CHAPTER EIGHT
 
Spike’s attempt to appear casual as he asked the question was belied by the gleam in his eye. Buffy shook her head and laughed.
 
“I don’t know, Spike. What do you wanna do?” she said in a sing-song voice.
 
“I don’t know, what do you wanna do, Slayer?” he sing-songed back at her, walking toward her and licking his lips.
 
“I dunno, what do you wanna do?” Buffy moved toward him, hips swaying and a small smile on her face.
 
“What do you wanna do?”
 
As they exchanged rhetorical questions, they were getting closer and closer together, ending up almost touching as Buffy whispered, “I don’t know. What do you—” Spike’s response, before she could finish, was to fasten his mouth on hers and resume the bone-melting kisses that had earlier sent them hastening back to crypt.
 
In spite of his obvious need, which Buffy couldn’t miss as it pushed against her hip, Spike seemed content to allow her to set the pace, kissing her into silence every time she tried to say something. Only when his hands slid under her shirt was she able to tear her mouth away long enough to speak. As soon as she broke the kiss, he froze, the hand that had been stroking her skin no longer moving and the one on her bra snatched away. “I wa—” was as far as she got before he was kissing her again. This time, she gave him a little shove when she tore her mouth away – after more kissing – and before he could pull her in again she said, “What’s wrong with you? Do you think if you keep kissing me, it’ll stop me from saying no?”
 
He sighed and looked away. “I dunno. Maybe? Seems like that’s usually what we’re doing when you... and then when we aren’t, you don’t....”
 
Buffy touched his cheek, smiling at him when he turned his eyes back to hers. “You’re a very, very good kisser. But if I wasn’t already thinking about.... which I was... am... we wouldn’t be kissing in the first place. So it’s perfectly safe to let me breathe once in a while. I’m not going anywhere.”
 
“Promise?” he said, his face brightening. “And just so you know, I love kissin’ you. Would do it anyway, if that’s what you wanted. I’d do it even if that was all you wanted—” He stopped, panic lurking in his eyes. “It isn’t is it? I mean, it’s fine if it is, but—”
 
“How can one vampire be so cocky and so insecure at the same time?” She stepped closer and put her arms around his neck, whispering the words into his ear.
 
“It’s a gift,” he mumbled into the soft skin of her throat as he tightened his embrace once more.
 
“How about if we grab the sheets off your dead-guy’s bed there and take them downstairs with us?”
 
“I’m on it.”
 
He released her with one more lingering kiss, keeping one hand in his so he could pull her in for more quick kisses until her impatient “Really, Spike?” made it clear that he wasn’t moving as quickly as he could.
 
“Sorry. I just can’t believe you want... and then I want to.... but it’s entirely up to you, and—”
 
Buffy yanked her hand away from him and grabbed the sheets off the sarcophagus, muttering to herself as she walked toward the entrance to his bedroom.
 
“Right then. Shut up, Spike.”  He hurried to get in front of her. “Let me go down first. You can throw those down to me. I don’t want you to fall.” He disappeared down the open hole, making no sound when he landed on the soft rugs below. “Okay, Slayer. Just drop them down here.”
 
She threw the wadded up bedding down to him, then made her way down the makeshift ladder. Several of the candles had guttered out while they were above ground, leaving the area unlit except for the flickering of the two remaining candles. Spike had tossed the sheets onto the mattress and yanked them into some sort of order, but quickly left them to join her.
 
“Are you going to start kissing me again?” Buffy asked, raising one eyebrow at him.
 
“Could if you wanted me to,” he replied, brushing a finger over her lips. “But I was thinking more about getting you naked and then kissing you—all over.”
 
“That sounds like a plan....” She stepped into his arms and raised her face for a kiss anyway. “Just one more....” The one more led to another one, and Buffy soon lost track of how many kisses there had been, just barely registering that Spike had picked her up and walked backwards with her to the bed. He fell backwards, and Buffy let her legs slide open as she sprawled on top of him.
 
This time, there was no interruption as Spike’s hands quickly unfastened her bra. He slide them around to the front, to find Buffy already sitting up and removing her shirt and loose bra. He stared at her for a few seconds, barely breathing as he said, “Just as perfect as I remembered...” Her hands tugging on his tee-shirt had him sitting up far enough for her to skin it over his head. He moaned when she dropped down on him again and began kissing his bare chest and licking his nipples.  When she grabbed one nipple in her teeth and bit down, he growled his pleasure.
 
“Didn’t know you’d remember that,” he gasped as she switched her attention to the other one.
 
“Just ‘cause it was a spell, doesn’t mean I don’t remember it,” she said, lifting her head up. “I know you like that.”
 
“You know what else I like?” Without waiting for an answer, he rolled her off and began to unbutton her jeans. His mouth followed his hands as he pushed them down far enough for Buffy to hook her toes on one leg and push them the rest of the way off. When he used his fangs to bite through her bikini panties, she pushed her hips up.
 
“I’m not sure I remember,” she gasped. “Maybe you can remind me....”
 
“My pleasure, love. You just lie back and enjoy.”
 
When Buffy had arched up off the bed at least three times, and was lying loose-limbed and humming with contentment, he kissed his way up to her neck and began to suck on it.
 
“I think I can safely say I enjoyed.... so much I might just fall asleep,” she murmured, completely unbothered by the fact that William the Bloody was sucking just over her jugular.  His only response was a soft chuckle as he continued to pull the blood to the surface. For several minutes the only sound in the room was Spike’s soft sucking and Buffy’s contented hum.  “You’re giving me the world’s worst hickey, aren’t you?” she said finally, with no trace of anger.
 
“I’m giving you the world’s best hickey,” he corrected, taking his mouth off her neck to speak. “This love bite will be the envy of everybody.” He rolled over just far enough to be able to admire his handiwork.
 
“You’ll be dust in a pan if Giles or Xander sees it,” she said, turning just her head to glare at him. “I’m going to have to wear turtlenecks for a while.”
 
“Does it matter who sees it?” he asked carefully, the effort he’d put into sounding casual perfectly obvious by his sudden stillness as he waited for her answer.
 
Buffy sighed and rolled over to face him. She put one hand on his cheek and stroked it. “It might,” she admitted. “I kinda thought we’d work our way up to PDAs – you know, a little bit at a time? Give everybody time to get used to the idea that we... we’re.... Crap. I still don’t know what to call us.”
 
“ Jus’ ‘us’ works for me,” he said, dropping a kiss on her shoulder. “Do we have to have a label?” He continued kissing his way off her shoulder and down her arm. “Can’t we just be ‘us’?”
 
“I’m not sure how that’s going to work. ‘Hi, Mom. This is Spike and he’s my....us’?”
 
“Your mum already knows who I am. It’s not like you’re going to have to introduce me. And she’s not stupid. She’ll figure it out.”
 
“Okay,” she pulled her arm away and sat up. “That wasn’t a good example. We’ll worry about it later. Right now....” She reached down and gave his cock a squeeze, smiling at the way his eyes rolled back in his head. “I’m remembering some of the other things you like,” she said, beginning to pull on it the way he’d shown her to when they were under Willow’s spell.
 
Even though their activities those two days had been spell-induced, the sensations they felt and the things they’d learned about each other’s bodies had been perfectly real. And neither of them had forgotten anything. They slid into a comfortable give and take as if they’d been making love together for years, sharing the pleasure in equal measure as they reacquainted themselves with each other’s body and its erogenous zones.
 
 
 
Buffy was straddling Spike, enjoying the way he felt inside her, but taking a break from their very vigorous pursuit of yet more and stronger orgasms.  As she sat there, perfectly comfortable at their nudity and their intimate connection, she toyed with his nipples, giggling at his growls when she pinched them.
 
“You know you like that. Why are you growling at me? Is that some vampire thing?”
 
“I growl when I’m turned on, you should know that by now, Slayer.”
 
“I have a name,” she said, suddenly serious. “Slayer is what I am, not who I am.”
 
“It’s just what I’ve always called you. What’s wrong with it?” He frowned at her, putting his hands on her hips in case she was planning to move away.
 
“What’s wrong with it, is I have a real name. And it isn’t Slayer or pet or luv or—”
 
He interrupted by pulling her down to lie on his chest. “I know that, Buffy.” He stroked her head and back as he nuzzled her neck.  “If that’s what you want me to call you, all you had to do was say so.” He expelled a deep breath and pushed her back up so he could see her expression. “But just so you know, “love” is always going to be what I’m thinking.”
 
Buffy looked away from his intense eyes. “You call everybody luv,” she muttered.
 
He sighed when she wouldn’t meet his gaze. “I call other women pet or luv, yeah, I do. It’s a habit. And easier than remembering names sometimes.”
 
“So you call me Slayer or luv because you can’t remember my name?” The glare Buffy turned on him should have set him on fire.
 
“Oh for—” His own always quick anger rose to meet hers. “I’m telling you, you stupid bint, that I call you “love” — not “luv” — because that’s how I feel about you. But if you don’t like it, you can be sure I won’t do it any more!”
 
“Fine!”
 
“Fine!”
 
The completely ludicrous position in which they found themselves, Buffy still straddling Spike, his still-hard cock inside her, while they exchanged angry words and glares hit them both at the same time. Just as when they’d recovered from the original spell and were blaming each other for their lack of intact clothing, the humor of the situation overcame the anger, and Spike began to snort and Buffy began to giggle. In only a few seconds, they were doubled over, laughing so hard they fell apart.  They lay, side-by-side, gasping for breath (unneeded in Spike’s case, if he were honest) and occasionally huffing another burst of soft laughter. Spike touched the hand beside his, linking their fingers and, when she didn’t object to the contact, lifting it to his lips and kissing her knuckles.
 
“I’m sorry, lo—Buffy. I’m not a complete git, and I do understand what you’re sayin’. How you could think I’m treating this gift casually, I don’t know, but if that’s the impression I gave you....”
 
She gave her own deep sigh. “I’m being all insecure Buffy. It’s just... Slayer is what you called me when you were trying to kill me – or luv, or pet, or cutie, or some other sexist nickname that wasn’t really me, and I... Never mind. I’m being stupid.”
 
“No you’re not. You’re being a woman who hasn’t been treated with the respect she deserves. And you have my deepest apologies for that. I have been inconsiderate and disrespectful to you, and you have every right to—”
 
Buffy put her fingers across his lips. “You know, that sounds way too much like Giles talking... which really creeps me out. But maybe it’s William? Is that how you talked when you were human? I think we need to have a talk about what you were like then. Tell me about William.”
 
He wrapped his lips around her fingers and began to nibble them. “No, we don’t need to have a talk. William was a spineless git who you wouldn’t have given the time of day to. That’s all you need to know about him.”
 
“So, he wouldn’t be able to help me with my class on Shakespeare? Or the poetry class I have to take next semester? Or the world history class I hardly ever get up in time to get to?”
 
Spike sighed. “If I admitted he could, I would have to kill you after....”
 
She giggled. “What if I promise not to tell? I’ll just pretend I suddenly had time to study really, really hard. Nobody needs to know that William the Bloody is tutoring me in my Literature classes.”
 
“William used to get paid to tutor spoiled bints who were too lazy to study. What have you got to offer him, hmmmm?” He rolled to his side and threw one leg across hers.
 
“I’m pretty sure I can think of something....” She pulled him on top of her and let her legs fall open. “Don’t you?”
 
Spike’s response was a guttural growl as he responded to her inviting position by sliding into her and nibbling the skin on her neck again. Buffy locked her legs around his hips and pulled him in even closer. As they began to rock together, she gasped, “So, what do you think? Would William turn down this offer?”
 
“Even William wasn’t that stupid,” he murmured, lifting his head to look down at her. “I’m guessing he’d even try to slip into class and take the tests for you if he could.”
 
“Can’t do that,” Buffy struggled to continue the conversation while he distracted her by moving his hips in ways that sent shocks running through her system. “But I do have to write a lot of papers.... Oh!” Her gasp that rapidly turned to frantic whimpers put an end to the topic as she let Spike bring her to another bone-melting orgasm. Only slayer stamina and coordination kept her moving long enough to ensure he got his own shouted release.
 
He lay on her, his lips once again on her neck, although he wasn’t sucking this time, but just moving them around in light kisses.
 
“You’ll tell me if I’m too heavy, won’t you?” he murmured into her skin.
 
“You’re fine,” she said, tightening her arms around him. “I... I kind of like this.”
 
“Good thing,” he responded. “’Cause it’s become my favorite place to be. Could stay here forever.”
 
“Okay, forever could be a problem...” As she spoke, Buffy’s stomach growled, reminding them both that she’d had nothing to eat since the previous night.
 
“Ah. I reckon that’s my cue to move, yeah? We’ve been down here a while. Who knows, Jim may even be back with your food by now. Much as I hate to move....” He pushed himself up with his arms and gazed down at her, which pushed their hips together even more. His eyes rolled back.  “Then again....”
 
Buffy felt him twitch inside her and gave a squeeze before she said, “Tempting as that is, I need to pee again. And, I’m starving.”
 
He sighed, and with obvious reluctance, lifted himself up and off, sitting on the edge of the bed.
 
“Right you are, lo—Buffy. Bodily needs come before other... bodily needs.”
 
She giggled and sat up, looking around for her clothes. “I can’t go out into the bushes now. It’s afternoon, isn’t it? There might be people around.”
 
“Go ahead and get dressed, lo—Buffy. I’ll fix something up down by the sewer.” She cocked her head at him and grimaced.
 
“Okay. What I said about all the nicknames? It’s going to be even more annoying if you have to stop yourself all the time.” She bit her lip. “I appreciate that you’re trying to do what I want, but I was just being... I don’t know. A pain in the butt? How about you just don’t call me ‘Slayer’ when we’re... you know. Doing something a vampire and a slayer probably shouldn’t be doing? Can I just be a girl called Buffy then?”
 
“You can be whatever you bloody want to, sweetheart. Just tell me what it is.” He glanced back at her while he zipped up his jeans.
 
“I want... Okay, it’s dumb. Never min—”
 
He was in front of her before she finished speaking, tipping her face up to his.
 
“Nothing you want me to do or say is ‘dumb’.  I’m yours to command. Just tell me what you want.”
 
“I don’t want to be ‘Slayer’ when we’re in bed,” she said firmly. “And I don’t want to be pet or luv or any other of those names you use for random girls whose names you can’t remember. I want to be... special.” She raised a hand before he could say anything. “Special because I’m me. Buffy. Not because I’m the Slayer.”
 
When he didn’t say anything, she pulled her chin away and went back to putting on her clothes. “So, you don’t think you can do that? You can’t want me if I’m not the Slayer?”
 
Once again, he was in front of her.
 
“If you’d asked me that a month ago, I’m not sure what I would have said. Didn’t know Buffy very well, did I? I knew the Slayer – knew she was beautiful and brave and magnificent when she fights, and that she had love to spare for her friends and family. And if I’m honest, the fact that she could match me strength for strength and stamina for stamina, was a pretty amazing and wonderful thing to learn about her when I had the chance.”
 
“Like I said – you only want the Slayer.”
 
“Let me finish, love. And don’t turn away, I know you can bloody well hear the difference,” he growled when she stiffened at the word. “I’m no happier about Red’s little power trip than the watcher is, but I’m grateful for the time she gave me to learn, not just that the Slayer was an incredibly passionate woman, but that Buffy could be sweet and funny and affectionate. I don’t think that was all the spell. When we thought we were getting married, I got a chance to see who Buffy is when she’s in love, and you got a taste of William.  And I’ve had a lot longer now to learn all about Buffy – including what brasses her off... which is usually my mouth.”
 
He stroked her arm. “She’s a pretty amazing woman. And she’d still be a pretty amazing woman if she wasn’t the Slayer. All it takes for me to know that, is knowing your mum. If you weren’t the Slayer, I’d still think you were worth havin’. But I can’t separate that amazing woman you could have been from the one you are, because what you are has made you who you are. Just like the demon in me has made me who I am. We can’t change those things, Buffy. Do you really want to?”
 
Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes. “No. Not usually. But sometimes I... it would be nice to feel... normal. You know? I mean, until I found out Riley was some secret super ninja, I thought I had a nice normal boyfriend. And since he didn’t know I was the slayer, I knew he liked me for me. And now—”
 
“I like you for you, Buffy. Don’t ever doubt that. But I lo-like all of you. The woman and the Slayer. I suspect not many “normal” men could say that.”
 
She peered up at him and made a face. “I hate it when you’re right.”
 
He laughed and kissed her on the nose. “Wouldn’t worry about it much. Doubt it’ll happen very often.”