Solace & Betrayal

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Her feet led her unerringly to the place she wanted- needed- to be: Spike’s crypt. She stumbled down the ladder and Spike turned to her as she stepped to the ground.

“Buffy?”

“Hey,” she got out weakly, sinking to the bed.

“Buffy, what is it?” he asked with a frown as he took a step towards her.

“Nothing. I’m fine,” she lied, trying to block him from her troubled thoughts.

“Buffy,” he coaxed and she couldn’t stop her lip from trembling, biting down on it hard. He took another step forward and she turned her head away. He reached out a hand and rested it on her shoulder.

“Buffy?” he murmured, even softer.

She couldn’t keep up the show anymore though and a sob broke from her helplessly, even as she tried to stop it by covering her mouth. She could feel Spike’s eyes on her and then she heard him move and he settled on the bed next to her, his bright eyes watching her with concern.

“Buffy? Love, please...what is it?”

She wiped a tear from her cheek frustratedly and tried to force a smile, but it was no good.


“Riley. He...he broke up with me. Because of the claiming thing.”

She couldn’t hold back anymore and she buried her head in her hands, her whole body trembling with the effort to restrain her tears.

“Oh, Buffy.”

Then Spike’s arms were around her, holding her tightly as she buried her head against him, unable to stop the tears any longer. And was it wrong that she had wanted this- had come here for this?


“He’s a fool,” Spike murmured into her hair, his hand stroking her back.

“They always leave,” she sobbed and he held her tighter, shushing her gently.

“Then they’re all idiots.”

She choked out a pitiful laugh and clung to him tighter, drawing solace from his strong embrace and gentle caresses. She knew it wasn’t right to stay there though, however much she wanted to, and she finally forced herself to sit up and wiped her cheeks. Spike stroked her hair from her face and she looked up into his worried eyes.

“What happened?” he asked softly.

“He thinks I slept with you.”

“He’s a fool. As if I’d go near you, eh?” he teased.

She smiled weakly, wiping the back of her hand across her cheek again.

“He just doesn’t understand. And I think...I think he’s jealous.”

“Well, I am very handsome.”

She laughed and wiped her sore eyes.

“Come on now,” he soothed, “He’ll come round. If he doesn’t, I’ll bite him.”

“It’d hurt you,” she mumbled, leaning into his embrace as he put an arm around her shoulder.

“Yeah, but it’d be worth it.”

She looked up at him and smiled softly.

"Thanks."


She rested her head against his shoulder, weary from the long day and her outpouring of emotion.

“Spike...can I stay here tonight?”

He hesitated for a moment and then his hand was stroking over her hair.

“Of course you can.”

“Thank you.”

“Come on then, think you need to rest.”

He stood and she rose beside him, standing by as he cleared the bed.

“Not quite hotel-standard,” he joked, smoothing the covers back and she smiled weakly.

“There you go,” he said softly, just reaching out to run his hand over her arm, “If you need anything, just yell.”

He moved to the ladder but she reached out for him, stopping him.

“Will you stay? Just until I fall asleep?”

His bright eyes met hers and then he smiled softly and nodded. She smiled and sat on the bed, pulling off her boots and then getting under the covers. This should feel weird, she thought- but somehow it didn’t. She shifted over and Spike settled on the bed next to her, leaning against the headboard.

“You get some rest.”

She nodded and sank her head against the pillows, curling up beside him. She felt the tentative stroke of his hand against her hair and she let out a sigh, closing her eyes.

“It’ll work out right, love. Captain Cardboard’ll come crawling back in no time and everything will get back to normal,” he murmured softly, his fingers threading through her hair. Her last fleeting thought before she drifted to sleep though was: How can anything be normal again if I feel so comfortable here in your bed with you?



She woke to a dark room- the candles had gone out- and she sat up, for a moment not remembering where she was. She remembered with a start as her arm brushed against a form beside her. She turned and finally made out Spike’s form in the dark- he had obviously fallen asleep beside her. He was still propped up against the headboard and she smiled, just nudging his shoulder.

“Spike?”

He started awake, grabbing her hand, and relaxed when his bright eyes fixed on her.

“Buffy? You alright?”

“I just wanted to let you know I’m going home. I didn’t want you to worry.”

“You gonna be okay?”

“I hope so.”

She realised her hand was still in his and with a small squeeze, extracted it.

“You should get some more sleep. That doesn’t look comfortable.”

“You take care, Slayer.”

“Always. I’ll let you know when we find anything to fight Adam.”

She paused, realising that she had been assuming he would help.

“I mean, if you want to help-“

His finger found her lips in the dark, silencing her.

“You just let me know what you need me to do.”

She nodded and smiled.

“Night, Spike.”

She crawled off the bed, found her boots and pulled them on and quickly made her way out of the crypt.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


After cleaning up and changing her clothes, she headed straight for Giles’ house. The group was already assembled and she gave them a weary smile as she sank onto a chair.

“Riley not with you?”

It was a perfectly reasonable question for Xander to ask but she had to bite her lip to stop another breakdown like the one last night.

“Err, no. Not in any way, actually.”

“Buffy?” Willow asked quietly, sadly and she turned to her friend with a forced smile.

“He seems to think there was more involved in the whole claiming thing than there actually was...so, err, yeah...he’s probably not going to be around so much.”

“Are you okay?” Willow asked softly.

“I’ve been better. It’s not the funnest thing to be accused of sleeping with someone else by your boyfriend. But hey...monsters to fight. Yay.”

No-one seemed much convinced by her attempt at humour but she was glad when they left it. She just didn’t want to go into the ins and outs of her break-up with Riley. Right now, it just didn’t seem quite real- and it hurt.


They weren’t making much progress at all and she knew she wasn’t being much help- but her mind was racing with Riley’s words. Why did he have to do this to her? She hated being weak and if it weren’t for Spike, she wasn’t sure if she’d have bothered to do anything today. And that was a worrying thought. She shook it off as she felt his presence close and a few seconds later, he burst through the door, covered in a blanket. He slid to a stop and looked around at them, his eyes resting on her.

“Slayer, you’ve got a problem.”

“What is it?” she asked, sitting up.

“I got a visit from that monster-thing. Trying to strike a deal. Seems he’s very keen on getting the Slayer out of the way.”

“What sort of deal?” she asked, her eyes fixed on his.

“I bring him the Slayer, he deactivates my chip.”

For an awful second, she felt sick- he had betrayed her. But then, something changed in him and he spoke up again.

“’Course I told him I’m no-one’s lackey and if he wanted the Slayer gone, he’d have to do it himself. He wasn’t too happy ‘bout that.”

He moved his jacket and she now saw the hole in his side that had been covered.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” he answered, “That’s not your only problem.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“Think your former’s on the turn.”

“Riley? What happened?”

“He was there. With Monster Boy.”

“What?!”

This betrayal hit her hard and she sat back, her mind racing.

“If it makes you feel better, he didn’t quite seem himself. Even blander than usual. Don’t think he was controlling the reins, if you know what I mean.”


Her mind was reeling- Riley was working with that monster? It just couldn’t be true. There had to be something more to it. She looked up and realised all eyes were on her.

“Slayer, that thing’s coming after you,” Spike said quietly and she met his gaze with a nod and a sigh.

“Looks like we’ve got work to do then.”

She left the others to investigate a spell they thought might help as she went through to the bathroom with Spike to patch up his wound. He slipped off his jacket and laid it down on the toilet seat carefully before peeling his top over his head with a hiss of pain. She perched on the bath at stomach-level and grimaced at the large wound.

“Got you with its tusky thing?”

“Yeah.”

She frowned and began to clean the wound.

“I’m sorry about Cap- Riley.”

“Me too,” she sighed, bandaging his wound.

“You gonna be okay?” he asked softly, his hand just resting on her arm.

“Sure. Big nasty to focus on.”

She looked away but Spike caught her, his fingers on her chin.

“It’ll work out right.”

“What makes you so sure?” she whispered sadly.

“Got this far, haven’t you? Fought worse baddies.”

“Never had to-“ she stopped herself. She had been about to say she had never had to fight her boyfriend before, but of course she had.



She swung the sword at Angelus and he met it with his own, smiling widely.



“S’not the same,” Spike whispered, drawing her attention back to him, “Captain Cardboard’s got himself into something, but you’ll get him out. And then it’ll be all happily ever after, white picket fence and all that.”

She laughed and pushed herself to her feet.

“I wish.”

He raised an eyebrow but she just shook her head with a smile.

“Better get back in there.”