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Baby, You Can Drive My Car by slaymesoftly
 
Five
 
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Chapter Five

As sundown approached, Spike began to pace restlessly around his crypt.

Told her I’d see her tonight, but was too stupid to say when. What if she’s expectin’ me to patrol with her? But if I show up and she wasn’t planning to see me until later...Fuck!

Unable to bear hanging around his crypt on the outside chance that she would come there first, he pulled on his duster and swept out the door, pausing to sniff the night air before heading towards Revello Dr. He was still a block away when he saw Buffy walking towards him, her head down and her gaze on the sidewalk. He could tell the instant she felt his presence – her head snapped up and a stake appeared from nowhere as she scanned the street.

Before her eyes even landed upon him, she relaxed and smiled with recognition. She had picked up on his unique signature almost as quickly as she realized that there was a vampire in the area. He couldn’t prevent the little burst of warmth that went through him at the thought that she could recognize his signature so quickly – and that it made her smile. He waited patiently until she reached him, then turned and fell into step at her side.

“What’s the plan, love? Patrol first, driving lessons last – or do you want to try it the other way around tonight?”

“You mean drive now?” She gestured around them at the still-busy streets, her eyes wide and panicky.

“Well, since now is when there are other cars on the road, I was thinking that would be your best shot at learning to drive in traffic...” He elbowed her playfully, earning himself a glare that didn’t actually carry to the rest of her face.

“Yeah, traffic. Kinda the point I was making,” she said, elbowing him back. “I thought you didn’t want me to get in a wreck and get killed.”

“Alright, love,” he laughed. “But you’ve got to do it sooner or later.”

“Later. I’m voting for later,” she said firmly. “Slay now – drive later.

They continued to walk in companionable silence, strolling into and out of the first four cemeteries on Buffy’s usual rounds before finding anything to slay. When Spike’s hearing told him there was a fledgling rising, they walked to the new grave, sitting on a flat tombstone and waiting for the new vampire to emerge far enough for Buffy to reach his heart. The fledgling struggled from the dirt surrounding him, pausing to blink in surprise when he spotted the two blond people waiting for him.

Too new to recognize that the one with no audible heartbeat and no warm scent was another vampire, he focused on Buffy, his fangs dripping saliva as he renewed his efforts to get out of the grave. His eyes lit up with joy when the meal he was anticipating walked up to him. She waited until he tried to grab her, then plunged her stake into his chest, turning back to Spike before his bewildered dust had fallen back to earth.

“He wasn’t very smart, was he?” she asked seriously. “Nothing that stupid should be allowed to live.”

“I’m sure that’s what the vamp that turned him was thinking, pet.” Spike agreed with a grin. “Doin’ the world a favor there, you were.”

“Yep. That’s me. Buffy, the stupid vampire slayer...er...the slayer of stupid vampires.” She glared at him, anticipating his quick response to her slip.

“Not sayin’ a word, pet,” he said, dodging the half-serious punch she threw at his laughing face.

“You better not,” she pouted. “It was just a slip of the tongue.”

“You want to be slippin’ your tongue on things, you just come right over here and do it, Slayer,” he said, curling his own tongue up behind his teeth.

“Very funny, Spike.” She rolled her eyes at his blatant leer.

With a sudden change of demeanor, he said softly, “Wasn’t bein’ funny.” When she whispered, “You weren’t?” and licked her lips, he reached for her hand and tugged her towards where he was still sitting on the big stone. “Was just offering a suggestion for what else you could do with that tongue.” As he finished speaking, he pulled her non-resisting body onto his lap and brushed his lips across hers, increasing the pressure until her rigid body softened and melted into him. Once again, they lost themselves in kisses that were rapidly becoming less experimental and more familiar.

Already, they were becoming adept at reading each other’s desires and preferences; probing and teasing, nipping and licking as though they had been kissing for years. When Buffy grabbed Spike’s lower lip in her teeth and bit down gently, he growled, tightening his grip on her hips. The vibrations from the growl ran through Buffy’s body, pulling an involuntary whimper from her throat.

Her whimper brought another growl, followed by a groan as she ran her hands up his chest, scratching lightly on his tee shirt.

“Jesus Christ, Buffy.” His heartfelt gasp made her smile against his mouth, and she flicked one fingernail across the nipple poking up through the soft fabric. So wrapped up was she in the effect her actions were having that she didn’t notice what his own hands were doing until his hand was cupping her bare breast and his thumb was stroking her nipple.

With her sweater pushed up to her neck, the vampire had complete access to her upper body and he took full advantage, unfastening her bra with one hand while the other continued to knead and stoke first one breast and then the other. When he dropped his head to fasten his mouth on one rosy nipple, she gave a small cry and arched into his mouth, sending them both toppling backwards off the narrow piece of granite.

“Ooof!”

“And oww,” Buffy responded, rubbing her breast where he’d accidentally bitten her with his flat, human teeth.

“Sorry, love.” He smiled up at her, not happy to no longer have his mouth on her pert little breast, but enjoying the way she was lying on top of him and making no attempt to get up. “Wasn’t on purpose, you know.”

“If I thought it was on purpose...” she started, her voice trailing off as she realized that she was lying on the fully aroused vampire with her bra dangling from the straps and her sweater pushed up past her armpits. The moon provided enough light for her to see the look on his face as he focused his eyes on her bare chest and licked his lips.

“What are you doing?”

What was intended to be an indignant and rhetorical question came out in a breathy whisper that ended with Spike’s lips on hers. The kiss lasted long enough for her to forget her question, falling instead into a lust-induced fog in which nothing crossed her mind except good kisses, hard body, hard...body part, hard body feels good, must feel more hard body...

With Spike’s hands roving freely over her bare back and dipping into the waistband of her pants to cup the globes of her ass, and his mouth and tongue keeping her brain on kissing overload, Buffy had completely forgotten where they were. The newly-risen fledgling that had come looking for his friend had pulled her off Spike and was reaching for her throat before it registered that she was no longer kissing her vampire, but was now pressed against a much less attractive and definitely dead-smelling body.

“Ewwwww!” She elbowed him in his ribs, hearing with great satisfaction a loud ‘crack’ as she did so. He involuntarily let go, only to refocus on her neck and throw himself at her again. He never made it. By now Spike was on his feet and had the inexperienced vamp by the neck. Even without having had any instruction in vampire hierarchies or etiquette, one look at the enraged master vampire facing him told the newbie that he’d just made a fatal mistake.

Spike’s furious throw against the wall of crypt that was a good twenty feet away left the unfortunate vampire crumpled on the ground in an inert heap. Not waiting to see what might happen next, Spike covered the distance to the unmoving body in three strides, picked the unconscious vamp up and twisted its head completely off. He watched with great satisfaction as the head turned to dust in his hands and joined the equally dusty body on the ground.

He whirled, hearing sounds behind him, to find Buffy trying to pull her sweater back into place while she fought with another, older vampire that had followed the sounds of Spike’s roars.

“Were you trying to look at my boobs?” she snarled as she yanked the sweater down. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Well, I figured if it was okay for Spike—” The rest of his sentence was cut off as Buffy’s stake found its way into his chest. He disintegrated, his face still wearing the leer that had accompanied his words.

There was silence in the graveyard for several minutes as Buffy kept her eyes firmly focused on the ground. She reached under her sweater, trying to tug her bra back into position so that she could fasten it. As she struggled to re-do the clasp in the back, Spike stepped towards her saying quietly, “Here, love. Let me do it.”

“Don’t touch me!” She jumped away from the offered assistance, catching a glimpse of his shocked face before resolutely turning her back on him. She quickly changed her mind about trying to fasten the bra, instead squirming around inside her sweater until she had pulled it off. It dangled from her hand, the small quivering of the lace the only sign of how the hand was shaking.

“Buffy...don’t...Look at me, love. Please?”

“Leave me alone, Spike,” she muttered.

“No,” he growled, moving until he was in front of her. “Not until you tell me what just happened here.”

“What ‘just happened here’ is that we were all over each other in a public place. That my clothes were half off and...” She stopped and raised stricken eyes to his. “What if that vamp hadn’t attacked me? What if he just went to Willy’s and told everybody that I...that you...What if it hadn’t been a vamp? Suppose it was Xander? Or Dawn? What if somebody else had seen us?”

“Which part of that has your knickers in a twist? That somebody might have seen you half-naked, or that they might have seen you with me?” His face had long since dropped back into its human features, but it was as cold and still as the corpse that he was.

“Wha..?”

“You heard me, Slayer. Is it that you’re worried people might think you’re starting to have a life again – or is it that I might be the one in it with you?”

“Spike, don’t...don’t do this...” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Don’t make me...choose.”

Blinking back unaccustomed tears, and fighting the urge to yell at her to stand up for herself, he took a deep breath and then nodded silently. He stepped closer, giving her time to back away before touching her cheek.

“I’m sorry, love. Not my place to be tellin’ you what to do, is it? Got no right to...”

She raised her eyes to his and in moment of complete honesty she blurted, “You do have a right. I know that. I’m just asking you not to...not to insist on it. I can’t deal right now with any more drama in the house.”

“And you think knowin’ that you an’ me are more than friends might cause more drama?”

She just raised an eyebrow at him, evoking a sad laugh and a sigh.

“Yeah. Guess it would, at that.”

“I’m not trying to blow you off,” she insisted. “And I know that I started that...that...” At a loss for what to call what they had been doing, she waved the hand holding her bra helplessly, then realized what she was doing and dropped it to her side, blushing all over.

“Guess the mood’s gone now, eh?”

“Ya think?” They chuckled together and, without conversation, turned and began walking towards Revello Drive.

The short walk to Buffy’s house was quiet, but not uncomfortably so. Their shoulders and arms brushed frequently and he was encouraged when Buffy didn’t seem to flinch away from the regular contact. However, when he tried to link the fingers on the hands that were touching so often, she gave him an apologetic smile and shook her head.

He bit back his growl, grateful that he had, when a few seconds later a car pulled up beside them and Xander leaned out the window to say, “Hey, Buffster. I heard you wanted to learn to drive. Came by to see if you want to have a lesson tonight.”

Panic flew across the slayer’s face, before she felt Spike stepping away from her. Without thinking, she grabbed the sleeve of his duster, holding him in place while she replied.

“Spike’s been teaching me, Xan. I appreciate the offer, but he’s doing a pretty good job. I can already parallel park and drive around Sunnydale without hitting anything. Except demons,” she added when Spike snorted.

“Yeah, that’s what I heard. Hence the offer of lessons from someone a little less...dead.”

His eyes went pointedly to where her hand was clutching the sleeve of Spike’s coat. The vampire was impassive, waiting for Buffy to decide what she wanted to do. The longer they stood there, Xander’s car blocking the deserted street, the vampire and the slayer standing just far enough apart that there would be no reason for anyone to think they were any more than casual friends, the more awkward the silence became.

Finally, Spike took Buffy’s hand and gently removed it from his coat sleeve. He gave her fingers a little squeeze, saying smoothly, “You go on, pet. Might as well let the whelp do something useful for a change. I’ve got demons to see tonight, anyway.”

Buffy gave him a grateful smile, asking too softly for Xander to hear, “Are you okay with this?”

“Your decision, Slayer,” he said back. “Looked like you were havin’ a hard time with it, so I thought I’d help you out.” He leaned in, and in spite of Xander’s stuttering “What are you doing?” he whispered, “Might want to hide that pretty bit of lace in your hand, though.”

With a small “eep!” Buffy realized that she was still holding her bra. Fortunately, it was now wadded up in her hand rather than dangling from it, and she swiftly pushed it into the pocket of Spike’s duster using her body to block Xander’s view as she did so. She gave Spike another small smile, then turned to her frowning friend.

“Sounds like a plan, Xander. I’ll meet you at my house, okay? Be there in a few minutes.”

“I could give you a ride there,” he said, glaring at Spike who was staring back at him impassively.

“Thanks, but I need to talk to Spike about something. Something...slayery. I’ll be right there. You go on.”

Shaking his head and muttering about evil undead creatures, he finally drove off leaving the two blonds facing each other on the dark street.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, love.” He took a quick look up and down the street; extending his senses but hearing and smelling nothing but the small blonde in front of him. He brushed his lips over hers and with a quick, “Good-night, Slayer” he walked back the way they had come, pausing after a bit to turn around and pull the crumpled bra from his pocket. “But if you want this back, you’re going to have to come and get it.”

She sputtered indignantly; his laughter drifted back to her as he continued on his way. She finally shook her head at herself and jogged towards her home.






 
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