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Chapter 13
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They sped along the Pacific Coast Highway, wind whipping through Buffy’s hair. Spike hadn’t had a chance to nick a helmet yet, but Buffy trusted him enough to chance it. The ride had been too enticing. It seemed wild, dangerous and she felt freer
than she could ever remember before. Now she understood the reason some riders hated helmet laws, even though accidents were so very terrible.

She hugged Spike’s waist tightly as he navigated curves and turns with ease. She had no idea where Spike was taking her, but she was enjoying the journey. Maybe
that was true of the relationship, too. Somehow she knew that he was never going to leave her, never deliberately hurt her. She was safe with Spike. Safe, yes. Dull, never.

They stopped at a little diner a few miles outside of Sunnydale instead of the drive-thru plan Buffy had come up with before they left. Buffy didn’t ask where
Spike got the money and he never said, but it was nice to actually go into a place to sit and eat. It wasn’t fancy, but the food was good. Spike seemed familiar with it, so he must have made this trip before and stopped to eat. With vamps that usually meant a memorable encounter with customers and staff, complete with screams and terror. Instead they were greeted with smiles from the waitresses and the cook behind the counter.

"Spike! Haven’t seen you in an age. Where’s that old rattletrap you used to drive? More important, who’s the beauty with you?" The waitress, a middle-aged lady with steel gray hair, grabbed Spike in a tight hug. "Love the bike. Suits you," she said after introductions were over.

"Ruby and Earl," Spike said, motioning to the waitress and short order cook, "opened this place five years ago. No one does chili fries like Earl. I try to make it in
when I can."

"Insists on paying, too. Spike, you know your money’s not good here." Ruby nudged the vampire with her elbow. "Did he ever tell you about the first time he was here? Regular hero! Me and Earl don’t have any kids, but my niece Donna was working here that summer. Never did figure out what kind of monsters they were, faces all deformed and sharp teeth. Anyway, about five of these came in and started trashing the
diner. One of them grabbed Donna and was going to kill her until Spike burst in, and…well, I’ve never seen anything like it! My word, those monsters, so many of
them against one man. He fought them off and they just disappeared--I mean REALLY disappeared, turned into dust. Naturally we told him he could have anything he wanted from the menu then and at any time in the future. Only free meal he ever took was that first night though."

By the end of her story, Ruby had led the couple to a booth and left menus. "Be back in a flash with the onion rings, honey."

Then a bemused Buffy was left alone with the embarrassed vampire. "Five years ago?
Anything you want to add to Ruby’s story, Spike?"

"It was just before me and Dru got to Sunnydale. Dru was in bad shape and we were holed up in a little place not far from here, getting her strong enough to make the
last part of the trip to the Hellmouth. Dru got an obsession to have a milkshake. She rarely ate human food but liked chocolate and ice cream every once in a while. I recognized LeRoy and his crew. Had a couple of run-ins before with that lot. No respect for their elders at all. He’d try to paw on Dru while I was on a hunt. I won’t lie; dustin ‘em was about that, pure and simple. Didn’t give a toss about the
humans involved, not then. Well, after, Ruby and Earl were all over me with the thanks and it felt nice. Hadn’t had anybody appreciate me or say ‘well done’
‘bout anything in an age. Couldn’t very well eat ‘em then, now could I? That’s that problem with getting close to humans: makes it harder to kill ‘em later." He looked a bit uncomfortable.

"I’ll bet you’d have a problem going back to Happy Meals on the hoof if the chip came out now, wouldn’t you?" Buffy guessed.

"Yeah. Had a couple of experiences since the chip, proved it wouldn’t be my first choice. Doesn’t mean I like that pig swill. I’m always gonna want the human variety. Harder to kill though. Well, some humans are askin for it, but that’s all," Spike admitted. "Never gonna give you a reason to have to stake me, pet. Don’t worry, wouldn’t put you through that." He looked Buffy straight in the eye and she knew he was being utterly sincere.

They laughed and talked as they enjoyed the best diner food Buffy had ever eaten and argued with Ruby and Earl about paying the bill. It was clearly a longstanding
tradition for them to refuse payment, only to have Spike insist until finally accepting a discounted price. Buffy noticed that the tip Spike left more than made up the difference between the actual check and the discounted one. There were so many sides of her man that Buffy was finally seeing since the whole Glory thing happened. Seemed like he had always been unique and a little bit more human than any vamp she’d ever heard of or met. The council was full of shit.

Back on the road, they continued following the coast until she saw a sign that read Bug Sur Ranger Station with an arrow and number of miles listed. "We headed to Bug Sur?" Buffy had to shout to be heard.

"State park up here with the most beautiful beach in the area. Closes at eight, so we won’t have to share with anybody. There’s a rock bridge, waterfall, and lots of white sand. Course, it won’t look too white in the moonlight. Not exactly the kind of boyfriend for beach dates. Sorry."

"Beaches in the moonlight with nobody around sound pretty perfect to me. Besides, too much sunlight leads to the badness that is skin cancer. Maybe a solar-challenged boyfriend is just what I DO need." Buffy caressed his chest with one hand while maintaining a grip on his waist with the other one.

They turned onto a dirt road just past the paved one marked Sycamore Canyon Road and headed toward the ocean. "Paved road gets you there easier, but I didn’t want any curious ranger checkin’ up on us, yeah?"

Pfeiffer Beach was everything Spike had said. Buffy knew that it would be spectacular in daylight, but with moonbeams playing on the water and sand glistening in the subdued light, she had no complaints.

"Fancy a bit of skinny-dippin’, Slayer?" Spike had already begun to strip off his boots and unbutton the top button of his jeans.

"Will the Big Bad protect me from any nasty fishies that might get me?" Buffy teased as she began to take off her own boots.

"Always. Nothing gonna get a piece of my lady but me," Spike promised. He had taken off his tee shirt and stopped to watch as Buffy removed her lacy top and black leather pants. She stood before him covered in nothing but small bits of black lace and moonlight.

Since Spike seemed to have taken root in the sand, Buffy moved slowly and sensually toward him. The light, slightly chilled air was lifting her hair and causing it to dance in the breeze that teasingly covered and then revealed the lace of her bra. When she reached Spike, she reached for his jeans and completed the unbuttoning. He grasped Buffy’s forearms in a firm but gentle hold as she slid the jeans past his
hips, letting them pool in the sand beneath them.

The moonlight hit his marble-like body, giving a sense of unreality to the scene. It was as though Spike was actually one of those statues Buffy imagined art students might one day produce of him. His body was cool to the touch but not cold and certainly not lifeless. No one could ever call Spike lifeless. Even the term undead didn’t seem right. He was full of life, full of passion, full of fire. Being a vampire might make him technically dead, but there wasn’t a word that fit for Spike that really covered it. As in all things, he defied convention and could not be put in a slot.

He was a killer who saved lives and was willing to sacrifice his own existence for the humans he was only supposed to view as food. He was dead yet more alive than any other person Buffy could think of. He should have only had desires to hunt and kill, yet his passion and capacity to love could power a small city. He was a demon who acted more a man than those men who had abandoned her all her life. He had preyed on young girls and also baby-sat her sister. He was a walking contradiction and Buffy realized that she loved all of him. Whatever he was, he was hers.

Buffy raised a hand and cupped his face, gently tracing the bones and features as if she were a blind woman trying to discover his appearance through touch. He closed his eyes at her explorations. "Wanna touch every part of you, Spike. I need to memorize all of you."

Spike moaned softly as she continued to move her hands over his body, not stopping with just his face. He pulled her closer and began to run his hands over her back. His fingers traced a trail from the nape of her silky neck to the globes of her ass revealed by the barely there thong she still wore. He snagged the bit of lace and tugged it down, finally giving him access to her wet center.

Spike began to use both his talented hands to caress her, front and back. Buffy shuddered as his fingers began to play on her, tracing a path from her ass to
her pussy and back, teasing her folds with his touch. "Never lettin’ you go, Buffy. You’ll have to dust me to get rid of me."

"What about when I’m old and saggy?" Buffy didn’t doubt his vow at all but had just realized that her gorgeous, young-looking lover was never going to age. If Buffy managed to survive her youth, she would.


"Never going to see you that way, love. You’ll always be my shining goddess. Doesn’t matter what anyone else sees, that’s what I see now and always will. I love you, not just this sweet, hot body of yours." Spike leaned in to kiss her in a way that made it clear he meant what he said.

Spike took hold of Buffy’s hand and began to lead her into the surf. "Wait! I spent way too much money on this to get it all faded from salt water!" Buffy unclasped the bra, dropped it onto the sand and turned her now nude body back to Spike and the cold Pacific. She had the feeling Spike could heat her up just fine.

The initial icy feel of the water almost made Buffy rush back to the beach. She let out a scream of indignation as Spike laughingly pulled her down into the water with him. "What’s the matter, Slayer? Afraid I can’t keep you warm?" He set about proving
he was quite capable of that, in spite of the cold waters of the Pacific. His kisses were wild and hungry and managed to touch her very soul with his love. His hands were all over her submerged body, kneading and caressing. The water gave them a weightless quality that let them move their bodies into nearly impossible positions with little effort.

It didn’t take long for Spike’s cock to find its way to her ready cleft. Buffy let the water help lift her to wrap her legs around his waist and slowly lower herself onto his hard shaft until she had taken him in to the hilt. She felt her channel stretch to accommodate his girth and once more marveled at the perfection of their joining. It was as though his body had been specially shaped to hit all the right
places, a custom-made fit.

Spike trembled with a combination of emotion and pure physical bliss. Buffy began to move her body up and down in tempo with the waves that sought to push the lovers back to the beach they had deserted. The movement was nearly hypnotic in its primal intensity. Buffy threw her neck back and moaned his name softly as he bent to kiss the gleaming column of flesh.

Her first orgasm was building and she began to ride him harder, faster, nearly driving him to his knees with the passion they were indulging. He claimed her mouth and plundered it with his tongue as she rode him over the peak to rapture. As she came down from the post-orgasmic euphoria, he set her mouth free to gulp in needed air and buried his mouth in the curve of her neck, breathing just as hard as she was.

"God, Spike, it just gets better. Why is that?" Buffy began to wonder if a person could die from too much pleasure.

Spike chuckled softly, causing ripples of sensation where his lips met her throat. So in tune were their bodies that it seemed the slightest movement from either one was instantly felt by the other. "Don’t know why, pet. Suspect it’s ‘cause we’re right
for each other. No holdin’ back, evenly matched. Don’t think I’ll ever get tired of plunging into your warm, wet quim," he confessed.

"Quim? What kind of word is that?" Buffy giggled a bit. She’s heard the female genitalia called many things--some crude and some sexy--but this word was a new one. She kind of liked the way it sounded though. She’d never confuse it with an insult like some words men often used.

"Too pretty for lots of words, but I’m not into the flowery ones like in those romance novels the Bit loves to read. ‘Budding flower’, ‘core of femininity’, ‘womanhood’…all that rot’s too delicate for an evil Big Bad to use. Don’t think crude words used as
insults fit either. Quim just feels right to me. Do you mind?" Spike was suddenly concerned that he’d offended her in some way.

"No, I like it. Never heard it before, but I like it. Sounds British and a little old fashioned. Kind of like a certain vamp I know and love." Buffy had begun to move on him again as she spoke.

"What’d you say, pet?" Spike had thought he’d heard a word there that she could not possibly have spoken.

Buffy didn’t repeat what she had said, concentrating on showing her feelings with the clenching of her vaginal muscles around his enraptured cock and the caress of her hands on his back. She silenced his questions with a passion-filled kiss of her own,
keeping his mouth busy in ways other than asking scary questions.

The ‘L’ word had just slipped out and Buffy wasn’t sure she was ready to let it off the leash just yet. Sometime over the last couple of days, however, she had realized
that was exactly what she was feeling. What she wasn’t sure of was if she were ready to take the chance of letting the feeling become real as only saying it can do. Her track record wasn’t the best and she had a healthy fear of commitment based on that history. Spike was different, not a runner…even so ‘once burned, twice shy’ as her mom had always said.

She felt a twinge of guilt holding back, knowing how open Spike had been with his feelings for her and how much having her say the words would mean to him.
Maybe later … when her heart wasn’t trying to work its way up her throat.

‘Just be grateful for what you’ve got. Don’t bollocks this up, mate.’ Spike reminded himself not to push Buffy before she was ready. ‘We’ve got eternity, least I do. Then again, when she goes, I likely will too. Still lots of time for words,’ he reassured himself. "Love you so much, Buffy." A bloke could speak his mind even if the lady wouldn’t. He repeated his protestations of love over and over as Buffy moved on him. "Love you forever," he vowed.

She was intoxicating! Strong yet soft, tender and passionate, burning him with her heat. All of Spike’s many dreams since realizing he loved her had never come close to the reality that was loving Buffy. This time his mind was so busy thinking about how perfect his girl was that he didn’t have the same tight control he had used the night before, control that had resulted in hours spent bringing Buffy to climax after climax. This time as she screamed her release, he went with her. They both hit free fall at the same time, clinging to each other in elation as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through them with more intensity than the waves of water that crashed around them.

Buffy kept her hold on Spike with arms and legs as he slowly slipped from her heat. They kissed in the moonlight, not caring that the water’s chill was noticeable once again. Finally Buffy’s shivers became more temperature related than passion induced. Spike lifted her into his arms then and carried her back to the beach, setting her down when they got past the tide-claimed territory.

"Wait here, pet. I put a blanket in the saddlebag before we headed out. Get you nice and warm in a tick."

She watched his perfect backside as he climbed the slight incline to the place he had parked the Harley. She felt young and alive and something she barely remembered from years ago … happy. The piles of responsibility, the bills, raising her sister and saving the world all fell away making her feel light enough to lift from the sand and soar to the moon above. She loved this man, no question. Now all she needed was
the courage to openly declare it to him and everyone else in her life. The thought of the censure she was certain to meet gave her pause, but she knew it would happen in time. Spike was too important to her well-being to ignore it or run away herself.

Spike returned with an old, soft throw that Buffy used when snuggling on the couch. He wrapped her in its warmth and rubbed her body, chasing away the goosebumps that had started to form. "I’d build you a fire but don’t want to have to eat the Park Ranger
that’d surely come to investigate." It felt good to be able to joke like this, knowing Buffy realized it was a joke.

"Nope, can’t have that. Too nice a beach to have to close it for another one of those pesky unexplained exsanguinations you don’t read about in the papers." Buffy joked back She was fully confident that Spike’s hunting days were over and not just because of the chip either. He had changed and she had witnessed it as it happened.

Buffy opened up the wrap and drew Spike into its warmth with her, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest. The only sounds were the crashing of the waves on the rocks and the deep sighs of two replete lovers.

~~~

Earlier that evening, shortly after Buffy and Spike had left the house, Dawn returned home from a study session with friends at Janice’s house. She found the note Spike had left saying they would be checking out a situation out of town and Buffy
wouldn’t be home until late. He had left a twenty to pay for a pizza if Dawn wanted one.

Dawn giggled as she passed her sister’s room a few minutes later and took in the rumpled sheets and disarray that seemed to say her sister had finally come to her senses where Spike was concerned. Things were looking up!

She had just called in the pizza order when she heard the insistent knocks on the front door. She was surprised to look through the small window and see the face of a vampire she had never really met, in spite of the many false memories planted by the monks when they made her. Based on those memories, she wasn’t too happy to see him there.

"Angel," she said as she opened the door to the visitor. "What do you want? And say, phone…new invention, really handy to call ahead to see if a visit is welcomed." Angel glowered at her lack of warmth. At least she thought it was a glower, his facial expressions never varied much.

"Buffy’s not home. Neither is Willow." Dawn would have loved to shut the door on the vamp that had broken her sister’s heart and caused rivers of tears during the brief love affair that had ended so badly. He had come for a short visit after their mom
had died but hadn’t lifted a finger to help when Buffy had to face Glory shortly after that.

"Can I come in and wait for her to get home then?" Angel moved past Dawn and into the hallway as he spoke. "It’s kind of important I see her tonight."

"Sure, make yourself at home." Dawn was pretty sure he missed the sarcasm. "Willow will be home sooner than Buffy, I’ll bet. Buffy’s with Spike somewhere and probably not gonna get home until late. You know how it is when those two get together," she snarked, noticing Angel’s jaw tense.

"He come around much?" Angel ground out the question.

"Oh, yeah. Lived here for months last summer after he saved the world from Glory. I expect him to move back in eventually. He’s always got Buffy’s back, never just leaves her to whatever apocalypse or hellgod comes along," Dawn threw the words over her shoulder as she marched over to the radio and tuned in a station. "Oh, hey, isn’t that you and Buffy’s song?" she asked ‘innocently’ as Alanis Morissette wailed out
"You Oughta Know".

Dawn could hear Angel’s teeth grind. "No. We never had a song."

"Oh, my mistake then," Dawn replied.

The door opened to Willow and Tara giggling over some shared joke. "Angel! Wow, what a surprise! I haven’t seen you since graduation." Willow crossed the room to give him a hug. "How’s Cordy?"

"Cordy’s fine. She’s getting the hotel ready for company. Is this Tara? Buffy told me you had a really nice girlfriend." Angel smiled at the shy blonde that had remained in the doorway.

Dawn mumbled under her breath just loud enough for vampire hearing, "When did you talk to Buffy, that one night when we buried mom?"

"Yup, this is my destiny," Willow beamed at Tara. "Tara, honey, this is Angel. I told you about him, remember."

"Nice to meet you." Tara could sense that Dawn wasn’t happy about the vampire visitor and there was a definite feeling of tension in the air. Angel’s aura was swirling with pent up anger and violence. He kind of scared her for reasons she couldn’t put her finger on easily.

"So what brings you slumming in the small town, Mr. L.A. Hero?" Willow could feel the tension too and had a suspicion this wasn’t just a casual visit. The whole time Angel was central to Buffy’s life, he seemed to just pop in to announce some danger or doom and then disappear again. "Hope we’re not looking at another apocalypse. It’s not even spring yet!"

"Nothing for you to worry about, Will. Just need to have a little talk with Buffy, prevent a lot of pain," he said. ‘Cause some too, if Spike shows up,’ he thought to himself.

"Guess you won’t want to join us for a video night at Xander’s then," Willow remarked.

"Oooh, what videos did you get?" Dawn made a grab for the Blockbuster bag that Tara held. "Girly flicks! Oh, okay, here’s one for Xander…Blade Runner, he’ll be thrilled. Hey, can I come too? There’ll be a pizza in a few minutes and we can take it with."

"Sure, if it’s okay with Buffy," Tara said.

"Buffy’s off with Spike somewhere. The note he left said they’d be kinda late. I’m sure she won’t mind since I’m with people I feel safe with." Dawn looked pointedly at Angel as she spoke.

"I’ll be fine waiting here, Dawn. Don’t feel like you need to entertain me while I wait." Angel knew her game and chose to ignore it.

The pizza arrived and Willow collected the sodas she had come home to retrieve before they headed out for their evening with Xander and Anya.

Alone in the house, Angel strode to the radio and clicked the offending sound off. Then he sat to wait for his evil offspring to bring HIS girl home. Spike needed to remember that he couldn’t take what belonged to HIM and not suffer for it.