Title: Bite Down Author: Pattyanne snapkik@yahoo.com Disclaimer: All I own is nothing at all Summary: Buffy has a dental appointment, but she hates going to the dentist. Guess who gets roped into taking her..... Part One: Wednesday evening... "Hi..thanks for coming so soon." Joyce smiled as she pulled the door open wide. "No problem," Spike replied, stepping into the foyer. "What's up?" "Come into the kitchen," she said softly. "Buffy's upstairs and I don't want her to hear us talking." Placing her hands on his shoulders, she began nudging him in the direction she wanted him to go. After pulling two chairs away from the kitchen table, Joyce sat down. "There's beer in the fridge," she said. "Help your- self." "All right...you want one?" Joyce declined and waited for him to sit down. "So," he said, popping the cap off the bottle of beer. "What's with all the cloak and dagger?" "I need you to do me a favor." Spike spoke without hesitation. "Name it." The slayer's mother beamed at him, and Spike realized once again that Buffy wasn't the only Summers girl with a knock-out smile. He liked Joyce, and he knew that despite their initial introduction..when he'd found himself on the business end of a fire ax.. she liked him too. Joyce Summers always went out of her way to be pleasant and friendly to him when- ever he showed up at the door. She had told him more than once how pleased she was at the way his relationship with Buffy had sorted itself out, and that she was grateful to him for accompanying her on her patrols of the cemeteries and back alleys of Sunnydale. Spike had spent a great deal of time and a considerable amount of effort redeeming himself in Buffy's eyes, and it had paid off. Gradually, one baby step at a time, she had begun to trust him, and they had become a practiced and smooth working team, antici- pating each others moves and watching each others backs. Of course, Buffy had downplayed their tur- bulent beginning, and how fervently he'd tried to kill her, figuring that the less her mother knew about THAT, the better off they would all be. "Here's the thing," Joyce began. "I have to go out of town for a few days, until Sunday in fact, and Buffy has a dental appointment on Friday." "Mm-hmm," he nodded. Joyce sighed. "The problem is that Buffy hates going to the dentist, ever since she was a child." Spike grinned. The top gun slayer, one who had gone toe-to-toe with more horrifying monsters than you could shake a stick at...scared to go to the dentist. "The first time she went," Joyce contin- ued, "the dentist had to extract two abscessed teeth and she's never..." "Forgiven him?" Spike ventured. "Exactly." "You want me to take her, then?" "If it's not too much trouble." Joyce favored him with another smile. "I'm afraid that if I'm not here, she'll cancel the appointment..or just not show up." Spike tilted his chair onto it's back legs, leaning against the wall. "You know I'll do anything for you, Joyce, but don't you think she'd rather have one of her friends take her?" Joyce pinned a level gaze on him. "You're one of her friends..aren't you?" He hesitated. WAS he one of her friends..JUST a friend..or was he something more? He wanted to be something more. Wanted it more than he'd ever wanted anything. But 'wanting' and 'getting' were two totally different things. He'd WANTED for so long now that he couldn't clearly remember NOT wanting, as though it had always just been, and always would be. Wanting had become yearning..yearning had become craving..and craving had become needing. Sometimes that need was unbearable, almost physically painful. These were the times when he had to isolate himself from her, fearing that he might buckle under the oppressive weight of his need and simply take what he wanted..whe- ther she offered it or not. His desire for Buffy had been a constant undercurrent when they had been enemies, a secret he'd protected by burying it so deeply into his subconscious mind that even HE wasn't really aware of it. Now that they were no longer enemies, that desire had taken on a mind of it's own. It was becoming difficult to control, fraying at all it's seams. It was a valid question, and the answer was as clear as glass; For as long as it takes. Because there was no way that he could EVER walk away from Buffy. No power on earth could make him leave. Not without her.. No matter how loudly his brain screamed at him to put as much distance between them as he could, his heart would never allow it. So, he would stay, and he would be her friend. He would love her..and he would protect her..he would do anything at all for her. Even if she never offered him anything more than friendship. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Spike?" He tuned back in to the conversation, wondering how long he'd been gone and what he had missed. "I'm listening," he assured Joyce, setting his chair back down on all four legs. She gave hima doubtful look, then said, "The reason I want YOU to take her is because.. well, because you're the only one strong enough to MAKE her go...if it comes to that." "You aren't asking me just to drive her there, are you?" he asked. "You want me to wrestle her into the office, too." "No! No, not at...um...yes," she finally admitted. "But only if it's absolutely necessary." Spike paused. "You DO know that she's just as strong as I am, don't you." Joyce nodded. "Well, what makes you think that I'll be able to do what you want?" "Let's just say that out of all her friends, YOU have the best shot at it." She gazed appealingly into Spike's eyes. "So, will you help me?" He looked at her, nodding his head in surrender. "You know I will," he said. "Give me the details." Joyce reached into the back pocket of her slacks and pulled out a business card. "This is the address," she said, handing him the card. "Her dentist has evening hours on Friday so I made the appointment for six o'clock." "Sun will be down by then," Spike said. "Good thinking." "Even if it wasn't down, there's underground parking and an elevator straight to the office." Spike's sharp ears detected the padding of small feet coming down the stairs. He slipped the appointment card into his shirt pocket just as Buffy walked in to the kitchen. She looked surprised to see him, but not displeased. "Hi," she said brightly. "How come you're here?" "I dropped in to see YOU, sunshine," he replied, watching her open the refrigerator door. "You patrolling tonight?" Buffy sighed and opened a can of Coke. "What else?" she shrugged. "Fancy some company?" "Sure," she answered without hesitating. "Go and get your things, then," he said. As Buffy turned and left the kitchen, Joyce caught his eye and mouthed "Thank you", giving him one last lovely smile. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Mom...your cab's here." Buffy stood at the bottom of the stairs, inspecting her recent manicure. Without looking up she hollered again. "MOM!!" "I heard you the first time, Buffy," Joyce scolded. "Sorry." Buffy smiled, as she reached for the suitcase in her mother's hand. After stowing it in the trunk of the cab, she threw her arms around Joyce and kissed her cheek. "Have a safe trip." "Before I go," Joyce said, pulling back to look directly into Buffy's eyes, "do we need to go over the rules again?" "Nope," Buffy assured her. "Got all the rules and regulations safely tucked away." Joyce arched her brow, waiting. Exasperated, Buffy rolled her eyes. "No parties, no living on junk food, in bed by a reasonable hour, remember to bring in the mail every day, don't take candy from strangers, blah-blah-blah." "Very amusing,"Joyce said, sounding anything BUT amused. "Mom...I KNOW the rules, okay? I'll be fine." "I know you will, honey." As casually as she could manage, Joyce added, "Don't forget about your check up on Friday." "Right. Like I even COULD forget with your little hints every half hour. Not to mention the big ' X marks the spot ' you drew on the cal- ender. Kind of overdoing it, don't you think?" "No," Joyce replied. "I don't." She opened the door of the cab and got in. "I'm not a baby, you know," Buffy said irritably. "Don't worry about me." Her mother smiled. "I beg your pardon, but you're MY baby...and it's my job to worry about everything when it comes to you..in- cluding your teeth." Buffy closed the cab door with a loud clunk, hoping for a quick get away, then sighed when her mom rolled down the win- dow. "I'm serious, Buffy. You're already three months overdue for this check up." "You'd better get going, Mom. You're gonna miss your flight or something." "Buffy..." "I won't forget!" Buffy said loudly. "Geez, what do I have to do? Slit open a vein and sign it in blood?" She leaned down to kiss her mother goodbye again, then stood back and watched as the cab pulled away. When it turned the corner, she smiled and pulled a cell phone out of the pocket of her overalls. "Hi, it's me..She just left..Play time, boys and girls..What's that supposed to mean?..I said that I KNEW the rules, not that I would FOLLOW them..You worry too much for someone your age..." Still chatting, she went back into the house and closed the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ End of part 1 ---------------------------------