Disclaimer: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox studios. This story is not meant to infringe upon anyone's rights, only to entertain.

**

Chapter 16 - A Small Surprise

Spike stared up at the ceiling wishing sleep would wash over him. Buffy was far gone into the land of dreams and he wished he was there with her. He should be sleepy given the night he just had. It should have been a quiet night -- a drink at the bar, meet Buffy at the cemetery, then go home for a good shag and a Slayer snack. Instead, he got a pissed of Watcher, a Slayer questioning their relationship, then a frustrating night of hunting. At least he still got the amazing shag.

Giving up on sleep, he carefully disengaged himself from her naked form. He grabbed his jeans, pulling them on and buckling his belt in one swift move. He rummaged through his coat for a pack of cigarettes and his Zippo.

He quietly went downstairs and gave out a sigh seeing how bright the sun was shining today. He then made his way down to the basement. He didn't even bother to turn on the solitary light that illuminated the room. He lit his cigarette and took a long drag. Exhaling slowly, he closed his eyes letting everything that happened last night somehow make sense in his head.

Buffy has a Watcher now and a somewhat dangerous Watcher at that. He was amazed that even though she froze for that one second, she still found the courage to tell the wanker off. The question now was will they have to fight the Council of Wankers as well? When that time comes, what would Buffy do? A better questions would be, what would he do? Would he just leave her then, hoping that the Council would be satisfied with that? Or would he turn her, finally? Then, there was the third option. But he doubt that his family would accept that at all.

"Argghhh!" he growled. He shook his head, hoping that that time would never come. Then his thoughts went to the night out he had.

When he stormed out of the house, he walked away from Revello Drive with no real destination. All he knew was that he had to get away.

He soon found himself near the Bronze. Lucky for him, he found someone being mugged by three men near an alleyway. Happy that he could let his demon out, he rushed at the three men. He toyed with them for a little bit, enjoying the feel of his fists making contact with their bodies, the sound of their pulse racing and then the silent gurgle from their throats as he drained them dry. Fresh blood coursed through him and his demon basked in the sensation of it all. Then he heard the slightest of movements against the wall. He turned to see the woman who was a victim just moments ago. He tilted his head, debating for a split second whether to take her or let her go. She had her head buried in her hands and he could see that her body was trembling. "No need to be afraid of me, love." he said letting his human face come out as he moved towards her.

She lifted her head and he stepped back. Blond hair and green eyes looked up at him. She looked nothing like the Slayer he left at home, but her hair and eye color was enough to remind him of her. Without another word, he just turned his back on her and walked away.

Here he was, trying to get her out of his mind, but somehow the fates where mocking him. He stopped walking when he turned the corner. His right fist flew out and hit the brick wall of a building. He focused on the pain. Focusing on the pain was better than all the other thoughts swimming in his head.

He stood there for a few minutes, trying to clear his head. They had their talk. He said the truth and that should be enough. He knew he should be somewhat disgusted with himself for bedding a Slayer, but she felt and tasted too good to give up. It would end someday. And then what? He should just savor her as much as he could now. Take from her as much as he could. Then he would kill her, drain her dry and then she would be a part of him forever. He reminded himself of that over and over again as he walked back home.

And now he was in the basement, smoking a cigarette and pacing the length of the room in darkness. He looked at his right hand, his knuckles a little swollen from punching the brick wall. He had a feeling this might happen a lot and he needed to do something about it.

**

Four nights later ...

Spike woke up to something shaking the bed. He opened one eye to find an excited Slayer sitting right next to him.

"It's still early pet. The sun's not even down yet."

"But it's five already and you've been asleep all day!"

"So?" he said grabbing the pillow he was laying on and putting over his head.

Buffy quickly pulled it away from him. "You did it didn't you. It couldn't be anybody else. Oh thank you thank you thank you!" she said plopping down on him and threading her arms around him.

"Uhm... welcome?! What are you talking about pet?"

She pulled away from him and gave him a slight pout. "The basement."

"Oh you found that. Was hoping to show it to you tonight as a surprise but looks like you beat me to it. So you like?" he said sitting up then running a hand through his hair.

She gave him a huge smile then attacked him again with a hug.

"If you get this excited about a punching bag and a couple of mats, I wonder what you'd do if I get you a shiny trinket." He spent that last few nights getting everything ready. Things just seemed to fall into place because he knew she wouldn't go down to the basement for laundry till Sunday and the past few days she had been spending most of the day and night with Rupes training.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to get carried away. It's just that, well ... it's kinda sweet in some sort of way." she said smiling.

"Hey hey. Sweet? I'm not sweet! Besides had a selfish reason to it as well." he said flexing his right hand.

"Yeah yeah. ... you're the Big Bad!" she said rolling her eyes.

"So I'm guessing you can't wait to try it out?"

"Well Giles was teaching me a few things and I was hoping to test it out."

"So that's why you woke me up way before sunset. And here I thought you just couldn't resist me." he said with a cocky grin.

Buffy went from cheerful to serious in a blink of an eye. "Well I've been training with Giles for a few two days and I just realized how much I don't know. Hanging out with you, I thought I've seen a huge range of demons. But Giles has books ... no volumes ... of history and demon lore. I ... and I'm suppose to fight all of them? I don't know if I can do it. I need to train ... need to be better, especially if I want to take on Angelus."

Spike reached out to stroke her hair. "You're strong Buffy. Hey, I've sparred with you remember?"

"You think so? But I know you always hold back."

"How do you figure that?"

"I've never sparred with you when your all vampy."

"You sure you want that, love?"

"If I want to be stronger ..."

Spike shrugged his shoulders then stood up after he threw the covers off of him. He reached out for his jeans and slipped into them. "Ready?"


**

The room shook once more as Buffy threw Spike on the mat. The vampire gave her a toothy grin, showing of his fangs. He was enjoying the little sparring match they were having. He was still in the lead but Buffy was quickly catching up to him. The first few times, he easily got her either cornered, pinned or his lips on her neck. She was always a quick learner and for the past hour she was deflecting his blows easily.

Buffy let him go and stood back a few paces from him.

"Well I think you've got the throw attacks down. And your kicks are stronger. How about we do something I'd enjoy." he said raising an eyebrow and licking his lips.

"Pervert!" she said jokingly.

"Who's the pervert? I was just going to suggest choke holds." he said laughing.

Buffy's cheeks warmed in embarrassment. She turned her back to him quickly hoping he didn't see it.

"No need to be shy, love." he said walking up to her. He slid his right arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. He placed his left hand on her left shoulder. Then he let it slowly caress down the length of her arm. He tilted his head to the left and opened his mouth. He moved quickly aiming for her neck, stopping only when he felt his fangs touch skin. He felt her shock. He let her go and started laughing. "That's twenty. I win."

"HEY!", she said furiously, turning around to face him with her hands on her waist.

"First to reach twenty kills wins. And that, pet, was twenty!" He turned around and walked away from her still chuckling.

Buffy narrowed her eyes then launched herself at him. Spike fell on the mat hard face first. He felt her fist tap his back and he knew if she had a stake he would be dust right now.

"Let's change it to first thirty kills." she said still sitting on top of him.

Spike raised his upper body away from the mat using his arms to support himself. "I think you're enjoying this too much, Slayer. But as you wish."