Reciprocation

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She forced herself to calm down but remained in Spike’s surprisingly comforting embrace. She was nervous now about what she knew had to happen and she was a little uncertain about how it would work. It didn’t have to be exactly the same as last time, did it?

“Just relax, love,” Spike whispered, his hand stroking over her hair, “The more relaxed you are, the less it’ll hurt.”

“Hurt?”

“Just a li’l bit. Don’t want a migraine, after all, do I?” he joked, still in a low voice- as if speaking any louder would shatter this moment. She laughed lightly and moved away from him, meeting his bright gaze. His hands ran over her shoulders and down her arms and her eyes fixed on his.

“Nervous?”

She nodded with a tiny smile and he smiled too, his fingers stroking against her skin.

“Just have to trust me. I’m not going to hurt you.”

There was something so soft, something she had never seen in his eyes before and she nodded, trusting him almost instinctively. His hand moved up to her neck and he brushed her hair aside, his eyes going to her neck.

“You’ve been bitten before,” he whispered and her eyes met his.

“Yeah. Angel. He, err, he got poisoned and Slayer’s blood was the only cure.”

“Must have hurt. It’s a bloody big scar,” he whispered, his fingers just grazing her skin.

“He almost killed me.”

His eyes met hers again and fixed on her, understanding lighting up his eyes.

“M’gonna do my best to make this not hurt.”

She nodded and took a deep breath before closing her eyes and tilting her head slightly, exposing her neck.


She felt him move closer, his hands on her arms and she inhaled sharply when his breath brushed against her skin. She forced herself to stay calm, even as she felt every ingrained Slayer sense screaming at her to fight. His mouth grazed her skin and she breathed out shakily, her hands twisting together nervously.

His hand slid down her arm and caught her hand and he laced his fingers through hers. He pulled back a tiny way and she raised her gaze to his, surprised to find him still in human guise.

“It hurts…or you want me to stop…you can break a finger or two,” he whispered with a hesitant smile and her eyes widened with the unexpected gesture.

“Thank you,” she murmured, squeezing his hand lightly in hers and meeting his eyes for a long moment before she closed her eyes again and arched her neck towards him. She couldn’t stop her body from tensing as she sensed him slip into game face but the soft stroke of his fingers against her arm and his cool hand in hers calmed her. Then she felt his fangs scrape her skin and there was the tiniest pinprick and he paused for a moment- she felt the small pain shoot through his head- before closing his mouth over the tiny wound. She felt him drawing on her blood and sank towards him, glad that he was holding her up.

“Mine,” he whispered.

“Yours,” she whispered, her hand clenching in his as his tongue passed over the wound, healing it.


He pulled back from her, looking at her with worried eyes. She forced a shaky smile and squeezed his hand in hers. That was nothing like what she had expected. Nothing like the last time.


“Angel, please.”

Finally, he gave in and his fangs tore into her throat as she gasped, clinging to him helplessly. His arms locked around her and all she could feel was the insistent pull on her blood. And somehow, she knew it was too much as she began to feel light-headed.

“Angel.”

He would not stop and she wavered in and out of consciousness, before finally succumbing.


She raised her eyes to Spike’s and saw the shock and- anger?- in his eyes. His hand rose to her neck, just touching the place he had wounded.

“He really hurt you.”

So it begins, she thought, realising that he had seen the same flashback as her. It was only fair after all she had seen though. Even as she thought it, she noticed that her own mind seemed a lot calmer. She knew Spike’s mind was racing with thoughts but it was only with effort that she was able to sense what he was feeling. Doubt, fear, hunger. The hunger was the strongest element and she realised just what self-control it had taken for him to stop the demon inside him from taking its third Slayer. And then she felt a burst of worry from him.

“It’s okay,” she spoke up, touching her hand to his arm, “I asked you to do it.”

He nodded slowly and his hand just squeezed hers.

“There’s no way out now, you know that.”

“I know.”

“You won’t be able to kill me.”

“Spike! I don’t want to!”

They both froze at her words and she saw the surprise in his eyes.

“Look, just…try not to annoy me too much, okay?” she remarked with a smile, “No popping in my head just to let me know you’re bored or whatever.”

“Fair enough.”


“Guess I should get going,” she murmured, rising to her feet- and wavering slightly. His hand flashed out and caught her and she frowned, steadying herself.

“You alright?”

“Just a bit dizzy. Must just be…well, that was pretty intense.”

He nodded and released her arm, rising to his feet beside her.

“You take care, yeah Slayer. No getting yourself into trouble.”

“Sure thing.”

She moved towards the ladder and had one foot on it when he spoke up again.

“If you, err, need anything, just…well, I’m here.”

She glanced back at him and smiled slightly, nodding.

“Thanks. See you around.”

“Bye, Slayer.”

She climbed the rest of the way up the ladder and made her way out of the crypt with a slight smile. She felt so much calmer now, a lot more at ease and knew that she would be able to sleep tonight for the first time since she had claimed Spike. Now they had come full-circle and she had claimed him. But no-one could ever know.