Chapter 13

Spike looked caught by her question, but wasn’t about to deny it.

“I guess I did, didn’t I?”

Buffy took in a deep breath. “Did you mean it?”

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her hair. “I meant it. I think I knew it the first moment I saw you. I love you, Buffy.”

She smiled in return. “I love you, too.” A thought suddenly occurred to her. “You killed Drusilla.” It wasn’t a question.

Spike nodded and helped her up. “That I did, which should prove how much I love you. I never thought I could do that, but it was surprisingly not very hard. I’ve never felt such pure rage go through me like when she hit you. It has never been directed at her before, but she just pushed me too far.”

Buffy looked in the distance to see that the crypt was no longer standing, then turned to Spike. “Can we get out of here now?”

He agreed. “I’ll take you home.”

“Take me back to the dorms, I don’t want to try and explain this to my mother.”

Spike smiled again and did just that.


* * * * *


They kissed and caressed each other for what felt like forever, finding it hard to keep their hands to themselves once they reached her dorm room.

Buffy pulled away to take in some much needed oxygen. “Willow might come back soon.”

Spike shrugged. “Then she’ll get an eyeful, I’m not about to stop now.” With that, he went back to kissing her. He slipped his hand under her shirt, caressing the smooth skin of her stomach. “Fuck, you feel good, and I haven’t even buried my fingers inside your lovely quim yet.”

For some reason, Buffy found herself blushing at that.

Spike just found it to be utterly adorable after all they had done. He kissed her hard and passionate, breaking away to let her take in another breath of air. He gazed down at her flushed face, not able to pull his eyes away from her. “You are so beautiful. I’ve never wanted a woman so much in my entire existence.”

“I feel the same way. Well, I’ve only had about nineteen years of existence, but it’s the thought that counts. I’ll be twenty in a couple of months, if that helps at all.”

Spike chuckled; he loved when she rambled on like that. “We’ll have to do something special for your birthday.”

She grinned and pulled his lips back down to hers, kissing him eagerly.

They broke away from each other when the door opened and Willow limped inside.

Buffy sat up at the sight of her friend. “Will, what happened?”

She waved her hand in the air and closed the door. “Just a typical day at the office. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Buffy shook her head and helped Willow over to her bed. “Don’t worry about it, are you okay?”

Willow sat down and nodded. “Nothing I couldn’t handle. Just another stupid demon that thought I was an innocent girl, I showed him.”

Spike took that as his cue. “I guess I should get going. You two birds need your rest.”

Buffy walked him over to the door. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

He smiled and cupped her cheek, giving her a light kiss on the mouth. “You can count on that. Sweet dreams, love.”

Buffy let out a dreamy sigh when he walked away, closing the door behind him. She turned around to see a smirking Willow staring at her. “What’s that look for?”

Willow shrugged. “Nothing, you guys are just cute. I never thought I would say that about a vampire. I’ve been looking after you for years, Buffy. You never knew about it, but I’ve been protecting you for a long time. This was never what I wanted for you, but you seem happy. Even I can’t deny that, I just hope you can really trust him.”

Buffy went back over to her bed, laying down and gazing up at the ceiling. “I love him, Willow. I know that more than anything. I never expected any of this, but I don’t regret all that we’ve done. I’ve never felt this way before. I admit that it was scary at first, but now it’s the most natural feeling in the world. He staked his sire for me tonight. She was going to kill me, but Spike saved my life. Yeah, I definitely trust him.”

Willow felt reassurance with those words. “Giles would have a field day with this one. He always just believed that vampires were evil creatures. I mean, that’s what he spent years teaching me. He would never understand that one could actually be decent. I could just picture him cleaning his glasses right now. This would probably be enough for him to finally break the lens.”

Buffy giggled. “I could imagine. I obviously don’t know him very well, but I remember him from high school. With his stuffy attitude and tweed outfits, it’s hard to picture him as a demon fighter.”

“He doesn’t fight often, but he could hold his own. It even surprised me the first time I saw him take on a vampire. I think he had a dark past or something, but he wouldn’t tell me much. I don’t really like to pry.”

Buffy glanced at her friend. “Did you tell him about Spike?”

She shook her head. “No, I think the less he knows right now, the better. Spike’s obviously not a danger to you, so I doubt he would be to anyone else. Giles doesn’t really need to know. Besides, you’re not his Slayer. He would probably only really care if I was the one dating the vampire.”

“It’s a good thing you’re dating Oz, then. They don’t get much more normal than him.”

Willow suddenly got very quiet, speaking up after a moment. “Right, I guess now would be a good time to tell you. Oz is a werewolf,” she blurted out.

Buffy’s eyes widened. “A werewolf? As in all hairy and growly whenever there’s a full moon?”

Willow nodded. “Before, after, and during the full moon. It never really bothered me, though. I mean, three days out of the month I’m not much fun to be around either. Giles knows about it, we make sure to lock Oz up before he changes. That way he wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

Buffy tried to take it all in. “Wow, is there anything else that I don’t know about? Does Xander have supernatural powers?”

Willow laughed. “Xander? Hardly, he’s definitely normal. He would freak if I told him about any of this, so I just chose to keep it quiet. Trust me; he’ll be a lot safer if he’s oblivious to all of it.”

Buffy had to agree, speaking again after a few seconds of silence. “Did you know that Riley is a part of some secret demon organization?”

It was now Willow’s turn to be stunned.