Title: Past Glory Author: Sandy Rating: NC-17 Pairing: Spike/Buffy Spoilers: S5 up to Tough Love, AU after that although elements of S6 will appear throughout the story. Disclaimer: Alas, not mine, I just borrow them occasionally Feedback: Gives me the warm fuzzies A/N: For the purposes of this story, the Knights of Byzamtium, although suspecting that the Slayer is protecting the Key are not aware that Dawn is the Key. Chapter 15 They stopped by Spike's crypt to pick up Dawn. Spike opted to stay behind rather than go with them to Buffy's house. He'd been unusually quiet since they left Warren's hideout. Buffy was concerned but had no option but to return to the house with Dawn and Xander. Willow and Tara were just getting home as they drove up. They looked at Buffy's outfit with shock and then listened wide-eyed as they were filled in on the evening's happenings. "But you're okay, Buffy?" Willow asked with concern. Buffy nodded. She had changed out of the maid's outfit and back into her own clothes. "I was just starting to come out of the trance or whatever it was when Spike and Xander broke in. He hadn't managed to get me to do anything yet, but it was close." Buffy shuddered. "It's a good thing you guys showed up when you did, Xan," Buffy added. "I don't know what Warren would have done once he realized I was coming to. I don't think he would have wanted me to regain control over myself." "All in a day's work, Buff," Xander smiled. Buffy smiled back at him. They were sorting through the material they'd taken from Warren's house. Buffy looked at the mess and then stood up. "Look, guys, I hate to leave you with this, but I really need to go talk to Spike." "Buffy," Xander said haltingly, "I know he bit Warren and all, but it was extenuating circumstances. Go easy on the guy, okay?" "Yeah, I will, Xander," Buffy smiled gently. "Don't wait up, okay, Dawn? This talk may take awhile." "Buffy," Dawn said worriedly. "It'll be okay, Dawnie, I promise." She walked into Spike's crypt to find him slumped in his chair staring straight ahead at nothing, a bottle of whiskey hanging loosely from his fingers. "Come to stake me, Slayer?" Buffy walked up to him and removed the bottle from his hand, setting it on the floor. "I don't usually stake my heroes, Spike." Spike gave a mirthless laugh. "Some hero. I promise you I'll act like a man and at the very first trial, I go for the jugular." Buffy straddled his lap. Putting her hands of either side of his face, she titled his head up until he was looking into her eyes. "You want to know a secret, Spike? If the roles had been reversed, I'd have gone for the jugular too." Spike looked at her in surprise. Buffy looked back at him tenderly. "I'm not saying it's okay for you to attack like that every time I'm in danger from a human," she said with a small smile, "but coming into that room, seeing what you saw, well I'll give you a little leeway for being a bit upset." Spike traced the side of her face. "Did he hurt you, Buffy? Did he..." Buffy shook her head. "No, you and Xander got there in time, Spike. Nothing happened except he made me put on that stupid maid's outfit." Spike wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to him. "Thank God." Burying his head in her neck, he groaned out, "I wanted to kill him, Buffy. I still want to kill him." "I know, Spike." She held him tightly for a long while until she felt him begin to relax. "Do you know what I want, Spike?" "What, love?" "I want you to take me downstairs and make me forget about everything but you and me." Spike pulled her to him for an urgent kiss. Wiggling off his lap, she took his hand and led him to the ladder to the lower level. They rapidly made the descent and then there was only kissing and touching and the hurried removal of clothing. They tumbled onto the bed together, neither one willing to let loose of the other. Buffy needed him inside her, needed to join with him, needed to breathe him in to wash away the stench of Warren Meers from her nostrils. Opening to him, she reached down and guided him to her. Spike slid home and then went still. They held each other tightly, unmoving, feeling only the joining of their bodies. When Spike at last began to move, Buffy titled her head back to give him access to her neck. Spike found her pulse and ran his lips along the sensitive skin. They moved together slowly at first, mouths meeting, hands sliding over skin until the forces began to build. When they came, Buffy felt cleansed. *** Buffy spent the next day dividing her time between schoolwork and shifting through the things taken from Warren's the night before. Most of it consisting of diagrams and schematics and what appeared to be blueprints made no sense to her so she just tried to put it into piles for Willow to look over later. Late in the afternoon, she finished an assignment she'd been working on for school and stood up with a stretch. Wandering into the living room where Tara and Willow were reading through some of the confiscated material she said, "I think I'm going to go over to Warren's house, see if he took my advice and left town. Then I'm going to do an early patrol. All this demon activity..." "I don't think you'll have that problem anymore, Buffy," Willow interrupted. "Look at this." She handed Buffy a loose-leaf binder. Buffy flipped through a few of the pages and then looked at Willow in surprise. "This is a catalog of demons." "Yep. And since Tucker Wells was a demon summoner, I'm thinking the talent runs in the family." Buffy stared at her friend. "You mean you think that the geeky little kid in Warren's gang was summoning all the demons that have been running me ragged this past week?" "Positive. Look, Buffy, here's an entry for The Swarm." Buffy glanced down to where Willow was pointing and her eyes turned frosty. "He called that thing? Called something that would put everyone in such pain?" Buffy stood stiffly and her fists clenched. "I had to wear garlic juice! Spike couldn't stand to be around me for days." At the confused looks from her friends, she stammered out, "Y-you know how much Spike bitches and complains. It was really hard to patrol with him like that." The girls laughed then, accepting Buffy's explanation for her rather odd statement. Deciding that she'd best leave the house before she said anything else incriminating, Buffy gathered a few weapons and left. When she reached Warren's house, the first thing she noticed was that the van was gone. Walking around to the rear of the house, she saw that the broken door had been propped shut. Peering in through a small window, she could see nothing in the darkened cellar. "Can I help you?" Buffy swung around to face a woman whose looks left no doubt she was Warren's mother. "Uh, hi. I was just looking for Warren." "He's moved out," the woman said. "I came home from bingo last night and he and his friends were loading their things into Warren's van." Making a face she added, "And I must say those boys left me quite a mess to clean up in that basement." She shook her head, a look of long-suffering on her face. "I don't know why my son is so inconsiderate. It isn't the way his father and I raised him." Buffy felt guilty since she was the one who'd made the mess. "Uh, do you know where Warren and the others went?" "No, I'm sorry. I'm sure he'll call me once he gets settled though." "Okay, thanks. It was nice meeting you." "If I hear from Warren, do you want me to let him know you were here to see him?" "Sure. Tell him Buffy was checking up on him." As she walked back down the street, Buffy realized that she really didn't have any pressing business to take care of. A smile graced her face as she turned towards a particular cemetery and a particular vampire. *** "So, Anya," Xander said to his girlfriend. "I've been thinking about what you said about Buffy." Anya looked up from the order form she was completing. "What did I say about Buffy?" "That she was lonely." "I never said she was lonely." "Well, you said she needed a boyfriend." Anya sighed. "No, Xander, what I actually said is that she needed to have sex. Must you put everything so delicately?" "It's just my way, Ahn," he said dryly. "Anyway, what I was getting at is there's a guy on my crew, name of Richard. Seems nice and I think he and Buffy would hit it off, so I invited him to Buffy's birthday party next Saturday." "Is he an overly large man?" "No, kind of medium." Anya frowned. "I'm not sure she'll like him then. You know she prefers men who are large and hulking." "She dated Scott Hope in high school. He wasn't large and hulking." "True," Anya said with a shrug. "I guess it won't hurt. I just hope he is a man who can fulfill her sexually. Slayers are different from regular women. He will need to have great stamina and athletic abilities." "Okay, I think this conversation has just wandered into an area I'd rather not go." "You're such a child, Xander," Anya muttered as she returned to her order form. *** Buffy opened the door and entered to find Spike sitting in his chair, reading a book. As he'd done once before, as soon as he saw the Slayer, he hid the book under the cushion of his chair. This time, Buffy wasn't going to let it pass. "What were you reading?" "Nothing." "It wasn't nothing, Spike. You were reading a book and you hid it as soon as I came in. Now what was it?" She was next to him by now and reached down to grab the book. "Hey, leave off. It's none of your business, Slayer." He grabbed at her hand, but couldn't really do much. The chip started giving him a twinge as soon as he tried to push her hand away. Grasping the book, she pulled it out and looked at the title. Opening the book, she slowly turned the pages, stopping to read a little now and then. "It's poetry." "Yeah." "You read poetry?" "Yeah. Now give it over." She kept hold of the book, but sat down on the arm of his chair and leaned into him. His arm automatically slipped around her back. Still leafing through the book she said softly, "I like poetry too." "You do?" "Uh huh. It's one of my favorite courses at school." "I didn't know that." Buffy handed the book back to him and said, "Read to me." Spike took the book and placed it on the floor and then pulled Buffy onto his lap. She immediately curled into him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Wrapping his arms around her, he began to recite: Stars, you are unfortunate, I pity you, Beautiful as you are, shining in your glory, Who guide seafaring men through stress and peril And have no recompense from gods or mortals, Love you do not, nor do you know what love is. Hours that are aeons urgently conducting Your figures in a dance through the vast heaven, What journey have you ended in this moment, Since lingering in the arms of my beloved I lost all memory of you and midnight. She was looking at him with soft eyes. Tracing her fingers down the side of her face, she said, "More." Looking deeply into her eyes, his voice rich with meaning, he quoted: In that book which is My memory . . . On the first page That is the chapter when I first met you Appear the words . . . Here begins a new life He lowered his head then and took her lips. She responded with all the emotion she felt but could not express in words. When the kiss ended, Spike held her close and recited verse after verse of beautiful poetry. And when they made love, Buffy felt as if her heart would burst from the tenderness she felt for this monster, this man. A/N: The first poem Spike recited was Night Thoughts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The second was La Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri