Title: Back Where We Belong Author: Pattyanne snapkik@yahoo.com Disclaimer: None of the BtVS or AtS characters belong to me. Feedback: Love some, thanks. Summary: Buffy is missing Spike badly, then she gets a phone call from Los Angeles. Part 6.... "You all right, love?" "I don't remember the last time I was this all right." Pushing up with his hands, he tried to remove his weight from her, but she wouldn't allow it. "Stay," she urged. "I don't want you too far away from me." Spike smiled and gave her what she wanted. Moving slightly to one side, he slipped one arm behind her and kept her close, then snuggled his face against her neck. "Watch it, vampire," she teased, feeling him kiss the beat of her pulse. "This isn't a snack bar." He chuckled. "Sure, it is. I just snacked on you, didn't I?" "You did," she agreed. Tilting his face up, she nipped at his chin. "So...when do I get to snack on you?" The question alone made him instantly hard. If he'd allowed his mind to formulate the image it invoked, he wouldn't be coherent enough to reply. So, he rolled off her and scooped her up from the carpet. Carrying her across the room, he kicked open a door that led into a spacious bedroom, with a bed so big it looked like two king sized mattresses pushed together. Buffy was about to comment on the size of the play- ground he was taking her to, when she found herself being tossed into the middle of it. "Hey" she squealed, collapsing with laughter when he jumped on the bed and stood over her like a conquering warrior about to plant a flag. She had forgotten how much fun Spike could be when he was in the mood for it. No one had ever made her laugh the way he did, not Riley and certainly not Angel. But Spike was so full of the enjoyment of living, so to speak, that he frequently dropped his evil vamp per- sona with her and turned into a charmingly mischievous boy who delighted in driving her crazy. Even sex could be wonderfully amusing sometimes, when he was feeling particularly playful. She remembered times when they would be in the middle of a deeply passionate encounter, only to have him start reciting dirty jokes and the filthiest limericks she'd ever heard. He'd defended this behavior by telling her that he liked the way it felt being inside of her when she laughed. The first time he'd done it, she had scolded him for it, telling him that sex wasn't supposed to be funny. He had looked her right in the eye and asked, "Says who?" in a challenging tone of voice, then gone on to commiserate with her over the obvious lack of imagination her previous lovers had displayed. Had it always been "the same old thing time after time?" he'd asked her. Well....yes. Actually, it had been. With Angel, she'd only had one night, and having been a virgin, she'd had nothing to compare him to. The experience had been painful and pleasurable both, but he'd been afraid of hurting her, so he'd stuck to the basics and never really released his own full passion. Her mistake with Parker had been so humiliating that she hated to reflect on it in any way, and had largely forgotten his well used bag of tricks. Riley...well, Riley had been...dependable. Kind of like riding a bicycle...you had to do a little work, but even- tually it got you where you wanted to go. Problem was, the longer their relationship had gone on, the more dependable...and predictable...he had become. By the time they were on the downhill slide, she'd begun to think he was operating with a mental checklist; doing everything in order, and allowing so much time for this and so much for that. When she'd looked back on things later, she'd been slightly appalled when she'd come to the realization that Riley had been sort of...dumb...when it came to the subject of their sex life. There'd been nights when he'd reached orgasm way before she was even in the vicinity, and he'd never seemed to notice that he wasn't satisfying her. How many times had she gotten up to go in the bathroom, needing to bring herself some kind of release, then come back to bed to find him snoring like a grizzly bear in the middle of a winter hibernation? Spike had coaxed this information out of her one night when her defenses were down, laughing like a hyena when she'd mentioned her "that was relaxing" comment to Riley after she'd actually managed to reach climax. He'd then gone on to give her the most "un" relaxing climax she'd ever experienced. She'd nearly had to be scraped off the ceiling afterwards, and her toes hadn't uncurled for an hour. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Grinning like a fiend, he bounced on the bed a couple of times, which made certain parts of him bounce as well. Although she tried to hold it in, she couldn't, and laughter exploded out of her. Spike, having the confidence in himself not to be offended, laughed with her, then dropped to his knees and pounced. Landing pretty much on top of her, he kissed her long and hard. Lying beneath him, she chalked up yet another comparison where Riley had been found want- ing; he'd been too damn big. Well over six feet, his body had been uncomfortably heavy. Worse still, when they had made love he had been so far above her head that she'd usually have her face in the middle of his chest. Spike was the prefect size for her. Average height, with a slimmer build than both Riley and Angel, he never made her feel like she was trapped under a fallen redwood. "Did you really miss me?" he asked. His tone was deceptively light, but she understood without being told what he needed to hear. "I missed you like crazy," she assured him, looking purposefully into his eyes. "Would I have come looking for you if I hadn't?" He tilted his head, a gesture that never failed to make her smile. "Hey...why didn't YOU come looking for ME?" she asked, suddenly quite serious. "Was it...was it because you thought I didn't love you?" "Noooo," he drawled. "Because your thick headed ex told me you were somewhere in Europe." "Europe?" she echoed. "Oh, this time I really AM going to kill him." "And I'll hold him for you while you do." "He knew exactly where I was." Anger was be- ginning to simmer inside of her, making her irritated all over again with Angel's high handed behavior in keeping things from her. "It doesn't matter now," Spike said, smoothing her hair back. "Sooner or later I'd have found my way home." Home! He'd said it. She was home to him. And speaking of home.... "Come back with me?" she blurted out. "You don't have to stay here anymore. Not if you don't want to." She was preparing her persuasion speech when he took all the wind out of her sails. "Where are we going?" Buffy smiled. That had certainly been easy. "Up the coast. Monterey." "Not much sun up there," he mused. "Hardly any at all." "You might have noticed I DON'T need to be talked into this." Spotting a phone on the night stand, she tried to pick it up. "Who are you calling?" "Airport. We can hop a night flight out of there and be home in an hour." A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "I've got a better idea." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Are you sure about this?" "Positively sure. Now, hop in." Buffy climbed into the passengers seat, watching as Spike yanked a handful of wires loose from under the dashboard of a shiny black Mustang fastback, circa 1968. "Where'd you learn how to do this?" "Years of practice," he replied, twisting two of the wires together. The engine caught with a roar of power, at the same moment that Buffy pulled down the visor and caught a set of keys in one hand. Spike looked at her in surprise. "How did you..." "Angel always kept his keys there," she shrugged. "Well, if you knew that then why didn't you speak up?" "And spoil your fun? Why, I wouldn't dream of it." Spike shook his head and threw the car into drive. Five minutes later, they were on Highway 101...head- ing north. Heading for home... (I'm thinking.....road trip?)