Betaed by Maria and Flight Of Fancy.


Spike was excited. Buffy wanted to dance with him in front of her friends and Angel. He briefly thought about teasing Angel, because this time a woman they both liked was choosing him, but rejected the idea almost immediately.

While Spike prowled down the stairs, he considered the odds of Angel or one of the others attacking. Not that he was scared. Spike knew he could take Angel and would enjoy himself doing it, but was it worth the possible trouble?

Buffy lost track of Spike when he moved away from the railing. She leaned closer to Kendra, so the Slayer could hear her voice. The action had the added bonus of moving her away from the boys who were gathered close by. "Don’t do anything. Whatever happens, you need to trust me."

Kendra looked confused, but nodded her understanding. Though Buffy had tried to hide it, Kendra had often seen a dark shadow of sorrow in her eyes. There was no evidence of it now though. Happiness and excitement were radiating from the blonde.

Somewhere behind Buffy, Spike was making his way through the throng. When Kendra stared with wide eyes at someone behind her, Buffy knew Spike was closing in. Buffy caught Kendra’s hand, and whispered, "Trust me." Buffy gave her hand a short squeeze, before she released it.

Buffy knew when Spike was right behind her. She slowly moved backwards, swaying to the music. Finally, her back met his firm chest. Spike moved with her, a hand placed on her hip. The other arm went around her stomach, pulling her closer.

When Giles saw Spike move up behind Buffy, he was ready to rush to the dance floor and pass her a stake. Merrick held him back with a hand on Giles' arm, shaking his head but not giving him any explanation. Giles reluctantly sat down again, but kept his eyes on the mortal enemies as they danced.

The Scoobies had also noticed what was going on, and Angel was currently trying to force his way through the dancing crowd to get to Buffy. Xander and Willow decided the Watchers would make a better target. "Why aren’t you helping Buffy?" Xander glared accusingly at Giles and Merrick.

"She doesn’t need help," Merrick answered, still watching the couple with soft eyes.

Giles looked suspiciously at Merrick. He didn’t like Merrick’s reaction to the dancing couple.

After considerable effort, Angel managed to work his way across the dance floor to the swaying couple. "What the Hell are you doing, Buffy?" Angel’s hand shot out to grab hold of Spike.

Spike sent Angel a smirk, as he stepped to the side, evading Angel's grip. He didn’t move far, as Buffy had her hand placed over the arm he had around her stomach. She used her other hand to keep Angel at a distance with a firm grip on his upper arm.

"I’m dancing. What the Hell are you doing?" She pushed Angel away from her as she let him go.

Buffy moved back against Spike. She searched for his hand and placed it back on her hip, where it had been before Angel interrupted them.

"You're a Slayer. You're supposed to kill vampires, not dance with them," Angel growled into her face.

"Haven’t you got the news yet? Or did you just not understand it? Maybe you don’t want to. I don’t care what your malfunction is, but I’m not a Slayer anymore." Buffy moved forward until they were standing toe to toe. "Don’t try to control me, or you’ll be cut out of my life for good. Your decision." She turned around and placed one hand on Spike’s neck, the other on his chest.

Spike wrapped his arms around Buffy's back, pulling her closer.

Buffy smiled softly at Spike's look of awe. Buffy knew why he was wearing that expression. She had chosen him over Angel, making it clear to the world whose arms she wanted to be in.

Buffy and Spike swayed to the music, gazes locked, the world around them forgotten.

Angel was frozen to the spot, staring at Buffy in Spike’s arms. He looked like a fool, standing there in the middle of the dance floor, mouth hanging open. He woke from his stupor when he was jostled from behind. At once he went to confront Giles. "What’s going on? And how come Spike is alive? I don’t get it."

"Yeah, I agree with Dead Boy. Why isn’t Spike a pile of dust?" Xander was in Giles' face. "Why is Buffy dancing with him?" The teen was so upset that he was almost frothing at the mouth.

Giles found his handkerchief and wiped his face. "Please get out of my space, Xander, and stop talking. I’ve already had a shower today."

Xander looked confused for a moment, then his face flamed with embarrassment as he stepped back. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Sit down. We are drawing attention." Giles moved closer to Joyce, making room for all.

"Will somebody please tell me what the trouble is? I can’t see anything wrong with Buffy dancing with that young man. He might be a bit older and look like a punk, but he seems to be a nice guy." Joyce looked around at the stunned faces.

They had all forgotten Joyce.

"That," Xander leaned over the table and pointed to the dance floor. “Is an evil, bloodsucking fiend.”

Joyce leaned back in her seat to get away from the spit-shower. "Huh?" The Light’s mother looked at Giles, who nodded. Then she turned to Merrick.

"Xander is right, Joyce. He's a vampire, but it’s okay," he said, ignoring the objections from around the table.

"But, shouldn’t we warn her?" Joyce was getting scared. She had just got Buffy back. To lose her again wasn’t an option.

"She knows." Merrick took one of her hands in his, and reassuringly placed his other on top of hers. "Remember the conversation we had in the hospital?" He waited patiently, with a soft smile playing in his eyes.

"Oh, is that..?"

Merrick raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the couple still swaying to the music, lost in each other.

"Is that all? Aren’t you gonna do something?" Willow looked at Joyce and Merrick.

Merrick looked at Joyce, who was about to speak. He gently squeezed her hand. "No, Buffy can take care of herself."

Joyce closed her mouth. Merrick’s actions had made her think of how Buffy wouldn’t reveal who had her heart, out of fear of what her supposed friends would do.

The hard beat that now poured out of the speakers woke the couple on the dance floor, rousing them from their fascination with each other.

"We have to speak, Buffy."

Buffy felt Spike’s cool breath on her cheek and shivered. "Please don’t say you're leaving." She cupped his cheek.

Sighing Spike leaned into her touch. "No, I want to know more about what will happen if we fulfill the prophecy."

"Are you..." Buffy closed her eyes briefly. "Are you considering it?" Her thumb was moving back and forth over his cheekbone.

"How can I not think about it? It’ll be the culmination of my life. I've always wanted to be loved. That was the only weakness I kept after I was turned, the only thing..." He looked over her head. "Let's move this to someplace else." He looked up. "The balcony is quiet enough for a chat."

Spike took her hand and intertwined their fingers. She allowed him to lead her up the stairs to a secluded table in the corner. Spike saw her comfortably seated, and then took the chair opposite her, but continued to hold her hand across the small table.

"What do you want to know?" Buffy asked.

Before he answered, Spike looked around. "For starters, I want to know if it’s an ordinary claim that’s meant to bond us? Or some fancy magic?"

"A little more than normal, but not something I’d call fancy. Why do you want to know? And why now? You could have asked that question last night, or before we left the house this afternoon."

"I..." Spike looked embarrassed. "When I came here tonight, my demon didn’t care about all the Happy Meals running about, free for the taking. I didn't understand it then, but when that boy tried to get lucky..." He looked down for a moment.

Buffy clasped his other hand in a show of support, and sent him a soft smile when he looked up.

"At that point I knew that my demon saw you as his." He smiled shyly.

"And what about William?" Without thinking about it, she held her breath while she waited for his answer.

"William." A smile that held an overwhelming tenderness appeared. "He's loved you from the first time he saw you."

Spike was rubbing small circles on her pulse point, and it was starting to affect Buffy. She marvelled that such a simple gesture could turn her into a cat in heat. Buffy saw his nostrils flare before he took a deep breath. She knew he could smell her arousal.

When she looked to the side in an attempt to hide her flushed cheeks, Buffy’s excitement disappeared. A bucket of cold water couldn’t have worked better than the sight of Angel and Xander glaring at them from the top of the stairs.

"What do you say to taking this home?" Buffy nodded to the stairs. "I don’t like the audience."

Spike turned in his seat and sighed before he turned back to Buffy. "If we take this to a more private place, I don’t think we’ll be spending much time talking." He smirked as he bit his bottom lip.

"I have a sneaking suspicion you’re right about that. You know, there’s a bonus if we bond the first time we're together," she said with a twinkle in her eyes, a slight flush on her cheeks.

"Is that right?" he whispered.

"Yeah." She swallowed and then mentally gave her head a little shake. It was hard to believe she was sitting there, flushing and acting like a virgin. Of course, her body was unused but her mind wasn’t, and there were some things you just didn’t forget, no matter how many lifetimes had gone by. That was Spike for you; thoughts of him could always bring color to her cheeks.

"Tell me about it?" he urged her, as he moved his chair over beside hers, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"First, tell me if they can hear us from there?" She nodded to the stairs, where Xander and Angel seemed to have rooted, shooting them evil glances.

"Not if we keep it low." He smirked at his Grandsire. Spike could almost see the smoke coming out of Angel's ears.

Buffy poked him lightly in his side with her elbow. "Don’t tease him," she whispered, with laughter in her voice. "It could mean more trouble."

"Have you told them about me?"

"No. My mom knows there is someone who owns my heart, and Merrick of course."

"Can I be there when you tell them?" he asked, as he leaned into her neck and breathed in her scent, memorizing it.

"Ahh..." Buffy had tilted her head to the side to give him better access. He was kissing his way up her neck, when she looked over to the stairs. Merrick was there trying to keep Angel and Xander from interfering.

From their loud argument, Buffy deduced that the pair wanted to dust Spike. She raised a hand and grabbed his hair, pulling softly.

"Huh, what's the matter?" he asked with a confused look, as he let her earlobe go with a plop.

She gestured to the stairs. "Maybe you should move back to where you were before?"

"If I promise to behave? Then can I stay?" He removed his arm from around her, but stayed with his hip against hers, thigh to thigh.

"Are you sure you can behave?" she asked suspiciously.

He placed his hands on the table."I give you my word of honour."

"Okay, I’ll trust you." She had to use a lot of self control to break eye contact with Spike and look back over to the stairs. "Maybe I should try and get them to leave us alone?"

"I doubt they’d listen," Spike stated. There was still an argument going on between them, and Spike did his best to listen in. "Merrick is trying to get them to leave us alone, but they insist on staying. They're convinced that I’ll kill you when you let your guard down."

Buffy sighed. "I’ll probably make it worse if I join in."

"Might." Spike shrugged. He liked a good fight. "Let the Watcher take care of it. He’s an okay bloke. It’s time for you to fess up." He twisted in his seat, so he could look at her, his feet parted and her knees between his own.

The time she had hoped and prayed for was close. Why was she this nervous? Buffy wiped her hands on her skirt. "So, you probably want to know about the bonus I mentioned before, right?"

Spike nodded and smirked. He could smell her nervousness, it floated around her like a cloud. "Ah, well, the book says we’ll get a stronger connection from the start if we bond right away. If we wait, we'll achieve the same level over time." She glanced at him.

A raised brow and a smile was all she got.

Buffy groaned. She knew what he wanted, and he had probably guessed the answer. "My blood will flow twice for you." She couldn’t look him in the eye, embarrassed that she felt so shy talking about something she had wanted for so long.

"It’s always about the blood." Spike raised her head with a finger under her chin. "Don’t. You can talk to me about anything."

"I know. Do you want to bond with me?" She had to know for sure.

From experience Buffy knew that every love was different. People could leave even when they claimed to love you. Some kinds of love she didn’t understand, probably never would. Xander, Willow and Giles claimed to love her, but shouldn’t the people that loved you want you to be happy?

Buffy had contemplated that question many times in the lonely years spent in her other lifetime. Spike wasn’t like that, he couldn’t be. Angel hadn’t had time to influence him yet, to make Spike believe that she deserved better than what he had to offer her.