~*~
Chapter 1
~*~

Spike raced up the rickety tower to rescue the terrified teen he had come to love like family. It was a bit of a shock to see that he knew the knife-wielding demon in his way. ‘Doc!’ Spike thought grimly. ‘Should’ve known it was too easy killin’ the bugger.’

"Doesn’t a fella stay dead when you kill him?" Spike snarked at the deceptively mild-mannered demon.

Doc raised an eyebrow and replied, "Look who’s talking."

Spike was desperate to get the demon away from his Bit. ‘Gotta get the bugger focused on me,’ he thought. "Come on, Doc. Let’s you and me have a go," Spike challenged.

Doc didn’t look worried in the least as he answered. "I do have a prior appointment." He began to toy with a wicked-looking knife as he faced the vampire’s challenge.

"This won’t take long," Spike promised.

Doc looked as though he might laugh at the vampire’s bravado. "No, I don’t imagine it will."

The two demons began a scuffle on the girders of the unstable tower. Doc managed to get behind Spike and grab him around the neck, plunging the ritual knife deep into Spike’s body, causing Dawn to scream in horror.

~~~

Buffy heard her sister’s scream as she continued to beat Glory with Olaf the Trollgod’s hammer. She wanted nothing more than to finish this fight and get to Dawn before something permanently bad happened. Buffy had seen Spike race up the tower just a few minutes before and knew something was happening up there that needed a Slayer. She swung the hammer again, directly connecting with the battered face of the hellgod.

~~~

Spike was bleeding badly but still standing. "You don’t come near the girl, Doc." He moved his body between the knife-wielding demon and the young girl he had come to love.


Doc stopped and looked at Spike closely, curious. He sniffed the air and looked puzzled. "I don’t smell a soul anywhere on you. Why do you even care?" Doc had heard rumors of an ensouled vampire, but this one wasn’t it. He couldn’t understand why Spike was putting himself in harm’s way for a human child, the Slayer’s "sister" at that!

"I made a promise to a lady," Spike explained simply.

Really, it was laughable! A vampire with a sense of honor? Who would have imagined such a thing? Pity he was going to have to get rid of this enigma before he could study him further. A most unusual vampire indeed. "Oh?" Doc lashed his long, dangerous tongue out towards Spike, causing him to duck to avoid the wriggling length of muscle.

Buffy’s heart nearly stopped at the sight before her. Dawn was beginning to bleed from several shallow cuts and was clearly terrified. Spike was fighting a small but limber demon that had a tongue any reptile would be proud of having. She had just left a bloodied and beaten Glory and rushed up the tower in time to see the small demon knock Spike off of his feet. As Spike began to rise, the demon grabbed him and pinned his arms behind him with the obvious intent of shoving Spike from the tower.

"Then I’ll send the lady your regrets," the demon taunted.

"The lady’s right here, froggy," Buffy said as she leveled a kick at Doc’s head, knocking him off balance and making him let go of Spike. "Time to see if you can fly," she said as she pushed the fallen demon off the girder and sent him plummeting to the ground far below.

"Hey, Spike. Sorry it took so long to get up here. Had a bitch with a bad dye job that I needed to do some homemade plastic surgery on," Buffy quipped. "Dawnie, let’s get you out of here and out of that bad ‘Juliet’ costume, okay?"

"It’s started, Buffy," Dawn said quietly and pointed to the small opening in the sky where her blood had started to fall. The portals were beginning to open and all hells were about to break loose.

"Why is it never easy? Kill the hellgod, save Spike’s ass and STILL have to figure a way out of this mess." Buffy would have given nearly anything to just have things be simple for a change. Giles had said the only way to stop the rift in dimensions was to kill her sometimes annoying little sister. No way in ANY hell was Buffy going to kill Dawn. No matter that Dawn wasn’t really her sister originally; she was now and Buffy loved her even more than she was irritated by her.

Spike released Dawn from the bonds that had held her on the edge of the girder and was guiding the shaken teen back to safety and her big sister.

"Spike! Doc seemed so nice before. Why was he helping Glory? He stabbed you. Are you all right?" Dawn was in shock but still concerned for her surrogate big brother.

"Don’t know, Bit. Can’t always tell who’ll take whose side in the big battles, I suppose. Wish I’d never dealt with the bugger. You okay, Niblet? Looks like the cuts aren’t too bad. Should heal right up, yeah? Spike sought to reassure Dawn. "Worst is over. Least ‘til school starts again, right?"

"I wish," Buffy said under her breath.

Dawn started to break free of Spike’s guiding hand to do her duty and close the rift. "Let me go, Spike. I have to jump; it’s the only way! My blood’s the only thing that will stop this. I’m not real anyway. Let me go."

"Stop that, Bit! You’re as real as I am and you’re only getting off this Tinkertoy by going down those stairs. Stop wiggling! I’m stronger than you and you’re not going anywhere." Spike looked alarmed at Dawn’s determination.

Buffy had been thinking while Spike and her little sister were struggling. She remembered the Rasta Slayer telling her that death was her gift. ‘This must be what she meant!‘ Buffy thought. ‘My blood is the same as Dawn’s and I can take her place.’ It was almost frightening to Buffy how much the idea of jumping off the tower to her death didn’t bother her.


It seemed that all of her short life consisted of people she loved leaving her. It had started with her dad and ended with her mom. Of course her mom hadn’t left her on purpose, but Buffy had been abandoned just the same. Each departure took another piece of Buffy’s heart. This time SHE would be the one doing the leaving. Finally she could lay down her arms and maybe find peace. She could give the gift of her death to Dawnie and let the girl have a safe and long life.

"Spike, you said you’d look after Dawn until the end of the world. Did you mean that?" Buffy asked the still struggling vampire.

"Meant every word, Slayer. No one’s gonna hurt the Niblet--‘cept me if she doesn’t stop squirming," Spike answered sincerely. "I may be a vamp, but I keep my word."

"Good," Buffy said and with her face fixed in determination, she laid out her plan to the two appalled listeners.

"No way in any hell comin’ out of that hole am I standin’ by and watchin’ you take a header off this pile of steel, Slayer." Spike let go of Dawn and was making ready to grab both girls and tie them up if necessary to prevent the insanity Buffy had just suggested.

"No, Buffy! You’re the Slayer, you’re important. I’m just a key that got used and now has to lock the door back up," Dawn insisted.

"We really don’t have time to argue here. Look, I was told that death was my gift, so just accept the gift and live for me, Dawnie. I love you. Let me do this for you, for everyone. It’s an honorable way for a Slayer to die, saving the world. This way I get to save you too, like a cherry on top the sundae! I’m older than most Slayers. It’s my time, I feel it." Buffy was determined.

"What you’re feeling is crazy. I lived with Dru long enough to Mulder that out! You did that mental check-out just the other day--you aren’t thinking clearly, Slayer. Nervous breakdown’s not the time to make the life and death choices. There’s another way." Spike managed to get the attention of the two angst-ridden girls with that statement.

"What other way? I’m not so married to the idea that I won’t listen. But remind me to kick your ass for comparing me to that loony toons ex of yours later." Buffy looked closely at Spike and waited to hear his plan.

The rift was getting larger as they spoke and various demons were beginning to leak through into their world. Spike was going to have to sell his idea fast to keep Buffy from taking a leap out of his life forever.

"The blood’s the thing, right?" At Buffy’s nod Spike continued, "Well, vamp here. I’m good at blood collectin’, yeah? I figure a jump off this thing isn’t going to kill me, not like a human or even a Slayer. I drink enough blood to do the job, jump in the keyhole and everybody lives, or unlives, another day."

Buffy thought about it and could see his point. Besides, if it didn’t work, she could still jump like she had originally planned. "It could work. Okay, we’ll try it your way." She held up a warning hand to a protesting Dawn. "Spike’s right, he’ll mend from a fall like that; we wouldn’t." She turned to Spike and continued in a near whisper, "If it doesn’t work, I’m still going to jump. Dawnie comes out of this alive."

"Won’t be up here to stop you, Slayer. Always wanted a taste of you anyway. Guess I get my wish." Spike tried to smirk but it was more of a sad little smile instead.

Buffy moved her head to one side and offered her neck to Spike. All the years of threats and fights had led to her offering the unbelievable to this vampire for a
reason even more unbelievable than her offer of blood.

Spike looked deeply into the eyes of this woman he loved enough to die for and drew a shaky breath. Damn, he hoped it worked! He bent his head to the curve of her neck and gently began to lick and nuzzle her neck. If he was going to do this, he was going to make sure it wasn’t painful for her, if possible.

Buffy felt herself tense up as this peculiar vampire began to lave her neck gently. She had never thought of gentleness and a vampire drinking from someone as belonging in the same sentence before. Spike was just one surprise after another! Just as she was beginning to wonder if he had changed his mind about substituting himself for the Summers girls in this sacrifice, she felt his bones shift as he went into game face. The actual penetration of his fangs into her jugular was surprisingly easy and painless, or close to it. She remembered having more painful flu shots in the past.

Spike’s eyes closed in ecstasy as the first mouthful of delicious Buffy blood coated his throat. She tasted better than the China Doll had all those years ago. He had never forgotten the rush of drinking from a Slayer, had craved it from Buffy for years until his love overpowered his bloodlust. With this nectar singing in him, a bloke could do nearly anything! Spike took enough blood to be certain it would
register with whatever magical blood detector might be checking while not doing any permanent harm to his Buffy.

Buffy was stunned by the sensations she was feeling at this act. She had always equated a vampire feeding with pain and terror, not anything pleasant. No, pleasant didn’t come close. This was almost like sex, good sex … no … GREAT sex. She could feel every pull on her blood like an electrical current leading straight to her clit. If she didn’t control herself she was going to have way too much to explain to Dawnie later! "Uhnnnnnnnn!" She moaned and moved her body closer to Spike involuntarily. God, this made her so needy, if there wasn’t a dimensional rift to close, she could easily lose all control and wrap her legs around Spike’s slender hips right there!

It was with a sense of loss that Spike withdrew his fangs, licking the newest holes in Buffy’s neck. He kissed the spot lovingly, knowing he might never have
another chance to get that close to her in the future. Then, realizing that future might not exist if he didn’t hurry, he placed a quick kiss on Buffy’s surprised lips and took a long run off the short girder and into glory.

~*~
Chapter 2
~*~

The Scoobies had been watching the figures on the tower since the demon Xander thought he had already killed landed at his feet. They had seen Spike lead Dawn to Buffy and then the trio had appeared to be arguing about something.

Giles had begun to go into what qualified as panic mode for the Watcher as the walls began to fall between dimensions. "Blast! She was too late!" Giles hoped the vampire would do what had to be done to save the world, even if Buffy would not be able to do the deed. Dawn had to die. There was no hope for it now.

"That bastard!" Xander had not taken his eyes off of the drama going on so high above them all. "The traitor! I knew we couldn’t trust him!"

Willow hadn’t been looking at much other than her recovering lover and was puzzled by her best friend’s exclamations. "What … who are you talking about, Xan?"

"Spike," he spat. "Smell a little blood and he goes all fang face. Buffy must be too tired to stop him, or stake him."

"Good Lord, he bit her!" Giles echoed Xander’s dismay. "Whatever is Buffy thinking to allow that? She must have allowed it for his chip not to have fired."

As the small group watched, Spike made his run for the edge of the tower and flung himself into the night sky. The fall was too fast for anyone to do more than
watch in amazement. Spike hit the pavement and actually bounced with the impact. The cement cracked under his broken body and bricks from the lunatic construction crew’s stash fell atop the unconscious vampire.

Willow let out a yelp as dust billowed around the still body of their undead comrade. Relief flooding her as she realized it wasn’t Spike who was dust. "Wait here, sweetie," she said to Tara and helped her newly sane lover to sit. Willow was the first to reach Spike’s body. "I don’t think he’s dead. I mean no more than usual," she said to the group.

Tara rose to follow instead of staying where Willow had left her. "He’s still with us, but he’s hurt really bad," the sweet witch said. "I can still see his aura. He’s in a lot of pain and isn’t conscious, but I think he’ll make it."

Giles looked up and saw that the portal had closed and his Slayer and her sister were safely descending the tower. "Whatever he did, it worked. The rift is healed."

"You just can’t trust a vampire. I’ve told Buffy he’s dangerous, but did she listen? No!" Xander had the image of Spike feeding from Buffy burned into his brain, blocking anything but the horror of another friend being drained by a vampire. He grabbed the pointed baseball bat from his injured fiancé’s hand and
stormed toward the downed vamp.

"Xander, stop! Spike just saved us all!" Anya desperately tried to get through the rage her lover was feeling to stop him from making a huge mistake. "I don’t know what we thought we saw, but you can’t just stake him!"

At that point, Buffy and a shaken Dawn came up to the group. "Xander!" Buffy grabbed her friend’s arm and pulled the makeshift stake from his hand, flinging it
away. "Enough! Spike closed the portal. It had to be blood, remember! I was going to jump and he offered to try this. It worked. It’s over." Buffy
looked at all her friends and then at the broken and bloodied body of the vampire who had just saved her sister’s life, and the world itself for that matter.
"Come on. Let’s get Spike somewhere safe to heal before the sun comes up and makes it pointless."

Tara had found a discarded tarp and brought it to the side of the downed hero. "Here, Buffy. We could use this to move Spike, I think."

Buffy smiled at Tara in gratitude. Clearly Willow’s plan had worked to restore Tara to herself. Maybe they would all be all right after all. "Thank you, Tara. This will help a lot."

Giles helped Buffy roll Spike onto the tarp so the vampire could be carried with minimal jostling. "Where do you want to take him, Buffy? He might not regain
consciousness for a while and he isn’t too popular with the demons of Sunnydale. I’m not altogether certain he’d be safe at his crypt in this condition."

"True. He’s been a demon-killing machine since that chip implant. I guess we could let him stay in my basement until he’s able to defend himself again." Buffy saw Dawn’s face light up in relief that Spike would be so close at hand. They both owed the vampire a lot for all his actions since Glory had swept into their lives. ‘Poor Spike won’t get much rest if I don’t keep Dawn away from the basement,’ Buffy
thought.

"Xander, make yourself useful, will you? Buffy has sustained blood loss and shouldn’t assist in moving Spike. Take the end at his feet like a good lad."
Giles had noticed Buffy’s pallor and clear signs that his Slayer was at the end of her physical rope.

Xander did as asked, taking the bottom end of the makeshift stretcher as they moved his least favorite member of the group to shelter.

Buffy leaned on her grateful sister as her energy began to fail. "Are you gonna be okay, Buffy?" asked a concerned Dawn.

"I’ll be fine. Some O.J. of the non-deranged stalker/killer kind, a couple of powdered sugar donuts and I’m good to go!" Buffy put a tired, forced smile on her face and reassured her sister.

Willow looked from the fallen vampire to her best girlfriend with worry etched on her face. "It’ll be okay, Dawnie. We’ll be there to make sure Buffy is a
good little Slayer and pump her full of anti-anemic goodness. We can also whip up some witchy healing magic and both our patients will be good as new in no
time, right, Tara?"

"Sure, honey. That’s what magic is best used for: helping. We can’t undo the natural order, but there’s nothing wrong with Buffy or Spike that we can’t put
together a potion or two," Tara agreed with her love.

"I don’t want you to overdo it either, missy!" ordered a concerned Willow. "You haven’t had an easy few days yourself."

"Yes, sweetheart. I’ll be careful. It won’t take any energy to put together some herbs though," Tara insisted.

"Perhaps a trip to the Emergency ward might be in order," Giles suggested.

"I think they’d take one look at Spikey, toe-tag him and ship him to the morgue," said Xander. "Of course it might be funny, seeing their faces when he wakes up."

"Not Spike, you pillock, the rest of the injured. Perhaps not Buffy either. The blood loss isn’t severe enough to require a transfusion, I think, and it might
be difficult to explain the loss properly. As it is, we can come up with some plausible story to explain the injuries to Dawn and Tara," Giles said sternly.
"The moronic police in this town must have noted the escape of all these mental patients and the raising of this monstrosity. I think it should be an easy task
to come up with a story they would readily believe."

"So, Buff, does this mean Spikey’s forgiven for the whole sexbot thing?" Xander had to try to stir up old issues to make sure Buffy wasn’t going to start to feel too grateful to the vamp.

"Well, it did help me beat Glory, so I guess it wasn’t such a bad thing he had it built after all." Buffy nearly laughed at the stunned look on Xander’s face at the
thought that she was wiping the slate clean where Spike was concerned. "It might be harder to forgive if it looked more like me, I have to admit."

Xander proceeded to do his best landed fish imitation as the rest of the group began to laugh quietly.

~*~
Chapter 3
~*~
The first weeks of Spike’s recovery passed without his being aware of a thing. The next few were spent in more pain than the 120-year-old vampire remembered experiencing since his early days with Angelus.

Finally Spike was beginning to look like he was on the road to recovery by the middle of July. The rest of the summer saw a bemused vampire being coddled by the women of the house.

If Dawn wasn’t down in the basement checking on her hero and fussing over him, Willow was plying him with herb-laden, homemade chicken soup. "I’m Jewish and we know all about the healing goodness of boiled poultry." Spike had to admit the soup was tasty and seemed to ease some of the many aches and pains.

The biggest surprise of all was Buffy. The Slayer had taken to visiting at least a couple of times each day. She had also begun to bring bags of not-quite-stale human blood to aid his healing. She never said where she was getting the many bags of forbidden drink and he never asked.

Tara spent a lot of time with Spike through it all. She had a vague memory of having accidentally exposed the vampire to sunlight while in her Glory-induced brain damaged condition. She remembered how understanding he had been in spite of his hand smoldering. She had always felt that Spike was special. His aura clearly showed how different he was from any other vampire she had ever encountered. His actions over the past year only made it more obvious that he was more man than monster, even if that was supposed to be impossible.

She had discovered his dark secret by the second week after he regained consciousness and had begun to bring him books to read to while away the many hours of confinement. She had practically emptied the shelves in the poetry section of the library to feed his voracious appetite for the dance of words the books contained. They even had lively discussions about the merits of different poets and their works as Spike regained his strength. By the sixth week, Tara had firmly placed Spike in the small part of her heart reserved for friends and loved ones.

By the end of July, Spike was coming upstairs in the evening to share in the family meal and TV time. He was beginning to resent the rapid healing his body was doing. Each day was drawing him closer to having to leave the warmth of these women and this home and return to the coldness of his empty crypt. They were all being so good to him that he didn’t want to make them think badly of him again by faking the severity of his situation though, so he answered their concerned questions honestly.

He offered to move back to his crypt in mid-August, even though he still had some internal bruising and a bone or two that wasn’t one hundred percent yet. None of the housemates would hear of his leaving until he was totally mended, however, and Spike sighed in contentment.

***

One unseasonably hot September afternoon, Spike awoke to cold wetness in his bed. It wasn’t the first time in Spike’s long life that he’d woke to cold dampness, but this time it had nothing to do with sweet Slayer dreams and bodily fluids. A copper pipe overhead was leaking its precious water supply one slow drip at a time directly over the vampire’s bed.

"Bloody hell! All these years in crypts, abandoned warehouses and other run-down holes only to have middle class American construction target me for Chinese water torture!" Spike mumbled. He got up and moved his cot across the basement to a drier corner and put his bedding in the Slayer’s clothes dryer to make his nest cozy once more. "Gonna have to tell the Slayer she’ll need to get Donut Boy down here to have a lookey-see at these pipes."

Xander had been in a bit of a pout since Spike had moved into the charming residence on Revello Drive. He had given up on saying anything about the dangers of having Spike as a houseguest after even Giles told him to leave off and mind his own business. Spike had rather enjoyed the look on the boy’s face as Giles reminded the carpenter that Spike managed to save the world from the very jaws of chaos itself with his quick thinking and willingness to sacrifice himself.

Giles took Dawn back to London so that her "keyness" could be researched more easily. No one was sure what her abilities might turn out to be. To Spike, she appeared a normal teenage hormone bomb with the potential power to make pimpled boys come in their jeans , but the Watcher thought there might be some powers beyond her budding beauty that bore looking into.

Spike greatly missed his Bit. She had kept him company while the others were occupied. He had learned every board game and child’s card game in her
arsenal. They had laughed until they both hurt watching The Princess Bride and various Monty Python videos. No one connected with Spike’s inner child like his Niblet. She mailed a postcard every week from London, letting her hero know the progress in research (none) and share her adventures in tourism (many). Spike was utterly charmed.

When mid-September arrived, Spike announced he was kicking Clem out of his crypt and moving home at long last. Xander let out a cheer only to be greeted with dirty looks from ‘Spike’s harem’, as Xander snidely referred to the women of 1630 Revello Drive.

"But, pet, I’m all healed now. Need to be out there killin’ and brawlin’ before the demons in this town forget I’m the Big Bad. Wouldn’t do to have that lot lose sight of the fact! Besides if I don’t move back soon, the crypt’ll be crawlin’ with kittens and littered with crushed Bugles and spilled Country Time. You have no idea what a pig Clem can be." Spike didn’t want Buffy to think for a minute that he hadn’t been grateful to her for her hospitality. If he were honest, he’d love to stay permanently. Well, he’d prefer being moved up to the Slayer’s room if he were being perfectly honest.

That was the problem. Now that Spike was feeling like himself again, it wasn’t easy dealing with the love of his life sleeping, probably naked, only two floors above him. It was becoming sweet torture to lie on his cot and imagine Buffy in the shower, Buffy slipping into naughty little nothings under her slaying outfits, Buffy sleeping all alone in that double bed. Spike sighed wistfully and resolved to move out as soon as he could. ‘No point in torturing yourself, mate. Had more than enough of that already. This is worse than listenin’ to Peaches and Dru while I was in the damned wheelchair. Least I knew I’d have Dru again eventually,’ he thought.

Xander volunteered to help Spike move whenever he wanted to go. Somehow Spike didn’t think it was an offer of friendship on the whelp’s part.

~*~
Chapter 4
~*~

The biggest surprise Spike had after moving back to the crypt wasn’t the welcome home/housewarming party thrown by the two witches, though that had resulted in a generous amount of secondhand furniture gifts. No, it was that the Slayer had begun to pay nightly visits. Seemed she had become used to their chats and was seeking him out! He had expected the odd visit from the lovebirds, especially Tara, but he had never anticipated the Slayer missing him. If he hadn’t already been feeling better, that would have cured him.

"Dawn’s pissed at you, you know." Buffy had stopped by with his weekly postcard from the Bit and stayed for a chat. "Pissed at me, too. She thinks I made
you move out. You’re so gonna have to convince her it was your idea or I’ll have to listen to her whine for the next year! She’ll be home in a few weeks to get ready for school. She’s already missed the first grading period. Good thing Giles covered with some work-study credit. I think she expected you to become our permanent roommate. I tried to explain that you need your privacy to, you know, do evil vampire things that you can’t do in the Slayer’s basement. Then she called me a dorkwad!" Buffy complained.

"Gonna have to get on her ‘bout respectin’ her elders there, Slayer." Spike laughed when Buffy’s eye rolled at the thought of trying to put that across to her little pest of a sister. "So, Bit’s comin home soon. Good. She’s been away from home too long if you ask me. Rupes learn any important key information by kidnappin’ our girl for the summer?"

"Not really. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if she has any superpowers. My luck she’ll turn out to have some kind of comic book kinda power that’ll
make messes I have to clean up for the rest of her life," Buffy huffed. "Chaos Girl! She’ll enter a room and everything will fly off shelves to the floor.
Clothes will fling themselves from closets and strew themselves around rooms. Toothpaste tubes will squeeze out on cabinets and lose their caps forever. Even scarier, every horny teenaged boy within 100 miles will be drawn to her amazing pheromone output and I’ll have to change my policy about not staking humans," Buffy grinned at the thought.


"Maybe that inhuman screech she showed all of us last year will turn out to be her secret weapon. The ability to make ears bleed within a city block!" Spike joined in the game of ‘name the Bit’s secret power’ with his own suggestions. "She’s got a real knack for sneakin’ out of the house and findin’ herself in the company of demons. That’s gotta rate up there some way."

"Yes, well, you don’t count. Dawn was always safe with you. I know that now." Spike wasn’t sure whether to be insulted for not being a big enough bad or chuffed that Buffy finally credited him with real feelings, at least where Dawn was concerned.

"I bloody well DO count. The minx could’ve easily been a right nice lunch there at the start!" Spike decided to protect that precious image of master of evil.

Buffy snorted as she laughed at him. "Sure, Big Bad… whatever! Eat her right up while on commercial break during Passions."

"Hey, I don’t make fun of your stupid so-called reality shows, do I?" Spike defended his choice of entertainment by taking a swipe at Buffy’s notorious
bad taste. "Least my favorites involve a bit of talented actin’ and writin’."

"Have we watched the same show here, bud? Talented? I’m thinking not." Buffy continued her assault on all things Passions. "Jerry Spinger has better acting
and more believable stories, too."

"No accountin’ for taste, I guess. Your mum liked Passions too, you know," Spike defended with the big ammo. He instantly regretted bringing up Joyce as he saw Buffy’s good humor fade and the sadness return. "Oh, bollocks! Damn, I’m sorry Buffy. You’re right, it’s just a stupid telly program. I didn’t mean to remind you of sad things. Sometimes I think Anya’s little sex toy may have a point about me and my mouth."

Buffy gave a little laugh at Spike’s new nickname for Xander. "Apology accepted. I know you really feel bad because you said something kind of nice about Xander. I don’t mind remembering mom. I miss her a lot. It’s nice you shared something with her, too."

"Good lady, your mom. Always treated me like I mattered, like I wasn’t just some monster in a man suit. Guess it’s true that the good die young." Spike tried to console Buffy.

"She liked you, too. She knew you were a vampire and had a clue what that meant but she also saw a man in there. She liked that man. I think I see him, too, sometimes." Buffy blushed and slightly moved further away from him on the bench where they were sitting.

There was silence for a while as both beings wondered just what was happening between them. Both were afraid to speak and break something fragile.

"Okay, that was awkward." Buffy admitted. "Say, want to go kill something? I could use some backup on patrol every once in a while. Tonight might be good,
if you’re up for it?"

Spike spent the rest of September blissfully enjoying frequent visits from Red and Glinda and nightly patrols and conversations with Buffy herself. "Life doesn’t get any better," he thought more than once.

It was during an evening of marathon Pictionary that Buffy announced Dawn would be home the next day. Clem, who had become something of a regular on game
night, was a bit nervous about the return of the Slayer’s little sister, whom he barely knew. "Gee, do you think she’d be, you know, weirded out by my hanging with you guys?"

"She’ll be more squigged by what you do with those disgustin’ cheese things you insist on dippin’ in chocolate. Of course she won’t mind! Bit’s not like
that. Takes a person for who they are on the inside." Spike defended his girl’s character to his best demon friend.

Tara laughed and said, "I don’t know about that, Spike. I’ve tasted some of Dawnie’s kitchen experiments. She might like Clem’s special treats."

"Actually, it’s better with Nutella," offered Willow.

"Too bad Xander backed out. If he’d just loosen up a bit, he’d have a good time. He even laughed the last time we got him to join us. I wish he’d just get over
his Spike issues," Willow said sadly. She missed having Xander around all the time. True, the boy continued to be a big part of their lives, but then he’d remember he was supposed to hate Spike and would beg off on game or movie night until Anya got tired of his sulking and insist they rejoin the group.

"Speaking of the construction worker, did you ask him to have a look at those drippy pipes in your basement, love?" Spike had told Buffy about his unpleasant wake-up call while he was living in her basement.

"Yeah, he’s going to see which contractor buddy he can get to have a look at them. I think I’m going to need to get a job before too long. The hospital bill monster and its scavenging bill collector minions ate mom’s insurance. Now THERE are some demons I’d love to slay."

Spike nodded sympathetically. Buffy had looked rather worried lately and her timing had been a bit off while patrolling. He meant to ask her what was wrong but was hoping she would open up on her own. Now the cat was out of the proverbial bag, maybe they could come up with a way to help.

"Hey, Buffy, I have an idea that might sound stupid, but it could work. Don’t get all mad, just hear me out." Willow continued after Buffy nodded for her to go on. "I was thinking. You need to rest so you can patrol every day. You’re really going to be busy when Dawnie gets home ‘cause you’re gonna have to be insta-mom and be all perfect Suzy Homemaker to keep Social Services happy. Not much time for a nine-to-five without really sucking the life out of you. What if I pulled out the BuffyBot and rewired her to be more Working Girl! Buffy instead of Woo Hoo! Buffy. She could get a job and you could be sleeping while she was off doing the daily grind! We could even brush off her slaying programming and she could help patrol!"

Buffy was stunned to silence, but as she thought about what her oldest friend had said, she began to think it might be worth looking into. "I can’t say I love the
idea of the Bot being around, but that might be a doable idea if you got rid of certain programming." She shot a dark look Spike’s way.

Spike found himself with a deep need to retie his Docs as he felt Buffy’s eyes burn into the back of his head. ‘Nope, not completely forgiven for that one,’ he thought. ‘Best keep my yap shut even if I think it’s a bloody brilliant idea Red’s got there.’

"Maybe when Mr. Giles gets back, we can see what he thinks about it, Buffy. I’m sure Willow can make her a lot more like the real you. You know, all
business-like and not so … em … perky." Tara smiled at her girlfriend after offering her verbal support of the idea.

"Make her more like the ‘other, not so pleasant Buffy’, you mean?" Buffy shot yet another burning glare at the uncomfortable vampire on her right.

"Oh, no, no! Buffy, you’re pleasant. You’re a regular sweetie! I mean…you opened your home and your heart to me and you go out and risk your life every night for all of us. I didn’t mean to insult you. I d…d…d…don’t want you to think I meant anything negative by what I said!" Poor Tara stuttered for the first time in over a year, upset to think she had accidentally insulted her lover’s best friend.

"That was directed at me, honeygirl. I’m the bloke that put my foot in that one." Spike patted Tara’s hand. "You know I don’t think of you like that anymore don’t
you, pet?" Spike looked into Buffy’s eyes earnestly.

Buffy tried to hold on to the old feelings of anger and hurt but just couldn’t do it. She sighed and rolled her eyes at him. "After all that’s happened since then, I don’t think it would matter now. Lots of things have changed, including how we all see each other. Time to take that monkey’s advice from ‘Lion King’ and just whack myself in the head with that stick and remind myself it’s in the past."

"Well if you have to whack anyone, whack me. I’m the wanker who said it and had the soddin’ Bot built, for that matter." Spike said softly. "Bloody daft idea, that was. As if anyone could come close to makin’ anything that captured Buffy Summers."

Buffy blushed at the attempt at a compliment and moved the conversation back to the practicalities of reviving the Bot. "So, Will, are you sure you can reattach the head? Won’t it have some weird tics or something?"

"I’m pretty sure I can do it, Buffy. Just think, you could be in two places as once…well, kinda anyway," Willow said with a wide grin.

"At least it wouldn’t be another mouth to feed. Yeah, go ahead and try to get it fixed. We’ll see about the rest," Buffy agreed.

"Just think, Buffy, you could even take a vacation!" Clem was getting into the spirit. "You’d be the first Slayer ever to be able to go to Disneyland and still
not miss patrol. I think it’s a cool idea. Willow, you rock!"

~~~

"Xander Harris, we could be over there winning at Pictionary if you weren’t such a stubborn cuss," Anya chided her sulking fiancée. "You know we’re welcome on game night, or any other group thing. You just don’t want to admit that Spike isn’t the Antichrist in black leather, that’s all. It better not be the whole ‘he’s a demon’ issue, mister, ‘cause you’re marrying into the clan."

"Ex-demon, An. You’re an ex-demon. He’s still the same soulless, evil, annoying lecher who’s been sniffing after Buffy for the last couple of years. You can’t trust him and I hate how Buffy’s always over at that crypt of his. I mean, An, did you even hear that sentence? CRYPT. Humans are only supposed to be in crypts when they’re dead, not playing silly games with the undead. I get that he did a good thing there with Glory but it doesn’t change anything. That chip comes out and we’re not playing games, we’re take-out!"

Anya gave her man a look bordering on disgust and sighed. "You can try to convince yourself of that Xander. Meanwhile I’m at risk of losing half my wedding party if you make them mad enough. Just who’ll be my bridesmaids? I suppose I could ask Halfrek, but I have my heart set on a big wedding and one vengeance demon in a bridesmaid dress is NOT a big wedding! If I’m going to spend my hard-earned money on a big shindig, I want all of our friends there to help me spend it, just like in the magazines. You’ve got to try to be nice, Xander, or no more special games of our own. I mean it! I absolutely will not dress up like that Romana woman when you put on that long scarf and ask me to call you the Doctor!"

"An, wait! I’m sorry, cupcake. I’ll be nice to Deadboy Junior. Can we use your closet for a TARDIS?" Xander trailed after his girlfriend with an eager
expression on his face. Time enough after games to go back to hating the Bleached Wonder. Right now Xanderwanted to grab some jellybabies and eat them off of his sexy baby’s luscious naked body. "K-9! Fetch my scarf!" he ordered his imaginary robotic dog.

~*~
Chapter 5
~*~
Buffy liked the idea of having a double to take on the drudgery of a job more and more as she thought about it. "Maybe we can program it to clean house and cook,
too!" It seemed the only things Buffy really looked forward to were patrolling and her nightly visits with Spike.

Nearly every day she would stare at the bite mark on her neck made by Spike on the tower that night and run her fingers over the small scar left behind. She would remember how hot the bite had made her. Even with hell spilling out into the world, all she had been able to think about was having Spike penetrate more than her neck. She had been bitten before, of course.

First the Master had killed her with a bite before drowning and then she had hit Angel until he had vamped out and drank her life-saving Slayer blood. She remembered that hurting a lot, even if she had climaxed as her first lover had nearly drained her dry. It had hurt; so had the Master’s bite. Dracula had bitten her too, but thanks to the thrall, she didn’t really remember how it had felt. Most of what she felt about that whole thing was embarrassment.

Spike’s bite was different. It was pure sex.

Buffy missed sex. She hadn’t had sex since Riley left. She hadn’t even indulged in a decent fantasy in a long while. Well, that was only half-true. She had lots of beginnings of fantasies and plenty of night dreams, all starring Spike and his fangs of pleasure. The waking ones she squashed as soon as she realized where her mind was going. The night ones tended to haunt her throughout the day.

"Damn sexy vampire! Bad enough I don’t get a decent amount of sleep without having a certain blonde vampire with that hard, hot body and a bite that made me come
without him even taking off his pants running naked through my dreams when I do sleep!" Buffy was seriously sexually frustrated. "Why couldn’t Dru have turned some doofus with rotting buckteeth and a pot belly!

"Can’t really ask Giles about the whole yummy bitey stuff or he’d freak and stake Spike." Giles and Dawn had only been back for a couple of days and Buffy realized how much she relied on her Watcher for so many answers in her life. "Not going to use Giles as my own personal Dr. Ruth though. His glasses couldn’t survive!" Buffy laughed at the mental image of Giles reacting to the kinds of questions she’d love to ask about vampiric sexuality and why the memory of some vampire bites got her hot and wet.

Spike had been by to see Dawn and annoy Giles. It was rather funny watching that last part. Somehow what Spike had done to save Buffy and Dawn made a major difference in the attitude of the reserved Watcher. Spike tried all his old tricks to get a rise from Giles, only to be met with an exceptional amount of tolerance. Giles had finally found a way to completely frustrate the vampire.

"He’s no fun any more, Slayer," Spike complained as they patrolled later that night. "Don’t know what that Council of Wankers did to your Watcher, but I’m bettin’ he’s a pod person. The real Giles is in some dark hole at their headquarters in London. I’m telling you, Slayer, we need to watch him close-like. No tellin’ what he’ll do! The git even smiled at me and asked my opinion and you know that has to herald an apocalypse at the very least." Spike actually looked a bit worried.

"Stop being a drama queen, Spike. Giles simply figured out you aren’t Angelus with a buzz toy in your head. People can change. You even proved that demons can change," Buffy pointed out.

"Well, I’m still watchin’ the Watcher," Spike promised.

"I’m sure he’ll be flattered," Buffy teased. "Better be careful or he’ll think you’ve developed a crush."

"Bloody hell, Slayer, he’s not my type at all! If I were lookin’ that way, I’d go much younger and in better shape."

"Should I warn Xander?" It took all of Buffy’s self control to keep from doubling over in laughter at Spike’s expression.

The vampire sputtered in indignation at the suggestion. "The whelp is NOT in better shape. Gonna need to be wheeled down the bleedin’ aisle if he doesn’t lay off the junk food. Don’t even THINK of saying such a horrifyin’ thing around anyone else either, missy, or--chip or no chip--I WILL eat you." He threatened.

"Yeah, promises, promises," she said.

Buffy walked on ahead of the suddenly confused Spike. He could swear he smelled … no, not possible! If he weren’t sure he had to be imagining it, Spike would place a bet that his Slayer was aroused at the thought. The rich aroma of heavily turned-on female wafted off Buffy so strongly he could smell it, even as far behind her as he was walking. Damn!


Buffy could not stop the thoughts! It was all Spike’s fault with that lame pretend threat to eat her. The words had just left his mouth, his so sexy mouth, when she was imagining Spike eating her in every way imaginable. That tongue of his that he liked to poke between his teeth like a house cat high on catnip held the promise of talents Buffy had only read about. ‘Bet he’s done more than read, too! Oh yeah, lots more,’ she thought dreamily. ‘Of course, I wouldn’t object if he decided to have a little sip from my neck while he was at it.’ Buffy shook her head to clear the image as she felt herself grow even more wet at the thought.

"Spike, where’d you go?" Buffy noticed that the vampire who had been starring in her own mental porn movie had stopped several yards behind her and had a completely befuddled expression on his face. "What’s up? Some nasty around I didn’t notice?"

When Spike didn’t answer at first, Buffy became a little alarmed. He was looking at her so oddly and not moving at all, only the movement of his Adam’s apple every few minutes showed he was not made of stone. Buffy headed back towards her paralyzed vampire partner and snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Yo, Spike! Wake-up time for vampires! You okay?"

"Um…" Spike swallowed hard once more, as his eyes seemed to clear and focus again. "Yeah, fine here. No worries. Thought I caught a hint of something, but I had to have been wrong. Go on ahead, Buffy, I’ll be right with you." Spike prayed she would just move away without noticing the significant bulge straining his zipper at the scent of her arousal. There were times when that superior vampire sense of smell was not an asset. Wouldn’t do for Buffy to see the effect her words and smell had on him.

"Just what the hell turned her key?" Spike wondered. "What the hell did I say anyway?" He searched his memory trying to figure out what could have caused Buffy to put out the smell that put the best French perfume to shame.

As soon as he was able to walk without looking like he had a metal bar down his left pant leg, Spike caught up to Buffy and tried to ignore the lovely aroma of Slayer musk she was still emitting. This was an even bigger mystery than the change in Giles. What could have caused Buffy to suddenly let off all those delectable
smells?

Naturally there weren’t any vampires bursting out of their graves begging to be staked to distract Buffy thoughts. ‘Where’s a good attempted virgin sacrifice
when you need one?’ she wondered? Of course, the word "virgin" led down the same merry path she was already skipping along as she thought of all the fun things she had yet to experience but sensed that Spike knew firsthand.

Buffy stopped in her tracks, causing Spike to slam into her back. Spike’s arms went round her to keep her from being knocked to the ground and he found himself unable to let go once she was stable again. It felt as though time stopped as Buffy slowly turned in his arms, not pulling away from him at all. In fact, Buffy drew even closer to him, nearly scorching him with her heat. His painfully hard cock strained at his pants, begging for release. She had to feel what her nearness was doing to him! Just when Spike thought his mind would explode at the possibilities hinted at by Buffy’s non-reaction to his condition, she blew the top off his head by pressing her lips to his in a tentative kiss.

~*~
Chapter 6
~*~

Buffy may have initiated the kiss, but Spike knew just what to do with such an invitation. They were so close it felt as though their bodies were melting into one and clothing was suddenly far too inhibiting. Spike deepened the kiss as he realized Buffy was not preparing to stake him good and proper. In fact, he was giving serious thought to how he’d like to stake Buffy.

This had to be a dream, except he had never imagined anything tasting as sweet as his Slayer’s lips. He remembered the kisses they had shared while under Willow’s spell soon after he had been chipped, but this kiss was so much more than he had even stored in his memories of that time. He had relived those hours many times, even before he realized he loved Buffy. This…this was so much more.

Her soft lips parted under his as he let his tongue glide over her bottom lip and slip inside her honeyed mouth. Her tongue met his and caressed it in welcome. She drew his tongue further into her mouth and began sucking on it gently, mimicking an act he had never dared even dream of experiencing with his Slayer--not and living to tell of it anyway. His already impossibly hard cock swelled further, putting the sewing skills of Mr. Levi Strauss to the test.
The zipper held, much to the sadness of his non-thinking smaller head.

Buffy pulled back, but not to break the embrace, merely to draw in a needed breath.

"God, Buffy, love, what you do to me," Spike whispered into her neck as he drew in ragged breaths himself. "We really, really need to either move this somewhere else or stop now or else the demon population’s gonna get quite a show." A large part of Spike’s brain was busy giving the rest of him hell for even suggesting an end to this lovely interlude. His inner William, however, congratulated him for putting Buffy’s feelings ahead of his own desires.

Buffy was still panting as if she had run a marathon. Her eyes were glazed over with lust. The only thoughts she had were ‘more Spike.’ His words began to filter into her running mantra of desire, breaking the spell.

"You okay, pet? Didn’t mean to maul you. You know how I feel bout you. It was just…well…havin’ you in my arms like that was just too much." Spike was taking full responsibility for the kiss and grope fest. "I’d say I’m only human, but I guess I can’t use that line, eh?"

"Huh?" Buffy was still on the road to Happy Land and unable to process what Spike was saying. "Wait a minute! Are you saying you’re sorry for kissing me? You jerk!" Buffy threw out a fist and felt Spike’s nose break when it connected.

"OW, you miserable bitch! Here I am tryin’ to take all the responsibility and you go and break my nose. What’s the matter with you anyway, Slayer? First you smell like my best wet dream, make me so hard I can’t even walk, let alone think straight, then you fall into my arms and start snoggin’ me like the world’s coming to an end then you finish it all off by trying to rearrange my face! Have you gone barmy?" Spike was holding the bridge of his bleeding nose trying to stem the flow.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" He complained loudly while trying to straighten his poor abused nose so it would heal up straight. "Why is it always my nose with you? I’m
gonna wind up lookin’ like bloody Mike Tyson if I keep chasin’ after you."

"God, Spike, I’m sorry! I really didn’t mean to break your nose. I overreacted. It’s just that we were all… you know … and then you were … well … you seemed like you were wishing we hadn’t kissed and I just lost it." Buffy stammered out an attempt at an apology.

"Why would I be wishing we hadn’t kissed? Are you daft? I love you, remember? Chains, speeches, offers to stake my sire … any of that craziness ring a bell for you? I had to move out of the best place I’ve ever lived because I couldn’t sleep for wanting you. I wake up thinking about you, spend my waking hours thinking about you, go to sleep thinking about you and then dream about you all night. You’ve ruined me, Buffy. I’m not good for anything but loving you anymore. To think for one minute that I would wish we hadn’t kissed is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard in my very long life."

Buffy stared at Spike as he ranted such sweet words at her. She had to admit she loved hearing he still felt that way about her. It was even nicer not being chained up while he said them. Maybe one day he wouldn’t be shouting them when he did.

"Then maybe we could try that again with a bit more time-outs for oxygen and a little less violence and yelling?" Buffy smiled at Spike’s shocked look.

~~~

The large, muscular demon in leather and chains gave a deep and ominous laugh in response to the reports he was hearing from Sunnydale. A group of vampires there were claiming that the Slayer was really a robot, a toy.

"What in the name of all evil makes you tell such crap?" Mag demanded. "This Slayer may fight harder than any before her, but she’s no machine. I’ve seen her bleed."

"No really! It’s true! Last spring Wally here saw her fighting this hellgod called Glory and her head got knocked off. There were sparks and wires and everything. Hell, even the goddess asked if anyone else had figured out the Slayer was a machine," the small, acne-covered vampire insisted.

"So why are you just now spreading the word, vampire?" Mag’s lieutenant, Razor, asked the terrified undead.

"Wally and me just ran. I mean all kinds of weird shit was happening and some terminator Slayer was one weird thing too many, ya know what I mean?"

"Well, looks like something’s worth checking out at the Hellmouth, boys. I say we ride!" Mag ordered the actual hell’s angels to their hogs and let out a war cry. "Gonna be a new sheriff in town by tonight."

"Yeah, boss, and I’ll be your deputy," offered Razor.

"If I hear any of you rejects singing a chorus of ‘I Shot the Sheriff’, I’ll rip out your vocal chords. Move out!" Mag always wanted to trash and rule a Hellmouth. With a fake Slayer in charge of protecting the innocents, his time had finally come.

~*~
Chapter 7
~*~

Spike decided this opportunity for a willing Buffy to be in his arms needed someplace a bit more private than the middle of Sunnydale’s newest cemetery. "Buffy, love, maybe we could move this perfectly wonderful moment someplace a little less open?"

Buffy nodded in agreement and looked around for some sort of shelter nearby. She wasn’t in the mood to waste a lot of time changing locations when her entire body was screaming for Spike’s touch and taste. Now that she had finally decided to just follow her heart, it felt like she had already wasted too much time.

"Nobody’s home tonight," she suggested. "Dawn’s at Janice’s, Tara and Willow are working on a paper at the library all night and Giles is staying at the Magic Box so he can receive an early delivery. We’d have the whole place to ourselves with no
interruptions."

"Sounds perfect, kitten. I’d race you but I don’t want to let go of you in case you disappear!" Spike lifted Buffy’s hand and kissed it.

"Speed walk?" Buffy asked. "We’re two superpowered beings, I think we can set a land speed record if we try." They smiled at one another and turned to head toward Revello Drive.

~~~

While the vampire and his Slayer were racing across Sunnydale, the gang of Harley-riding demons was roaring into town from the other direction. As soon as Spike heard the whoop and roar of Mag’s marauders, he knew his luck had run out for a spot of lovin’ tonight.

"Miserable, butt-ugly moron’s gonna pay for pickin’ tonight to play ‘Easy Rider’ in my town. I’m gonna pull off his arms and beat him to death with them!" Spike swore, meaning every word literally for a change.

The gang roared to a stop when Mag spotted Spike and the robot Slayer on the sidewalk. "Spike! Out walking the 2.0 model? Haven’t seen you in an age. Any reason you’re walking with that hunk of junk?"

Buffy whispered to Spike, "Who is this guy and why did he call me a hunk of junk?"

Spike turned to Buffy and spoke quickly, "This demon’s name is Mag. He really is as bad as he looks, love. Let me try to buy us some time, okay? I’ve seen what happens to human girls when he gets done with them and Slayer or no Slayer, he’s not getting anywhere near you, pet! I think he thinks you’re the Bot; don’t know why though. He was always more muscle than brains."

Spike didn’t wait for Buffy to agree to let him lead before he turned to the bike-riding hoard and gave Mag his best evil smirk. "Mag, boys. Long time. ’69 wasn’t it? Altamont with the Stones and lots of bash and smash. Kinda surprised you let the Hell’s Angels take all the credit for that bit of mischief. What’re you doin in my town, Mag? Last I heard you were happily ruling some little desert berg just north of the border?"

"Little rumor the Slayer’s not real, just a bunch of wires and plastic. Seemed like a good time to migrate north a bit. Hellmouth’s always a great place for a bitchin’ party. So what’s a Master Vampire like you doing with Miss Beep-n-Click?"

"Well, you know how rumors are, Mag…not worth the blood you’re gonna lose for listenin’ to them." Spike moved to stand in the middle of the street, defying the demons on motorcycles to charge him.

"What the fuck’s wrong with you, man? If that girly’s the real deal, why’s she doin’ the stroll with you?" Razor was confused. "Man, you’re still a vampire, right?"

"Because Master Vampires deserve the very best, right, sweetie?" Buffy joined Spike in the street and linked her arm with his, smiling up at him sweetly. "Wanna kick the asses of these old buds of yours so we can move on to better things?"

"What kind of shit is this, Spike? You finally go as crazy as your old lady? Geez, man, you trade in hot but crazy for hot and airhead? You’re one fucked up vamp, dude!" Razor said and revved up his engine.

Spike grumbled to himself, "Not as fucked as I was hopin’, you miserable bugger."

The gang moved on the pair quickly, but Buffy and Spike held their ground until the marauders were right on them. At the last possible moment, they each leaped apart and turned on the bike-riding demons. Spike kicked Mag off his bike first and was making progress on his plan to remove the ugly demon’s arms. Buffy had staked two of the minor gang members already and was fighting Razor in a frenzy of fists and feet.

"Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not polite to interfere with a fella on a date, you pillock?" Spike shouted as he finally wrenched an arm free and began to beat Mag over the head with it. "I’ve got better things to do with my time and energy than dance with the likes of you."

Buffy finally managed to get Razor in a headlock and was positioning herself to snap the demon’s neck when one of the other gang members crept up behind her. Spike saw the movement and yelled a warning. Buffy made quick work of Razor and spun on the luckless no-name, delivering a killing punch through his chest. "Whoops, guess your heart’s not in the right spot after all," she quipped as her fist came out with
an unidentified organ where a heart would normally be. Whatever it was, it was enough to drop the demon in his tracks and cause him to fall at Buffy’s feet, a
gurgling mass of dying demon.

The distraction of warning Buffy had given Mag a moment to scramble to his feet and lunge at Spike with a heavy chain. Spike caught the chain just before it
would have connected with his torso and wrapped it around the demon’s neck. "Say bye-bye to the nice Slayer, Mag," he said as he pulled the chain tight popping the demon’s head off.

The few remaining members of the erstwhile motorcycle gang quickly spun their bikes around and headed back south to the place they called home.

"Well, Slayer, looks like I just got me a new ride. Been wantin’ one of these. Want a lift home?" Spike climbed on Mag’s tricked out Harley and motioned behind him.

"This will get us there faster, so, okay, but I am not riding this thing with you until you get me a helmet. I was awake in driver’s ed when they showed that film about motorcycle accidents." Buffy shuddered at the memory of the gory accident that had sickened half the class.

"You took driver’s ed, Slayer?" Spike laughed as she playfully hit his shoulder.

"Just for that, I get the first shower. There is no way you’re touching me until we’re both squeaky clean. I mean squeaky, too, Mr. Clairol!" Buffy laughed as Spike started up the bike and sped off towards home and the return of yummy vampire kisses.

~*~*~*~
Chapter 8
~*~*~*~

Giggling, the two raced each other up the stairs in a competition for first shower rights. Spike’s unbeating heart felt like it could play percussion for Santana; he couldn’t remember ever feeling so carefree and joyful.

Buffy got to the bathroom door a split second before Spike and twirled in triumph. "Ha ha, beat the Big Bad! Now you have to wait all covered in demon goo while I use up all the hot water!"

"Come here, little girl," Spike growled in a sexy, low voice. "If you’re gonna be getting rid of all that goop, might as well get some more on you." He pulled
the panting, laughing girl into his arms and swooped to her lips, plundering them for all he was worth.

Buffy returned his kisses with no hesitation at all, plastering her body up against his and raising her left leg to hook over his hip.

This time it was Spike who broke the kiss to gulp for air. He knew he didn’t need it, but it sure felt like he did. This girl could turn a vampire back into a man with just her kisses. He nuzzled into her neck then rained kisses up and down the smooth column of her throat.

Buffy moaned and threw her head back in pleasure. God, the things Spike could do with just his mouth and tongue were enough to send her over the edge!

"Spike, I really don’t want our first time to be standing up in a shower. Besides, you make my legs jelly. If we try it that way to start out, I’ll probably turn into one of those horrifying bathroom accident statistics."

Spike had to grin at the imagined news headline and reluctantly agreed with her. "Only if I get a rain check for a shower with you later. Can show you things
to do with that massaging shower head you never dreamed of, love!"

"I’ll just bet you can. I can be a very, very good student, too … when I like the class. I could even become teacher’s pet," Buffy teased.

"Already are. You’re teacher’s everything," Spike said softly. The passion in his voice left no room for doubt in Buffy’s mind.

Buffy went in and started her shower. "There’s spare towels in the hall closet, Spike. Pick out whatever you need. I don’t plan to be in here long, so don’t
fall asleep or anything," she teased.

She selected one of her many nice smellies to wash her hair and body, opting for a citrus and coconut concoction that always seemed to cover demon ick best. ‘Great,
Spike’s going to think he’s making love to a fruit salad,’ she thought. ‘Making love. With Spike! Never would have guessed that in a million years. That’s what it’s going to be too, making love.’ She sighed in contentment, no conflicting emotions to ruin the evening.

‘God, I can’t believe I actually doubted that he could feel love!’ she thought in wonder. ‘The Rasta Slayer was wrong, HE’S the one full of love. He may be dead,
but he’s so alive it’s scary and it’s the emotion that does it. Wait a minute! What was it she said? ‘Love, give, forgive’…no, before that … how did she put it? Yeah, she said I’d only lose my love if I reject it. Guess I’ve been doing THAT for a while. She said love was pain and that a Slayer forges strength from pain. She told me to risk the pain, to love, give and forgive and that my love would bring me to my gift. She must have been talking about me and Spike! I had to let go of all the pain and fear and forgive him. This must be, like, destiny or something!’ Buffy began to hum a happy melody, secure in her conclusion that she wasn’t making yet another mistake in her love life.

Spike was being careful not to touch anything while he waited for his turn to clean up. He couldn’t believe what was happening. He could hear Buffy on the other
side of the door and could picture her soft curves and buff body being caressed with the warm spray of water. He had no trouble seeing the soap foam as it glided
down bare breasts, nipples hard and rosy. He could mentally follow the trail of fragrant liquid as it moved its way down to her soft curls. He wondered what shade those curls would turn out to be. There was no way her hair was that blonde without a bit of help. He couldn’t remember ever being so hard in his life. Spike was struck with a sudden fear that he would do something to make this all go pear-shaped. ‘Bugger all! Ever since I met the bint, I’ve managed to cock up every plan I make. Gotta do this right, no messin’ this chance up. Don’t think Buffy’ll give me a second chance if I do.’

As the newly secure Slayer toweled off, the newly insecure vampire bounced from heel to toe in nervous anticipation.

The door swung open and Buffy grinned at Spike’s pent-up energy showing in his movements. "Channeling your inner Tigger there, handsome?" she teased.

"Just wantin’ to get rid of this stench. Don’t even want to kiss you when I’m like this and you’re …," he trailed off, taking in the sight of Buffy in only a
towel. A towel that didn’t leave much to the imagination either. Mum was right, cleanliness WAS a good thing, he decided.

"You’re up! Meet me under the covers in ten minutes or I might just fall asleep on you," Buffy threatened.

"Know how to wake you right up again if I have to. Might even suggest a bit of a kip for you, build up your strength and what all. I don’t think I’m gonna
let you get much sleep tonight, kitten." Spike arched his eyebrow and gave her a "come hither" look.

"Bedroom eyes! I’d heard about them but never really knew what that meant. You have bedroom eyes and a voice to match. I don’t think you need to worry about my energy levels, sexy. Slayer here, remember?" She smiled. As Spike watched her walk to her bedroom door he nearly lost it. She very deliberately dropped the towel in the hallway outside the door, giving Spike a lingering look at her firm, sexy, naked ass. She looked over her shoulder at him and blew him a kiss.

Spike growled and warned her in a low tone, "Keep that up, missy, and you’ll be all covered in goo again." He made a move to cross the hall to her and she let out a
squeal and closed the door.

~*~
Chapter 9
~*~

Spike couldn’t remember taking a faster shower before. He didn’t even take time to slick back his hair, merely toweling it free of excess water and leaving it in
silky curls that he combed through with his fingers. He also didn’t bother to drape a towel around his hips either. Sassy minx wanted to play games; he would play, too. See how she liked the preview.

He could tell from the rapid heartbeat on the other side of the door that Buffy hadn’t gone through with her threat to fall asleep. He could smell her excitement as it wafted in the air and assaulted his senses. There was a strange, fruity smell also, but Spike didn’t pay any attention to it after his first whiff of Slayer musk. Was there anything in nature that could possibly smell better?

He placed his palm on her door and drew in a deep breath of pure Buffy, closing his eyes in near rapture. All this for him…he could scarce believe it was real.

His cock was already back to full mast, standing at the ready before he even opened the door.

Buffy could feel him on the other side of the door. It wasn’t a ‘Slayer sensing a vampire’ kind of tingle, but a ‘Spike is near’ radar sort of feeling. She had
only had that once before when she believed herself deeply in love with Angel. It was a woman knowing her mate was near at hand, a feeling as old as time.

Quickly, and as silently as she could, she positioned her body on the bed in as sexy a pose as she could manage without giving away the deliberateness of the
action. "Pose? Nope, not me! This is just everyday ‘Buffy reclining on the bed’ stuff here," she laughed to herself.

Spike opened the door slowly and his eyes locked onto the woman on spread out before him on the bed. Buffy was totally nude and lying partly on her side, one
leg drawn up, looking quite a bit like those nude female portraits that used to hang behind bars in old western saloons. Her hair, now dry, spilled out over her shoulders and her nipples peeked through the strands. She was glorious!

She crooked her finger at Spike and motioned him to come to her. Her eyes, wide and moist with emotion, never left him as he made slow progress across the room to the foot of her bed.

He was larger than she had expected, but not freakishly so. Maybe it was his almost delicate body-- all slim, tight and fine boned--that had led her to expect he would be average size at best. "Yeah, like I have so much experience to know average!" Buffy mentally chided herself. She was surprised to find him circumcised, considering when he was turned. Maybe she would ask him about that later.

Buffy licked her lips as she watched him move panther-like across the room. There was not one single doubt he was a master predator and she was his willing prey. His eyes had deepened to almost cobalt blue and the intensity of his gaze was such that she could physically feel the touch. His eyes moved over her body from the bottom of her feet to the top of her head, caressing every inch with just his look.
Buffy thought she’d combust.

When he got to the foot of the bed, instead of crawling atop as she expected, he reached for her right foot and lifted it in his hands. His fingers massaged her foot with just enough pressure to make her muscles sing. As Buffy relaxed to his touch, he sat on the edge of the bed with her foot still in his hands. Not a word was spoken as he lifted her foot to his mouth and slowly, gently, ran his tongue from heel to middle toe on the bottom of her foot then followed the movement by drawing each toe between his lips, sucking firmly and sensually.

Buffy was ready to fall to her knees in thanksgiving that she wasn’t ticklish. This was just too sexy to miss because of a whacked out nervous system.

Spike finished with the small toe of that foot and gently placed it back on the bed, trading for her other foot, where he repeated the action to each appendage. When finished, he gently placed a kiss on her arch.

Buffy was breathing hard and growing ever more wet, wanting him to hurry and fill her yet loving the attention to parts no one else had ever even noticed much less lavished love upon.

His hot, wickedly talented tongue was trailing up one calf while his hands caressed and massaged the other. He didn’t go above her knees on either leg, although Buffy
began to squirm in anticipation. Spike looked up into her eyes at that point and drew his lower lip in between his teeth before smirking in a sexy way and
quirking an eyebrow at the obvious desire he could feel coming off Buffy.

Buffy hadn’t planned on just being the receiver of pleasure, but her mind was in a whirling vortex of sensation that kept her from doing much more than moaning his name and quivering in pleasure. She’d make it up to him just as soon as her body and mind reconnected. She did manage to lick her lips in anticipation of all she was planning to do to give him the same ecstasy that he was currently giving to her. Somehow she just knew he would taste as good as he looked.

His hands had moved while her mind traveled down the path of preview. Each hand had claimed a thigh and moved up and down from knee to pelvis in smooth, languid motions. She could feel the heat of his gaze as he moved her legs apart, exposing her wet, needy pussy.

Slowly he lowered his head until he was nestled between her quivering thighs. He looked up from between her legs to meet her eyes in a connection that felt electrical. His left hand slipped from her thigh to her folds and one finger began a shallow caress of her most sensitive areas. Just when Buffy wanted to scream out her need, his mouth finally claimed her clit and sent her to the brink of oblivion.

His tongue and fingers savored every nuance of her womanly secretions, proving skill that Buffy didn’t really want to know the history of his gaining. The first orgasm caused her entire body to shudder, accompanied by wails of release finally breaking the silence of their lovemaking.

Spike only let her come down for a brief moment before he plunged two fingers into her. He curled his fingers so they would reach the soft, sensitive bundle of nerves that quickly brought her to a second climax surpassing the first. His gifted fingers continued to pump, making her wet enough to encase his girth with no discomfort.

He looked up at her then and gave her a nearly shy, half-smile. Then he bent back to gently kiss her still throbbing pussy. As she watched, Spike brought his fingers up to his mouth. She felt hypnotized with lust as she watched him slowly clean each finger with his tongue, groaning his enjoyment of her flavor, closing his eyes in full enjoyment of the taste of his Buffy.


"You taste like passion and power, love. Beautiful inside and out, just like I knew you would be." His voice was that deep tone that had always made Buffy moisten her panties and breathe hard, even when they were enemies.

He had begun a cat crawl up her body, finally able to reach her small but perfectly formed breasts. As one hand palmed her right breast, tweaking and teasing the rock hard nipple, his mouth was suckling on the left. His tongue teased the left nipple to an ache of sensation before he lightly bit down with blunt teeth, causing Buffy to let out a low "eep!" His laughter as he returned to a gentle suckle caused
tingles all over her body.

He moved his body to keep from lying directly on Buffy’s eager body, not wanting to crush her. As they moved sideways, Spike did not relinquish possession of her breasts with either mouth or hand. Somehow, Buffy snapped out of total sensory overload and her hand moved with sureness of purpose to his cock.

Buffy smiled as he gasped in response to her touch. She let her fingers glide from base to the belled head, moistening her fingers with the precum that had gathered there in his excitement. She listened to his low moans, judging which amount of
pressure and movement gave him the most pleasure. She could feel the tightening of Spike’s stomach muscles as he strained to control his body. This first time was going to be slow and sweet.

Spike broke from his attentions to Buffy’s breasts and captured her mouth in a kiss that finally held no restraint at all. He devoured her with his kisses as his hands sought any piece of her flesh he had yet to caress, to touch, to fondle.

Buffy pulled her head from his kiss to draw in a breath and let out a slight laugh. "God, Spike, you might just kill me yet, but what a way to go!" They both laughed at that and the intensity dropped a slight notch. "Kill each other, yeah?" Spike replied.

Buffy took advantage of the moment to duck her head to his chest, laving his nipples with her tongue before trailing kisses down to his belly button. Her other hand was moving up and down his side, causing a slight chuckle as she hit a tickle spot. She dipped her tongue in his navel over and over, mimicking the movements she craved from his cock in her pussy. She heard the moans that let her know he was feeling
everything with the same intensity she had earlier.


She nipped and kissed her way to the hollows of his pelvic bones while her hand continued to stroke him to heaven. She moved her head between his thighs in a
mirror move to his prior mind-blowing lovemaking.

Buffy stretched out her tongue to taste and feel his tight sac, daring a glance up at his face as she did so. His head was thrown back, mouth open and eyes mere slits as he looked down at the sight he had never expected to experience. Buffy drew his balls into her mouth and used her tongue to roll them about in her hot mouth, finally releasing them with a slight popping sound.

As his moans rang out, Buffy ran her tongue up his rigid shaft to the base of the head, flicking the tip of her tongue under the head when she arrived there. She nipped lightly at the gathered skin from his circumcision before closing her mouth over him. As her mouth closed on him, her hand grasped the base of his length. Her tongue licked and flicked his sensitive head, dipping in the opening and tasting his secretions. Salty with a slight tang, not unpleasant in the least.

Spike was writhing under her touch, but his hands still found a way to touch and caress her back while his feet were doing the same to Buffy’s legs. Both seemed
determined to touch each other in every way possible, never losing contact.

Buffy found her rhythm again, using his moans of pleasure and soft ‘yes’ and "God, yes" exclamations as her guide. Part of her longed to bring him off with her mouth taking his essence into her. There would be time for that later though, because she really didn’t want the show to be over with just the preview of coming attractions. She was careful to bring him to the brink without sending him over. Buffy knew she was being selfish, but she wanted his eager cock inside her, pumping and thrusting with all the passion they had denied for so long.

"God, Buffy, you’re driving me crazy here," he gasped as she took him to the edge once more.

Still she let her mouth slowly travel from base to head, tongue dancing on his cock on the way up, following his veins as she flicked and licked and sucked. She
released him with a kiss to his swollen purple head. "Want you in me, Spike. Then I want to do this again, only then I want you so deep in my throat that I can
feel you in my womb. I want you to lose yourself in me, Spike, in every way. You taste so good, baby."

If Spike lived another 120 years he’d never be able to understand or explain how he was able to hold back as he heard Buffy voice her desires.

Buffy moved up to kiss his mouth deeply, his taste on her tongue as it dove into battle with his. She pulled his hips closer by throwing her leg over them and drawing him nearer to her waiting pussy. She could feel the blood-engorged head of his cock brushing against her waiting vaginal lips and seeming to wait for her welcoming words. Fine, she’d give them then. "Please, Spike, fill me".

‘What can a gentleman do but comply to such a sweet request?’ Spike thought with his last coherent thought. He eased his cock into her tight channel as slowly as he could manage, considering his body was screaming for him to plunge in so fast and far that they would be like interlocking puzzle pieces. He felt like he had finally come home.

Buffy felt Spike filling her with every nerve ending she had. He stretched her and touched areas no previous lover had managed to touch. As he seated himself fully, she rotated her hips, glorying in the sensation of feeling him so completely. As she moved around him, Spike closed his eyes and groaned.

Spike rolled Buffy onto her back and withdrew until only the head of his cock was still encased in his glorious girl. Then as he thrust hard, burying himself to the hilt, he reclaimed her kiss, swollen lips letting his tongue match his cock thrust for thrust.

He varied the speed and tempo, finding new and better angles to bring Buffy to climax again and again.

Buffy discovered the benefits of Slayer strength as she used her vaginal muscles to squeeze Spike’s cock while he was moving inside her. The look on his face made her try different rhythms to her movements to maximize his pleasure.

The place on her neck that bore the scars of his intimate bite on the tower was tingling, practically begging for attention. Buffy knew what she wanted, knew she could trust him. "Spike, bite me. Bite me again, only this time make me come while you are in me in every way."

Spike’s movements stilled at her words and he raised his head, squinting his eyes and tilting his head as he searched her face for the truth written there. "Pet…Buffy…don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I’ve never done that with a human while making love. Don’t know if I could stop."

"I know you can. I know you will. Please, Spike, I’ve wanted to feel that again ever since you drank from me on the tower. I know it will only be better with your cock inside me too."

Spike trembled with desire and had to close his eyes to regain control. His mouth descended to Buffy’s mouth again in a kiss that proclaimed adoration as he began to thrust within her once more.

Just as Buffy had begun to think he wasn’t going to trust himself enough to give in to her request, Spike moved from her mouth to the same place he had marked her before and shifted into game face.

This time the penetration, still only minorly painful, was more intense, bringing Buffy to climax as soon as his fangs were in place. "YES, God, Spike, yes!"
She began to pant and moan as Spike drew in his first mouthful of her blood. She felt each successive pull all the way to her womb. She had never felt so completely one with any other lover.

Spike felt her blood coat his throat while his body’s blood raced to his already engorged and throbbing cock, making his erection even more rigid as he pumped
within her tightness. He was close, so close.

Buffy felt another orgasm start and her entire body tightened, tensed in anticipation. Spike felt his sac tighten in preparation for him to shoot his essence deep within her. He withdrew his fangs and let his face return to its human form, licking and kissing the new marks on Buffy’s neck.

Spike rolled onto his back, taking care not to break the rhythm of the ride but turning control of the timing over to Buffy. She sat back, leaning her back on his
thighs as he placed his feet flat on the bed, bending his knees behind her. She began a slow dance that started with rocking hips and short thrusts and moved on
to Buffy rising up and slamming down, drawing him in deeper and deeper.

Spike raised his hands and began to knead Buffy’s undulating breasts, calling out encouragement to his lover. "That’s right, baby, take me in. So deep. So hot. Yeah, love, just like that."

Spike knew it was time to let go the tight hold on his release. As he felt Buffy nearing another orgasm, he did let go and they both crashed over the edge, holding
onto one another to cushion the fall. It was the most mind-numbing orgasm either had ever experienced or imagined.

~*~
Chapter 10
~*~
Spike couldn’t stop his hands from moving over Buffy’s sleeping body. The whole evening had a feeling of unreality to it. The woman he loved and had given up
all hope of ever having was asleep in his arms, sated. It had even been her idea. Even more mind blowing was her request for his bite. The Slayer, best damn slayer he’d ever seen, ASKED for him to bite her and not in a ‘I want to die’ kind of way either.

They had made love another couple of times afterward, without the biting, but it had happened. Spike tenderly ran his fingertips over the marks that would surely leave a permanent scar. His marks. Buffy couldn’t know how much her request had meant to him. It was like she was accepting all of him, man and demon, by wanting fangs as well as cock. He’d never loved her more.

He treasured this small, powerful Slayer and would willingly lay down his life for her if need be. An eternity looming before him and a century behind, yet his entire world was encased in one small, fragile, human form. His Buffy.

She had been so sweet and shy about some of the pleasures he had shown to her but so willing to learn, to try out, to experiment. ‘God, how could Angel or that tosser Finn ever have walked away?’ It was inconceivable that any male would ever
willingly leave his dazzling girl.

Buffy stirred in his arms, a smile growing on her beautiful face as she became aware of just who was acting as pillow in her comfy bed. "Mmmmm, Spike," she muttered and kissed his collarbone before opening her eyes and smiling widely at her lover.

She remembered waking alone and confused with Angel that disastrous first time. Parker had gone missing as well, but at least he had waited to pull the rug
from under her until a few days later. Riley was usually there, in the bed at least. Like the stereotype, he would be in a deep sleep, usually with an arm or leg lying heavily on Buffy until she chose to leave the bed.

This was different. This was nice…right. Spike’s arms were not a possessive clench that felt like shackles or worse; his embrace felt like a continuation of the sweet caresses from their lovemaking. He was worshiping her body with his touch and she could feel it.

Everything about Spike was feeling right. All those things Xander had said about Riley beinga "long-haul guy" had never fit the soldier, but she could see the perfect fit on her tender vampire lover. Slayers never made it to Social Security age, but she somehow knew that no matter how long or short her life might be, Spike would be right there at her side--loving her, watching her back and making her feel complete.

This was afterglow. Now Buffy knew why everyone raved about it. She felt like she was glowing. What was that word Spike had called her last night? ‘Oh, yeah,
"effulgent"! I’ll have to look that one up,’ she thought, making a mental note to check out the Webster’s.

"Hi, handsome," she greeted him and placed a soft kiss on his lips. She sat up a bit but stayed snuggled up to him, pressing even closer. He hadn’t stopped his hands’ loving movements, but now that she was awake, he increased the range and pressure of the movements.

Buffy’s body was even more responsive than Spike had thought it would be. His girl was perfect in every way and he was one lucky bloke.

"Good morning, precious angel," Spike replied and kissed her on her forehead and again on the lips.

"Is it really morning or vampire morning?" Buffy had no idea what time of day it was. She didn’t really care overly much either. She was right where she wanted to be with exactly whom she wanted to be with. She also had a full day with no responsibilities except to make this man next to her feel as cherished as he had made her feel all night.

"Spike…mind answering a couple of questions for me?" Buffy knew she’d get straight answers from him. Spike had never really lied to her in the past, not when it mattered.

"Course, sweetling, if I can, that is. Lived a long time but don’t pretend to have all the answers yet." He chuckled at her wide-eyed look of trust. God! Could it get any better? Well, yeah, it could. Buffy could love him. Still, Spike wasn’t holding out for any more miracles than the ones he already had.

"It’s about the bitey. When you bit me on the tower, it didn’t hurt any more than a shot at the doctor’s office. I know you were being gentle with me and not
wanting to hurt me, but it just seems weird that it didn’t hurt more. Um …I also kinda wonder if it’s always like that. You know…the pleasure…the…you know…orgasm. It’s not like I’ve never been bitten before. Why is it different with you?" She had moved to sit up straighter so she could look into his eyes as she asked.

Spike was a little nervous about answering her question for a lot of reasons. One reason was that it was bound to remind Buffy of his sordid past as a killer. Not exactly the mood he was wanting to set. "Can’t claim it’s just ‘cause it’s me, love. There’s lots of reasons for a vamp to bite someone. The most common’s food, of course. That’s just a rip and tear and feed kind of thing, not too pleasant udging’ by the screams. Then there’s the kind of bite that leads to a siring. It’s not as brutal. In fact it’s pretty seductive and sometimes a vamp’ll use a thrall along with it if they know how. Before you ask, no, I don’t have a thrall. Dru did and so does Drac."

"So that’s why the near orgasm on the tower and the extra octane boost to the climax when we were making love?" She didn’t want to think too much about the feeding part of bites but was grateful Spike was living up to her trust in his honesty by acknowledging it as a fact.

"Not really. I wasn’t trying to turn you, love. I wanted it to feel as good as possible, so I was bein’ careful. Mostly it has a lot to do with how I feel
about you, how the vampire feels about the one they’re biting. I love you and that made it almost a good experience for you. When it’s not about feeding, it does tie into sex. Yeah, so even if there’s no love, there can be orgasms. There’s another kind of bite that’s all about love and sex. Called a claim. Doesn’t happen too often; vamps aren’t too particular about their partners most of the time. It’s sort of like marriage in a way. The bite marks the one bitten as belongin’ to the vamp. Usually both are vamps. Don’t know too many who claimed a human but then, like I said, doesn’t happen often." Spike looked a bit sad while relating that last part.

"Is that why you were so crazy when Dru left? Were you married to her like that?" Buffy thought she understood and was surprised by the negative shake of his head.

"No, Dru never claimed me. Sired me, yeah. Claimed me? No. Loved her daddy too much to ever even think of any other vamp for that. Course, Angelus never
wanted to claim anyone, especially not a damaged girl like Dru. Like I said, it’s rare anyway." Spike had a ‘hurt little boy’ look on his face and Buffy was beginning to feel guilty for her part in putting it there.

"Anything else, Buffy?" Spike asked.

Actually, there was a lot more she was curious about where this claiming stuff was concerned, but she didn’t want to bring up painful memories for Spike. Giles
had plenty of books Buffy could look into for more answers. Time for a change of subject.

"Yeah, I was wondering about something. What do they call it? An anachronism, I think." Spike started to grin widely at his girl using the six-dollar words.
"Your … I mean you … well, I could see that you’re circumcised and since you were born around the time of George Washington …" She stopped at Spike’s affronted
cry of "Hey, not that bleedin’ old! Those buggers were all history when I was a lad, Slayer."

She giggled at the look of hurt pride on his face. "Relax, you don’t look a day over eighty," she teased. And they both laughed at Buffy’s obvious attempt to soothe
Spike’s bruised ego. "That’s not the point though. Point is you were born before they did that kind of stuff to boy babies. Well, at least that’s what I heard
anyway, don’t remember where."

"Angelus." Spike didn’t look like he wanted to talk about it, but Buffy was really curious now.

Buffy pressed the issue. "I can see you don’t really want to talk about it, but
I really want to know what Angel has to do with you being circumcised."

"No, you really don’t. ‘Sides, it was Angelus, not Angel, remember." At her look of lingering interest, he continued, "Buggering bastard was always full of
interesting ways to torture. Something that doesn’t feel so bad at eight days old hurts like the devil when you’re twenty-eight. Let’s just leave it at that,
shall we?" Buffy’s eyes were even wider than usual as she wrapped her mind around what Spike was saying.

"Oh," she said in a small voice. "Maybe that’s enough questions for one day. Want something to eat?" Buffy started to slide off the bed, reaching for her robe.

"You could say that." Spike reached for Buffy, pulling her back on the bed with him, where he proceeded to show her just what he was hungry for.

~*~
Chapter 11
~*~

"Who does Buffy know that rides a Harley?" Xander and Anya drove past Buffy’s house and saw a mean-looking bike in the driveway. "Maybe we should stop by. You were right about how I need to make nice with the Bleached Wonder. I’m not mad at Buffy, just not loving her choice in patrol partners of the fangy type."

"I think it might be a better idea to call her first. Maybe Buffy has a rugged new boyfriend and they’re having hot sex right now. Buffy could use many orgasms to cheer her up. Those bikers all seem to be oversexed, at least in the movies; it could be a good match. I think Buffy likes the dangerous bad boys anyway. No, we shouldn’t just drop in. I wouldn’t be happy to have someone interrupt my orgasms and it’s been a long time for Buffy, so she’d be really pissed off." As always, Anya offered her own unique perspective.

"The Buffster won’t mind. She’s not dating anyone, so the whole idea of Buffy and the sexcapades scene…never mind. I need to take my brain out and wash it now."

"If you are having sexual fantasies starring Buffy, I’LL take your brain out and wash it for you," Anya huffed. She was always a wee bit suspicious of Xander’s near obsession with Buffy’s love life. She didn’t want to think he still harbored an attraction for the Slayer, but she wasn’t going to encourage any thoughts in that direction either. "Okay, we can stop for a visit, but not for long. I have to go to the bakery in the morning to sample cakes for our wedding, so I need to go to the gym tonight to lose the pounds all those samples are going to put on me."

Xander smiled at Anya. "It doesn’t work that way, An. You can’t lose pounds in one trip to the gym--trust me, I’ve tried. You can’t lose in advance either. Cake will just naturally gravitate to a person’s thighs no matter what sneaky plans you make
to divert it."

As they climbed the stairs to the porch, Anya was hoping that Buffy was in there with a man. Maybe if Buffy were unavailable, she could stop worrying about
what kind of feelings Xander might still have for his ‘friend’.

Xander knocked on the front door and got no response. "Funny, there are lights on in there. It’s still too early for Buffy to be on patrol. Someone should be
home." He tried the door handle and found it unlocked. "Kinda careless, don’t know what kind of monster might just come in."

Xander pushed open the door and peered around the entryway into the living room. The house looked empty.

Suddenly, a loud crash could be heard from above.

A startled Xander whispered to Anya, "Holy leaping cats, what was that?" Xander nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound coming from upstairs. He didn’t
want some slimy demon to figure out that they had company. "God, something’s got Buffy!"

"Calm down, love muffin, that didn’t sound like a fight and I don’t hear any screams." Anya tried to pull Xander towards the door and out of the house.

"Oh GOD…Yes, Spike, YES! Harder! Don’t stop!" Xander heard these words of horror spoken in Buffy’s voice, followed by a keening wail that ended in a scream.

"No! Please, no! An, please tell me I’m only dreaming or I’ve been slipped some drug or something. I can’t have just heard that." Xander had turned the
color of a vampire in his shock.

"I can’t believe the whole neighborhood didn’t hear that! I said we should call first, but nooooo, you had to just drop in unannounced." Anya rolled her eyes at Xander’s blindness to the sexual attraction that had always been visible between vampire and Slayer. "I don’t know why you’re so shocked. Spike is a hot, sexy male with vampire stamina, not to mention tight pants that make it obvious he’s
hung like a stallion. He and Buffy have been seducing each other ever since he got chipped. Anyone with eyes could see it. I’m just surprised it took them this
long. Let’s give them some privacy and go home to have some orgasms of our own. You’re right about the gym not helping."

"He’s hurting her. You heard her say ‘don’t and then ‘stop’! I’m so going to dust his pale ass!" Xander headed for Buffy’s weapons chest and its supply of stakes.

"Xander Harris, stop being a total idiot. She clearly was saying ‘don’t stop’ as in ‘keep doing what you are doing, only harder and faster, maybe with some swirl of hips added’. You just want an excuse to butt in! Maybe you don’t have time to fit me and our relationship into your busy schedule as Buffy’s unwanted social secretary! I’m going home… NOW…with or without you. If you have hope of ever seeing my lush, firm, supple breasts again, you’ll come with me. For that matter, if you want to see me in any way, you’d better rethink your priorities. Buffy doesn’t want OR need you; I do."

Xander knew when to cut his losses. Besides, the last thing he wanted was to have Buffy furious with him if she WAS enjoying the evil undead in her bed. "Still
not right. He must have used a thrall or drugs… something. All right, An, we’ll go home, but this isn’t over." He leveled an ‘evil eye’ glare at the upstairs of Buffy’s home. "I may not be able to get through to Buffy, but I know someone who can."

Anya practically dragged her outraged fiancée out the door and to the car. She was going to have to watch him carefully so he didn’t do anything stupid. Halfrek was coming to town for the wedding and the last thing Anya wanted to have to worry about was a brassed-off Slayer looking for a bit of vengeance on overprotective friends with a death wish.

~~~

"What was that? Did you hear something downstairs?" Buffy could have sworn she heard voices.

"Couldn’t hear a brass band over that scream of yours, Slayer," Spike said proudly. "Um, love…looks like we broke the bed. Got a toolbox here? I’m fairly handy
and think I can put it together again so we don’t have to look for some other place to get all comfy."

"Mmmmm. Bed’s broke; Buffy isn’t. Bed can wait and Buffy doesn’t want to." Buffy stuck out her bottom lip in the pouty pose that always got Spike in kissage mode.

"Right, then. Time enough for damage control later, got a Slayer to see to now." Spike said agreeably and pulled her lip between his teeth in a gentle nip
before sweeping her into another blissfully heated kiss.

~~~

Anya drooled slightly on Xander’s bare shoulder as she slept the sleep of the replete and happy. Xander gently moved her to her own side and eased out of the
bed. Anya muttered something unintelligible but didn’t waken.

For a while, he really had stopped thinking about Buffy and the Abomination in the love clench. Anya was good at distracting him from his important friend
protection mode. Still, a good friend has to do what he can when his friends clearly lose their minds and Xander was nothing if not a good friend.

"Hello. Yes, Cordy, it’s me. Yeah, I know it’s kinda late, but I know Dead Boy keeps late hours. No, this isn’t about Darla and Dru…say, isn’t Darla of the
dead undead persuasion?" Xander let Cordy rattle on for a short while until his patience ran out. "Look, that’s all interesting in a creepy kind of way but not why I called. I need to talk to Angel, it’s important…………… Yes, big demony trouble. Now get him on the phone, please?"

~~~

~*~
Chapter 12
~*~

Buffy stretched, feeling every wonderfully used muscle in her body sigh in contentment. Spike was still sleeping peacefully. Buffy climbed from the
wreckage that was once her bed and went to make sure the curtains were tightly closed, letting in no pesky sunlight to make her lover combust.

"Food…food and maybe find that toolbox Spike wanted. Yup, Buffy with a mission," she thought with a smile. She couldn’t remember a time when she had felt so complete and when her life seemed to just be right in every way. She brushed her hand across Spike’s forehead, moving back his soft curls. He really did look adorable with his hair all curly and that soft look on his face as he slept. "He really should take
a job posing for the art department at the University. He’s made for it, and more cash isn’t bad for dating goodness either. I’ll have to suggest it to him." She
thought about the many life studies and sculpted bits that were just begging to be done of his yummy perfection.

As wonderful as the last night had been, Buffy still faced a long day. She had to get a job. The bill for the full copper re-piping job had wiped out the small
cushion the Summers sisters had for their day-to-day living expenses. The Bot idea was a work in progress, but there needed to be an immediate transfusion to the bank
account before their entire financial world hemorrhaged to death. Spike making a few dollars as an art model so he could take Buffy to a nice restaurant on occasion was one thing, but there were all those other reasons for money to be an issue.
There were stacks of them in the roll-top desk downstairs.

Still, before going to meet Xander about a job on his construction crew, she was going to go to the University and look up the head of the art department to see about that idea she had for Spike.

Buffy heated up a mug of blood for Spike and put it on the tray she had arranged with her toast, coffee, orange juice and cereal. She located one of her mom’s
old bud vases and went to the yard to pick a couple of yellow roses from her mother’s favorite bush to put in the vase. "I wonder how long it’s been since Spike
had breakfast in bed," she wondered. "Well, non-screaming breakfast, that is."

Spike was still sleeping when she got back to her room. She sat the tray on the vanity and leaned down to the broken bed with the sexy, sleeping vampire. "Hey, sleeping beauty, time for some yummy piggy juice and toast." She kissed Spike on the lips. ‘Even asleep he responds!’ she thought. She slipped her tongue past his lips and teased her lover awake.

"’Lo, love. Thought I was dreamin’. Nicest wake up I’ve ever had," Spike said and then stretched.

"Hum…think I can do better. Maybe tomorrow I’ll make this seem like nothing." Her teasing hints of delights to come made Spike harden in anticipation.

"Tomorrow? That mean what I want it to mean? This isn’t a one time thing for you then?" Spike had hardly dared to hope, having half expected Buffy to panic, change her mind and kick him to the curb. The thought that she might be considering this the start to a relationship was beyond anything he’d hoped to happen.

"Of course. Well, unless you’rethinking I’m not worth another go." Buffy was still sensitive about her talents and allure, thanks to the one-two punch of Angelus and Parker.

"Bloody well need to cut my tongue out for that, pet. Didn’t mean it even then, just wanted to get your fire started and get you back in the fight. Knew that’d do it. You’re perfect, Buffy, in every way. If it’s up to me, I’ll spend the rest of your life waking up next to you. Help make sure it’s a long life, too. No one I’d
rather fight beside, sleep beside and shag six ways to Sunday than you, Buffy."

Blushing, Buffy brought the tray over and sat on the mattress with Spike to have breakfast. "You can stay here if you want. It’s daylight and I’ll be home
before time to patrol. I’ll leave a note for everybody not to wake you when they get home later. And if you’re feeling up to it, I brought up that toolbox so you can fix our little problem here." She patted the bed as she spoke. "I may use some of my first paycheck for a more sturdy bed. Two super-powered lovers can go through lots of wooden Ikea frames!"

"So, pet, where are you going to be while you have a wide awake, naked vampire all alone in your bed, wishing you were there?"

"Xan’s arranged for me to try for a place on his construction crew. I figure I can use my Slayer strength for paycheck-earning goodness. Shouldn’t be too hard to learn how to build stuff instead of tearing it down. I’m going by UCS first to pick up some information for you." Buffy smirked and took a bite of her cereal.

"You want me to go to college? Already did that a century ago, love. Can’t exactly transfer those credits though." Spike raised his eyebrows in confusion. Just what was this all about?

"Nope, no ‘Spikey goes to college’. I have this idea, but I want to talk to the department head first, okay?" Buffy had a look on her face that told Spike he wasn’t getting anything else from her until she was good and ready.

"So you’ll be layin’ bricks with the whelp then? Hate to see you have to slave out there. Slaying’s a hard enough job to fit in, along with raising the Bit. Did
you change your mind about using the Bot?"

"No, that’s still a go. In fact, Giles has an idea to try to get the Council to give me a scholarship so I can go back to school. He wanted to get them to put
me on salary, but they booted his butt out the door for even suggesting that. Once we get the Bot ready for prime time, I might be able to quit and just go
back to school. Until then, we need some money coming in here. Those pipes wiped us out and the pile of bills isn’t getting any smaller. It wouldn’t have been so bad if that nasty bank loan officer had just given me a loan, especially after I killed that demon for him." Buffy pouted slightly at that memory before continuing.
"Until then, this’ll be fine. Hey, I already get along with my foreman!"

They finished breakfast and Spike offered to wash up while Buffy got ready for her first big day at work. "I’ll have the bed up and braced by the time you’re
ready to give it a trial run." He smirked at Buffy’s flushed face.

They kissed tenderly and Buffy headed off to the campus before reporting for work.

~~~

Xander felt like a first class jerk. It was bad enough having to fire Buffy after the whole demon killing thing went down. When Angel showed up tonight to fix the Spike problem, she was going to really be pissed. He knew she’d thank him once she started to think straight again, but in the meantime it was going to be a rough ride. Xander really wished that the job had worked out, at least then Buffy wouldn’t be able to deep-freeze him over the Spike intervention.

He rushed in to phone the Magic Box and give Anya the heads-up on Buffy’s job situation. "Hey, An. Yes, I love you too. No, I didn’t forget to mail the
invitations. Honey…honey…Anya! Listen, Buffy’s on her way over to talk to Giles about working there at the Magic Box for a while. …… No, it didn’t work
out here. … No, Anya it wasn’t because Buffy hasn’t got a penis. Look, sweetheart, I’ll tell you all about that part of it tonight. Right now I just need you to try to help Buffy do well when she takes on the wonderful world of retail. She’s had one weird day and after what we heard last night, it’s probably the last thing she needs. I’d really appreciate it if you’d take her under your wing, you know, mentor her? Thanks, sweetie. I’ll see you at six, okay? Love you too."

He’d done all he could do for his friend. The rest was up to her, with a bit of help from one pissed off, souled vampire. Angel had mumbled something about
still recovering from feeling his age and some guy named Fred who was expecting his parents to come to town. As soon as Xander mentioned it was SPIKE that Buffy had spent last night with, Angel had changed his tune completely. Xander had to talk fast to convince Angel to wait until tonight to shake some sense into Buffy and hopefully stake some wood into Spike at the same time.

~~~

Buffy looked like she had gone ten rounds with a whole community of M’Fashniks. She was tired, sore and oppressed by mystical forces she couldn’t comprehend. Her whole day had sucked majorly.

First, time had gone wonky at the University and she hadn’t even had a chance to talk to the lady in charge of hiring models for the Fine Arts department. Tara
had reason to think Buffy had lost her mind and she, the Slayer, had finally had to hide under an outdoor table!

Her much needed job with Xander had started out fine. Okay, some of the guys were jerks, but Buffy had sort of looked forward to kicking their asses by making them look like slackers to the crew bosses. Why the demon population decided to hunt her down in daylight was a mystery, but the least they could have done was stay solid after she’d killed them. Instead Buffy had looked like a liar or worse and was out of a job.

Buffy was humiliated by having to throw herself on the mercy of Giles and sweet talk him into of a job at the Magic Box. That job had turned into a whole other level of hell! It was like that stupid but funny movie with Bill Murray and the groundhog. If she never saw another mummy hand as long as she lived, it would be too soon.

Now she was looking forward to a hot bath and even hotter sex with her new sweetheart. If Spike wasn’t there when she got home, she was going to just pull the
covers over her head and have a good cry.

Spike could tell Buffy had a rotten day with just one look. He’d seen her look perkier after being ambushed by Fyarls. "You look beat, pet. Everything okay?"

Buffy wrapped her arms around him and started sobbing out her story. She told him every miserable detail from start to finish, ending it by showing him the
small metal disc that had been involved with the wonky time thing at the University. "The universe must hate me!"

"No, love. Universe loves you. You’re their Joan of Arc, their Boadicea. You’re special to them, precious, just like you are to me." Spike was smoothing her hair and holding her close. "Why don’t you go up and have a nice soak and I’ll bring you a glass of wine. Make you feel all new again. I’ll even give you a foot rub, yeah?"

"I won the boyfriend lottery! If you do back rubs too, you’re in." Buffy knew it was probably something he was planning to do anyway. Spike was the most tactile guy she knew, always touching. She liked it.

"Deal. Now upstairs with you," Spike smiled as she saluted and turned towards the stairway, limping slightly. He tilted his head and watched her moving more slowly than he’d ever seen. "Baby’s tired," he thought and scooped her up in his arms,
holding her closely and securely.

"What do you think you’re doing?" Buffy giggled a bit.

"Sweepin’ my lady off her feet, of course." Spike dropped a kiss on her smiling face and carried her up the stairs to her bedroom. "Why don’t you see about
getting out of those while I get the bath ready." He motioned towards her clothes.

"I see we have a bed to sleep in again," Buffy said, impressed in spite of herself. Spike doing handyman duty…the mind boggled.

"Promised, didn’t I? Always keep my promises to you." He began to draw a bath for his sore and tired girl, making sure the water was just the right temperature for a proper soak. A bit of a search revealed Buffy’s collection of smellies and Spike rooted through it until he found a lovely jar of bath salts that promised to
‘soothe aching muscles while enveloping the bather in the exotic scents of a tropical garden’. "Yeah, that sounds about right." He poured a couple handfuls in
the water and stirred it in.

Buffy wasn’t in the bathroom yet, so he took the time to pull out a handful of small votive candles from the same cabinet and place them around the bathroom, lighting them. "Little music then," he said and tuned the radio to a smooth jazz station.

"Wow, full service boyfriend! Nice." Buffy was standing in the doorway wearing her pink silk robe and nothing else. "This looks like heaven, not that I’ve ever been there."

Spike smiled as he devoured her with his eyes. He drew his lower lip between his teeth and quirked his eyebrows suggestively before speaking. "Gotta get my girl feelin’ more like herself, now don’t I? Nice soak to music and candlelight, bit of wine and a massage will fix you right up. Then while you take a little nap, I’ll see what’s in the fridge that hasn’t got something growin’ on it and call you for dinner, okay? If you’re feeling up to it, maybe a little ride on the bike’ll do you some good before turnin’ in for the night. I think you’ve earned a night off patrollin’."

Buffy felt the warm water slide over her body as softly as her silk robe had. She leaned back with closed eyes, enjoying the smells and sounds and feeling of pure relaxation that Spike had prepared for her. She sighed in complete contentment. "Yup, finally picked a winner here," she thought. "A keeper if ever there was one."

"Here you go. Just lie back and enjoy. I’ll be in to wash your back and give you that massage in about a half hour." Spike promised. He handed her a glass of
Cabernet Sauvignon, turned out the overhead light and pulled the door closed to keep the drafts out.

~~~

One luxurious soak, full body massage and a short nap later, Buffy felt like a new woman. Something smelled like it was burning and it woke Buffy up. She raced
downstairs thinking the house was on fire.

"Sorry, pet. Not much call for vamp chefs. I burned dinner." Spike looked like a little boy caught with a broken lamp.

Buffy couldn’t help but smile and reassure him. "That’s okay, Spike. I’m not much of a cook either. Why do you think I fixed toast and cereal for our breakfast in bed? You said something about a ride on that big scary motorcycle, didn’t you? We can pick up something while we’re out. I may not be able to pay the gas bill, but I can spring for some drive-thru heart attacks on a bun. Let me go up and change into
something that says ‘biker chick’ and we can let the smoke clear here. You wanna write a note for Dawn?" She kissed Spike and headed back upstairs to find some
leather and lace.

Twenty minutes later, the new lovers were headed towards Highway 101 and never even noticed passing the black convertible with the fuming souled vampire at the wheel.
~~~

~*~
Chapter 13
~*~

They sped along the Pacific Coast Highway, wind whipping through Buffy’s hair. Spike hadn’t had a chance to nick a helmet yet, but Buffy trusted him enough to chance it. The ride had been too enticing. It seemed wild, dangerous and she felt freer
than she could ever remember before. Now she understood the reason some riders hated helmet laws, even though accidents were so very terrible.

She hugged Spike’s waist tightly as he navigated curves and turns with ease. She had no idea where Spike was taking her, but she was enjoying the journey. Maybe
that was true of the relationship, too. Somehow she knew that he was never going to leave her, never deliberately hurt her. She was safe with Spike. Safe, yes. Dull, never.

They stopped at a little diner a few miles outside of Sunnydale instead of the drive-thru plan Buffy had come up with before they left. Buffy didn’t ask where
Spike got the money and he never said, but it was nice to actually go into a place to sit and eat. It wasn’t fancy, but the food was good. Spike seemed familiar with it, so he must have made this trip before and stopped to eat. With vamps that usually meant a memorable encounter with customers and staff, complete with screams and terror. Instead they were greeted with smiles from the waitresses and the cook behind the counter.

"Spike! Haven’t seen you in an age. Where’s that old rattletrap you used to drive? More important, who’s the beauty with you?" The waitress, a middle-aged lady with steel gray hair, grabbed Spike in a tight hug. "Love the bike. Suits you," she said after introductions were over.

"Ruby and Earl," Spike said, motioning to the waitress and short order cook, "opened this place five years ago. No one does chili fries like Earl. I try to make it in
when I can."

"Insists on paying, too. Spike, you know your money’s not good here." Ruby nudged the vampire with her elbow. "Did he ever tell you about the first time he was here? Regular hero! Me and Earl don’t have any kids, but my niece Donna was working here that summer. Never did figure out what kind of monsters they were, faces all deformed and sharp teeth. Anyway, about five of these came in and started trashing the
diner. One of them grabbed Donna and was going to kill her until Spike burst in, and…well, I’ve never seen anything like it! My word, those monsters, so many of
them against one man. He fought them off and they just disappeared--I mean REALLY disappeared, turned into dust. Naturally we told him he could have anything he wanted from the menu then and at any time in the future. Only free meal he ever took was that first night though."

By the end of her story, Ruby had led the couple to a booth and left menus. "Be back in a flash with the onion rings, honey."

Then a bemused Buffy was left alone with the embarrassed vampire. "Five years ago?
Anything you want to add to Ruby’s story, Spike?"

"It was just before me and Dru got to Sunnydale. Dru was in bad shape and we were holed up in a little place not far from here, getting her strong enough to make the
last part of the trip to the Hellmouth. Dru got an obsession to have a milkshake. She rarely ate human food but liked chocolate and ice cream every once in a while. I recognized LeRoy and his crew. Had a couple of run-ins before with that lot. No respect for their elders at all. He’d try to paw on Dru while I was on a hunt. I won’t lie; dustin ‘em was about that, pure and simple. Didn’t give a toss about the
humans involved, not then. Well, after, Ruby and Earl were all over me with the thanks and it felt nice. Hadn’t had anybody appreciate me or say ‘well done’
‘bout anything in an age. Couldn’t very well eat ‘em then, now could I? That’s that problem with getting close to humans: makes it harder to kill ‘em later." He looked a bit uncomfortable.

"I’ll bet you’d have a problem going back to Happy Meals on the hoof if the chip came out now, wouldn’t you?" Buffy guessed.

"Yeah. Had a couple of experiences since the chip, proved it wouldn’t be my first choice. Doesn’t mean I like that pig swill. I’m always gonna want the human variety. Harder to kill though. Well, some humans are askin for it, but that’s all," Spike admitted. "Never gonna give you a reason to have to stake me, pet. Don’t worry, wouldn’t put you through that." He looked Buffy straight in the eye and she knew he was being utterly sincere.

They laughed and talked as they enjoyed the best diner food Buffy had ever eaten and argued with Ruby and Earl about paying the bill. It was clearly a longstanding
tradition for them to refuse payment, only to have Spike insist until finally accepting a discounted price. Buffy noticed that the tip Spike left more than made up the difference between the actual check and the discounted one. There were so many sides of her man that Buffy was finally seeing since the whole Glory thing happened. Seemed like he had always been unique and a little bit more human than any vamp she’d ever heard of or met. The council was full of shit.

Back on the road, they continued following the coast until she saw a sign that read Bug Sur Ranger Station with an arrow and number of miles listed. "We headed to Bug Sur?" Buffy had to shout to be heard.

"State park up here with the most beautiful beach in the area. Closes at eight, so we won’t have to share with anybody. There’s a rock bridge, waterfall, and lots of white sand. Course, it won’t look too white in the moonlight. Not exactly the kind of boyfriend for beach dates. Sorry."

"Beaches in the moonlight with nobody around sound pretty perfect to me. Besides, too much sunlight leads to the badness that is skin cancer. Maybe a solar-challenged boyfriend is just what I DO need." Buffy caressed his chest with one hand while maintaining a grip on his waist with the other one.

They turned onto a dirt road just past the paved one marked Sycamore Canyon Road and headed toward the ocean. "Paved road gets you there easier, but I didn’t want any curious ranger checkin’ up on us, yeah?"

Pfeiffer Beach was everything Spike had said. Buffy knew that it would be spectacular in daylight, but with moonbeams playing on the water and sand glistening in the subdued light, she had no complaints.

"Fancy a bit of skinny-dippin’, Slayer?" Spike had already begun to strip off his boots and unbutton the top button of his jeans.

"Will the Big Bad protect me from any nasty fishies that might get me?" Buffy teased as she began to take off her own boots.

"Always. Nothing gonna get a piece of my lady but me," Spike promised. He had taken off his tee shirt and stopped to watch as Buffy removed her lacy top and black leather pants. She stood before him covered in nothing but small bits of black lace and moonlight.

Since Spike seemed to have taken root in the sand, Buffy moved slowly and sensually toward him. The light, slightly chilled air was lifting her hair and causing it to dance in the breeze that teasingly covered and then revealed the lace of her bra. When she reached Spike, she reached for his jeans and completed the unbuttoning. He grasped Buffy’s forearms in a firm but gentle hold as she slid the jeans past his
hips, letting them pool in the sand beneath them.

The moonlight hit his marble-like body, giving a sense of unreality to the scene. It was as though Spike was actually one of those statues Buffy imagined art students might one day produce of him. His body was cool to the touch but not cold and certainly not lifeless. No one could ever call Spike lifeless. Even the term undead didn’t seem right. He was full of life, full of passion, full of fire. Being a vampire might make him technically dead, but there wasn’t a word that fit for Spike that really covered it. As in all things, he defied convention and could not be put in a slot.

He was a killer who saved lives and was willing to sacrifice his own existence for the humans he was only supposed to view as food. He was dead yet more alive than any other person Buffy could think of. He should have only had desires to hunt and kill, yet his passion and capacity to love could power a small city. He was a demon who acted more a man than those men who had abandoned her all her life. He had preyed on young girls and also baby-sat her sister. He was a walking contradiction and Buffy realized that she loved all of him. Whatever he was, he was hers.

Buffy raised a hand and cupped his face, gently tracing the bones and features as if she were a blind woman trying to discover his appearance through touch. He closed his eyes at her explorations. "Wanna touch every part of you, Spike. I need to memorize all of you."

Spike moaned softly as she continued to move her hands over his body, not stopping with just his face. He pulled her closer and began to run his hands over her back. His fingers traced a trail from the nape of her silky neck to the globes of her ass revealed by the barely there thong she still wore. He snagged the bit of lace and tugged it down, finally giving him access to her wet center.

Spike began to use both his talented hands to caress her, front and back. Buffy shuddered as his fingers began to play on her, tracing a path from her ass to
her pussy and back, teasing her folds with his touch. "Never lettin’ you go, Buffy. You’ll have to dust me to get rid of me."

"What about when I’m old and saggy?" Buffy didn’t doubt his vow at all but had just realized that her gorgeous, young-looking lover was never going to age. If Buffy managed to survive her youth, she would.


"Never going to see you that way, love. You’ll always be my shining goddess. Doesn’t matter what anyone else sees, that’s what I see now and always will. I love you, not just this sweet, hot body of yours." Spike leaned in to kiss her in a way that made it clear he meant what he said.

Spike took hold of Buffy’s hand and began to lead her into the surf. "Wait! I spent way too much money on this to get it all faded from salt water!" Buffy unclasped the bra, dropped it onto the sand and turned her now nude body back to Spike and the cold Pacific. She had the feeling Spike could heat her up just fine.

The initial icy feel of the water almost made Buffy rush back to the beach. She let out a scream of indignation as Spike laughingly pulled her down into the water with him. "What’s the matter, Slayer? Afraid I can’t keep you warm?" He set about proving
he was quite capable of that, in spite of the cold waters of the Pacific. His kisses were wild and hungry and managed to touch her very soul with his love. His hands were all over her submerged body, kneading and caressing. The water gave them a weightless quality that let them move their bodies into nearly impossible positions with little effort.

It didn’t take long for Spike’s cock to find its way to her ready cleft. Buffy let the water help lift her to wrap her legs around his waist and slowly lower herself onto his hard shaft until she had taken him in to the hilt. She felt her channel stretch to accommodate his girth and once more marveled at the perfection of their joining. It was as though his body had been specially shaped to hit all the right
places, a custom-made fit.

Spike trembled with a combination of emotion and pure physical bliss. Buffy began to move her body up and down in tempo with the waves that sought to push the lovers back to the beach they had deserted. The movement was nearly hypnotic in its primal intensity. Buffy threw her neck back and moaned his name softly as he bent to kiss the gleaming column of flesh.

Her first orgasm was building and she began to ride him harder, faster, nearly driving him to his knees with the passion they were indulging. He claimed her mouth and plundered it with his tongue as she rode him over the peak to rapture. As she came down from the post-orgasmic euphoria, he set her mouth free to gulp in needed air and buried his mouth in the curve of her neck, breathing just as hard as she was.

"God, Spike, it just gets better. Why is that?" Buffy began to wonder if a person could die from too much pleasure.

Spike chuckled softly, causing ripples of sensation where his lips met her throat. So in tune were their bodies that it seemed the slightest movement from either one was instantly felt by the other. "Don’t know why, pet. Suspect it’s ‘cause we’re right
for each other. No holdin’ back, evenly matched. Don’t think I’ll ever get tired of plunging into your warm, wet quim," he confessed.

"Quim? What kind of word is that?" Buffy giggled a bit. She’s heard the female genitalia called many things--some crude and some sexy--but this word was a new one. She kind of liked the way it sounded though. She’d never confuse it with an insult like some words men often used.

"Too pretty for lots of words, but I’m not into the flowery ones like in those romance novels the Bit loves to read. ‘Budding flower’, ‘core of femininity’, ‘womanhood’…all that rot’s too delicate for an evil Big Bad to use. Don’t think crude words used as
insults fit either. Quim just feels right to me. Do you mind?" Spike was suddenly concerned that he’d offended her in some way.

"No, I like it. Never heard it before, but I like it. Sounds British and a little old fashioned. Kind of like a certain vamp I know and love." Buffy had begun to move on him again as she spoke.

"What’d you say, pet?" Spike had thought he’d heard a word there that she could not possibly have spoken.

Buffy didn’t repeat what she had said, concentrating on showing her feelings with the clenching of her vaginal muscles around his enraptured cock and the caress of her hands on his back. She silenced his questions with a passion-filled kiss of her own,
keeping his mouth busy in ways other than asking scary questions.

The ‘L’ word had just slipped out and Buffy wasn’t sure she was ready to let it off the leash just yet. Sometime over the last couple of days, however, she had realized
that was exactly what she was feeling. What she wasn’t sure of was if she were ready to take the chance of letting the feeling become real as only saying it can do. Her track record wasn’t the best and she had a healthy fear of commitment based on that history. Spike was different, not a runner…even so ‘once burned, twice shy’ as her mom had always said.

She felt a twinge of guilt holding back, knowing how open Spike had been with his feelings for her and how much having her say the words would mean to him.
Maybe later … when her heart wasn’t trying to work its way up her throat.

‘Just be grateful for what you’ve got. Don’t bollocks this up, mate.’ Spike reminded himself not to push Buffy before she was ready. ‘We’ve got eternity, least I do. Then again, when she goes, I likely will too. Still lots of time for words,’ he reassured himself. "Love you so much, Buffy." A bloke could speak his mind even if the lady wouldn’t. He repeated his protestations of love over and over as Buffy moved on him. "Love you forever," he vowed.

She was intoxicating! Strong yet soft, tender and passionate, burning him with her heat. All of Spike’s many dreams since realizing he loved her had never come close to the reality that was loving Buffy. This time his mind was so busy thinking about how perfect his girl was that he didn’t have the same tight control he had used the night before, control that had resulted in hours spent bringing Buffy to climax after climax. This time as she screamed her release, he went with her. They both hit free fall at the same time, clinging to each other in elation as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through them with more intensity than the waves of water that crashed around them.

Buffy kept her hold on Spike with arms and legs as he slowly slipped from her heat. They kissed in the moonlight, not caring that the water’s chill was noticeable once again. Finally Buffy’s shivers became more temperature related than passion induced. Spike lifted her into his arms then and carried her back to the beach, setting her down when they got past the tide-claimed territory.

"Wait here, pet. I put a blanket in the saddlebag before we headed out. Get you nice and warm in a tick."

She watched his perfect backside as he climbed the slight incline to the place he had parked the Harley. She felt young and alive and something she barely remembered from years ago … happy. The piles of responsibility, the bills, raising her sister and saving the world all fell away making her feel light enough to lift from the sand and soar to the moon above. She loved this man, no question. Now all she needed was
the courage to openly declare it to him and everyone else in her life. The thought of the censure she was certain to meet gave her pause, but she knew it would happen in time. Spike was too important to her well-being to ignore it or run away herself.

Spike returned with an old, soft throw that Buffy used when snuggling on the couch. He wrapped her in its warmth and rubbed her body, chasing away the goosebumps that had started to form. "I’d build you a fire but don’t want to have to eat the Park Ranger
that’d surely come to investigate." It felt good to be able to joke like this, knowing Buffy realized it was a joke.

"Nope, can’t have that. Too nice a beach to have to close it for another one of those pesky unexplained exsanguinations you don’t read about in the papers." Buffy joked back She was fully confident that Spike’s hunting days were over and not just because of the chip either. He had changed and she had witnessed it as it happened.

Buffy opened up the wrap and drew Spike into its warmth with her, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest. The only sounds were the crashing of the waves on the rocks and the deep sighs of two replete lovers.

~~~

Earlier that evening, shortly after Buffy and Spike had left the house, Dawn returned home from a study session with friends at Janice’s house. She found the note Spike had left saying they would be checking out a situation out of town and Buffy
wouldn’t be home until late. He had left a twenty to pay for a pizza if Dawn wanted one.

Dawn giggled as she passed her sister’s room a few minutes later and took in the rumpled sheets and disarray that seemed to say her sister had finally come to her senses where Spike was concerned. Things were looking up!

She had just called in the pizza order when she heard the insistent knocks on the front door. She was surprised to look through the small window and see the face of a vampire she had never really met, in spite of the many false memories planted by the monks when they made her. Based on those memories, she wasn’t too happy to see him there.

"Angel," she said as she opened the door to the visitor. "What do you want? And say, phone…new invention, really handy to call ahead to see if a visit is welcomed." Angel glowered at her lack of warmth. At least she thought it was a glower, his facial expressions never varied much.

"Buffy’s not home. Neither is Willow." Dawn would have loved to shut the door on the vamp that had broken her sister’s heart and caused rivers of tears during the brief love affair that had ended so badly. He had come for a short visit after their mom
had died but hadn’t lifted a finger to help when Buffy had to face Glory shortly after that.

"Can I come in and wait for her to get home then?" Angel moved past Dawn and into the hallway as he spoke. "It’s kind of important I see her tonight."

"Sure, make yourself at home." Dawn was pretty sure he missed the sarcasm. "Willow will be home sooner than Buffy, I’ll bet. Buffy’s with Spike somewhere and probably not gonna get home until late. You know how it is when those two get together," she snarked, noticing Angel’s jaw tense.

"He come around much?" Angel ground out the question.

"Oh, yeah. Lived here for months last summer after he saved the world from Glory. I expect him to move back in eventually. He’s always got Buffy’s back, never just leaves her to whatever apocalypse or hellgod comes along," Dawn threw the words over her shoulder as she marched over to the radio and tuned in a station. "Oh, hey, isn’t that you and Buffy’s song?" she asked ‘innocently’ as Alanis Morissette wailed out
"You Oughta Know".

Dawn could hear Angel’s teeth grind. "No. We never had a song."

"Oh, my mistake then," Dawn replied.

The door opened to Willow and Tara giggling over some shared joke. "Angel! Wow, what a surprise! I haven’t seen you since graduation." Willow crossed the room to give him a hug. "How’s Cordy?"

"Cordy’s fine. She’s getting the hotel ready for company. Is this Tara? Buffy told me you had a really nice girlfriend." Angel smiled at the shy blonde that had remained in the doorway.

Dawn mumbled under her breath just loud enough for vampire hearing, "When did you talk to Buffy, that one night when we buried mom?"

"Yup, this is my destiny," Willow beamed at Tara. "Tara, honey, this is Angel. I told you about him, remember."

"Nice to meet you." Tara could sense that Dawn wasn’t happy about the vampire visitor and there was a definite feeling of tension in the air. Angel’s aura was swirling with pent up anger and violence. He kind of scared her for reasons she couldn’t put her finger on easily.

"So what brings you slumming in the small town, Mr. L.A. Hero?" Willow could feel the tension too and had a suspicion this wasn’t just a casual visit. The whole time Angel was central to Buffy’s life, he seemed to just pop in to announce some danger or doom and then disappear again. "Hope we’re not looking at another apocalypse. It’s not even spring yet!"

"Nothing for you to worry about, Will. Just need to have a little talk with Buffy, prevent a lot of pain," he said. ‘Cause some too, if Spike shows up,’ he thought to himself.

"Guess you won’t want to join us for a video night at Xander’s then," Willow remarked.

"Oooh, what videos did you get?" Dawn made a grab for the Blockbuster bag that Tara held. "Girly flicks! Oh, okay, here’s one for Xander…Blade Runner, he’ll be thrilled. Hey, can I come too? There’ll be a pizza in a few minutes and we can take it with."

"Sure, if it’s okay with Buffy," Tara said.

"Buffy’s off with Spike somewhere. The note he left said they’d be kinda late. I’m sure she won’t mind since I’m with people I feel safe with." Dawn looked pointedly at Angel as she spoke.

"I’ll be fine waiting here, Dawn. Don’t feel like you need to entertain me while I wait." Angel knew her game and chose to ignore it.

The pizza arrived and Willow collected the sodas she had come home to retrieve before they headed out for their evening with Xander and Anya.

Alone in the house, Angel strode to the radio and clicked the offending sound off. Then he sat to wait for his evil offspring to bring HIS girl home. Spike needed to remember that he couldn’t take what belonged to HIM and not suffer for it.

~*~
Chapter 14

~*~

The ride back to Sunnydale was bittersweet. Alone with Spike, Buffy could let the rest of the world disappear. No problems, no pressures, no disapproval to face, just one loving vampire to hold onto as the scenery flew by.

There would never be a day at the beach basking in the sun with him, but she could happily bask in the afterglow of loving him. That was better than sunlight and not likely to cause aging skin or cancer.

About a mile outside of town, Buffy asked Spike to pull over, delaying the inevitable. "Just wanted one more chance to kiss you silly before the gang’s all around, that’s all"

Spike had a slightly hurt look on his face at that. "Don’t worry, pet, I know you don’t want any of them to know about us. I can be discreet." It was clear that being her dirty secret was hurting him, but if it were the only way he could have her, it would have to do.

"That’s not it! Well, not completely. I admit the whole going public thing gives me tummy rumbles, but not because of you. I’m not ashamed of you. Why would I be? I
think the girls will all be fine; Dawn’ll be over the moon even. Xander and Giles may be a different matter though. They mean well but just can’t get past the whole history of what happened with Angel. They love me and worry." Buffy knew that if it came down to it, she’d suffer the anger of all the men in her life rather than give up what she had found in Spike’s arms.

"’S okay. Can’t really blame them. I am a vampire and like you said, they love you. It’s all right. However you want to play this is fine with me," Spike offered.

"Giles has a lot of books about vampires." Buffy wanted to talk about that whole claim thing again but wasn’t sure how to lead up to it. She had found references in one of Giles’ reference books while working at the Magic Box earlier. It told what the claim was supposed to do and how Spike had been right about it being a rare occurrence. It hadn’t said a word on HOW the claim was made though.

"Your point, love? I mean Giles IS a watcher; stands to reason he’s got books on the enemy. How accurate anything written by those wankers may be is another thing." Spike smiled at some of the things he’d read in those books about his supposed origins.

"I looked up what they had on a claim bite," she ventured. "It didn’t say anything about vampires and humans with it. I was wondering if it’s possible? How’s it done?"

"Curious, love, or somethin’ you wanna share with me?" Spike wasn’t going to let his mind run down that path without an engraved invitation. Crushed hearts lay in that path. No one had ever wanted to claim him as a human or vampire. He wasn’t going to start dreaming of the impossible.

"Just curious." She had actually been toying with the idea of using the claim to have Spike become her official mate at some point. She couldn’t imagine anyone else being
in her heart the way he now was. Her life wasn’t normal and wouldn’t likely be long. Why not spend it with Spike at her side, hers in every way? Of course she hadn’t even been able to say the "L" word to him yet, but the information could always be used later when she sucked up the nerve.

"Pretty simple, imagine it works the same for vamp or human. The one making the claim bites the other and after having a little sip, says something like ‘mine’ to put out the intention of belonging, ya know. Then, if the claim is accepted, the other does the same. That’d be a real mating ritual. Most of the time that’s done while havin’ sex. You can have a claim without it being a full mating, and without the sex, with the other only agreeing to the claim by saying something like ‘yours’ or some such. That way the person or vamp being claimed agrees that they belong to the one doin’ the claiming. No other vamp will mess with the claimed one without knowin’ the vamp they
belong to will destroy them. It also is supposed to create an emotional bond that makes the two pretty much in tune with each other. Naturally, a full mating makes
all that even stronger." Spike was still a bit confused by her curiosity about vampire blood rituals. He knew she had enjoyed the two times he had bitten her before but wondered at her continued interest.

"So, other vamps can tell if someone’s been claimed?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah. It warns ‘em to steer clear, respect the claim." Spike already knew that any vamp coming near Buffy was going to get the pointy end of a stick from him if they hurt her. With or without a claim, she was his and always would be.

They kissed some more and enjoyed the cool night breezes for a while, talking about trivial things and just enjoying each other’s company. "Guess we should head back. Think everyone’ll be asleep?" Buffy hoped they would be. Then she wouldn’t have to explain Spike joining her in her bedroom.

"Might be. We’ll be nice and quiet just in case they’re still awake though. Course, I could always just climb that tree outside your window and you could let me in that way. That is, if you’re wantin me to stay the night or what’s left of it," Spike hinted.

"Of course I want you to stay! We’ll figure it out later but you’ll come in through the front door just like anybody else." Buffy was pretty sure that none of her roommates would object at all. Giles had decided to move into an apartment that had recently become available. One of his customers was sub-letting it furnished. Buffy was amused at the look of relief on Giles’ face, knowing he wasn’t going to be
exiled to her couch with all that estrogen surrounding him.

Buffy and Spike remounted the Harley and made the last mile to Revello Drive wrapped up in their own thoughts.

***

"Slayer, know who drives that tank of a convertible parked in front of the house?" Spike had a feeling he’d seen the older car somewhere before but couldn’t place it.

"Not really, no. Maybe the neighbors have guests?" Buffy couldn’t think of anyone it could belong to that might be visiting her house. Her dad drove a newer car and none of her friends had mentioned getting a different car.

They walked up to the porch with their arms entwined around each other’s waists. Like the Victorian gentleman he once was, Spike opened the door for Buffy and waited for her to go through first.

The door had barely closed behind them when a voice came from the direction of the living room. "Hello Buffy, Spike. Kind of unexpected seeing the two of you together. Want to explain that little fact?"

"Angel!" Buffy’s heart rate sped to the level of a triathlete. "What on earth are you doing here, and in the dark?"

"Came to see you. Save you from a horrible mistake. Do some pest control. I didn’t want to believe Xander when he called, but looks like he was right." Angel turned to Spike and spat out, "So, boy, think you’d get back at me by seducing Buffy? You don’t touch what’s mine, William. Thought you learned that a century ago."

"Buffy’s not yours, not anyone’s. She’s her own woman. She can chose who she spends time with like any other grown up. Besides, YOU left her, you wanker. Can’t be all ‘dog in a manger’ and expect her to pine away for you the rest of her life." Spike faced off with his grandsire, angry at the intrusion. "Bloody Xander," he thought, "had to stick his nose in it."

"I left her for her own good. Unlike you, I have a soul, a conscience. She’s human, Spike; she needs a normal life. One day she’ll meet a nice guy who’ll give her that. You’re like me, a creature out of a horror movie. Only you’re worse, you don’t have a soul. You are evil. You touching her is a travesty." Angel glared at the younger vamp.

"You don’t know a thing, Peaches. Twenty years with me when I was just learnin’ how to be a vamp, with you teachin’ me all the dirty uglies, I might add…that’s not sayin’ you know me at all. You know who I was then, not now. Besides, it’s none of your business what either of us do. Once again, YOU left HER. That makes you her ex, nothin’ else.

"You’re a demon, Spike. Demons don’t change," Angel snorted

Spike tilted his head and huffed in disgust, "They say we can’t love either, but we both know that’s not true."

"What … you’re trying to say you LOVE Buffy?" Angel laughed at the thought.

"Yes, I love Buffy. Always will. Now you know, now you can leave." Spike opened the door and motioned with his head for Angel to hit the road.

"God! This would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic! You ‘love’ Buffy because I was there first, Spike. You want what’s mine like you always have." Angel lunged at Spike, pinning him to the open front door. "You touch her and you’re dust. You try to mess with her in any way and you’re dust. Got that, boy?"

Spike had trouble answering with the larger vamp’s hand around his throat but managed to gasp out, "Why ….Don’t …. You …. Ask …. The …. Lady?"

"Finally someone thinks I have some say in how I live MY life!" She pulled Angel off Spike and shoved him back towards the living room. "I get to decide the kind of life I want and I get to decide who I love. I don’t belong to you; you never wanted me to." With that, she leaned into Spike’s neck and bit deeply enough to draw blood. Raising her head after a small, coppery tasting sip, she spoke loudly enough for Angel to be sure to hear. "MINE."

When a shocked Spike didn’t answer, Buffy prodded him. "Well? Don’t you want to be mine?"

He blinked several times and then looked deeply into her eyes and said, "Yours, always yours."

"Well, Angel, I guess we all know who belongs to who now. I think you can head back to your life in L.A. now and stop worrying about us. We do just fine without you." Buffy smiled smugly at her gaping ex.

Angel beat a hasty retreat. Clearly Buffy had lost her mind. Well, he would be around to let her know he’d told her so. For now, he had to get back home before
Fred’s parents got there.

"Did you mean to do that, love?" Spike was still in shock over Buffy’s actions.

"Of course I did, you idiot. Didn’t you hear me telling Angel I would be the one to decide who I love? Well, I decided a while ago…it’s you. Might as well let the demon world know along with the human one." She smiled at the look of awe on her vampire’s face. "If you want to do this right and return the gesture, I wouldn’t say no."

"You’d let me claim you? Full mating and all?" At Buffy’s ready nod, Spike burst into a wide grin."

"I’d rather do that in private though, yeah?" He lifted Buffy in his arms and carried her upstairs to what he now hoped would be their bedroom to join his unlife with hers for all time.

"Think we can manage a little honeymoon before I have to look for that job I still don’t have?" Buffy teased as they ascended to the bedroom.

"I think that’s a grand idea, my love. As for the job…well, no reason I can’t look into a few things too. Gotta take care of my girls, don’t I?"

As soon as they cleared the door frame, Spike kicked the door closed behind them. Carefully placing his precious burden on the bed, he bent to remove his boots.

Buffy had already kicked her boots off and was halfway to getting her pants off as well. Spike stopped his own stripping to grasp the bottoms of her pant legs and tug them off. He leaned in, one hand on each side of her hips, and kissed her senseless.

As he continued to kiss her, Spike felt Buffy fumbling with his belt buckle and broke free to help her release him from his jeans. He shuddered as her hand clasped
his rigid cock and began to pump gently.

He ripped his tee shirt over his head in one quick jerk and then reached for her blouse, pulling it roughly from her in his eagerness to touch her flesh.


He was hers. She had marked him as belonging to her and now they were about to take it the distance. She would be his in reality--not just in his heart, but openly for all the world to see. His mate, his love.

"Come here, my vampire." She leaned back and pulled Spike with her, feeling him settle between her thighs. "You belong to me! Nobody else better ever put their hands on you either." She smiled at his look of amazement.

Spike unhooked her bra with his teeth while trailing kisses up her stomach on the way to her breasts. As it fell free, his hands began to palm her breasts, teasing her nipples until they were dusky and rock hard. He continued his kisses up to the base of her throat, then along her jaw to her ear.

Buffy was equally active, raining kisses on any part of Spike she could reach as her hands continued to glide up and down on his cock. She felt him rip her thong from her hips, making her warm, wet channel accessible to him at last.

As his mouth moved to cover hers in a searing kiss that drove all thought of anything but him from her mind, she felt him enter her. He took her in one thrust, stopping only when their pelvic bones made contact. "You are mine", Buffy said again when she
pulled away to catch a breath. "I do love you, Spike. Always, like you said."

Spike had a dreamy look on his face as he replied, ‘I love you, Buffy Summers. Have from the first dance and will ‘til my last. I was yours without you ever makin’
that claim. No one’s ever wanted me ‘cept my mum, and not that way either. Can hardly believe you want me, much less want me as your mate. Having a bit of a time
wrappin’ my mind around the idea that you love me too.’

Buffy looked at him tenderly and reaffirmed her vow, "I do, Spike. I love you and want you for always. While you get used to it, feel free to wrap whatever you want around me." She smiled at her little teasing joke and then wrapped her legs around his hips to illustrate the point.

As Spike pumped forcefully into her, he shifted into game face and found his previous mark on her neck. He carefully let his fangs sink into her neck and drew in a mouthful of her blood. He only took the one swallow before removing his fangs to say, "Mine, Buffy, you’re mine now and for eternity."

Buffy took her lead from him and bit into him where she had earlier, reopening the wound and drawing in a small amount of his blood replying, "Yes, Spike, Yours
for always." She wished if only for that moment that she had fangs to make the bite easier. The taste was not so bad to make her miss out on the pleasure biting her mate gave to her but she didn’t want to inflict too much pain in the process.

Whatever the future was to hold for them, they would see it together, joined in mind, spirit and heart as they now were in body.

Spike let himself move back to her neck for another pull at her blood as they both neared climax. The feel of his fangs sent Buffy over the edge first with Spike right behind her.

Spike licked the two holes marking their mystical bonding until the bleeding stopped. He then placed a reverent kiss on the place that told the demon world she was his. He rolled to his side, drawing Buffy with him so that they were still face to face,
grinning like idiots at one another.

"’Bout that honeymoon…I was thinkin’ we could go through L.A. on the way south, maybe pay a little return visit to the grandsire. Let him have a chance to offer congratulations and what all." Spike ducked as Buffy playfully smacked his arm.

"Well, I, for one, don’t care what Angel thinks. Maybe we’ll just send him a wedding announcement. I’d kind of like to see about a cabin around that State Park we went to
tonight. I think it would be a perfect place for a few days honeymoon," Buffy suggested.

"Anything my lady desires. As you wish," Spike replied.

"Don’t tell me, Dawn had you watching The Princess Bride this summer, didn’t she?" Buffy laughed at her sweetly human vampire mate.

"Yes, Buttercup and I shall fight all the giants and swordsmen and armies of evil and even outwit any evil genius that dare try to hurt you. I’ll be your Dread Pirate Spike," he teased back.

As Buffy giggled, he kissed the place that forever marked her as his and watched as she shuddered in pleasure. "Wow, I felt that, like, everywhere! Is that the way it works?" Then she kissed the place she had bitten him.

"Oh, yeah, felt that too." He sighed in contentment

"I’m thinking if we can’t visit the Poof to share the joy, can I at least be the one to tell Xander?" Spike quirked a brow as he asked.

"Only if I’m in the same room. Not only to see the look on his face, but to make sure he doesn’t make me a widow!" Buffy grinned in agreement.

They fell asleep in each other’s arms, knowing they would never awaken alone again and dreamed of days ahead where ‘normal’ meant one very special vampire and his equally unusual slayer mate.

~*~
Epilogue
~*~


Dawn was the first to discover the lovers. She had walked into her sister’s room at sunrise to tell Buffy what a great time she had missed with the group.

"Eep!" Dawm didn’t see much, since Spike was covering her naked sister with his body and a sheet was around his important parts, but she knew what she was happening anyway.

Once the squealing and explanations were over, the entire household was up and in on the events of the previous night.

"So Angel just left then?" Willow asked.

"I’m kind of surprised. His aura was really violent when you introduced us." Tara had been worried about what might happen but was reassured by Willow that
Angel cared for Buffy and that she could handle him.

"Yep, that’s what he did. Of course, that was after a huge pissing contest between he and Spike and my finally showing him just who I wanted to be with." Buffy took Spike’s hand and held it.

The couple then explained about claiming/mating, leaving out all the "good bits" to keep from shocking the girls and traumatizing Dawn.

"Like I’m not already traumatized after this morning! No more walking into your room without knocking from now on," she promised. "Hey, does this mean you two are, like, married?"

Buffy and Spike looked at each other, devouring each other with their eyes before Buffy answered, "Oh yeah, married. The whole ‘death do us part’ thing, only without the church or dress and all that."

"Be glad to go through that too, if that’s what you want. Just no outdoors and no bloody ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ either." Spike wondered idly if Buffy still had his ring from that spell-induced engagement. ‘Need a proper one this time,’ he thought.

***

Giles took the news as expected with plenty of "Good Lord" comments and much polishing of his glasses. In the end, he focused on the unexpectedness of an unsouled vampire
choosing to be mated to a slayer and delved into research. "We mustn’t let the Council have so much as a hint of this though. Wankers would be on us all like a Biblical plague!"

Spike burst into laughter at Giles using the same term for his employers that he always had.

"Rupes, I was wondering if you could lend me a hand in getting some kind of passable forged papers. Got a wife to support now and that means a job. Time to show up on the legal radar, I think." Spike had waited until Buffy was occupied talking to Willow before approaching the Watcher with his request.

"I suppose I know a few people who could arrange things. Perhaps if you were to give me the real statistics--name, birthdate, education, that sort of thing--we could make them as close as possible to the real thing." Giles looked a bit too avid in his
request and Spike smirked, knowing he wanted the information for more reasons than false papers.

"Sure thing. Just don’t go sharin’ the information, right?" Might as well humor the old boy since he was as close to a father-in-law as Spike was going to get.

"Yes. Well, then, what sort of a job were you thinking of getting?" Giles asked.

"I’ve got a great idea," Anya exclaimed. She had been genuinely happy for Buffy and Spike, whereas Xander was still sitting in shock, mouth open. "Why don’t you and Buffy become martial arts instructors? You could use the training room and in this town there are lots of people who want to know how to defend themselves."

"That’s a great idea! We could put up posters on campus and Dawnie could put them up in the high school. With the Bot up and ready to help if you need more money with a ‘second job’, that would probably cover all of it! You wouldn’t even have to pay rent
on the training room." Willow enthused.

"Wait a minute. I think we need to rethink that ‘no rent’ part." Anya’s eyes began to get a calculating look at the thought of percentages. "Xander, honey, you need to close your mouth or it will dry out. Oh! And of course, Spike, you’ll have to be part of our wedding party now."

That snapped Xander out of it. "No way. He can come, but no way is he in the wedding party. Bad enough he’s married to my friend, that doesn’t mean I’m going to be looking at his picture every time I look at our wedding album!"

"Well, at least he’s wrapped his mind around the idea that we’re together, pet," said Spike.

"It’s a start. He’ll come around. Just don’t antagonize him too much and he might even come to love you as much as I do," Buffy advised.

"Don’t even say that!" Spike and Xander protested at the same time and then looked sheepishly at the floor as everyone else laughed at them.

"Notice Xander didn’t say it’s not love," Dawn pointed out. "This could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

"That girl watches too many movies," grumbled Spike as he looked from Dawn to Xander. Then, with a shrug, he pulled his mate into the embrace of his arms and kissed her senseless in front of the lot of them.

~fin