full 3/4 1/2   skin light dark       
 
Not Your Ordinary Walk in the Park by Sandy
 
Chapter 15
 
<<     >>
 
Spike wanted to make love again, but Buffy insisted that they return to Giles's apartment. "Willow may have decrypted those disks by now."

"We could call and if she hasn't, we can stay here a bit longer," Spike wheedled, pressing kisses along the back of her neck. His hands slipped around and cupped her breasts, pinching and teasing her nipples.

Buffy allowed him to fondle her, but then pushed his hands away and got off the bed. "Later, Spike. Rule number one of the hero biz: kill the bad guy, then play."

Spike sighed and stood up. "I can already see this hero stuff is going to be a pain in the arse."

Buffy just grinned wickedly at him, grabbed her robe and wrapped it around herself. "I'm going to take a shower. You should too. I don't think we need to go back to Giles's smelling like, um..."

"Smellin' like we just shagged ourselves raw?" Spike said with a smirk.

Buffy blushed and handed him a towel and soap. Gathering up her own things, she exited the dorm room. Pointing to the men's shower, she entered the ladies bathroom and shut the door firmly in Spike's face. He grinned and made his way down the hall.

When they were ready, they left the dormitory. As they walked down the sidewalk Buffy said hesitantly, "Maybe we should wait until after we take care of Adam before we tell everyone that we're dating." Off Spike's look, she explained, "I just don't want to get everyone all upset right now. We need to stay focused on the job."

"Whatever you want, Buffy, but I know at least one of your little friends that'll probably be more open-minded than you might think."

"Huh? Who?"

Spike grinned and said, "Our little Willow has her own secret."

"What're you talking about? Are you saying Willow is dating someone and not telling us? Why would she do that?"

Spike shrugged. "Probably afraid you all would toss her out of the Scooby Squad."

Buffy stopped, put her hands on her hips, and demanded, "Spike, just tell me what you're talking about."

"Her little witch friend."

Buffy looked confused. "Tara? What does Tara have to-" Her eyes widened in sudden understanding. "Oh. Oh! Oh, no, no, no. You're so wrong, Spike. If Willow was... No, she'd tell me."

Spike shrugged again. "I smelled it when we picked them up tonight."

"Smelled what?"

"Them. All over each other. Just like I can still smell us all over each other."

Buffy's eyes widened again. "You can smell us?"

"'Course I can. Soap and water doesn't remove it that easily. Humans can't smell it, but demons can."

"Oh my god. You could smell it whenever I..."

Spike grinned wickedly and leaned into her. "My favorite time to smell you is when you're havin' your monthlies. Like you were the first time we fought."

Buffy covered her eyes with her hands and groaned, "Oh, god."

Spike opened his mouth to tease her some more when the bright beam of headlights and the toot of a car horn drew their attention. Spike looked up to see Xander's car pull over to the curb. The passenger side window rolled down.

"Is that man bothering you, little lady," a voice called out from the car's interior.

Buffy leaned down and said brightly, "Hi, Xander!" and then less enthusiastically, "Hi, Anya."

"Buffy," came Anya's disinterested voice.

"Where're you going, Xander?"

"We're on our way to the Multiplex. Wanna come?"

"We can't."

"Uh, wasn't actually including Spike in the invitation there, Buff."

"No, of course not," Buffy said quickly. "I just meant that, uh, none of us can. Spike brought us information about Adam. Willow's at Giles's and that's where we were headed. Want to join us?"

"Heck, yeah. You don't mind, do you, Anya?"

Spike could hear Anya sigh. "I guess not."

"Good. Get in, Buffy."

Buffy straightened up and opened the back door. "Come on, Spike."

"Do we have to include Fangless?" Xander whined.

Spike just smirked at Xander as he settled in beside Buffy. Buffy filled the couple in on Adam's visit to Spike and the disks Willow was working on.

"So, you actually believe this story Spike's telling?" Xander asked Buffy. "Uh, no offense there, Spike."

"Offense taken," Spike growled back.

"Yeah, I do believe it," Buffy said, surreptitiously patting Spike's knee as Xander pulled to a stop in front of Giles's apartment complex. Everyone in the apartment looked up as the door opened and the quartet filed in.

"Buffy! We were starting to get worried, you were gone so long."

"Yeah, sorry," Buffy said with no further explanation. "How's the decryption coming along?"

"Oh, pretty good. As long as pretty good means no progress at all." She sighed. "Spike, are you sure Adam actually wanted us to read these files."

Spike shrugged. "I told you what he said."

Willow sighed again and returned to typing furiously on her keyboard, mumbling words that made no sense to Spike. He headed to reclaim his seat on the barstool, but spotted a plate of cookies on the coffee table. Detouring, he snatched one up. Anya took a seat on the sofa and Xander sat on the coffee table so that he was facing into the room and within easy reach of the cookies. Buffy sat on a stool beside Spike and said to Willow, "I really hoped you'd have made more progress by now."

"Sorry, Buffy. I told you this wasn't going to be easy. I'm doing the best I can." The last was said in a bit of a plaintive wail.

"She's working really hard on it," Tara defended. Buffy and Spike exchanged glances. He wiggled his eyebrows and Buffy looked back at the two witches, a frown on her face.

Spike raised his cookie to his mouth and had just fastened his teeth on it when it was suddenly snatched away. He looked with a scowl at Buffy who had grabbed it from him and was now chewing contentedly on her ill-gotten gains. A gurgling sound captured his attention and he turned to see Xander staring wild-eyed at them.

"What?"

"B-buffy just took that cookie. From your mouth. And put it into hers."

Buffy's eyes widened and she looked at the cookie as if she'd never seen it before, then she looked at Spike, then at the cookie again, and then at Xander.

"Oops."

"Oops?" Xander's strangled voice asked. "Oops? What does 'oops' mean?"

Giles, Willow, and Tara were all staring at them now, too. Anya had been leafing through a magazine she'd taken from her purse and looked up in curiosity.

Buffy sighed, ate the last of the cookie, brushed her hands on her slacks and said, "Look, guys, I was going to tell you after we'd taken care of Adam."

"Tell us what?" Xander demanded. Then, "No, don't tell us. Do NOT tell us what I think you're going to tell us because... because, just no."

"I-I don't understand," Tara said.

"Buffy and Spike are having sex," Anya said. "Spike is a vampire, in case you didn't know," she informed Tara helpfully.

"That isn't at all what she said, Anya," Giles said in denial.

Buffy and Spike exchanged glances that left no one in doubt that Anya had been exactly right. Buffy looked desperately at her Watcher. "I know you're probably not happy about this, Giles, but..."

"Probably?!" Giles interrupted. "Buffy, have you completely lost your mind?"

"Of course not, Giles. It's just..."

"Willow!" Xander exclaimed in a voice of understanding. "Willow's done another spell."

"No I haven't," Willow protested. "Tara, tell them. We've only been trying to float stuff and little things like that. Tell them, Tara. I haven't done any wacky spells."

"She really hasn't," Tara assured everyone.

"This has nothing to do with Willow," Buffy insisted. "It's just... Look, I didn't tell you guys everything that happened when that toad thing sent us to that other dimension. Spike and I got to really know each other, and well..."

"Know each other?" Xander choked. "As in the biblical sense?"

Spike grinned, "What do you think?"

"Spike," Buffy warned. "Let me do this."

Spike shrugged and leaned back comfortably on the stool. He was content it was out in the open. He'd have gone along with keeping it secret, for a while at least, but he liked the idea of everyone knowing that Buffy belonged to him.

"Buffy, you really can't be serious about this," Willow said imploringly.

"Spike thought you at least would be more open-minded about this, Willow. Guess he was wrong, huh?"

Willow paled slightly and glared at Spike.

"Why would Willow be more open-minded?" Xander demanded. "None of us are going to be open-minded about this, Buffy. This is...is... bad."

"It's not that bad, Xander," Buffy insisted. "Spike's on our side now."

"Oh, please, Buffy, you cannot possibly believe that," Giles said in exasperation. "Whatever tale Spike's spun for you that he's good now, I remind you he doesn't have a soul, and that chip is no replacement for one."

"Well if you think I'm going to run out to the nearest gypsy and get one shoved in me, you're seriously mistaken, Rupert," Spike said.

"See, Buffy," Xander said. "He doesn't even want a soul."

"Why would I? So I can be all tortured and broody and then lose it the next time Buffy and I get together anyway? Forget it."

"Spike's fine the way he is," Buffy insisted. Spike turned to her, captured her head in his hands and kissed her.

"Thank you, love."

Protests abounded throughout the room until Buffy stood up and shouted, "Enough!" When the room had quieted, she said, "Spike and I are dating. Deal with it. Now, can we get on to more important things, like how we're going to get rid of Adam?"

There was general grumbling, but conversation returned to the impossible task of taking out a seemingly invincible monster. Willow returned to working at her computer and Buffy came over to her. Willow tensed slightly when Buffy asked quietly, "When were you going to tell me?"

Willow glanced uneasily at her. "He told you, huh?"

"Yeah. But he shouldn't have had to. I'm your best friend, Willow. You can tell me anything."

"Like you told me what really happened in that other dimension?" Willow countered in a hurt voice.

Buffy sighed. "I guess we've both been keeping secrets because we were afraid of what everyone else would think." She smiled at her friend. "I think now might be a good time to tell since nothing could upset everyone more than what I'm doing."

Willow smiled at Buffy and then looked at Tara. "What do you think, baby? Ready to come out of the closet?"

An hour later, everyone had come to grips with Willow's lifestyle change. Giles had gotten out the Scotch bottle and had made serious headway through its contents when Buffy decided it was time to leave.

"We'll get a fresh start tomorrow," she decreed. "Let's meet here at three. Xander, can you make it then?"

Xander agreed that he could. He offered rides to the girls, pointedly leaving Spike out of the invitation. Spike didn't care. He was of a mind to head to Willy's for a few drinks and a listen to the gossip. He never knew when a drunken demon would let slip something profitable. They walked out to the car and while everyone else got in, Buffy and Spike stopped on the sidewalk and wrapped their arms around each other.

"You can make it to the meeting tomorrow, right?"

"I'll be here, love. Just make sure Giles has the door unlocked and unspelled."

Buffy smiled. "I will." They were kissing goodbye, tongues entwining, hands exploring, when the blat of Xander's car horn intruded. Buffy pulled out of his arms. "Gotta go. See you tomorrow."

"All right, love. Sleep tight."

He watched until the car had disappeared from sight then turned to walk to Willy's. He hadn't taken more than a half-dozen steps when a creature stepped into his path. Spike jumped back in surprise. It was obviously one of Adam's get, and, if Spike wasn't mistaken, based on the creature's clothing had once been one of the Initiative louts. He wasn't looking too good right now, though. The top of his skull had been cut off and replaced with a mottled-skinned demon's skull. Electronic gadgets were stuck on either side of his head and demon skin covered his chin and neck. His left arm and hand were human while the right had been replaced by a demon's arm ending in a long-clawed hand.

"Adam sent me to find you."

"Yeah? Well, you found me."

"Come."

It turned and walked away without another word, apparently confident that Spike would obey his master's order. Spike swallowed nervously, but followed. The creature led him into the hills surrounding Sunnydale and into a large cave that Spike immediately recognized as the one Adam had brought him to just that morning. Tunnels opened east and west. The creature didn't hesitate, but led Spike to a small cavern filled with banks of computers and a few pieces of moldy furniture. Adam was sitting at one of the computers. A cable ran from a port in the side of his head into the computer's hard drive. He glanced up when the two entered the cave.

"Ah, Spike, good. I see Forrest found you."

"He was with the Slayer."

"Right, I was," Spike interjected quickly. "As per your orders."

"He was kissing her."

Adam looked at Spike curiously. Spike shrugged, smirked, and threw himself down comfortably on the ragged couch. Slipping a cigarette between his lips, he lit it, inhaled deeply, blew out a long column of smoke, and then rested his arms along the back of the couch, the picture of indolent ease. "Yeah, let's just call that a little bonus for me."

"Bonus?"

"For all the aggravation that bitch has given me over the past two years. I get to have a little fun with her," he ran his hand suggestively over his crotch, "and she thinks I'm besotted with her so she believes anything I tell her. The girl's a bit dim, you know. Then, when you give the word, I lead her like a lamb to the slaughter, and you take out this sodding chip."

He took another drag on his cigarette and exhaled. "Now, can we call this little meeting to order? There's a drink with my name on it waiting for me at Willy's."

Adam stared at him and then nodded. "Very well. I want to tell you the next phase of my plan."
 
<<     >>