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Positive Reinforcement by Spikez_tart
 
Chapter 11 – Guess You’ve Been Busy
 
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Spike walked through the cemetery. He was in no hurry and he was a bit pissed. He had no one to bite and no Slayer to shag. He was too drunk to join her on patrol, even if she’d asked him, which she hadn’t. He liked going on patrol with her. Having a spot of violence with the Slayer felt good. She knew how to fight. Spike admired a woman who could fight. He missed shagging her, too.

He’d talked to her a couple of times since they’d found out about the zapper box. He’d approached her in the Bronze in front of her blighter friends. She’d acted pleasant, like they were friends or something. She’s had the nerve to ask him how he’d been and other such rot. He would have preferred a punch in the nose.

As Spike arrived at the door of his new crypt, he heard the sound of a single footstep scraping the gravel on the path behind him, and paused to listen. He didn’t hear anything else, so he went inside.

***

Riley followed Spike for a week. He wanted to catch Spike napping one day so he could dust him, but first he’d needed to find out where Spike was hiding. Tonight, he’d caught up with Spike at the Bronze a few minutes before closing time, and slipped out after him. By the time he tracked Spike to his lair, Riley didn’t want to wait for morning to kill this vampire scum who had the nerve to mess with Buffy. Riley wanted to dust Spike while he was awake and helpless to fight back and could see his miserable death coming.

He kicked the door open with his boot, his stake clutched in his fist.

***

Buffy sat on top of a tombstone, kicking her heels and waiting for a new vamp to pop out of its grave. Waiting for fledgling vamps to pop bored her, but sitting here in the dark was better than hanging around her dorm room, worrying and waiting for the first possible moment she could take the pregnancy test.

She had plenty of time to think about Spike, which she did quite a bit these days. She missed him, even his silly talking while they patrolled. He was much better at patrolling than her friends. She didn’t have to watch out for him or protect him. He protected her and that was nice. She wished he’d fall in with her on patrol some night.

He’d been cool about the baby, too. He said all the right comforting lies and listened to her cry. Most human men wouldn’t do that.

Spike sex was, actually, Spike sex was great. Or, Spike sex would have been great if it had been her idea. She couldn’t shake the creepy feeling of having some electronic device making her jump Spike’s bones.

She wondered if Spike wanted to have sex with her at all. He’d wanted to before she zapped him, or so he said. He was always touching her and making filthy suggestions to her when the others couldn’t hear. He was a pervert and a pig, but all those things he talked about sure felt good when he did them to her.

Waiting stopped being boring when Buffy saw Spike go into a nearby crypt, then Riley crash in after him, stake in hand. She jumped off the headstone and ran.

***

When Riley busted in, Spike was standing in the middle of the crypt fooling with a black box. He didn’t appear at all concerned that Riley was wearing his war face and waving a stake around. When Spike was satisfied the controls on the box were to his liking, he placed the box carefully on top of the television.

“Soldier Boy,” Spike said. “Come to kill me, have you?”

“That’s right, Spike. You’ve messed with Buffy for the last time.” Riley circled Spike warily. He wasn’t taking any chances just because Spike had a chip in his head. Who knew if the damn chip worked?

Spike patted his coat for his cigarettes. Bloody hell, he’d left his cigarettes at the bar.

“It’s up to the Slayer if she wants me messing with her, don’t you think?” Spike said.

It was time to get serious about dealing with Soldier Boy. Spike planned on giving him a thorough trouncing if the box worked, like he thought it would. He took off his coat and tossed it on a stuffed chair he’d rescued from the town dump.

“She never wanted you. It was the box,” Riley said. “She wouldn’t have touched you, if the box hadn’t made her.”

Spike had thought a lot about Buffy’s interest in him over the past week and whether she had some feelings for him, or her interest only existed because of the workings of the control box. He’d never been able to make up his mind. He wasn’t about to admit to Finn that Buffy hadn’t been a willing partner, though.

“Come on, then. Show me what you’ve got, Captain Cardboard.”

Riley lunged at Spike. Spike jumped aside to avoid Riley’s tackle, and gave him a kick that sent him flying head first into the crypt wall.

Spike clapped his hands to his head in anticipation of a painful shock from the chip, but felt nothing. The positive zap from the black box neutralized the bad zap from the chip in his brain. The box prevented the chip from shocking him, like it had when he’d bitten the Slayer.

He grinned and was poised to tear into Soldier Boy and give him the thrashing of his life, when the Slayer flew into the room. Spike clapped his hands back on his head and groaned with feigned pain. The Slayer saw him kick the poxy bastard in his arse, and she would be expecting Spike to be writhing in misery. Spike didn’t want her to know the box could defeat his chip.

Buffy leaped on Riley, who was shaking off the stars he was seeing after cracking his skull on the crypt wall. She gave him a sharp left hook to the jaw, and pummeled his chest until he collapsed on the floor.

Once Riley was no longer a threat, she came over to where Spike was standing. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” She held his chin, examining his face for bruises.

“He never got in a lick,” Spike said. He felt keenly disappointed he didn’t get to personally whip Soldier Boy, but he didn’t want Buffy to know about the power of the box to neutralize his chip. If she found out, she might decide to do something drastic, like dust him. He didn’t feel much like being dusted by the Slayer right then.

They stood awkwardly, looking at each other, each trying to figure out what to say and failing. Buffy remembered she’d missed Spike on patrol.

“I haven’t seen you on patrol. Guess you’ve been busy.” Buffy shuffled her feet back and forth, scuffing the toes of her boots on the rough concrete floor of the crypt.

“Yeah, I’ve been fixing up the new place,” Spike said, waving his hand around the room. What was she saying? Did she want him to come with her on patrol? Was she inviting him to spend time with her?

“It’s nice,” she said looking around, “for a crypt, that is.” She looked around some more so she wouldn’t have to look into Spike’s impossibly blue eyes. Did he get that chair out of the town dump?

“Thanks,” he said. He shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn’t want to be tempted to touch her or pull her into his arms and kiss her until she fainted.

Riley moaned as he regained consciousness. Buffy strongly considered giving him another clip on the jaw for interrupting her conversation with Spike, but decided to call it a night. “I’d better finish up here.”

Buffy walked over to Riley, who was rolling on the floor. She turned back to Spike and said, “A couple of new vamps are supposed to pop out tomorrow night, if you want to join me? If you aren’t busy, I mean?”

“Er, yeah, tomorrow. Tomorrow is good. I might be able to make it,” Spike said, pretending to be casual. He was thinking about what he wanted to ask her. She probably wouldn’t want to talk about it. She’d probably get mad.

“About the other?”

Buffy blushed. It was nice not thinking about her problem for a couple of minutes. He had the right to ask, though. “No news, yet.”

Spike nodded. He wondered if she’d tell him when she found out.

Buffy wished he’d say something, anything, but Spike had nothing to say. She might as well leave. Standing around not talking was too embarrassing for both of them. She grabbed Riley by the back of his shirt and jerked him off the floor.

“You know your way out, don’t you, Lieutenant Finn?” To make sure he found his way, she shoved him out the door.

To Spike’s disappointment, she left without looking back.

 
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