Chapter 4.02
Spike's eyes were drawn to those of the sullen teenager
in the back seat. Of course, since he was observing her in the rear view
mirror, she had no way to be absolutely sure, but she played up to it
anyway. She hunched up her whole body maximising her own discomfort as
well as passing on her intended message.
"Okay, Bit. I'm sorry." The vampire didn't
sound particularly remorseful, more a kind of low-grade pissed off and
majorly tired. "The woman I loved for a hundred years is dead because
I walked away and left her, and I had the unmitigated cheek to try to
forget about it for a few minutes without getting your say so first. How
terribly indelicate of me."
Put like that, Dawn's objections sounded rather petty,
but this was a teenager. The one-time key grunted in response. "Sure.
And every other time?"
"Every other time, it was because I happen to love
your sister and find her damn near irresistible."
"So that's supposed to make it alright?"
"You'd rather I lied to you? You want me to start
feeding you a heap of bullshit every time I open my gob, then just say
so. I'm sure I can oblige.
You want me to tell you it'll never happen again, that
we're going to never lay hand on each other except behind locked doors,
then I can. It'll be a damn lie, but if you want the mushroom treatment,
all you have to do is say so."
Buffy could see the flecks of gold that swam in his eyes
like an early warning beacon, and she moved to intercede. Her hand dropped
to rest on top of Spike's as he worked the gearshift, trying to radiate
calm to soothe his warring emotions.
"Dawn, now is not a good time to be getting on Spike's
case. If you want to discuss it, we can talk about it when you get back
from school. For now, just drop the attitude and make your mind up whether
you want a lift to school or not."
"I'm thinking not."
"You want to sulk like a little kid, that's fine,"
Buffy told her. "But don't start complaining because we don't treat
you like an adult.
What time's Brandon coming over tonight?"
"I was thinking he could just bring me home after
school and stick around till it was time to eat." Dawn knew better
than to keep up the sulk fest when she wanted something.
"Not goin' to happen, princess, so forget it."
The vampire's response brooked no argument.
"And when did you get a say in it? Buffy's the one
that they made my guardian, not you."
"And at the minute that's something I'm eternally
grateful for. D'you want your sister to run herself ragged tryin' to sort
out some sort of fancy meal all on her own when she's been up all bloody
night?"
"What's that got to do with anything? And Tara would
help, anyway."
"It has everything to do with it. I can't help her
out, if he's around when it's still daylight. Can I?"
"And I'm supposed to have no life because my sister's
dating the undead?"
Buffy pulled a couple of notes from her purse. "Tell
him we want some time to get everything ready. Go see a movie or hang
out at the mall, but don't come back before eight."
"Seven," the vampire corrected. "On the
front doorstep at seven, exactly."
Buffy gave the vampire a curious look. "I guess
it's seven, then. Something I should know?"
"I told Clem I'd see him later, pet."
"Poker?"
"Something like that," was as much information
as the vampire was prepared to disclose.
"Are you hiding something?" the slayer asked.
"Might be," he admitted, as the car pulled
up into the driveway alongside the Summers house.
Buffy gave him an assessing glance, as Dawn got out slamming
her door, and the vampire made preparations for the dash to the house.
"I don't know what you're up to, but I guess I just have to trust
you." She leant in to place a kiss as light as a breeze on his lips.
"Stay where you are. I'll open the back door. It's
not so far, and it's more under cover and that way the neighbours don't
start to wonder if my boyfriend's the next candidate for spontaneous,
human combustion."
Spike smirked. "You get a lot of that round here,
do you?"
"Not since Xander's demon guy left, but it is
the Hellmouth, you know. And then who knows how many vampires have been
written up like that? Having said that, our neighbours have gotten real
good at ignoring just about anything, so we probably don't need to worry."
"If I still had the gem of Amara, I might be tempted
to put that to the test." Spike's eyes darted briefly to the backyard
lawn before travelling a leisurely path down Buffy's form and back up.
By the time his gaze returned to Buffy's face, she was flushed, and her
breath was slightly uneven, and the vampire's tone became even more sultry.
"Of course we haven't actually checked what effects Xander's marbles
might have on vampire sunburn. Maybe, we should conduct an experiment."
"Can't you even control that libido of yours for
ten minutes till Dawn leaves? And I am not about to get down and dirty
with you in the middle of the backyard in broad daylight." Buffy
barely managed to stifle a yawn, and this seemed to galvanise Spike into
action.
"Go on, pet. If you don't hurry up, sun'll be right
up before we get tucked up in bed, an' right now I think you're more in
need of sleep than anything else."
Buffy couldn't argue, but she still seemed reluctant
to leave him even for the few minutes it would take to open the back door.
"Promise you'll be here when I get back?"
"Do I look like a mirage or somethin'? You're stuck
with me now, love. From now to kingdom come."
"Good." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek
before finally opening the car door and rushing for the front door as
if she were the one who would catch fire in the first light of dawn.
Buffy ignored her sister as the teenager bitched on the
phone to the new love of her life. She headed straight for the back door
instead. Spike was waiting beneath the shade of the porch when she opened
up, their luggage and shopping from the weekend all around his feet. With
a tug on his lapels she pulled the unprotesting vamp into the shelter
of the kitchen before grabbing and kicking their things until they all
lay inside the house.
"Will you stop taking chances, you fool?" she asked him
as she stepped into his arms, her arms wrapping around his neck.
"Probably not," Spike admitted as he scooped her up,
carrying her past her outraged sister and up the stairs.
Buffy gave in. She was too tired to argue, with him or
her sister. Instead she let her head drop onto his shoulder, allowing
him take charge for a while. When they reached her room, the vampire laid
her down on the bed, noting the blankets that still hung over the window
openings. He pulled open the drawer where she kept her night things and
tossed her one of the black satin pyjama tops he had given her and a pair
of matching french knickers. For himself, he pulled a pair of pyjama bottoms
from another drawer.
He quickly stripped off his clothes, deliberately staying
on the far side of the room from Buffy until he was covered up again.
More than they needed sex, they needed to sleep and to talk.
Buffy watched Spike as he undressed, his back turned
toward her. She loved watching the muscles play across his back as he
moved. She was so transfixed she didn't even notice the extent of the
healing his body had undergone, even in a few hours. She knew he was keeping
his distance and she knew why, and she smiled to herself, wondering how
she could have ever not been able to see this man for what he was. She
moved tired hands to strip off layers of smoke stained clothing, suddenly
realising that they hadn't changed since they had been at the scene of
the fire.
"We're all grubby. We should have a bath or something."
"Later, love. You need some sleep," Spike assured her.
"But the bedding-"
"Can go in the wash later. Okay?" He tilted his head
forward so that he was looking at her through his lashes. "You need to
just relax. Everything can wait for a few hours. Even me," he added with
a smirk.
Buffy had only got as far as slipping off her coat, and
Spike coaxed her out of her remaining layers of clothing, before he helped
her into her night attire. When he was done he climbed into bed beside
her and pulled her into his arms.
Buffy turned so that she lay with her back to him, and
twined her fingers with his, where they rested against her stomach. His
cheek rubbed against her hair, and she relaxed in his arms. Her body fitted
so perfectly with his, that in minutes they were both fast asleep.
* * * * *
Spike walked the rain-soaked streets of New York. In
his arms, Buffy smiled as he pointed out the landmarks, not those of the
tourist's city, but those of someone who had spent long years there. The
clubs and pubs he had frequented. Each one was accompanied by a list of
bands he'd seen, anecdotes of a time before Buffy had even been born.
And always, just a few yards behind them, Drusilla followed on, because
they were her stories, too. Even if Spike never said her name, she was
there with every 'we' that slipped from his lips. She followed the couple
everywhere they went, yet the two seemed oblivious.
Their ignorance seemed to make the vampiress grow bolder,
and she followed them closer and closer. In the midnight shadows of Central
Park, they paused at the side of the lake to share a kiss, and the demoness
seemed to finally snap. She grabbed at Spike's shoulder trying to pull
him away from the slayer. In an instant Spike turned to face his attacker,
a stake slipping easily from his sleeve into his hand even as he spun.
Her heart was pierced before he even recognised her. Losing his grip on
the stake, he tried to hold her, tried to grasp her elbows as she collapsed,
but all he was left with was two handfuls of dust.
* * * * *
Buffy awoke with a start, her movements seeming to pull
Spike from his sleep in the same instant. Their limbs were tangled together,
and it was impossible for one to wake without the other. Buffy rolled
over to watch her vampire as he came to. She eased back the covers, so
she could have a better look at Spike's injuries to see if they had improved
any since the previous evening. She was shocked to see that the wounds
no longer looked fresh but were the bright pink of newly healed scar-tissue.
They still stood out against his otherwise smooth, pale skin, but they
no longer looked as if they would be painful.
Her fingers reached out to brush tentatively against
them, her touch becoming firmer when Spike failed to show an adverse reaction.
"This isn't normal, is it?"
Spike looked down at where her hand rested against his
chest. "Not hardly, but I think might be, for a slayer."
"Maybe." Buffy seemed uncertain. "Or maybe,
it's a bit fast even for me. Let me see your back."
The vampire obligingly rolled over. This time Buffy ignored
the burn scars, searching instead, for the other marks she knew should
be there. The puncture wounds were visible only by their slightly shiny
texture in comparison with the rest of Spike's skin. She ran her fingers
over them. "What happened here?"
Spike shrugged. "Crossbows, I think. My attention
was kind of focussed elsewhere at the time."
"And that was about half past ten on Saturday night,
right?"
Spike rolled back over, searching her eyes. "Yeah...
but I don't see how you could know that."
"That would be the bathtub incident." She looked
him in the eyes. "I don't know whether it's automatic, or whether
it was because I was trying to do something... You were gone. I didn't know
whether there was any way to use the link to try to find you, so I was
trying to use some of the meditation techniques Giles taught me, and I
guess that's when it happened.
Dawn says I screamed or something, but I don't remember.
All I know is by the time I came to, I was lying on the bathroom carpet,
and the bath water had a load of blood in it. Dawn said she thought it
was coming from me, but when she dried me off, she couldn't find any marks."
"Oh, love, I'm sorry. You weren't meant to suffer
because of this..." His fingers came to rest against her claim mark.
"I'm not... sorry, I mean. It kept me sane while you
were missing. I got a bit of this." Her fingers brushed against his
temple and his chest. "And I knew you were still around. Maybe, you
were banged up or whatever, but you were still alive."
"And this." He drew her hand through his hair
over the spot where the surgeons had gone in to remove the chip.
"Remember that chat we had in your bathroom on Friday.
Under the circumstances, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth."
She hated the thought that her ex might have bugged her room somehow,
but she just couldn't take a chance. "Let's go, get washed up, and
then maybe we can chat some more."
Only when the water was running full force, did she lean
in to whisper in his ear. "No one knows except you, me and Angel.
I haven't mentioned it to anyone, and I don't think we should. That's
partly because I trust you enough that I don't think it's an issue, but
part of it is because, if we're right about Riley, then once the gang
know, sooner or later he and whoever he's working for will know, too.
If they ever do come after Dawn, and they think you're not a threat... I
guess they'll find out how wrong they are."
"You don't think it's an issue?" Spike whispered
between nibbles on her earlobe.
"The way I see it, all it means is you can defend
yourself. I believe in you. I think you made a choice to live this life.
If you had really wanted to go back to how things were, you would have
found a way. You're here now because it's what you want, and maybe without
it, there'll be an added element of temptation, but I have faith in you.
I have faith in us."
"You know, before I realised it was just you, I
thought... I mean I tried."
Buffy placed a finger on his lips. "Are you happy?"
"I reckon I'm about as happy as I've been in the
best part of century and a half."
"Then as long as we keep things that way, why would
you want to go back to how things were?"
Spike looked at her with wonderment. "You really
think it's that simple?"
"It's that simple if that's the way we make it,"
Buffy confirmed.
"And Bitlet? We don't even tell her?"
"I don't think we can afford to. It's the old thing
about if we trust Dawn, we're trusting everyone she trusts, and right
now we don't know enough about the people that might fall into that category
to take a chance." Buffy gave a shrug.
"So, that's it. No lectures, no warnings?"
"I think you know what I'll do if I have to. I also
think you'd never make me have to do it. So what's the point?"
Spike almost couldn't believe the massive vote of confidence
Buffy was giving him. If it was at all possible, he loved her more that
minute than he had before, and pulling her close, he whispered in her
ear, telling her exactly that.