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Real Me by CG again
 
Chapter 12
 
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I moped around for a bit, my depression fueled when Willow didn’t show up in the dorm…again. She’d been out nearly every night for the past week, doing spells with Tara or studying in the library. When did she find time to sleep?

But finally, even without my sensible friend’s help, I made an active decision to stop obsessing over what had happened. So Spike and I had had a fight. And he had left. Because I wouldn’t let him take out his frustration with Dru on me. If he was going to kiss me, he’d be kissing me, not her. Right. It made sense. And I was going to stop sulking and do something fun.

So the next day, I went out with Willow and Xander to the Bronze. I hadn’t been there since the first time I’d met Spike, I remembered with a grin. A lot had changed since then…

Xander rubbed his throat. “I don’t get it. My throat wasn’t sore or anything. What kind of laryngitis virus was it?”

Willow and I shrugged innocently. “One of those really long, scientific names,” I offered. “I don’t remember what. Good thing they cured it, huh?”

Xander nodded fervently. “Oh, yes. The Xanman without his voice is like Superman without his powers of flight!”

I laughed. “And we’d hate to have you powerless.”

“Whatcha talking about?” a bright voice asked from behind us. Dawn and Janice grinned down at us and took seats at our table.

“Laryngitis,” Willow told them. “And therefore Superman.”

“Never underestimate my powers of geekdom!” Xander pronounced in a deep voice.

Janice eyed him speculatively. “Xander, right?”

He grinned goofily. “You’ve heard of me?”

She gave him a coolly condescending look. “You’re going to dance with me now. And not talk about geek stuff.” She marched away from the table, followed closely by Xander.

“Poor guy,” Willow said, shaking her head. “Always a sucker for the evil ones.”

“Speaking of evil…” Dawn narrowed her eyes toward the dance floor, where Spike was weaving through the crowd toward us.

My heart leapt into my throat. “Spike!”

He nodded to me. “’Lo, pet. Wanted to talk to you.” Dawn pulled out a stake, and he spared her a glance. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything evil right now.”

“Oh. Well, okay then,” Dawn said, at a loss. “But I should really capture you and take you back to Giles’.”

“Don’t bother,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Dawn shrugged, putting the stake away. “Okay.”

Ladies and gentlemen, Dawn the Vampire Slayer! Observe how she captures the evil vampire! But why would she bother? It wasn’t like Spike could give them any more information than Riley already had. And he was harmless, anyway.

I met Spike’s eyes. “Want to talk?”

He nodded toward the door to the back alley. “Outside?”

I followed him. Why was this so awkward? Oh. Right.

When we were finally outside, leaning against the wall side by side, I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of it. “Last time we stood here, you were planning on making me a late-night snack.”

Spike shuffled uncomfortably. “Right. Sorry ‘bout that.”

I touched his arm. “It’s over and done with now. I’ve moved on.”

He turned to face me, looking abashed. “I’m sorry about last night,” he blurted out suddenly. “I was just so upset about Dru, and you were being so…so spectacular, and I… I didn’t think. I do that a lot,” he said wryly.

“Yup,” I agreed. “And I don’t deny that you using me like that…well, it hurt,” I confessed. “But I know that last night was hard for you, and I don’t blame you for doing something stupid.” I gave him a small smile. “We’re good.”

Spike broke out into a beaming smile. “Friends again?”

I felt a jolt of chagrin. Not FRIENDS! “Friends,” I confirmed, mustering a smile.

We stood in comfortable silence for a while. “So, where’d you end up last night?” I asked conversationally.

He shrugged. “Found a nice, empty- well, not empty at first,” he amended. “-crypt out in Restfield. Think I might stay there for a while.”

“You know, now that you can hurt demons, you could probably go back to your minions,” I pointed out carefully. “They’ll still be scared enough of you that they’ll get you food and all.”

Spike was silent for a moment. “I don’t need to depend on anyone,” he finally muttered. “Not even…” his voice trailed off.

He started to speak again, but was cut off when a girl raced into the alleyway and held him back, stake in hand. “Get away from her, vampire!” the girl shouted.

I yanked the girl away from him. “Do you mind? We’re trying to talk here!”

She shrugged my hand off. “This man is dangerous. Go back inside, I’ll take care of him.”

“No, he isn’t!” I snapped, sliding between them so I was protecting his heart. “He has a chip in his brain making him unable to bite and mostly defenseless, but he can still kill demons, so he’s totally fighting on the side of right these days, not that it’s any of your business and who are you anyway?” I asked suspiciously.

The girl paused for a minute, trying to keep up with my train of thought, then shrugged and tossed her hair with a flourish. “I’m Kennedy the Vampire Slayer.”

Spike laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Behave, vampire,” Kennedy raised her stake again. “I’m the Slayer. It’s my duty and my privilege to stake you.”

“You’re not the Slayer,” I retorted.

She sneered at me. “What do you know? You’re a civilian under thrall.”

“I’m not under thrall,” I said, annoyed. “Is it so impossible to believe that a vampire and a human would get along?”

Spike shrugged. “Happens all the time. I’ve worked with humans before and not eaten them. But usually only master vamp-“

“Shut up!” Kennedy snarled. “Step away from the girl!”

We stared at her with identical looks of disdain. “You’re not the Slayer,” I repeated. “My sister is. And she’s right inside.”

“That’s impossible,” Kennedy said, folding her arms. “I’m the Chosen One. I’ve been trained for this since I was a kid, and I was called last spring. Your sister’s just a vigilante. Slayer wannabe,” she muttered in disgust.

Spike shook his head with amusement. “Believe me, if I’d known that you were the Slayer, I’d have killed you first,” he offered magnanimously.

“It would’ve been a public service,” I muttered.

“What?” Kennedy asked.

Spike smirked.

“Nothing,” I said innocently. “Come on. I’ll take you to meet Dawn and we can get this figured out.”

--

“So, how long?” Kennedy asked Willow.

Willow stared at her blankly. “Long?”

“Since you realized that you were gay.”

Xander, Willow, and I all choked on our drinks.

“Willow’s not gay!”

“I-I’m not gay!”

Kennedy flipped her hair. “Shame.” She shifted her chair closer to Willow’s. Willow edged away, looking terrified. “You’re totally my type,” she whispered in her ear, loudly enough for all of us to hear.

Xander and Spike showed a moment of male solidarity and drooled. Willow let out a squeak, and she and I both shuddered.

Dawn came over, looking impatient. “We need to figure this out.”

“Figure what out?” Xander wondered.

“Nothing to worry your thick little head,” Spike said patiently, patting him on the shoulder. Xander gave me a dubious look. He was starting to doubt the “Cousin Spike” story, especially after he’d asked Dawn about it and she’d been utterly bewildered until she’d caught on. “Now shoo. The big kids need to talk.”

Xander shoved his hand away. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said, glaring at Spike. “Buffy? Wanna dance?”

I shrugged helplessly at Spike’s sudden glower. Had I missed some male posturing contest? “I guess so.”

Dawn tapped her foot, annoyed. “Fine. We can’t do this here. Come on, Kennedy. We’ll go to Giles.”

“Who’s Giles?” Kennedy asked suspiciously. “Some kind of leader of your vigilantes?”

Dawn glanced at Xander for a moment. “He’s our school librarian. Kind of my mentor? British? Watches stuff?”

Kennedy laughed unkindly. “You’re really into this whole Slayer delusion, aren’t you?”

“What’s a Slayer?” Xander asked.

“Let’s go dance,” I said hastily, pulling him onto the dance floor.

I danced with Xander for a while, watching Spike as I moved. He was sitting with Willow, talking and laughing with her, but his eyes remained fixed on me. Our gazes met, and a shiver went straight to my core. Xander’s arms might have been around me, but it was Spike who felt too close, who made it hard to breathe…

When I broke away from Xander, Spike moved to take his place. “Slayers went back to the Watcher’s house,” he murmured, his hands ghosting over my body.

“Oh,” I said faintly, letting myself fall back against him as I danced. I didn’t think that I could say much more.

His lips brushed my ear as he whispered, “Looked like you were having a good time with the big lug.”

I took his hands, wrapping them around my body as I swayed. “Huh?”

He laughed softly. “Never you mind.”

We rocked back and forth together, completely in sync. “What…?”

He let his fingers run along my waist and stomach. “Hm?”

“What are we doing?” I asked breathlessly, letting my eyes drift closed.

“We’re dancing,” he breathed, spinning me gently until I faced him, millimeters from his face. “Isn’t that what friends do?”

“Right.” Someone should probably tell our bodies that… I was very aware of how much Spike’s body was not seeing me platonically right then.

We didn’t speak anymore, just swayed lazily together, our eyes locked together and our arms tight around each other.

It felt like we’d been dancing forever when Spike finally pulled away. “The boy’s gone.”

I stared at him blankly.

“Harris. He’s left,” Spike clarified.

“Oh.” I turned to check on Willow, where she sat waiting for us. She waggled an amused eyebrow at us, and I flushed. “I guess we should go find out what the deal is with Kennedy.” Then I remembered who I was talking to. “I mean, we’ll go. We’re not going to take you back to Giles…”

Spike smirked. “I don’t think the Watcher wants me back. He’s got someone new to irritate him, and I’d bet all my kittens that she’ll do a much better job.”

“Kittens?” Willow asked curiously, joining us. She wrinkled her nose. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

“Anyway, you’re not going out at night all alone, pet,” Spike informed me. “Lots of nasties out. You need Big Bad to escort you.”

I thought about pointing out that Willow was a witch and I wasn’t totally helpless, but I didn’t have the heart to turn down our newly refanged companion.

Plus, I liked having him around.

--

Giles answered his door, looking greatly relieved to see us. “Buffy! Willow! Please, join us!”

Spike winked at me. “Having fun with the new Slayer, Rupes?”

Giles began cleaning his glasses with a rapidness that belied utter desperation. “She’s certainly a character, isn’t she?”

“Mr. Giles?” Kennedy asked from behind him. “Do you want me to put your blanket and pillows on the couch? And I’m going to need some new sheets.”

“She’s staying with you?” I asked, trying to hold back my laughter.

“Apparently,” Giles said, flustered. “And from the sound of it, she’s taking my bedroom.” His brow furrowed. “I need some scotch.”

“You shouldn’t drink,” Kennedy informed him, her arms crossed. “Watchers need to be on hand for their Slayers at all times. You can’t be incapacitated by liquor.”

“I refuse to believe that your Watcher never drank,” Giles muttered.

“So it’s true?” I wondered. “You’re a Slayer?”

Kennedy gave me a superior look. “Of course.”

“When Dawn drowned last year, she was dead just long enough for another Slayer to be Called,” Giles explained tiredly, gesturing for us to enter the house.

“Don’t tell me the vampire has an invite here!” Kennedy demanded, looking horrified. “I’m sleeping here!”

Giles gave Kennedy a nasty look that she didn’t notice. “Spike, of course you’re always welcome here.”

“Lesser of two evils,” Spike mumbled, just loud enough for me to hear.

I grinned. “So, Kennedy, why are you here?”

Kennedy frowned. “My Watcher sent me here. The coven saw a dark evil rising near the Hellmouth, and that a Slayer would be needed. I guess she hadn’t gotten news that Dawn was still alive.”

We all breathed sighs of relief. Did that mean Kennedy would be going?

Kennedy glanced at Spike. “But from the look of things, I think you guys are going to need way more help. So I’m going to stay!”

Giles’s head hit the table with a loud thunk!.
 
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