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I Would Still Have Loved You by slaymesoftly
 
Chapter Twenty-four
 
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
 
 
“It’s alright if I kick Harris’s arse, isn’t? If I promise not to bite him or kill him?”
 
Buffy sighed and shook her head. “I get that feeling. I really do. But the best thing we can do is let Xander in on the truth and hope he can come up with something believable to tell Riley about you.”
 
“He’s not going to do that, love. You know it, and I know it. I’m not sayin’ he isn’t going to be sorry he stirred that pot, but I don’t see him trying to pretend he didn’t tell the big lump that I’m a vamp. And he’s going to figure out why I can walk in the sun as soon as he remembers that you kept this ring.”  Spike waved his hand at her, the gem sparkling in the light from a nearby street lamp.
 
“Well, we’ve got to find some way to get him on our side. Maybe if we tell him Anya will be killed if we have to fight the First….”
 
He just stared at her until she dropped her gaze. “Okay. Maybe not. But if we can get him to understand…”
 
“Let’s worry about it tomorrow, yeah? Tonight I promised to give you a good scrubbing... all over….” He gestured to their door and put his key in the lock.
 
Buffy ducked under this arm to enter the dark apartment, hitting the light switch to turn on their only lamp.
 
“I think we need more furniture,” she said, looking around the rather bare room. “Since mom knows we’re going to be living together, and Giles knows, and Willow doesn’t care… I think we might as well live here for real.”
 
“It isn’t real now?”
 
“Well, at first I kinda thought it was just going to be a place for us to… you know… have some alone time in something that wasn’t a big grave. But I don’t see why it can’t be a real home. Do you?”
 
“I’m happy wherever you’re happy, love. You know that,” he said as he nudged her toward the bedroom and began removing her clothes. “If you want to make this our home for the foreseeable future, I’m fine with that. The crypt will always be there when we need a bolthole. As long as you’re at your mum’s often enough for her not to hate me for taking you away.”
 
“Hmmmm,” she murmured, helping him out of his shirt and licking one of his nipples to a small peak. “I think I can do that. I’ll just have to keep reminding her that I’m older than she thinks I am, so she doesn’t think you’ve corrupted her baby girl.”
 
“I have every intention of corrupting her baby girl,” he said, lifting her up to wrap her legs around him. “Starting right now.” 
 
He walked to the bathroom and started the shower, confident her hold on him would mean he could let go long enough to turn on the water and adjust the temperature. Renewing his grip on her hips, he stepped into the tub enclosure and under the running water, then loosened his hands to allow her to drop her legs and slide down his body. They both gasped when she didn’t get past his now very erect cock.
 
“I think I’m stuck,” she whispered, putting her legs around him again, her open labia just brushing the top of his erection. Only her arms around his neck were keeping her in place.
 
“Think you could go lower. Just let go and let yourself drop onto—ah!”
 
Buffy gave a little yelp as gravity pulled her down, and she suddenly forgot all about the water pouring over her.  With Spike unable to get enough leverage to get a good rhythm going without risking a slippery fall, she settled for using her internal muscles to squeeze him into groaning reciprocation. He shifted into vamp mode, and Buffy felt the change inside her where his more vigorous cock was now twitching inside her hard enough to elicit gasps and moans. With him holding her hips tightly, and her legs clutching his hips, they clung together while the internal battle was taking place.
 
To anyone watching them, they would have appeared to be almost immobile, standing in place and making steadily increasing sounds of pleasure. When Buffy threw back her head and cried his name, he pulled her hard against his body and growled his own completion into her throat. She felt him shift back into his human face as he sucked briefly on her neck before lowered her to stand on the tub bottom.
 
“Wasn’t quite what I expected to do,” he murmured, still holding her tightly, “but it was a cracking good change of plans.”
 
“It was. Most definitely. Good change of plan.” Buffy gasped out her response, still struggling to even out her breathing.  “Have I ever mentioned how very, very good you are?”
 
“You’re a bloody inspiration, sweetheart. Couldn’t do a bad job if I tried. Not when I’m surrounded by all that’s Buffy.”
 
Having recovered well enough to stand on her own, Buffy reached for the bath gel and sponge.  Squirting gel on the wet sponge, she began to stroke his chest, reaching around to do his back and sliding down to rub foam over his ass. She paused to pinch him, then continued down the backs of his legs, which put her face next to his rapidly refilling cock.
 
“Don’t worry,” she cooed at it as she kissed the tip. “I’ll get to you later.”
 
“You’ll get to it now,” Spike growled as she giggled and dodged his attempts to put it in her mouth.
 
“Ah, ah. Don’t be so impatient.”  She began scrubbing her way up his legs, then dropped the sponge to use her hands to thoroughly coat his cock with the slippery gel. She began to rub it vigorously. 
 
“Bloody hell, Slayer. Are you trying to kill me?”
 
“What?” She blinked at him innocently as she stood up and continued to rub while he pushed into her hands. “Don’t you like it?   Should I stop?”
 
“No, you minx. Don't stop. Never stop. Never stop… Ah! Buffy!” 
 
She giggled. “Now look at that. I’ll have to wash you off all over again.” She bent down for the sponge, shrieking when he grabbed her hips and spun her around, pulling her back against his body.
 
“I’ll rinse off later,” he growled. “Time to get you clean.”  Forgoing the sponge, he used his hands to spread bubbles all over her front, taking extra time with her breasts and making his way down to her already parted legs. It took only a few minutes for his talented fingers to bring her to a gasping climax that left her weak in the knees.  Holding her up with one arm around her waist, he made sure they were both getting well rinsed before he shut the water off.
 
“You okay to stand?” he asked, unable to keep the satisfaction from his voice. 
 
“I’m fine, smartass,” Buffy replied as she stepped from tub and handed him a towel. “You’re not all that, you know.”
 
“Yes I am. You told me so.” He grinned at her, the obvious love on his face taking any edge off the braggadocio.  When she didn’t respond immediately, his happy expression began to fade until she laughed and stepped close enough to go up on her toes to kiss him.
 
“Yes I did. And you are.”
 
“And I love you more than life itself,” he said, extending the kiss. “Never forget that. Whatever happens to us in the future, remember that I love you.”
 
“Way to remind me this might be temporary, Spike.” She rested her head on his bare chest and slid her arms around his waist.
 
“Didn’t mean to spoil the moment, love.”
 
“You didn’t spoil anything. You told me you love me. There’s nothing spoilery about that.” She leaned back and gazed up at him. “I love you too. I don’t think anything can change that at this point, but—”
 
“But we don’t know. Got it, love.”  He rubbed a dry towel over her, grateful that she didn’t seem to care that her hair was also wet.  “I’m pretty sure I’d have been in love with you no matter what, but who knows what difference it will make if we can get rid of the hellbitch.”
 
“Nothing we’ve done so far has changed who we are, so let’s not worry about it until we have to.”
 
“Good idea.” 
 
“Time for bed.” Buffy yawned. “I guess you’re going to be keeping human hours for a while.”
 
“I will when I have to, but just because I can go out in the sun, doesn’t mean I’m going to enjoy it.”
 
“Well, I enjoy it, and I’m going to go to sleep now. Even slayers need a few hours of sleep every night.”
 
They curled up together as if they’d been sharing the same bed all night for decades, rather than just the few times they actually had.
 
XXXXX
 
Buffy met Willow for lunch in one of the campus coffee shops, smiling to herself when she saw that Tara was just getting up from the table.
 
“Don’t let me drive you away,” Buffy said. “I just wanted to talk to Willow for a little while.” She set down the diet soda she’d already bought and smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way.
 
“You’re not,” Tara said, as she hid behind a curtain of hair. “D… driving me away, I mean. I have an appointment with my counselor in a few minutes.” She turned to smile at Willow. “I guess I’ll see you tonight, then?”
 
Willow beamed at her. “Yep. We’re going to cast silly spells all night.” She caught Buffy’s tiny crease between her eyes and added quickly, “We’ll be floating pencils, and making flowers, and… and just other fun stuff like that.”
 
Tara glanced at Buffy briefly, having caught the tension, but nodded and said her good-byes.
 
“I wasn’t worried,” Buffy said as she sat down in the chair Tara had just vacated.
 
“Yes you were, but it’s okay. After talking with Winston last night, I kinda understand why you’re all so jumpy around me.”
 
Buffy peered at her. “Really?  So, you got along okay?”
 
Willow nodded. “According to him, he and I are really good friends in the future, and he just wants to help me not make the same mistakes I made getting there. I believe him. I can see myself being friends with him… even though I think he could probably freeze me with a wave of his hand.”
 
Buffy covered her choke by coughing and grabbing her drink. She took a deep swallow, then exhaled. “Wow, that’s better. I think a bug flew in my mouth or something.”
 
“Yeah, or something.”  Willow narrowed her eyes, but didn’t pursue it. “Anyway, I guess in the future he’s as close to me as Xander is now, so he really cares what happens to me.”
 
“Speaking of….” Buffy sighed and told Willow about their encounter with Riley.
 
“Oh no! What are you going to do now?”
 
“You mean other than stop Spike from shaking Xander until he throws up?” Buffy said wryly. “We’re just going to have to bring him into the loop. But it won’t be tonight, because I have to stake out that old clock tower where the Gentlemen put their box of voices. Anya and Xander should be safe – they were in our time, and you already have a plan to keep you and Tara safe indoors.  Just don’t fall asleep if you can help it. If I don’t nail these guys right away, their minions might be trying to find hearts for them anyway. I’m not sure how that worked, so just watch out for ugly guys with really long arms. They kind of look like they’re wearing straitjackets, except they aren’t trapped in them. They can move pretty fast.”
 
“What happened in your time?”
 
“Well, they did whatever it is they did to capture everybody’s voice in the little box, which meant they and their creepy helpers could go around Sunnydale taking hearts out of chests and nobody could scream. Olivia saw the Gentlemen floating by Giles’s, but of course we didn’t know what they were doing then. By the time he looked them up and we got it figured out and knew what to do, they only needed one or two more hearts to complete whatever it was they were trying to do.  Facts are a little sketchy when you’re talking about fairy tale monsters and not…” Buffy frowned.
 
“Real monsters?” Willow finished for her.
 
“Yeah. That. Anyway, it took us at least twenty-four hours to get up to speed, and by that time, they already had five hearts.  But since I know when they’re arriving, and where they stash the box with the voices, I can be waiting for them. All I have to do is scream really loud and their heads explode.”  She grinned at Willow. “It was pretty cool, actually. I mean except for the part when five people died, and Riley saw me fighting them, and I saw him, so we had to talk about our secret identities…”
 
 
“Is he going to help you tonight?”
 
Buffy shrugged. “I don’t think so. He won’t know anything’s going on until everyone wakes up without voices tomorrow.  And if I can break the spell—or whatever it is—before that happens, or before they can kill anybody….  Spike will help me if we have to fight off the uglies to get to the box.”
 
“And Riley already knows about you… and vice versa.”
 
“Yeah. He does. And about Spike, unfortunately. Not that he wasn’t getting pretty suspicious, but he couldn’t be sure before.”
 
“Well, good luck. Hey! Did you know classes start again tomorrow?  I guess they figured out how to finesse all the fire alarms and stuff.  I wonder who’s going to replace Dr. Walsh?”
 
“Don’t know. Guess I should start paying attention to school, since it looks like I’m going to be here this time around.”
 
“You might as well. I guess you didn’t get very far in your time, huh?”
 
Buffy shook her head. “No, I’m not sure I even finished the first semester. And once we knew about Adam… yeah, going to class had to take a back seat to figuring out how to fight a cyborg.”
 
“I guess that would put a crimp in your study time.  But hey, now you’ll have more time.”
 
“I will. That’ll make Mom happy too. She wasn’t thrilled to hear I never even finished one year of college in my time.”
 
“Uh oh. Here comes Riley.  I think I’ll take off.  I’ll see you in class tomorrow? I’m guessing you and Spike are…. Whatever you are.”
 
“We’ve got an apartment. I’ll give you the address, and my cell phone number. But I’ll be in and out of the dorm for a while. Most of my clothes are still there.”
 
“So, living together, huh. Like living together people do. Like a couple.”
 
“I thought you were okay with us?”
 
“I’m trying to be, it’s just hard, you know? I mean, a week ago, he was all ‘Grrr, Argh! I’m going to drink your blood’ and now he’s got a soul and no chip, and you’re all, and he’s all… And here’s Riley, so I’m just going to scoot.”
 
“See you later. Don’t forget to lock your door and stay in tonight.”
 
“Got it. I don’t mind having a good excuse to spend the night with Tara.” Willow blushed to her roots at Buffy’s giggle. “Hi, Riley. Bye, Riley,” she managed to get out before she hurried away.
 
Riley watched Willow leave, then shook his head. “She’s the most interesting mix of brilliance and confidence and… not such confidence.”
 
“You have no idea,” Buffy said with a snort.
 
“No. I probably don’t. Another one of those things I know nothing about.”  He didn’t wait for a response, but pulled out a chair as he said, “Do you mind if I sit down?”
 
Buffy blinked at him. “Does it matter? You seem to be sitting.”
 
He sighed and suddenly dropped his military demeanor. “I’m sorry, Buffy. I’m trying not to come on too strong, but you’ve got me completely turned around. I mean, a week ago, I thought we were starting to… I thought maybe we had something. Then you just shut me off. You’re hanging out with some guy that looks like a Billy Idol wannabe, you and he show up when the sub-terrestrials are escaping and make it very obvious that neither one of you is a normal person, then Xander tells me Spike is a vampire… a vampire that kills slayers, which I now know is what you are, but he can walk around in the sun, so….”  He sighed and pushed back his chair.
 
“I’m confused, Buffy. You’re not the girl I thought I knew, but I don’t know why you changed.”
 
Buffy nodded her head and sipped her drink before answering him. “Well… and I know you don’t want to hear this,” she said quickly, “but I really can’t tell you… everything.  I am the Slayer. Have been since I was fifteen. And I have known Spike for almost as long as I have Willow and Xander. I met them when we moved to Sunnydale… because it’s on the hellmouth.” She glanced up at him. “You know about the hellmouth, right?”
 
He nodded. “I know there’s some sort of power source under the town and that it’s responsible for all the sub-terrestrials here—”
 
“Demons, Riley. They are demons. And vampires. Hence the Council of Watchers sending the current vampire slayer here.”
 
 
 
“Okay. So this ‘Council of… Watchers’? sent you here and you met Willow and Xander. How does Spike fit into the picture? And why is Xander so sure he’s evil and out to kill everybody?”
 
“Okay, so this is where it gets complicated… There are some things about Spike… and about me… that Xander doesn’t know yet. And he was all mad at everybody the other night because we were talking about stuff he doesn’t know about, and he was already feeling all left out of things – with Willow and me being in college now, and meeting new people and doing stuff he isn’t part of, and… he just… he just thought he could at least get rid of Spike. I mean, he’s mad at Willow and me, and Giles—Giles is—was my watcher—and I guess he’s mad at Winston, although he just met him so….”
 
“So he ratted out Spike because he doesn’t like him, but the rest of you are his friends and he doesn’t really want to hurt you, he’s just pissed off at you for keeping secrets.”
 
Buffy gave him an admiring look. “Wow. I forgot you were a psych major.”
 
“Did I get it?”
 
“Pretty much, yeah. I guess so. I mean, Spike isn’t his friend—I mean, he is or will be, but Xander doesn’t think so, and he hates him, so… yeah. I guess Spike was the only one he could strike out at.”
 
“You said Xander doesn’t know… whatever it is that he doesn’t know… yet. Does that mean you’re going to bring him into the loop?”
 
Buffy nodded. “We’re going to have to. For a lot of reasons, not just because he’s obviously going to cause trouble if we don’t, but… for other reasons. I trust him. He should know.”
 
“But I shouldn’t.” Riley’s voice was flat and cold. “You don’t trust me.”
 
Buffy sighed. “Riley, you’re a really nice guy in a lot of ways, and under different circumstances I’d probably…. But these aren’t different circumstances. They are what they are, and the smaller we keep the ‘loop’, the safer it is for everybody. Trust me.”
 
“You don’t trust me,” he repeated.
 
 Buffy’s expression hardened. “You work for an organization that captures sentient beings and performs ‘experiments’ on them. Your boss cut them up and put one demon’s body parts on another one, trying to create weapons to use against humans somewhere. She was making a monster in her lab – and, okay, you didn’t know about Adam, but you knew what was going on with all the demons and vamps you brought down there. You knew what was happening to them. You wanted to capture me and run tests on me after you saw me fight, just because you didn’t understand what I am.” She stopped and took a deep breath. “So, yeah. I’m sorry, but I don’t trust you enough to tell you what’s going on. You don’t need to know.”
 
“It’s my job to protect this city and this country. If I understand you, it’s your job to kill vampires and demons.”
 
“No. It’s my job to protect the people in this city… and in this world. I have to save the world from an apocalypse pretty much every spring. It’s like… slaying vampires is my day job, and saving the world is my overtime job.  I was Chosen to do it. And yes, I’ve been given some powers that help me do my job, but—”
 
“What kind of powers?”
 
“Not the same kind you have… which, by the way, you need to get checked out by a doctor soon. Now that Maggie—Professor Walsh—is gone, she’s not feeding you the chemicals that were making you strong, so you’ll go into withdrawal, and you’ve got a chip in your heart that needs to come out before it malfunctions.”
 
“And you’re not going to tell me how you know this? I’m just supposed to believe you.” He almost sneered at her.
 
“You can believe me or not, Riley.” Buffy stood up. “I’m just giving you some information you and your friends might need soon. Do with it as you like.”  She walked away, feeling his eyes on her back and giving a mental sigh.
 
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