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Beta'd by awesome ladies dawnofme and Mabel Marsters.


Chapter 24


“Buffy, stop it!” Spike slammed his palms against the invisible barrier preventing him from entering the house, eyes gleaming yellow as he felt Buffy’s rage transmitted onto him. He couldn’t give a piss about the useless human lying on the floor. But he knew Buffy, and once she snapped back to herself, she would never forgive herself for taking a human life.


There was so much blood. The crimson liquid stained her hands in a testimony of her rage and uncontrollable anger, dripping soundlessly on the beaten face of the unmoving man beneath her. Her hands trembled. The sound of his voice wheedled its way into her ears, rushing past the haze that had shut her off from reality. Buffy gasped and shot to her feet, her eyes wild as they met Spike’s.


“Buffy, what did you do? God, what did you do?” Joyce whispered, her eyes flickering between Dave and Buffy, until they finally settled on the man standing in the doorway. There was something wrong with his face. Was he one of those PCP gang members she had heard so much about? God, what did he get her daughter into? Should she call the police?


Joyce knelt next to Dave and felt for his pulse, breathing out a sigh of relief as the steady pulse jumped beneath her fingertips.


“Buffy… what is going on?”


Tears slid down Buffy’s cheeks in rivulets of helpless suffering, her voice silent and thick with pain as she whispered Spike’s name.


“Come here, lamb.”


Buffy rushed into his arms, letting him take over the burden of her jumbled emotions as she mumbled nonsensical words into his chest. She was in shock.


“Get your hands off my daughter!”


Joyce stepped towards them, meeting the eyes that had faded into blue with a determined look.


“What have you done to my daughter? Look at her! Are you making her take drugs? I’m calling police, and you sir, are going to the jail. I’m taking you home, Buffy, whether you like it or not!”
“How can you be so sodding blind, woman? Can’t you see? Maybe you should place blame where it belongs!” Spike growled and tightened his hold on Buffy.


“Excuse me? I am her mother. I think I know her better than you, and she needs me! What she obviously doesn’t need is your bad influence!” Who did this man think he was? Joyce was not afraid of him. She’d take Buffy with her to LA one way or another.


“Mum of the year, that’s you. Why don’t you ask the tosser on the floor what did to your daughter?”


Joyce hesitated and glanced over her shoulder at Dave. He was still unconscious.


“Buffy?” Joyce touched her daughter’s shoulder, dropping her arm when Buffy flinched.


Twisting in Spike’s arms to face her mother, Buffy tried to calm down. Shivers ran through her, her mind numb as she felt the blood drying on her hands.


“I-”


Spike sensed her turmoil and kissed the side of her neck. If only he could just take her home and help her. Instead here they bloody were, losing time by talking.


“Buffy, tell me… are you taking drugs?”


“No-”


“Then what is going on? And who is this man? I saw his face… is he one of those PCP gang members?”


“Mom… Spike is… he’s a vampire.” Buffy stared at her mother, willing her to believe her. To just accept the truth for what it was, at least this once.


Joyce could feel a hysterical laugh start building in her throat, but she suppressed it. All the medicine, all the psychiatrists and Buffy still thought vampires were real. She felt like she was losing her, and the harder she tried to grasp at her daughter, the faster she was slipping away.


“A vampire? Buffy… we’ve been through this. You admitted you were just making that up and now-”


“No, Mom! I didn’t admit anything! I just said what everyone wanted to hear. If I didn’t, I’d be stuck there forever. Why can’t you just believe me?”


“Well, I can’t accept this-”


“Bloody hell, how thick can you be? What did you think your daughter had been doing? How many times did she come home bruised?”


“Buffy always got in fights. What does that have to do with anything?”


“And miraculously, the bruises just disappeared the next day, eh?” Spike shook his head at the human ability of explaining everything that threatened their sense of normalcy.


“She’s just got good immunity-”


Spike chuckled and met Joyce’s gaze square on, shifting into his game face, sharp fangs glittering in the light from hallway.


“Does she?”


Joyce gasped and stumbled back, shaking her head in denial as she stared at the monster in front of her. She’d only glimpsed his distorted face before, but there was no way she could keep lying to herself now. She had never needed a stiff drink more in her life.


“Mom… you can’t stay here,” Buffy said, breaking through Joyce’s shock.


“Are you a vampire too? Oh my God, I need to sit down.”


“No, I’m not. And Spike… he won’t hurt you. There’s no time for panicking. You need to come with us-”


“Well, excuse me if I am in a bit of shock! I need to call the police… let them know-”


“Listen. You can’t call police. I… I’ll explain everything. What had happened to me… I promise. Just, we need to leave before… he wakes up-”


“You almost killed him,” Joyce said as if she couldn’t believe it.


“The twat deserves far worse for what he-”


“Spike. Not now. Please?”


He sighed and clasped her hand in his, the blood on her hand smearing on his palm as he tugged her towards his DeSoto.


Buffy gazed at her mother, pleading with her eyes to go with them. After a few beats of hesitation, Joyce crossed the threshold and followed them into the night.


******


As soon as they got home, Spike left the two of them talk and grabbed his cell phone.


“Hi, Clem.”


“Hey, buddy!”


“Listen, need you to do me a favour. Need to do a little cleanup. Would do it myself, but there’s the whole threshold issue.”


“Sure. What kind of cleanup are we talking about?”


“There’s a bloke, still unconscious hopefully. He needs to be dead, Clem. He knows Buffy is alive, and I can’t have him running his gob. God knows how the scum like him found out about a demon playground. Or from who. Get a couple of L’ashgka demons to clean all the traces of struggle, make it look like nobody was there. Let them dispose of the body; maybe toss into a lake… I don’t’ care.” Spike hesitated, anxiety creeping into his voice. “There’s too much at stake here, mate. I can’t… just, please make sure they do it as quick as bloody possible. I’ll pay anything. The address is Sunny Lane 1350.”


“Sure thing, Spike. I’ll go get right on it. I’ll let you know as soon as it is done. Don’t worry… it’s going to work out just fine. Send my greetings to your lady love.”


“Thanks, mate.”


“What are friends for?”


******


Three hours later, Spike lay alone in his bed, staring at the ceiling. Clem had let him know a short while after the phone call that everything had been taken care of, and Spike had finally let out a sigh of relief. Well, the wife would probably notice after some time that her husband hadn’t come home, but if the sod’s violent tendencies were anything to go by, Spike was sure he’d done the poor woman a favour. She would probably be glad her abusive wanker of a husband never showed up.


Even as Spike’s heart hurt for what Buffy had to go through, facing one of the men that had caused her such damage, he couldn’t help but smile proudly at the way she laid into the git. He didn’t stand a chance against her power. Weeks ago, Buffy would have gone catatonic at the mere sight of the man, everything around her crashing, trapping her back in the existence of slavery without the possibility of escaping. But she hadn’t. She had grasped the power and defended herself.


The door on the bedroom creaked open, and Spike watched as Buffy’s slender form slipped through the crack before she closed it behind her. Seeing her tiptoe towards the bed soundlessly so she wouldn’t disturb him, Spike warmly smiled.


“I’m not asleep, luv.”


“Oh.” She sighed in relief, and slipped beneath the covers, unconsciously molding her body against his.


“Did I wake you up?”


“Nah. Was just thinking.” Spike turned on his side and hugged her, running his fingers through her hair. “How are you? Are you alright?”


“Not really,” she answered.


“Wanna talk about it?”


“I’m scared, Spike.”


“Why? Did your mum-”


“No. It’s… me I’m scared of.”


“Buffy, you did nothing wrong. He had it coming. And you didn’t kill him.”


“But I wanted to! I wanted it so much, I could taste it. God, if you hadn’t stopped me-”


“Hey now. Stop blaming yourself. It’s what I’m here for, right? To keep you safe,” Spike murmured and kissed her lightly on the lips.


“I know. Have I told how much I love you?”


Spike smiled. He would never get tired of hearing those words, feeling and knowing that she meant it. He’d never had that. Not before. “Not since this morning you haven’t. Love you too. So how did it go with Mum?”


“She was wigged. By the way, I think she finished off your favourite whisky.”


“Bugger.”


“But I think she kind of came to terms with the whole supernatural thing.”


“Did you tell her about… why you were gone?”


“Yeah… I had to tell her. There was a big cry-fest, but I’m glad I told her even though she… I hurt her by telling her, but there was no other way. And she promised me she wouldn’t tell dad.”


“She’s not gonna call the cops, is she?”


“No. I explained how many questions that would raise and that I don’t want to deal with that extra stress. I told her I’d deal with it my way, and I think she accepted it. She’s going back to LA tomorrow morning.”


“Are you sad?” Spike asked.


“A little. But, to be honest… I’m kinda glad I’ll be alone with you again, without the stress of being under constant surveillance and questioning.”


“Wanna have you all to myself too, kitten.” Spike claimed her mouth in a tender kiss, running his tongue over her upper lip, he then pulled it into his mouth, before shifting to the seam of Buffy’s mouth, teasing her. Her fingers tangled themselves in the soft curls of his hair as she parted her lips and slid her tongue against Spike’s. She tasted like tears and the love that flowed between them like a live wire. Spike rolled onto his back, tugging Buffy on top as she tilted her head to the side to deepen the kiss.


The rhythm was still slow and languorous, both of them just relishing the contact, the feel and taste of each other without the desperate need to take it further. Buffy abandoned his lips in order to draw in a breath and nuzzled his throat.


“Wow,” she breathed.


“I’ll second that. Could be kissing you all day long.”


“Maybe we can make a date out of it.” Buffy grinned.


“Only if I can lick whipped cream off your luscious skin after the date.” Spike demonstrated by rolling Buffy beneath him and suckling at her neck.


“Mmmm… only if I can return the favour.”


“Bloody hell. You’re evil.”


Buffy giggled and hugged him to her, relishing Spike’s weight pressing her down into the mattress. “I learn from the best.”


“Mmm, that you do,” Spike confirmed and rolled to his side, so he wouldn’t be crushing her. “If your mum wasn’t in the next room, I’d be ravishing you right now.”


His wistful tone made Buffy suppress a giggle. He could be such a guy sometimes. “And if she wasn’t, I’d let you. It would be way too weird, even though she’s probably dead to the world with all the whisky she drank.”


“Tomorrow then?”


“Only if you order some fancy takeout food and watch a sappy chick movie with me,” Buffy said.


“Ooh, we can order Chinese. I love those fortune cookies!”


“What, no argument about the sappy part?” she asked teasingly.


“Eh… right! Damn you, woman. Watching those chick flicks… right. I’m not very convincing, am I?” Spike sighed in defeat as she grinned at him.


“Sorry. Maybe I’d buy it if I didn’t know you watch Dawson’s Creek. And Passions.”


“How long have you known?” And here he thought she only found out about his guilty pleasure today. How did she know he watched Passions?


“The DVD set in the cabinet under the television kind of gave you away,” Buffy admitted.


Spike groaned, and then turned his attention to nipping at her neck. “You know… we could go out to kill things tomorrow. Some fellow demons that have been naughty.”


“Umm… I-”


“Look, we don’t have to. It was just a suggestion-”


“No. I mean yes… but, are we talking just random demons or-”


“You wanna go with me on the revenge killing spree, don’t you?” Spike sat up.


“No. Yes. Maybe. I just… it’s something I need to do.”


“Gotcha, pet. But first we have ourselves a date, right?”


“It’s a deal.”


TBC


Author's note: I hope you enjoyed! :)