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Almost Home by slaymesoftly
 
Chapter Sixteen
 
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
 
“Feelin’ better, love?” Spike purred as he lowered her from his face and left her draped across his body.
 
“A little bit,” Buffy said, playing with his nipple. “But I think I still have some nerves that need soothing.” She rolled all the way onto him and sat up. She felt his cock swelling beneath her and smiled as it nudged against her bottom. “You’re so easy,” she teased.
 
“I am when I’ve got your warm little arse sittin’ on me. Don’t think I’ve got it in me to turn that down.”
 
“Well, let’s just put it away then, okay?” Buffy blinked her eyes innocently as she raised and lowered herself until she could feel him filling her. “That’s better, don’t you think?”
 
His response was an incoherent growl as he pushed his hips up.
 
“What was that? I don’t think I heard you. Did you say ‘Get off me’?” She giggled when he grabbed her hips, holding her in place. “I’ll take that as a no,” she said, her voice dropping to a lower register as she started one of their favorite games.
 
She began squeezing him, gently at first but steadily increasing the pressure. In return, he’d stopped moving his hips and just held her still while he went into his demon face and used his curved cock to touch places most human men wouldn’t have been able to. Without either of them seeming to be exerting any effort, their sighs and moans increased and the expressions on their faces showed them how clearly they were reaching the point where one or the other of them was going to win the game.
 
Spike’s shout of “Buffy!” as his hips pushed up preceded her gasping collapse onto his chest by only enough time for her to claim a hard-won victory.
 
“I won,” she mumbled against him, now lying flat against his body, but with his spent cock still inside her.
 
“Best two out three?” His inability to summon even a twitch putting the lie to his words.
 
“You wish,” she snorted, also unable to summon enough energy for anything but a feeble squeeze that ended almost before it began.
 
His chest vibrated under her head as he laughed.
 
“I do. But I reckon it makes more sense to check out what we need to see upstairs and then be on our way to your mum’s.”
 
“As soon as I can move.”  She rested for another minute, then dropped a kiss on his chest as she rolled off to the side and sat up. “Okay. I’m moving. Let’s go.”
 
XXX
 
Dressed and recovered, they went out the way they’d come in, again re-locking the gate behind them and walking through the sewer quickly. A peek out the manhole cover showed that it was already late afternoon, and Buffy gasped in surprise.
 
“How long were we in there? It’s almost dark already!”
 
“Time flies when you’re havin’ fun, love,” he said with a laugh. “At least I don’t have to worry they’ll see me walking in the daylight.” He frowned. “Reckon it doesn’t matter now, though, does it? Already showed their boss I can do it.”
 
“You know what I don’t like?”
 
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Jack Daniels straight from the bottle?”
 
She swatted at him, but couldn’t smother a laugh.  “No doofus. I don’t like that they know so much about us that they know where we live and that we have a hideout.”
 
“Does kind of defeat the purpose of a hideout, doesn’t it?” he agreed. “They must have been watching us a bloody lot more closely than we thought. And for longer.”
 
Muttering about what she was going to do to the pains in her butt, Buffy pulled the door open and waited for Spike to go in first and use his better night vision to scan the room. In addition to the camera they’d already spotted from below, they noticed another one on a shelf at the very back of the crypt. Tracks in the dust showed where two people had entered at some point since Buffy and Spike had last been in the upper room of the crypt.
 
You get that camera, love. I’ll get the one at the back and see if I can sniff out or hear anything else.
 
Okay. Can I yell threats at them before I smash it?
 
“Whatever you want, Slayer,” he said, laughing as he walked past the first camera without looking at it. Coming in from the side, Buffy snatched it off the shelf and put it lens-down on the floor. Before smashing it, she stood still and stared around, trying to see where the footprints went, but it was too dark for her eyes. As if reading her mind, Spike lit a candle next to the other camera.
 
“Just stay still until I can see where the footprints go, then we’ll know where else to look.”
 
He put the camera he’d picked up into his coat pocket and moved slowly toward her, watching the floor for any sign the other footsteps had veered off anywhere, but they seemed to go nowhere except to and from the two cameras they’d seen.
 
“Looks okay, Slayer. What do you want to do with these two devices?” he asked as he pulled one from his pocket. “Got to assume they can hear as well as see us.” He stared into the lens and went into his demon face, snarling viciously.
 
Buffy picked hers up and said clearly, “What I want to do is take them to Andrew’s house and shove them up their—”  She dropped the camera and stepped on it, smashing it into pieces.  “Oops!” she said, smothering a giggle when Spike laughed aloud.
 
“Well done, love,” he said as he demolished the one he was holding by squeezing it until pieces began to fall out. “That thought should keep them on their toes for a bit.”
 
He snuffed out the candle and they left the crypt, closing both the inner and outer doors.
 
“You know, it’s not really locked just because we closed the doors,” Buffy said, making a face at him.
 
“Maybe we should do something about that.”
 
“Like what? I mean, there’s the bar on the inside, so we’re okay when we’re in there, but we can’t lock it from the outside.”
 
“Could put a padlock on it. That might at least slow somebody down.” He shrugged. “Or we could just always go in and out the way we have the last few times. If we use the tunnels to go in and out the way that does lock, we could just put the bar across the door on the inside and leave it that way. Could even pull something heavy across the door for backup.”
 
“It seems weird that we have to worry about something like that when we never did before.”
 
“Didn’t have wankers leaving cameras in my crypt before, did we?”
 
“Nope… but they had one in the Magic Box….”  Buffy moved slightly away from him.
 
“Think I’ve apologized for that enough for one lifetime,” he sighed. “Don’t you?”
 
“It depends. If I feel like being honest with myself, I know it was as much my fault—well, mine and Xander’s I guess—as yours. And I know I told you to move on, and I know you were both drunk, and…..” She peered at him from the corners of her eyes. “And then sometimes I just want to scratch Anya’s eyes out and beat you to a bloody pulp.”
 
“This Anya and I haven’t done anything, Buffy. And we aren’t going to, so just put those green eyes away.”
 
“I know,” she sighed. “Just finding cameras someplace we might be doing something we’d rather they weren’t watching…. It just kind it brought up those memories. You’d think I’d be okay by now.”
 
“As chuffed as I get when I know you’re jealous of some bint, I can’t tell you how much I regret having given you an actual reason for it.  But there’s not a bloody thing I can do to change that now. You know that, love, don’t you?”
 
“I do. I’m over it. Really.”
 
She ignored his quiet scoff.
 
While they walked to Joyce’s, Spike called Max and told him the crypt had had visitors. Max offered to come immediately to take care of it, but Spike interrupted him.
 
“We’re on our way to have dinner with Buffy’s mum, so tomorrow’ll be fine. I’ll bring the car ‘round so you don’t have to walk all the way to Restfield,” Spike said. “But we appreciate the offer. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
 
“I guess once Max has done his thing, we won’t have to worry about a lock on the front door,” Buffy said with a grin.
 
“I’m guessing not.”
 
XXX
 
They had a pleasant meal with Joyce and Dawn, who then prevailed upon Spike to help with her English homework while Buffy helped Joyce with the dishes.
 
“So, anything exciting happen today? Or do exciting things only happen at night?” Joyce smiled at Buffy, remembering that they had dealt with Glory while it was broad daylight.
 
“Yeah, kind of, I guess. With this year’s bad guys so far being humans, daytime can be pretty interesting sometimes.” Buffy went on to give Joyce a somewhat truncated story of what had happened already that morning.
 
“Willow? You were worried about what Willow would do?” Joyce sat down on a kitchen stool. “Why am I suddenly feeling out of the loop again?”
 
“Cause I don’t want you to have to deal with or think about loopy things now that we’ve taken care of Glory and Dawn is safe. I want the two of you to have as close to a normal life as you can.”
 
“My oldest daughter is a time-travelling slayer who goes out to fight evil every day and is living with a time-travelling vampire who she apparently is married to somehow. I think normal life left the building the day you were born.” The affectionate smile Joyce bestowed on Buffy took any sting from her words, and Buffy gave a rueful smile back.
 
“Touché, Mom”
 
“So, what am I missing about Willow?”
 
“In our time, Warren shot m­—Tara, and Willow went kind of magically nuts. She’s not as into the dark stuff this time around, but she has dabbled in it, and because she didn’t do some of the things she did in our time, she doesn’t think she needs to listen to us about how dangerous it is. This time, she was mad at Warren for telling Tara about what she’d been doing with black magic, which she thought Tara didn’t know about. They had a fight over it, and she used a spell to take away Tara’s memory of the fight and why they had it.  Which is kinda what she did in our time too, so we figured it out really fast. Winston broke the spell as soon as he realized what was going on, and Willow got really pissed off.”
 
“At Winston? Or the other one?”
 
“Both of them, I think, but it was Warren we thought she was going to go after, and we were afraid she might be planning to hurt him. We wanted to try to get rid of him before she could do anything she’d have to regret.
 
“And did you? Get ‘rid’ of him?” Joyce frowned at Buffy’s terminology.
 
Buffy shook her head. “I don’t think so. We just tried to scare him off. Maybe get him to leave town or at least not follow up with the stuff we know he might be planning.  He’s probably safe from Willow now, but I’m not sure how safe we are from him.”
 
She gave Joyce a hard look.
 
“Another reason to keep you out of it. Those idiot minions of his already almost got you killed, I don’t want them to even think about you or Dawn. They know I don’t live here now, so there’s no reason for him to come near you or this house.”
 
She shrugged. “Not that I think he could get in, or even close, with the wards up, but I’d just soon it didn’t occur to him.”
 
“I understand your concerns, Buffy, but wouldn’t we be safer if we knew about things like this? You don’t have to make us part of your team, but I’d really appreciate it if you could keep us aware of what’s going on and what we should watch out for.”
 
Buffy sighed. “You’re right, Mom. You win. If and when something happens or is going to happen that I think you need to know, I’ll call you, okay?”
 
“Okay. And thank you, honey. I know you’re used to being on your own and doing things without me, but since I’m still here in this time, I’d really like to feel like your mother once in a while.”
 
Buffy ran over and hugged Joyce tightly. “You are my mother! And you always will be. I can’t tell you how happy I am to still have you in my life this time around. I’m sorry if I made you feel like you weren’t important!”
 
They clung together for a moment, breaking apart with a laugh when Spike and Dawn peered into the kitchen.
 
“Are you two finished being all huggy and stuff?” Dawn asked. “Cause Spike isn’t helping me, he’s just making me look up the answers, so they might as well just go off and kill things.”
 
“And on that cheery note…” Joyce shook her head and gave Spike a grateful smile. He smiled back and nodded, having previously settled with Joyce that any help he gave on Dawn’s homework would be instructive, not a do-it for-her so she didn’t learn anything.
 
XXX
 
“I wonder why Dawn doesn’t’ ask me for homework help? I mean, not when it’s History or Latin or something like that, but when it’s more modern stuff. I am a high school graduate, you know!”
 
Spike chuckled at her offended snort, then said, more seriously, “I suspect it has  something to do with tryin’ to make me feel better about our relationship this time ‘round,” he said. “Once she had a chance to understand how much time we used to spend together while you were… gone, she softened her attitude, and I think she sussed out that what I say I feel for her is just as real as what you and your mum feel.”
 
“Oh. Well that makes sense, I guess. I’m sorry I kept you two apart so much when I came back. I didn’t know about all that bonding either, and I thought you were just trying to be more in my life.”
 
“Water under the bridge now, love,” he said, pulling her against his side. “We both made a lot of mistakes back then. I’m just glad we’re getting a second chance, and that we’re making the most of it.”
 
We are making the most of it, aren’t we? All claimed and everything.
 
More than I ever hoped for or expected, sweetheart. More than an old vamp had any right to wish for.
 
I think saving the world did a lot for your cred with the PTB.
 
I try. 
 
Buffy’s giggle was aloud and he joined in her quiet laughter.
 
“What say we hit a few cemeteries, and take ourselves home? At least we know there are no cameras waiting for us there.”
 
“Sounds like a plan.”
 
XXX
 
A couple of hours later, newly risen vampires having been summarily disposed of, they approached their building to see a familiar-looking car.
 
“Oh joy. Look what’s waiting for us,” Buffy said with a sigh.
 
“It’s not the poof, love. Just Oxford. Must be important for him to be camped out here on the street.”
 
They walked up to the car and tapped on the window, startling Wes out of his nap. He rubbed his face, then sat up and opened the door.
 
“What are you doing out here?” Buffy asked. “Why didn’t you knock on the office door?”
 
Wes shrugged. “When I couldn’t get any closer to your door than this, I just thought I’d wait for you.”  He raised an eyebrow at Spike. “I could understand why Angel was restricted to the pavement, but is there a reason the approach to your apartment is now warded against humans as well?”
 
“There is,” Spike said curtly. “Why don’t you follow us in and we can tell you about it after you tell us why you’re here?”
 
After locking his car, Wes followed them hesitantly, pausing at the curb, but Spike gestured to him.
 
“It’s not as formal as a vamp barrier. If we’re willing to have you in, we just have to say so.”
 
“Did Winston put up these wards?” Wes’s eyes widened at the implications of having something so subtle in place.
 
“Nope. Didn’t need him. We have a very special landlord.”
 
“I’d like to meet him.”
 
“Don’t doubt you would, but we don’t make appointments for him without his say so.”
 
Spike held the door open so Buffy and Wes could precede him into the apartment. Buffy gestured to the couch, saying, “So why don’t you tell us what’s so important you couldn’t just make a phone call?”
 
 
 
 
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