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Splinters by Lilachigh
 
Chp 4 Never Walk Away
 
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SPLINTERS


By Lilachigh


Chpt 4 Never Walk Away

Buffy was dreaming...she was hot, her blood was pounding and she felt powerful and sexy. She growled, deep in her throat, and wriggled to get closer to her mate. She wanted him to possess her, needed him to take her, fill her, make love to her until she ached and cried with passion and need....

She was burning with desire - feeling great wanton waves crashing over her. It was so unfair, why wouldn’t he put his hands on her breasts, why wouldn’t he tear her clothes off, throw her on the floor and....oh yes,he was, he was, he was

.... but the pictures were slipping away as she began to wake up. She grumbled and moaned, trying to hold on to the sensations that were coursing through her body. She buried her face deeper in her pillow - but it seemed odd - the smooth cotton that usually smelt of lavender had changed.

Her eyes flickered open. Her hair was tossed over her head like a shawl, so all she could see were the curls close to her face and smell - denim and cigarette smoke and the faint tang of good leather.

But she was so comfortable and warm she didn’t care; she wanted to get back in her dream, because he’d just begun to touch her, to run his fingers down the front of her panties - she shut her eyes again, then they flashed wide and stayed open.

There was a row of little buttons in front of her lips, the sort a guy would have on the fly of his jeans... there was a little damp patch under her mouth, almost as if in her sleep, in her dreams, she’d been trying to lick -

ohmygod!, She froze. She was lying on a guy’s lap! She had her face buried between someone’s cold, hard - ‘Oh-my-god-Spike!’ she screeched, sat up and fell on the floor all in one moment! ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

Spike stretched his legs out straight with a groan of pleasure. ‘Bugger, I’ve got cramp. What am I doing, Slayer? What do you think you’re doing, going to sleep all over me. I’d have chucked you on the floor ages ago, but your Mum came downstairs and asked me to let you sleep. I've been doing her a favour, that’s what I’ve been doing, Goldilocks!’

She couldn’t reply for a second, then flushed deeply as the remnants of her dream tore through her memory. She jumped to her feet. Okay, that was a bad dream, a really naughty dream, but of course, it had been Riley she’d been dreaming about, so okay, no problem....

But it wasn’t, her honest side insisted on saying. Riley wasn’t the guy in your dream. The guy touching you like that, making you squirm with pleasure, making you want to do things you don’t even know how to do, would never let Riley do to you was....

‘Spike!’

‘Yup?’

‘Er...you must go. I don’t know why you’re even still here.’

‘Splinters, fingers, needles, you nursey, me patient, remember.’ He stood up and stretched. Buffy gulped as she watched his muscles play ing against the tight T-shirt.

‘Well, yes, but that’s over now. And the sun will be up soon. I want you to go. And what do you mean, my mother was downstairs?’

His words came back and bit her.

‘We’ve had a little chat.’ He frowned and looked at her. ‘Problems there, Slayer.’

She opened her mouth to tell him to shut up, that it was none of his business and that, no, there was no problem, her mother was going to be fine. Then she stopped.

‘I don’t know what to do,’ she whispered. ‘I couldn’t bear it if...’

‘Never going to happen, luv. Joyce is tough. She’s a fighter. Can’t think of any little nasty that could defeat her.’

Buffy stared at him in silence. His words echoed bravely in the darkened kitchen and she tried, desperately, to believe in them. ‘Yes, you’re right, of course. Nothing is going to happen to mom. I’m just having a case of bad evening blues.’ She tossed back her head, her blonde hair flying in disarray and turned to face him, hands on hips.

‘ Having to hear all your horrible life story, including details of you killing not one but two Slayers, has not made this the most enjoyable few hours of my life to date, Spike. If it wasn’t for the fact that you‘d make an ashy mess all over the kitchen floor, I’d stake you here and now and finish it.’

Spike smiled slowly and pulled on his duster. ‘Finish what, luv.’

‘It, us, no, not us, there is no us. You and your lurking around in our lives, like some big...big....lurker!’

‘As I said earlier this evening, Slayer. We’re dancing. We always will.’ And he threw her a mock salute and strode out of the door into the night that was just paling into dawn.

Buffy pulled a stake from her pocket and flung it after him. It bounced against the closing door with a clatter. ‘We’re not dancing!’

‘Buffy!’

‘Mom, what are you doing up already. Are you feeling OK.?’

‘I’m fine. Was that Spike you were shouting at?’

‘Yes, I’m sorry if we woke you. I should have kicked him out hours ago, but I sort of fell asleep. I wasn’t that tired. I think he might have put something in my drink at the Bronze. He‘s evil like that.’

Joyce looked concerned and sat down at the kitchen table with a sigh. Her pain was back inside her head, pounding, angry, malevolent pain. ‘Why do you hate him so much, Buffy.’

‘Mum - Spike, vampire, evil, deadly thing. Remember? Guy with platinum bleached hair, stupid coat and boots. ’

Joyce said nothing and watched as Buffy busied herself with washing up Spike’s mug.

‘Right, I’m off to bed. Can I get you anything, before I go up?’

Joyce smiled. ‘No, I’m fine. I’m just going to sit on the porch and watch the sun rise.’
She walked outside and sat down carefully. The edge of the step was rough and jagged. She didn’t want to get a splinter.

The sky was changing fast now. The pale grey was turning to primrose and a darker apricot glow showed where the sun was coming. She sighed. She loved it here in Sunnydale, even with all it’s problems. She loved her daughters, her job, her life.

She didn’t know what her future was going to be, indeed, Joyce thought wryly, I don’t even know if I’m going to have a future! And if she didn’t, then Buffy and Dawn were going to need someone in their lives to be there for them and what were their options?

Their father? Joyce dismissed him immediately. Hank was weak. He’d left, saying that he didn’t love her any more, but she knew that the plain truth was he couldn’t cope with a daughter who was so difficult, so frighteningly strong. Oh, he loved Buffy, but was more than happy to do so from a distance.

Buffy’s friends would rally round, but Joyce knew instinctively that they needed Buffy to be strong for them. They would be sympathetic and try desperately hard for a week or two, but then they would want her to take charge again.

Rupert? Joyce smiled a little secret smile. Rupert Giles was strong enough, but there were no guarantees that he would be around for ever now that Buffy was grown up.

Angel? She frowned. She’d never liked Angel. He’d broken her daughter’s heart and when the going had got too tough, he’d done just that. Gone.

Riley? A nice boy, a good boy, he loved Buffy, that was true. But for all the soldier action and muscles, he was still at heart the sort of man who needed to come first with his woman, who needed her attention one hundred and twenty per cent of the time. And Joyce knew Buffy could never give him that.

And that left - Joyce felt her headache lift a little. Someone who thought he hated, but loved. Someone who tried not to care but did. Someone who would never, ever walk away, not matter how hard it got to stay.

A thin, blond man with bright blue eyes. A man, she suddenly realised, that if circumstances had been different - slaughtering half of Europe wasn’t the best recommendation - she would have been proud to have called son.

To be continued




 
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