Title: Caught Between Two Lovers
Author: Pattyanne
           snapkik@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Not mine
Feedback : All I can get!
Summary: Takes place early second
season. I've changed the facts of
School Hard to suit me. For the
purpose of this story, Angel never
existed and Spike is a bit different.


Part Eleven....

Ever Since The World Began

     ~~~~~

"I'll never know what brought me here
 As if somebody led my hand
 It seems I hardly had to steer
 My course was planned..."

     ~~~~~

Buffy sat on the floor in the middle of her dish-
eveled room, tying her shoes.  She glanced at
the clock, happy to see that it was nearly nine.

That meant he would be back soon.

After spending the entire day here with her, he
had left at 7:00, promising to return by nine to
take her to the carnival.

Although she knew that the reason he'd had to
leave had been Drusilla, she was trying very
hard to push that information to the very back of
her mind and not think about it.

Easier to say than to do.

Tying the final knot in her shoelace, she jumped
to her feet and fished her weapons bag from the
closet.  After packing all her necessities, she
took the bag downstairs and left it by the front
door.

When the bell rang, she took a quick last look
in the mirror and pulled the door open.

William stepped in and yanked her into
his arms. "Hello, darling. Did you miss me?"

Before she could think up a reply, he lunged
forward and kissed her until her head was dizzy.

When he finally released her, she was nearly
unable to keep her knees in working order.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Uh-huh. Ready to go," she nodded. "Where
are we going?"

"Carnival..vampires..remember?"

"Oh! That's right," Buffy said, still a little dazed. "They
go to ride the tilt-a-whirl and...and eat cotton candy. Is
THAT what you said?"  She shook her head to clear
it. "That doesn't sound right."

He smiled. "It's close enough. Let's go."


     ~~~~~

"And destiny, it guides us all
 And by it's hand, we rise and fall
 But only for a moment
 Time enough to catch our breath.."

     ~~~~~

Once they were inside the front gate, she paused
to take it all in. She loved carnivals, loved every-
thing about them, and they were particularly pretty
at night when all the neon was glowing in every
color of the spectrum.

The squeals of laughing children coming from the
midway; the scent of the diesel fuel used for the
rides and the hum of their powerful motors; the tinny
rock music echoing from speakers scattered through-
out the grounds; and the "come ons" issued by the
carny workers running the games of chance.

In the aisle where the food vendors were set up,
there was something for everybody, from the ordinary
hot dog and hamburger stands to the more exotic
fare from various countries around the world.

Cotton candy, popcorn, deep fried potato chips,
sno-cones, funnel cake, candied apples, cinnamon
buns the size of a dinner plate...a junk food
lovers paradise.

It was perfect for her.

"Are you hungry, angelface?"

She smiled up at him. "Is the sky blue?"

He squeezed her hand. "What do you fancy first,
then?"

Buffy sighed. "Decisions, decisions."

"Well, we could start at one end and work our
way to the other," he suggested.

"Stop," she gave him a little push. "I don't have
THAT big an appetite."

He shrugged. "All right...we'll skip every other
one."

"I STILL couldn't eat all....is THAT fudge?"

She towed him along by the hand over to the
candy makers booth.

"I thought you came here to slay vampires,"
he teased.

"Well, yeah," she grinned, "but I work better
on a full stomach."

He turned her around to look at him. "Didn't you
have any dinner?"

"Oh...yeah," she stammered. "Of course I did. I
had..I...well, no. Not exactly."

"Not exactly?"

"I was saving my appetite." She laced her fingers
with his. "After all," she said appealingly, "half
the fun of a carnival is pigging out on junk food."

"Hmm." He squeezed her hand and walked her
away from the chocolate display. "How about we
put something a little more substantial in your
stomach first?"

"Okay," she agreed, trotting alongside him. "There's
a corndog stand over there. I could...what?"

He pulled her to a halt. "That's not what I had in
mind."

"Nachos?"

"No."

"Pizza! You can't complain about pizza. It's
got cheese and vegetables on it."

He smiled. "Vegetables?"

"Yeah," she said brightly. "Mushrooms."

Biting the inside of his cheek, he shook
his head. "All right..pizza it is."

"And then fudge?"

He nodded in surrender. "And cotton
candy."

Buffy laughed. "And a caramel apple?"

'You're gonna make yourself sick," he
observed.

She shook her head. "I never get sick. My
mom says I have a cast iron stomach."

"Good thing for a slayer to have, I s'pose."

"Well," she amended. "I never get sick because
of junk food. Slaying still makes me queasy
sometimes. Not vampires, cause they're just
stab and poof..."

He placed his hand on his chest. "Ouch."

"But other things," she went on. "Like this one
demon I killed a few months ago. He was running
around town eating everyones pets. All the puppies
and kittens were disappearing!"

She almost sounded more horrified by the idea
of the pets being swallowed than by the killing
of human beings.

"I had to go after it when it tried to grab a kid
in the park. Well, it turns out to be a total coward
and that's why it only attacked small, helpless
things. So, it saw me coming and figured since I
was small, I must be..."

"Helpless?" he interjected.

'Yeah!" She giggled. "When he figured out what was
going on, he ran off. I chased after him and when I
finally caught up with him...ugh!  He was like this
blobby sort of jellyfish thing, with eyes that stuck
out on stalks...three of them!"

"And then what happened?" he prompted,
fascinated by the tale.

"Oh, it was awful!" she said dramatically. "He smelled
like old garbage that's been rotting in the sun for a
week and I had to kill it by breaking it's neck." She
made a face. "After it was dead, I was just covered
with this slimy ooze and stuff...and I threw up all over
my brand new shoes."

Sitting down at a picnic bench, he pulled her
down on his lap and kissed her. "Poor baby," he con-
soled. "Remind me to take you shopping for some
proper slay wear."

Buffy smiled and kissed him back. "I thought you
were gonna feed me," she reminded him.

He nodded. "You sit tight," he said, shifting her
off his lap. "I'll be right back. Oh," he added
turning back, "What do you like on pizza, sweetheart?"

"Everything," she said, stuffing her bag under the
table.

"Everything it is then."

As he turned to walk away, she stopped him.

"Except for those little fish pieces! I don't like
those."

"All right."

Three feet further on, she added. "And no green peppers,
either."

"Got it."

"And onions!  No onions."

"Yes, darling."

"And to tell you the truth," she said. "I can live without
the mushrooms, too."

He stopped and came back. "Anything else you
DON'T want on it?"

She thought about it, quite seriously. "Um...no ham or
pineapple...and if the sausage looks greasy, then
no sausage, either."

"So, basically," he said patiently. "All you want on
it is pepperoni."

"Basically," she nodded agreeably. "Am I being too
difficult?"

Looking down into her guileless green eyes, he
melted. "No, angel. You're not a bit difficult. I want to
please you in every way possible."  He leaned over
and kissed her lightly on the lips. "I'll be right back."


     ~~~~~

"And we're just another piece of the puzzle
 Just another part of the plan
 How one life touches the other
 Is so hard to understand.."

     ~~~~~


He placed her food in front of her, then bent
down to steal another kiss. "You eat up, angel.
I'll be right back."

She looked up at him. "Where are you going?"

"Not far, I promise. I'll be back before you miss
me."

Buffy gestured at the pizza. "You don't expect me
to eat all this by myself, do you?"

Although he was quite certain that she was
fully capable of it, he shook his head. "Just eat
as much as you want, honey, and then I'll ply
you with sweets."

She gave in as graciously as she could, and
he turned and disappeared into the crowd.

It didn't take him long to find what he was looking
for, because it wasn't very far away from where he
had just been.

Doubling back, he came up behind his quarry
and grabbed it, yanking it back into the shadows.

"Well, well, well," he said, his eyes blazing gold
fire as he gave the smaller vampire a good shaking.
"And just what are YOU up to?"

The young vampire struggled briefly, then gave in
when it became apparent that fighting was useless.
He was hopelessly outmatched.

The vampire couldn't have been more than seventeen
or eighteen at the time of his turning. He had a mop of
dirty red curls and a face full of freckles. Had it not
been for his vampire features, he could have played
Tom Sawyer in his school play.

"What's your problem, man?" he squeaked. "I'm
not bothering you!"

"That's true," Spike said. "You're not bothering me..
yet."  Releasing the youth from his grip, he stepped
in front of him to prevent him leaving. "But I have a
job for you. Be smart...and do exactly what you're
told...and you just might make it out of here with
all your parts intact."

The other vampire settled down, and Spike relaxed
his hold on him. "What's your name?"

"Anthony," the boy muttered.

"Anthony," Spike repeated. "Come and see some-
thing, Anthony."  He guided the young vamp to a
spot where he could observe the crowd, then
nudged him roughly forward. "Do you see that girl
sitting over there?" he asked, gesturing in Buffy's
direction.

"Which girl?" Anthony replied. "There's about a
thousand of them out there."

"THAT girl," Spike said through clenched teeth, as
he took hold of the boy's head and turned it, none
too gently, in Buffy's direction. "The pretty one wearing
jeans and a red blouse."

Anthony looked. "You mean the one with pizza
sauce on her face?"

Spike turned his head so the other vampire wouldn't
see him smile. "Yeah, that's the one."

The young vamp took a longer look, then grinned
lewdly. "Nice rack," he commented.

It took every ounce of restraint Spike could summon
up not to tear Anthony's head off and shove it up
his ass.

"You never mind about that," he warned. "Just take
a good look at her face. Memorize it."

Anthony began to get impatient. "So? What about it?"

"Do you know who she is?" Spike asked.

The boy shook his head. "I'm new around here. Why?
She someone special?"

Spike chuckled. "Has anyone told you about Slayers
yet?"

Anthony looked in Buffy's direction again. "THAT'S
the slayer?" he asked, snickering. "That little girl?"

Spike looked at him. "That little girl could take you
apart and put you back together again without break-
ing a sweat."

About to laugh again, Anthony got one look at the
expression on Spike's face and smothered his mirth.
"The slayer, huh?"

"Mm-hmm. Do yourself a favor, Anthony. Round up
all your little playmates and disappear. I'd advise you
to leave Sunnydale completely, but I doubt you're
smart enough to do it, so just get the hell out of
here."  Spike gave him a shove. "This is the only
warning you're gonna get."

Anthony backed up a few feet, straightening his
clothes. He hadn't been undead for very long, but
he knew better than to question or challenge a
master vampire.

He turned to leave, but Spike caught him again.

"One more thing, Anthony. You pass the word to
whoever you can...stay away from the slayer. She
belongs to me. Anyone that touches her is gonna
die a real nasty, painful death. A permanent one."

As he watched the younger vampire scamper off,
Spike knew he was under the impression that he
had ordered Buffy off limits so that HE could be the
one to kill her.

He didn't care, though. He would do or say whatever
was needed.

Spike was well aware of the fact that he couldn't
always keep her safe, but tonight the only vampire
she was going to see was himself.

Later, if circumstances required it, he would claim her
publicly and deal with the fall out then.

The fall out....and Drusilla.

     ~~~~~

"Still, we walk this road together
 We travel, go as far as we can
 And we have waited for this moment
 Ever since the world began..."

     ~~~~~

An hour later, they had scoured every inch of
the carnival grounds twice and found nothing.

Anthony had apparently taken the warning
he'd been given and passed it along. The only
vampire left in the vicinity was the one holding
the slayer's hand tightly in his own.

"I think you and Giles must be wrong about this
carnival business," Buffy said. "I haven't seen a
single vamp all night..except for you," she smiled,
pressing her cheek against his bicep.

"You may be right, angel."

Turning from "Spike" back to "William", he had
returned to Buffy just in time to see her depositing
her trash in the container. When she sat back down
and took her hairbrush from her bag, he had come
up behind her and dangled in front of her a gold
chain with a delicate crystal heart hanging from it.

She had been as thrilled with the gift as though he'd
presented her with the Star of India Sapphire, and had
thanked him effusively. In fact, she had kissed him
so sweetly and thoroughly that he'd made a mental
note to present her with a diamond at the first oppor-
tunity.

Assuming that his absence had to do with the
purchase of the necklace, she hadn't questioned him
about where he'd gone off to.

"I think we should call it a night, love," he
suggested. "There's nothing going on around
here."

"But we don't have to go, do we?" she asked.

"Course not," he said, kissing the top of her
head. "Let's just relax and have a little fun."

Buffy dragged him from one place to another,
enjoying herself as fully as any child there did.

He kept his promise and bought her cotton candy
and an entire pound of fudge, taking advantage
of the sugary taste by kissing her sticky lips as
often as possible, then licking them clean with his
tongue.

Showing off for her on the midway, he knocked down
stacks of iron milk bottles that were never meant
to be knocked down, and certainly couldn't be by
an average person.

Although she was quite equal in strength, she didn't
feel like showing it and was content to "ooh" and
"ahh" over him, as though she was completely amazed
by his manly prowess.

It wasn't long before they attracted an audience. The
carny running the ball throw was almost purple with
anger every time he had to hand over another stuffed
animal, but the girls standing around watching were
more bothersome to Buffy.

With his shirt sleeves rolled up, and his muscles
flexing every time he pitched a ball, her lover was an
impressive sight, and Buffy couldn't help feeling a  bit
show-offy herself.

He completely captivated the girls with his strength
and good looks. Once Buffy was holding a teddy bear,
a unicorn, and a Snoopy, he gallantly handed the rest of
the animals over to the five young ladies applauding
him.

Back at the food vendors, he indulged in a fantasy
he'd had since the first time he had seen her, by
sitting her on his lap and spoon feeding her ice cream
and strawberries.

After they were finished there, she made him take her
to see what was billed as the  "WORLD'S LARGEST
HORSE!"  It was huge, indeed, and Buffy tried to coax
it closer so that she could feed it some hay she'd
picked up from his stall.

As the creature lumbered towards her, William kept
a hand on her belt, prepared to pull her away quickly if
the animal became aggresive and tried to take a bite
out of HER, and not the food she offered it.

But he turned out to be a docile enough beast, and
Buffy laughed like a child when he ate from her hand,
snuffling against her skin with his velvety nose.

Back outside again, he steered her back to the
midway in the direction of the ferris wheel. After
a brief conversation with the ride operator, in which
a twenty dollar bill changed hands, he ushered her
onto the ride and sat beside her, pulling the lap
bar down.

The operator kept everyone else off the wheel,
and after they had gone around enough times to
make Buffy dizzy, he stopped the ride when they
were at the top.

With the city below them lit up in glittering
splendor, Buffy was taken into her lovers
arms and kissed...over and over again.

When she pulled back for air, he buried his
face against the side of her neck.  "I love
you...only you," he whispered. "My little
angel...my love...my wife."

When he tried to kiss her again, she pressed
one hand against his chest. "Let's get down
from here," she said urgently.

He smiled. "Can't wait either, can you?"

She swallowed hard. "Oh, dear."

Taking a closer look, he noticed that she was
flushed and a little sweaty, but she didn't
seem to be pleased about it.  "What's wrong?"

Buffy took a deep breath. "Cotton candy,"
she whimpered.

"What?"

"Fudge...pizza...ice cream..." She clapped
one hand over her mouth and her eyes widened
in alarm.

"Oh, God..." he said, then leaned over and
hollered at the ride operator to get them down
immediately.

     ~~~~~

"Taking in the times gone by
 We wonder how it all began
 We'll never know...and still we try
 To understand..."

     ~~~~~

She nearly made it to the women's rest-
room. Fortunately, there was a large trash
can between her and her ultimate goal.

Hanging over the side of it, she emptied the
vile contents of her stomach as William held
her hair away from her face and rubbed her
back.

"S'all right, love...just get it all out," he said
soothingly, angry at himself for indulging every
one of her cravings.

When she was finished, she looked up at him
with her face as red as he'd ever seen it, hor-
ribly embarrassed.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"Baby...you haven't done anything to apologize
for," he assured. "You got sick...that's not your
fault."

"But I feel so stupid," she said, pushing at her
damp hair. "Like a little kid or something."

He gave her a gentle push towards the rest-
room. "Why don't you go and wash your face,
honey...you'll feel a little better."

She nodded and rummaged around in her
bag, extracting a small plastic baggie containing
a toothbrush and a tube of Crest.

When she saw him watching her, she shrugged.
"After I threw up on patrol that night, I started
carrying this in my bag."

He nodded. "Good idea."

She came back out ten minutes later, looking
much better than she had when she'd gone in.

Her hair was neatly brushed and her face was
clean and dry. When he kissed her, there wasn't
a trace of anything on her breath except the
peppermint flavor of the toothpaste.

"Feel better?" he asked, holding out one
hand.

"A lot better."  She slung her bag over her sholder
and took his hand, falling into step beside him as
he headed for the parking lot.  "Except for my
pride."

He stowed the stuffed animals in the trunk of
the car, then came around and made sure she
was all right before closing her door.

When they were a couple of miles down the
road, she scooted across the seat and snuggled
up to him.

"That's better," he said, smiling down at her. "I
knew something wasn't quite right."

The windows were rolled down, and the night
breeze felt good. He turned on the radio and
she fiddled with the buttons until she found a
station playing soft jazz.

"You all right, love?" he asked again.

"Fine," she said, innocently placing one hand
on his upper thigh.

His body tensed. That warm little hand of hers
was so close to where he really wanted it to
go.  "You're sure you're all better?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," she said.

"Don't feel sick at all?"

"No. Everything came out," she shook her head.

<Well....nothing ventured...>

"That's good."  He took his right hand off the
steering wheel and placed it on hers.

When he began to move it up his thigh,
she inhaled sharply and looked at him.

"Ready to learn something new, love?"


     ~~~~~

"And even though the seasons change
 The reasons shall remain the same
 It's love that keeps us holding on
 Till we can see the sun again..."

     ~~~~~



End of part 11