, the BTVS crew has to ask for the help of the vampire with a soul (unaware of Spike's return). Can Spike and Angel get over the hard feelings? And old loves? Spike is cold and Buffy is hot for him. Can Buffy find a way back to Spike while they save the world-again? SPUFFY! B/S, A/N Bloodplay.
 

A/N: Thanks so much to peta-megan for getting this chapter back so quick. This chapter took some work, and she turned it around so fast.
Also thanks to everyone that stayed with this story and thanks to those that reviewed, MarzBar, Kimber, Mole, and Jane. You guys are great!


Chapter 17 – It's Only A Little Nudity

"This bleeding tunnel must be magical or some such because there is no bloody way all the tunnels could be housed in the temple we saw from the outside." Spike picked up his backpack and prepared to transverse the spinning disks. However, when he took his first tentative step, the disk didn't spin. He took another step and still no spin. "Peaches, you must have drained the carnival ride's juice. Coming right over in a jiff." But before he took another step, without thinking, he turned back far enough to offer his hand to Buffy. She was shocked but hurried to grasp his hand in case he took it back. In fact, he held her hand, escorting her through the spears, and didn't let go until they made it completely through. Buffy wanted to jump for joy. He had voluntarily touched her and had for a period of time. Her progress with him was tangible now. Now if he would just let her put her hands on him, she thought while licking her lower lip.

Spike could have kicked himself for taking her hand so casually, as if by habit. However, he couldn't bring himself to let go. It felt...well, in a nut shell, the touch seemed right. Her hand fit his like no other, but did he want that familiarity again? His answer was starting to lean towards wanting such closeness with her again. That was it. He didn't want to follow that line of thought any further. He had enjoyed holding her hand. Leave it at that.

Shortly there after, all stood facing the next hand print. No one made a move to read the writing around it or place their hand on it, unsure what to expect, especially after Angel's and Spike's last enactment. Neither wanted a repeat of drudging up their past. All that garbage needed to stay in the past.

Figuring that this may be a place that she could help out, Nina started the ball rolling by reading the hieroglyphs. "A sun, a person and an infant, in that order."

"Ok, that means...what?" Never good at puzzles, Buffy was completely confused.

"It's Buffy." Everyone turned to look at Angel as he looked at Buffy. "The sun shines down bright on a husband and a baby in your life. It's what you always wanted. A normal family."

Spike knew that Angel was right. That truth hurt like years of being stuck in hell, but he knew it to be true. Buffy with a husband, and he could picture her plump with child. Despite his resistance, it made his teeth clench tight. The baby wasn't so bad. He could understand that, but he had to admit that the thought of her in another man's bed for the rest of her life burned him severely.

With a frown marring her brow, Buffy held up her hand. "But I don't want that stupid dream anymore." She caught Spike's eye, trying to convey that she wanted her crazy life; she wanted him.

Angel shook his head. "But you did. I left you so that you could have that." It still hurt to think about why he left, and he easily remembered the pain that followed. However, in this circumstance, this needed to be said. His solace was Nina slipping her hand into his.

Buffy's hands slid down to her waist, a show of defiance. "And thanks for nothing. Besides, I said that I really don't want that anymore."

Spike had heard enough. This little visit to hell was dragging out too long. He had taken the initial hit to his heart and wanted to avoid more. "Just slice your hand, Slayer, and be done with it."

She had come so far, and she was back to the "slayer" stage. Damn. Gone were "pet" and "luv." She wasn't sure what to do to correct that, but she did know that she needed to put an end to this discussion. She slit her palm and placed her bleeding hand in the hand print. The other three prepared to step into the portal.

And nothing.

"Well, that was anticlimactic." Spike watched Buffy pull back her hand and try again. But still nothing. Zip.

Spike went quickly from the pain of contemplating her idyllic life, to relief. She must not be the one symbolized in the hieroglyphs. No. He thought about it, and the inspiration came. Not Buffy but Angel. "It's you." He pointed at his confused grandsire.

"It can't be me. The baby could be Connor, but his birth had nothing to do with a sun, and nothing about Darla related to the sun. That's for sure." When Buffy looked at him in confusion, Angel waved the subject aside. "A long story – for another time."

With a smile, Spike slapped Angel on the back. "No, poof, I told you that you couldn't sign away the Shanshu."

Angel lowered his head, feeling the defeat that that once loved dream brought to him now. With sadness evident in his eyes, he first looked at Nina and then at Spike. "But you're the one that received the gift."

Uncharacteristic of his relationship with Angel, Spike grasped Angel's shoulder tightly, giving a little shake. "Doesn't mean there was only one to be dished out. It's still your destiny." He turned and pointed at the hieroglyphs. "See. We were being too literal. The sun is shining down on the man, gracing him with a rebirth."

Angel tried to squash the hope that was building, but it was still peeking around the corner. "Rebirth?"

"Yeah, a reincarnation of sorts." Nina wanted to jump up and down. In fact she did, just little ones. Angel had shared with her how badly he wanted to Shanshu, turning human, and how much it took for him to sign the possibility away to convince the Black Thorn that he had returned to evil. She also knew that he hated to hope. Slipping her hand in his, she tried to convey her own hope.

Angel stared at the hieroglyphs again, and all were happy to see a corner of his mouth lift up, hopefully the beginning of a smile. "Ya think?"

Buffy reached over and slapped him on the side of the head. "You should know by now that there's always a way." That released everyone from their stupor. Nina hugged Angel as tight as he could and Spike clapped the brunette vampire on the back again for good measure. Not to mention he got a kick out of the violence.

"I'll believe it when I see it." With his voice superficially gruff, Angel attempted to cover his tapped deep emotions. After extracting himself from Nina's embrace and a quick kiss, he slit his hand and placed it in the imprint. The portal opened immediately. Taking Nina's hand, he stepped through first faster than he would have liked, anxious to take steps closer to his future.

Catching her balance from her big step through space and time, Buffy turned to make a joke to Nina when her eyes landed on Spike first, quickly ogling his body. He was naked all but a leather loincloth. Her mind raced back in time to the day of her invisibility. She had barged into Spike's crypt and thrown him against the wall. She had grabbed the sides of his shirt and jerked the shirt open. Pop, buttons had flown across the room. His ripped abs had made her mouth water that day. Ok, she was drooling now just as she had back then, but back then, she couldn't be seen. This time she could be, but she didn't care. He had the body of a god, Apollo maybe. She really didn't care which god; she just wanted to look her fill. Her eyes ran down along his shins to his toes which were in leather sandals. How could his toes even look sexy? Maybe she was developing a fetish, she laughed to herself. A Spike fetish as a whole. The weird part was that it didn't sound so far fetched as she laughed.

Her gaze traveled back up, greedily taking in every square inch of exposed skin. When she reached his face, she discovered that his mouth was slightly hanging open, and his eyes were trained her way but not at her face. Actually, his gaze appeared to be focused several inches below her chin. Curiosity piqued, Buffy looked down. To say that she was shocked would have been an understatement. What she was, was aghast. Stupefied. She was without a shirt, only a loincloth like the men. No wonder he was staring...or could that be a good sign that he was staring at her naked breasts. Yup, a good sign. But instead of being embarrassed, Buffy stifled instinct and left her breasts uncovered. If it helped to win Spike back, then it was worth it.

Spike was knocked out of his daze as his knees gave in. Luckily his ass landed on a log. Tearing his eyes away, he tried to not look at Nina and thus having Angel tear his head from his shoulders. But his eyes couldn't stay away from Buffy. He found his traitorous hand reaching for her own and pulling her down to sit beside him. With monumental effort, he forced that same hand from fondling her beauty.

Desire. Red, hot, burning desire was evident in his eyes, and she savored each and every flame. Those flames fueled her hope. Buffy wanted to stop and see if she could entice Spike into a little fun, but cursed the timing.

Unconsciously drawn, Spike's eyes caught hers as he leaned to place a chaste kiss on her lips. The second kiss was different. Slow, smooth and sweet. Their mouths opened, and their tongues stroked each other. Spike lightly cupped his hand around the back of her head. Not to hold her still, but more of a guide, caressing her while encouraging her in the kiss. Buffy recognized the gesture for what it was and was encouraged not just for these kisses, but also for her pursuit of Spike. She didn't fool herself that he had completely come around, but this was a yummy start.

Angel pulled Nina's hand off his mouth, having no patience for Nina's matchmaking. "Spike...Spike." Impatient to obtain Spike's attention but aware that Nina was still bare-breasted, Angel blocked Nina's body with his own as he called the blonde's name. "Boy, snap out of it." When he finally gained Spike's attention, he quickly lined out a plan. "First order, something to cover Nina and Buffy." He couldn't help his gaze from straying to Buffy, discomfited each time. Yes, he had seen her glory one other time, but she wasn't his to admire anymore. He had Nina and was happy for it. "We have to get something now."

"Naked epidermis. This would be perfect if they were all women. Where are good Amazons when you need...ow! What, slayer, a little jealous?" He was pretty sure that he had made a direct hit. Maybe baiting her would not violate his conviction to leave her be. Ok, ok, so he had kissed her. Some resolve alright. Smiling wickedly, Spike snapped to his feet. He watched Angel place Nina on the log next to Buffy, who now crossed her arms across her breasts, doing a little push up job to her small breasts but it also brought Spike's gaze up to her own. If she disgusted Spike so much, he wouldn't be lusting for her so much as he looked to be now.

All looking around, for the first time they noticed that they were not alone. Spike found himself facing what appeared to be a camp of natives. Gazing at the activity in the camp, they noticed that the natives were similar to the Mayans from their other portal jump. Similar to the Mayans, but not quite. They definitely weren't dressed as opulently by a long shot. Loin cloths just didn't yell wealth.

The natives were moving about preparing for something. From the looks of it, they were gathering up weapons.

Angel leaned down for a soft kiss. "Nina, are these Mayans?"

"I don't think so. Their weapons seem different from the pictures I have seen, but they still look to be Mesoamericans. If I had to guess, a big guess, I would say that they are Aztecs, and they are getting ready to fight Spaniards."

Armed with some information, Angel and Spike left to search. Near a tent, scrounging around, Angel came up with a couple large, leather pouches which he tore into strips so that Nina and Buffy could tie them around their chests. Even though she was relieved, Buffy felt like she was just wearing more of a skimpy swimming suit than her birthday suit.

Despite the scene in front of him, Spike didn't see it for more than a minute due to his pent up pain. He hurt all over his body, every solitary cell ached for Buffy. Those perky breasts, his hands ached for what his eyes could see. His fingers twitched to go back to a place that they had once known so well. He could just reach out and cup her right breast. His fingers could tighten so he could feel the weight of the globe. He would gently knead until she made that breathy moan he loved to hear. Zeroing in on her nipple, he would pinch down until he would hear the catch in her breath, allowing him to go a little further. Then he would lean in and suck her hardened nipple into his mouth, biting down lightly. Her body would sway closer to him.

"Yes." Buffy slapped her hand over her mouth. She had been truthful but certainly hadn't wanted to blurt it out loud. Damn. Double damn, she thought as she looked at Spike's raised, scarred eyebrow. She was mortified, but he was just so cute when he did that.

For some odd reason, Spike wasn't sure what to think. He wanted to stay angry at her, revel in her jealousy that was obviously eating at her regarding Illyria. The other part gave a little cheer. That part that was left of him that wanted Buffy's love. He stomped on that traitorous feeling, but he sure wished that she wasn't so appealing in those strips of leather.

Angel's voice broke into his thoughts, bringing him back to the present situation. "Well, they look like they are getting ready for a big fight."

All alert again, Nina brought everyone back to the main goal of this jump. "That would at least make sense. We're here to find a weapon."

'And love.' Buffy smiled a secret smile.

Nina stood up and wrapped her hand around Angel's bicep. "So we need to find a gold weapon."

Mind focused on the current situation now, Buffy added to Angel's plan. "This may be an easy one. Let's split up to look around and then meet back here."

"Deal." Angel and Nina headed out.

Still not having found his voice, Spike struck out to search without a word.

His mind had drifted back to Buffy; the leather over her breasts was sexy. He was thankful that the natives in the camp seemed to be oblivious. He would hate to have to fight any of them that made advances toward her. What was he thinking? Not only could she fight for herself, but he had no right to defend her. She was her own person, not his to look out for. Right? Even his sensibilities were betraying him.

Just as in their little excursion to the Mayan ball court, the natives this night seemed to see them as one of their own, even down to Buffy and Nina being male, albeit males with leather bound chests. The difference here was that all the natives were armed with weapons, just apparently not gold ones. While walking through, they passed various weapons, pikes with obsidian tips, obsidian swords, other various implements of destruction.

Spike and the others grabbed a weapon for themselves, swords made of obsidian. All four met back up quickly.

Buffy looked back over her shoulder at the camp. "They're definitely preparing for a fight, and I'd say they are making their move soon. Very soon."

"And I didn't see any gold, not at all." Spike forced Buffy out of his mind and concentrated on what was going on around him. "I say we go with them and see if the enemy has the gold weapon."

"Right." Buffy was ready to get to business.

Angel rolled his eyes. Typical Spike and Buffy, going off half-cocked. "Whoa, whoa. We need a plan."

Stopping, Spike turned and glared at Angel. He sure knew how to ruin a potential fight. "And that would be...?"

Glaring back, Angel laid out a plan. "It looks like they are moving out that way." Angel indicated the direction in front of them. "Nina and I will go to the left, and you two go to the right. We'll use that whistle I used in the tunnel so that we can contact each other."

Again reminded of Angelus, Spike became defensive. "That's it, peaches?" With an eyebrow cocked, Spike looked on sardonically. Angel nodded. "Brilliant. Let's get to it."


TBC


Next chapter, Spuffy hits full force.