Title: Bite Down
Author: Pattyanne
            snapkik@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: All I own is nothing at all
Summary:  Buffy has a dental appoit-
ment, but hates going to the dentist.
Guess who gets roped into taking her?


Part Two
Friday evening.

"This is just stupid," Buffy grumbled,
supremely irritated at her predicament.

"Why's that, kitten?" Spike asked casually
from the drivers seat of Joyce's Blazer.

Buffy glared at him. "Because I don't need
someone to take me to the dentist. I'm
perfectly capable of getting there on my
own."

He smiled. "Yeah. I heard ALL about how
capable you are."

She folded her arms across her chest,
scowling. "My mother has a big mouth."

"Now, I thought those stories were cute,
kitten. Don't be embarrased."

Joyce had asked Spike back to the house
the next day and gave him an insurance
claim form to take with him.

As they sat at the kitchen table and sipped
hot cocoa, she had regaled Spike with amusing
stories of Buffy's past attempts to avoid the
dental chair; everything from hiding in the
top branches of a tree in their yard, to calling
the office pretending to be her mother and
cancelling the appointment.

"I'm not embarrassed," she snapped. "I'm
totally pissed off!"

"I can see that. But why?"

"Because," Buffy ranted. "She doesn't trust
me!"

Spike looked at her. "Has she got a reason
NOT to?"

"She..no, she's just..." Buffy stammered. "..of
course not!"

"I was just asking."

Buffy sat in angry silence for a minute, then
said, "It was pretty sneaky of her not to men-
tion ahead of time that you were coming with
me."

Spike shook his head in mock sympathy. "Poor
little slayer."

"What?"

"Must be frigging awful to have a mother who
cares so much about your teeth," he said. "Good
God, what a nightmare."

"Oh, shut up."  With her scowl still in place,
she slid down in her seat and didn't say another
word for the remainder of the drive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy glanced at Spike as he stood leaning
back against the rear wall of the elevator,
watching the green digital numbers change.

When they passed the fifth floor, she reached
out and pushed the "Stop" button on the
panel.

Inside he was smiling broadly, but he kept
his facial expression neutral. "The office is
on the seventh floor, kitten."

"Yeah, I know. I just..."

"Just what?" he asked.

"Well, I'm HERE now. There's really no reason
for you to waste your time hanging around."

Buffy was trying to sound casual, as though it
made no difference to her whether he stayed
or not, but she didn't think she was pulling
it off very well.

She should have known better. Although she
had no problem snowing her friends and, to
a lesser degree, her mother..Spike always saw
through her right down to the nucleus of her
being. She couldn't put anything over on him.

Looking at him now, she could see that this
time was no exception, and she'd have to
handle things differently.

Spike was smiling indulgently as he reached
to start the elevator moving again.

"That's all right, kitten," he said, pinching her
cheek. "I'm free all evening, and I can't think
of anyone I'd rather spend it with."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The sign on the door of Suite 710 informed
them that there were four dentists practicing
there; a general Dentist, an oral surgeon,
an orthodontist, and a periodontist.

"Got all their bases covered," Spike said as
he pushed the door open.

Once inside, he glanced around the waiting
area. "Very nice."

His feet sank into plush carpeting in a muted
shade of blue. There was a small sofa and
several arm chairs upholstered in a contrasting
color.

Three or four oak tables held a selection of
magazines, and one wall consisted of an oak
shelving unit holding at least thirty books, as
well as porcelain and brass figurines.

As he examined his surroundings, Spike
couldn't help comparing them with the
dental parlors that had been around back
when he was still mortal.

Now, THEY were something to be afraid of.

Stepping up to the counter, he tapped lightly
on a pane of frosted glass that separated the
front desk from the waiting room.

The pane slid open immediately, revealing
the receptionist..a good looking redhead
with a nice figure and a toothy smile that
was a fantastic testimony to her employer's
skills.

"Hi, can I help you?" she asked.

"Yeah," Spike said. "Buffy Summers is here."

The receptionist looked past him into the
waiting room. "Where?"

"Right.." Spike turned around and found himself
staring at an empty room.

"Damn it," he swore softly, then turned back
to the receptionist. "Hang on a minute."

He ran down the corridor, turning the corner
just in time to see Buffy punching the "Down"
button on the elevator.

He could hear her muttering, "Come on, come
on," under her breath.

Buffy spotted her babysitter rounding the
corner, and was about to lunge for the stairs
when the elevator 'dinged' and the doors
slid open.

"Ha!" she said triumphantly, placing one
foot inside the car.

But in her hurry to be gone, she had forgotten
how fast Spike could move when he wanted
to. Before she saw it coming, he grabbed
her by the scruff of her neck and yanked her
back out of the elevator. "Ha!" he mimicked
her.

Buffy yelped with surprise and turned to
elbow him painfully in the abdomen, but
he was prepared for it and deflected the
blow without hardly trying.

"Let go of me!" she demanded, bringing the
heel of her shoe down on top of his foot,
another maneuver he avoided easily.

He ended her struggles by wrapping both
arms around her wriggling body and lifting
her clean off her feet.

"No, I can't do that, kitten."  Tightening his
grip, he walked with her to a small bench
next to a payphone.

"You're just wasting your time and energy,
you know," he said. "I'm the one you practice
these moves with, remember?"

All the fight suddenly drained out of her. Won-
dering if she thought she could get him to
let go by pretending to surrender, he kept
his arms locked around her.

Buffy took a deep breath and closed her
eyes. "Spike, please," she said quietly. "You're
hurting me."

He didn't let go, but he modified his grip as
he sat on the bench, holding her in his lap.

Spike was beginning to find her behavior
worrysome. A little dental phobia was one
thing, but Buffy looked positively green at
the prospect of walking into that office.

Urging her to lay her head against his
shoulder, he petted and stroked her hair,
trying to soothe her.

When he felt her begin to relax in his arms,
he said, "What's the matter, kitten? It's not
like you to be so frightened. Are you afraid
it's gonna hurt?"

Buffy shook her head. "Sort of, but..that's
not why."

"Tell me," he coaxed her.

She took another deep breath, collecting her
thoughts.

"When I was little..when we lived in Los Angelus..
my mom took me to my first dentist appointment.
I was kind of scared, but they wouldn't let her
go in with me. I don't remember why."

"Mm-hmm...and?"

"Dr. Richards..that was his name..he was pretty
nice at first. But he.."

"Your mother told me about the extractions."

"Oh. Well, anyway..she had given me the whole
"dentist is our friend" pep talk, but I was just a
little kid. I didn't want some stranger coming at
me, poking me with a sharp..."

When she realized what she was saying, she
looked up and saw him smiling at her.

"Yeah," he said. "I don't like that, either. Ruins
my whole day."

She giggled, and he gave her a gentle
squeeze. "Go on with your story."

Buffy began playing distractedly with the
buttons on his shirt. "Dr. Richards..."

"Hurt you?"

"...was mean to me."

"MEAN to you?" Spike stiffened. "How was he
mean to you?"

She stopped fiddling with his buttons. "He...I
was in the chair, and...and he..."

Spike pressed her more firmly against his
shoulder, so she wouldn't see the expression
on his face.

<No...do NOT let this be going where I think
it's going..>

Anger was building slowly inside of him,
but he kept his voice calm. "What did he do?"

"He was giving me a shot of novacaine in  my
mouth...and it really hurt."

Not what he'd been afraid she was going to
say, thank God.

"I started to cry...and I guess I was kind of
squirming around in the chair. He got mad
at me and he took the needle out..then
he covered my mouth with his hand and
pinched my nose."

<FUCKING HELL!....what kind of dentist
pulls shit like that with a frightened four year
old girl??>

Although he knew it was contrary to most
vampires, Spike had always liked children.

If there'd been any soft spots to be found for
humans anywhere inside of him, they were
reserved for the little ones.

In fact, one of the few things he had genuinely
disliked about Drusilla had been her penchant
for hunting and devouring children.

She had absolutely no qualms about plucking
infants from their cradles and draining them
dry, then tossing their corpses aside like so
much trash.

Occasionally, she'd cap off the experience
by lingering nearby to listen to the screaming
and weeping of parents when they discovered
the broken little bodies of their children.

He had never told Dru how he felt, but he'd
always distanced himself from her for a while
after these episodes.

Spike considered vampires who specialized
in killing children to be particularly revolting,
and though he had tolerated it with Dru, he
hadn't allowed any other vamp that worked
for him to engage in the practice.

This had left him open for questions and
comments as to why he gave a damn whether
mortal children lived or died, but he hadn't
cared.

Feeling no need to explain jack shit to any-
body, he had simply laid down the rule and
dared any member of his gang to break it.

Most of the vamps he'd associated himself
with had followed his edict automatically.
The rest of them, he bullied into submission.

But, sitting here now, holding Buffy in his arms
as she relayed this nasty little story, reminded
him that vampires weren't the only monsters
menacing children.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, kitten,"
he said, kissing the smooth skin of her fore-
head. "And I promise I won't let anybody be
mean to you ever again."

Buffy sighed, making no effort to leave
his lap. "Can't we just go home?"

"Sorry, kitten." He shook his head, no. "I
promised your mother that I'd get you into
that office. You wouldn't want me to break
my promise, would you?"

"I won't tell if YOU won't tell," she grumbled.

Spike chuckled. "I can't lie to your mother. I'm
an accomplished liar at times..but she'll see
right through me."

Slipping his arms beneath her, he stood up
and carried her back down the hallway. As
he set her on her feet, he smiled. "Let's try
again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The receptionist opened the inner door
and gestured for Buffy to come inside.

The slayer turned to Spike with a last ditch
appeal in her wide green eyes, as if begging
him to please get her out of there.

He slipped one hand behind her neck and
tugged her close to whisper in her ear. "Listen,
you're a big girl now. If THIS one puts his
hand over your mouth, feel free to break his
fingers."

Buffy smiled and pulled away, surprising him
by brushing the side of his face with her lips.

She stood up, and Spike had to consciously
keep himself from grabbing her hand and
pulling her back down to kiss her senseless.

"Be seeing you," she said softly.

He watched her cross the room, looking
like a condemned prisoner on the way
to the hanging tree.

As she passed in front of the receptionist,
Spike jumped to his feet.

"Don't hurt her," he said firmly, a hint of a
threat in his voice.

"We won't," she replied, closing the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He hated waiting. He'd never had any real
patience, even as a mortal, and after
he'd become a vampire, he didn't really
have to wait for anything.

So, he wasn't any good at it.

After thirty minutes, he moved from the sofa
to an armchair. Five minutes more went
by, and he began to prowl the room like a
caged ferret.

He was nearly ready to kick the door in
and demand to see that Buffy was all
right, when it opened suddenly and a girl
he hadn't seen before came out.

"Are you here with Buffy?" she asked.

"Yeah. Who are YOU?" he demanded. "Is
anything wrong?"

She looked startled at his vehemence. "I'm
Dr. Stern's asistant, and nothing's wrong. This
is her first appointment with us, so we took a
full set of x-rays, and Dr. Stern noticed an
impacted third molar..a wisdom tooth..in both
the upper and lower right quadrants."

"So what does that mean?"

"They have to come out."

Spike sat down hard on the sofa."What..to-
night? Why? I mean...are they hurting her?"

The girl shook her head. "No, but if they
don't come out, they can start to cause
problems that WILL be painful. It's
better to do it now and avoid the com-
plications."

She sat down beside him. "Don't look so
worried," she said. "It's an easy procedure."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. But..she's going to be sedated
for it, so she'll need someone to drive her
home and stay with her for a little while.

Spike felt his stomach tighten. "Maybe she
should wait until her mother is.."

The assistant cut in. "She said she wants
it done now, that you'll drive her home and
take care of her."  She paused, then said, "She
seems pretty certain..is this a problem for
you?"

Spike shook his head. "No. No, it's not a
problem," he said quickly. "She said that? That
I'd take care of her?"

"Yes, she did. She said she wants YOU to
be here for her..that you make her feel brave."

Spike stared at the floor as a wave of tender-
ness passed through him.  <She wants ME
here..wants ME to take care of her. Not
Giles, not Xander, not Willow...but ME..>

He looked up at the assistant. "Tell her I'll
be right here."

She stood up and gave him a little smile. "It'll
take us a few minutes to get things set up.
Would you like to come in and sit with her
until we're ready?"

"Yes," he said immediately, instantly back
on his feet. "Where is she?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The assistant stopped in front of a door
with the number 4 on it, gesturing for
Spike to go on in.

Without hesitating, he opened the door
and entered the small room.

It was spotlessly clean, with a big picture
window and a slight scent of antiseptic in
the air.

The centerpiece of the room was a padded
dental chair so large that the girl sitting
in it looked tinier than she already was.

Although the chair was still in an up-
right position and there were no frightening
instruments in sight, Buffy sat rigidly
still, her nails digging into the chair's
padded arms.

Spike closed the door behind him. "Hello,
kitten," he said, pulling up a small chair
on wheels and sitting beside her. "You
all right?"

When she turned to look at him, he noticed
that her eyes were a little glazed, and
guessed that she'd been given something
to relax her.

Buffy smiled sweetly at him. She loved it
when he called her "kitten". She'd heard him
call other girls "pet" and "luv", and he usually
called Willow "red", but he kept the name
"kitten" reserved only for her.

Her head felt pleasantly fuzzy, and she re-
tained just enough clear thinking to know
that the injection she'd been given was kicking
in.

"I'm fine," she answered. "Feeling very not-so-
bad right now."  She sighed deeply. "They tell
you the good news?"

Spike nodded, returning her smile. "Doesn't
seem quite fair, does it?"

Reaching for her hand, he brought it to his lips
and kissed the back of it, then laced his fingers
with hers.  There was a brief silence between
them, broken when Buffy suddenly giggled.

The childlike sound made him smile again. "What's
funny, honey?"

She took a deep breath and released it. "I have
noooo idea."

Spike shook his head. <High as a kite..>

Buffy gazed up into his eyes, light green
colliding with dark blue. <God, he is SO damn
good looking...why'd it take me so long to
to see that?>

Even with her befuddled brain, she knew it
hadn't actually taken her long to SEE it,
just to ADMIT it.

She'd seen it the moment their eyes met
for the first time, and she remembered think-
ing what a damn shame it was to have looks
like that wasted on a vampire.

Very nice of life, wasn't it? Dangling this
handsome creature before her eyes, teasing
her with something she could never have...a
fallen angel, cast out of heaven and thrown
at her feet.

"You're awfully quiet, kitten. What are you
thinking about?"

"Nothing much."

<That was a big, fat lie. I'm thinking about
you, Spike. And about me and my feelings
for you, and when I started feeling them, and
what am I gonna do about them, and....>

"How are you feeling, Buffy?" The dentist's
assistant came into the room, bringing an
IV set up with her.

Buffy looked at her, squeezing Spike's hand.

"Pree gooood," she said, her words beginning
to slur.

"All right then, I'm going to start your IV, and
that'll help you go to sleep for a little while,
okay?"

Buffy nodded. "S'allright by me."  She turned her
face away as the back of her free hand was
swabbed with alcohol and the needle was gently
inserted and taped down.

"This isn't a general anesthesia," the girl ex-
plained. "It's an IV sedation..used to be called
twilight sleep, because that's what you do." She
hung the IV bag on the light fixture, and started
the drip. "Be right back."

After she was gone, Buffy looked up at
Spike. "Thank you for taking care of me," she
murmured.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "It'll all be
over soon, kitten. I promise."

The assistant came back in and injected
the medication that would make Buffy sleep
into the IV line.

By the time she left the room again, Buffy
was struggling to keep her eyes open. "You've
been so good to me...helping me...and I never
say...say thank you."

"Yes, you have," he replied. "You've thanked me
plenty of times.

She raised her eyebrows, perplexed. "Oh...yes?"

"Yes."

She was quiet for a moment, and Spike figured
she had fallen asleep, but she roused herself,
trying to speak.

"But there's something else...I didn't tell you...I
should have...but..."

"You want to tell me now?" he asked.

"Mm-hmm..."

He waited. "I'm listening, kitten."

"I never told you..." Her voice began to fade
out. "...that I...that I love you..."

"WHAT?" He was so surprised that he
wasn't sure he heard her properly. "Buffy..
what did you say?"

There was no reply...just soft, even
breathing.

"BUFFY!  Wake up!"

"Actually," a voice spoke from the door-
way. "That's not what we want her to
do. It kind of defeats the purpose of the
sedation."

A man that Spike assumed was Dr.
Stern came into the room, wearing blue
scrubs and a doubtful expression.

"Yeah, well...it's just that she needed to
tell me...something," Spike said lamely.

"Was it something important?"

Spike sighed and shook his head a
little. "You have NO idea."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, he was back in the waiting
room, turning the pages of a magazine
without even seeing the words printed on it.

His mind was completely occupied with
analyzing Buffy's last statement before
she'd gone down for the count.

<She loves me. She said it...and sure, she
was half in the bag when she said it, but
still..>

He tried to be logical and remain calm
about what she had said, but logic wasn't
easy to come by when you finally heard
the words you'd waited and wanted to
hear for so damn long.

As for calm...well, that pretty much took
a back seat to manic elation.

Spike walked over to the window and looked
outside. There was a fat and brightly shining
moon casting it's romantic glow over the most
prosaic of settings.

He remembered something a friend had
told him once, about a thing he'd called
the "Yeah, but.." philosophy.

<Yeah, she said she loves me...but what
did she really mean?>

This was followed by the "What ifs".

What if..she didn't really mean it?; What
if..it was the sedation talking?; or worst of
all, what if...she loved him as a friend?.

Well, that was the kiss of death right there.
An E ticket ride to "Just Friends Land".

Spike had been there in the past, and it
wasn't a place he wanted to return to any-
time soon.

Still, if you looked at it from the proper angle,
the "just friends" platform could be a solid
enough foundation to build on.

Just because HE had gone overnight from
hating every part of her to falling head over
heels in love with her, didn't mean that SHE
had to travel the same route herself.

Lack of patience notwithstanding, he could
wait.  He'd waited this long, and he sure as
hell didn't want to scare her off now.

Of course, there was the delicious possibi-
lity that she'd meant what she'd said the way
he wanted her to mean it.

And, if THAT was true, then all bets were off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Back on the sofa, Spike looked up when the
door to the inner offices swung open and saw
the dental assistant standing there, smiling.
"She's all done."

Spike stood up anxiously. "How'd she do?"

"Just fine," the girl assured him. "Everything
went beautifully."  She handed him a sheet
of paper. "These are post-operative instructions
and here's a prescription for codeine if she
needs it."

"She has a pretty high tolerance for pain,"
Spike replied, glancing at the paperwork.

"Well, she probably won't need it then." She
handed him a small white card. "I made an
appointment for her on Tuesday. If it's not
convenient for her just have her call and we'll
reschedule it."

Spike nodded.

"Okay, come on back and you can take her
home."

He followed the dental assistant back down the
corridor to the room he'd left Buffy in. When he
looked inside, he saw that she was wide awake
and sitting up, listening to the dentist explain
what she could expect during her recovery.

Buffy smiled when she saw him standing by
the door, smiled so sweetly that he was certain
she was aware of what she'd said, and that she'd
meant it the way he wanted her to.

"Hi, kitten," he said. "You feeling all right?"

Her face was a little swollen, but nothing that
detracted from her beauty in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she said. "A little sleepy, maybe."

"The after effects of the sedation," Dr. Stern ex-
plained. "By tomorrow morning you'll be fine." He
looked at Spike. "Did Susan give you the post-
op instructions?"

"Yeah," Spike said, not taking his eyes off
Buffy, a fact that the dentist and his helpers
noticed.

"All right," Dr. Stern said, "Buffy..here's your ride
and I'll see you next week."

He left the room, and Susan appeared in the
doorway. "Hop in," she said cheerfully, holding
the handgrips of a wheelchair.

Buffy shook her head. "I don't need that," she
replied, as firmly as she could. "I can walk."

The assistant just gave her a sympathetic
smile. "Oh, I'm sorry. You have go down in
the chair...those are the rules.

Rules and Buffy were rarely a well fitting mat-
ched set.

"Maybe you could bend those rules a little,"
Buffy suggested. "I won't tell anyone."

"I really can't. You've been under sedation,
and if you got dizzy or..."

"I never get dizzy," Buffy said pugnaciously, "and
I'm not riding in that thing."  Her manner was
clearly daring the other girl to keep arguing.

"Why don't I solve this problem?" Spike inter-
jected. Shoving the papers in his pocket, he
leaned over and scooped Buffy up in his arms

She made a tiny squeak of surprise, then auto-
matically wrapped her arms around his neck.

He winked at her, then looked at Susan. "That
should satisfy everyone here," he said, giving
her his most charming smile, the one that
usually got him whatever he wanted. "She won't
have to ride in the chair, and you won't have
to worry that she might get dizzy."

Holding her a little closer, he turned his smile on
Buffy. "Ready to go home and let me spoil you
rotten, kitten?"

Buffy sighed, laying her head on shoulder. "To-
tally ready," she said.

When the door closed behind them, the dental
assistant and the receptionist just stood there
staring at it.

"SHE is the luckiest girl on the face of the
planet," the receptionist murmured.

"Oh, man.." the assistant whined. "That was
SO romantic. Why are all the gorgeously sexy
knights in shining armor taken, anyway?"

The receptionist shrugged. "Because there
aren't enough of them," she said. "They're a
vanishing breed."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Still feeling all right, kitten?"

"Uh-huh."

"Want me to put you down now? No one's
looking."

"No, I'm fine," Buffy said quickly. "Unless you
WANT to put me down.  Am I too heavy?"

Spike chuckled. "Yeah, too heavy. That's you
all right. I'm staggering under the load."  He
pressed his cheek against the soft crown of her
hair. "Silly little girl."

"Good," Buffy murmured sleepily. "Let's go
home."

Such wonderfully enticing words. As though HER
home was THEIR home.

<If only, kitten...if only...>


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End of part two

---------------------------------