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Love Continued by slaymesoftly
 
Four
 
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AN: posting in an attempt to frighten the muse into writing Chapter Six and getting on with the story. Wish me luck!


Chapter Four


They entered the kitchen to find Joyce and Giles sipping mugs of hot tea and glaring at each other from opposite sides of the center island. Buffy looked back and forth between the angry faces and ventured, “Okaaaay. Bad guy is dust; I’m alive. Is there something going on that I missed?”

Her watcher looked over her shoulder at the killer who had so casually followed her into the house. He saw the small smile Joyce sent toward the vampire who had saved her daughter’s life and sighed heavily.

“It would appear that I am the one who is missing information. Information that I should have had months ago.” He glared pointedly at Spike’s hand, which was resting on Buffy’s shoulder with a familiarity that made the watcher’s flesh crawl. “Why didn’t you tell me you had established a…relationship…with another vampire? Did it not occur to you that as your watcher, this might be something I needed to know?”

Buffy looked at him with eyes that held wisdom well beyond her years and she nodded her head briefly before answering.

“What would you have done?” she asked quietly. “You freaked when you found out I didn’t kill Spike. What would you have done if you knew I was feeding him?”

The man gave the vampire a hard look; confused at the calm acceptance he saw in Spike’s eyes when he responded truthfully, “I would have staked him.”

His statement was flat and cold. Years of training would not have permitted him to accept the continued existence of a master vampire. No matter that the vampire in question might have assisted his slayer in her time of need, he was an abomination and not to be tolerated. That his slayer, who had suffered so harshly at the hands of a formerly-souled vampire would not have learned her lesson about allowing demons into her life made him angrier than he could have imagined.

“And you’re wondering why I didn’t tell you?”

“When did you find the time to—how did this happen?”

Buffy looked at the older man coldly. “Giles, exactly what did you think I was doing most of last year? I’m pretty sure I don’t remember telling you all about my fun days in school or the great time I was having partying every night. I know for a fact that Willow tried to talk to you about how I wasn’t hanging out with them like I used to and you blew her off. You told her to give me some space. All you cared about was that I reported in with how many vampires and demons I slayed every night.

“Well, guess what? I needed somebody to talk to; somebody who knew what I’d been through and understood my life. Spike was there for me. He let me rant and cry and worry that I’d never be able to have a boyfriend again. He let me sit and mope if that’s what I felt like doing, and he made me laugh when I started to feel too sorry for myself. He’s the reason I’m able to function more or less normally now. And he did it for me. The Slayer who killed his family; who staked the woman he’d loved for over one hundred years. There was nothing in it for him – he could have paid Willy to send him blood every day. And it would have been human blood, not the pigs’ blood I made him eat.”

“From the way he is touching you so familiarly, I would say there apparently WAS something in it for him.”

Giles’ voice was barely under control as he observed the vampire’s gentle stroking of Buffy’s arm and shoulder. When his cruel words caused Spike’s eyes to flash and his fangs to descend, he was suddenly very grateful for the stake he was holding under the countertop. However, before the vampire could move around the stricken slayer and carry out his clearly lethal intentions, Joyce reached across the island and slapped the watcher across the face hard enough to rock him off the stool.

“Never, ever speak to my daughter like that again,” she said with barely-controlled rage. “She has just told you how much being with Spike helped her recover from the horrific experience that your friend set up. If their friendship went beyond the mutual comfort and emotional healing that was all it was in the beginning that is their business. And Spike has done his best to give her a chance to have a normal life. He broke both their hearts when he left Sunnydale; but he did it anyway. For Buffy. So that she could have as close to a normal life as possible. He only came back to save her life – from the very people you work for.”

The still-furious watcher had the grace to look ashamed and could not help but notice that the outraged vampire had not attacked him, but had, in fact, responded to a whispered, “No” from his slayer by relaxing back into his human face. However, the eyes that continued to bore into the older man’s were chips of blue ice that promised future retribution.

The watcher turned to her mother and said plaintively, “I cannot believe you were okay with this, Joyce. Wasn’t one disastrous relationship with a vampire enough?”

“Buffy’s relationships are her business, not ours. Another vampire certainly would not have been my first choice; but Spike is not that other…creature. I know he loves her and I trust him. He would never do anything to hurt her…physically.”

Joyce couldn’t resist adding the final word as she remembered the months of crying that had followed Spike’s departure almost a year ago. When his eyes squeezed shut briefly, she knew he was not planning to stay this time either and her heart ached for Buffy.

To her surprise, it was the Slayer who spoke up, saying flatly – even as she clutched Spike’s arm hard enough to whiten her knuckles – “He’s not staying. We don’t have a…a…relationship. We’re not stupid. I’m the Slayer; he’s a vampire. We know we can’t be together.”

The vampire nodded his head in sad agreement, even as he wrapped his arms around Buffy and pulled her against his chest. The watcher could think of nothing to say except “Oh”; the arguments that he’d been preparing completely wiped out by the calm acceptance that the two unhappy super beings were demonstrating.

“Well, then, I guess I…I guess there’s no need for…as long as you both see the wisdom of…”

When there was no response except an almost imperceptible tightening of Spike’s arms and a matching tensing of Buffy’s hands where she had placed them over his as though seeking to hold herself within his embrace, the watcher’s voice trailed off and there was an uncomfortable silence. A silence broken only by the sound of the vampire’s low rumbling purr which both Giles and Joyce could see was visibly relaxing Buffy.

Eventually, the two blonds moved to one stool, Spike sitting with the Slayer standing between his open legs and leaning against his chest. While Joyce fixed them mugs of hot chocolate -- smiling at Spike’s request for “those cute little marshmallows” -- they faced Buffy’s watcher and agreed to answer his questions.

When Giles asked how they went from mortal enemies whose stated purpose in life was to kill each other, to the close “friends” that they had obviously become, Buffy shrugged and struggled to explain how disconnected to her former life she had felt after the events in the mansion; how isolated from her friends and the other students at Sunnydale high school she was. She stumbled over her words as she tried to explain how reluctant she had been to have anything to do with boys for such a long time and how supportive Spike had been as he encouraged her to venture back into the school’s social life.

“He…he always told me I would be attracted to somebody again someday; that I would learn to…to love again. We just didn’t know it would be him.”

Spike had frozen in place when she talked about learning to love again, telling himself she was speaking metaphorically, or about physical attraction, not that she was saying that she had fallen in love with him.

(She cares, yeah. I’d have to be blind not to see that, but it doesn’t mean she’s in love, love. She’s just grateful and maybe a little bit…a little bit interested in shaggin’ me again. But it’s not love. Not like I mean it.)

In deference to her mother, Buffy glossed over the physical aspects of their relationship, merely saying that Spike had felt the need to leave shortly after they discovered that their friendship had blossomed into something else. Joyce was not fooled, remembering the long weeks of Buffy’s sleeping in Spike’s tee shirt and on the sheets from his bed, but she kept her thoughts to herself and nodded as though there was nothing more natural than for two people who had just discovered that they had romantic feelings for each other to agree to separate forever.

Still at a loss as to how everything he’d been taught about vampires and their ability to control the bloodlust that emerged with the demon could have permitted Spike to tolerate Buffy’s company long enough to establish a friendship, Giles fixed a hard eye on the vampire and asked coldly, “And what about you? What would possess a vampire of your…reputation…to continue to peacefully spend time with the girl who destroyed your family? Once her value to you as a weapon to use against Angelus was gone?” he added as a reminder that he was not fooled about Spike’s original motivation for helping the slayer.

“She was kind to me,” he said softly, meeting the watcher’s eyes firmly. “I don’t repay kindness with treachery, Watcher.”

“Because vampires are so notoriously honorable,” the other man scoffed, all but rolling his eyes with skepticism.

“Tell me, Watcher,” Spike put just the slightest bit of derogatory emphasis on the term, “what is so honorable about a man who would take advantage of a girl’s complete trust in him to send her into a trap without even warning her he was doing it? A man who would tell her they were going to celebrate her birthday by going to an ice show when he was actually planning on sending her to her death?”

“I didn’t know that, goddammit!” Giles exploded at the vampire who just smirked at him while Buffy and her mother glared.

“But you did know you were robbing her of her strength,” Joyce said quietly. “And that she was going to have to face a vampire without any of her powers.”

His shoulders slumped in defeat. “I did,” he admitted softly. “I did, and I cannot tell you how much it hurt me, or how much I regret it. I really had no idea it would be dangerous for her. Buffy is a very resourceful slayer and I assumed…” His voice trailed off and he faced the girl he’d come to love like a daughter and said firmly, “I will be handing in my resignation to the Council directly. I will not work for an organization that would do that to one of its warriors.”

“So, you won’t be my watcher anymore?” Buffy’s voice held just a trace of fear and sadness, although her anger at his actions still held the most sway over her emotions.

“Surely, you would rather not have me?” he asked with astonishment.

“You’re going to leave me?”

The unspoken “like my real father did” lay heavily in the air of the kitchen. Spike’s wince at the resignation and grief in her voice didn’t escape anyone’s notice and Buffy tilted her head back to look up him reassuringly. Ignoring the watcher’s barely suppressed cough and her mother’s gasp, she said clearly, “As long as I know you love me, as long as I know you will come back when I need you, you haven’t really left me. You’re just…not here. I can live with that.”

“ ‘S no way for a girl to live, sweetheart.” His calm answer was belied by the hope and anguish on his face. “Waitin’ for me to breeze into town for a bit and then away again. ‘S not what I want for you, love.”

“It’s what I want for me,” she said stubbornly. “I want to know that you’ll come if—when—I need you. For anything,” she added so softly only he could hear her.

Joyce interrupted them abruptly, standing up and wincing as she tried to put weight on her bruised hip.

“This sounds to me like a private argument; one that neither Mr. Giles nor I need to hear. What needs to be settled right now is what you will do for a watcher if Giles resigns.”

Buffy turned her bruised eyes back on the man she had trusted to take care of her and asked quietly, “What will you do if – when you leave?”

“I was not thinking about leaving the Hellmouth, Buffy,” he said gently, putting all his affection for her in his voice. “I would not leave you alone if you are willing to still have me in your life. I am simply going to resign from the Council.”

“No loss there,” Spike snorted. “What have they ever done for you lot except try to kill Buffy?”

“It’s quite true that my employers have had some…issues…with Buffy’s independence, not to mention her predilection for falling in love with the very creatures she is meant to destroy,” he added wryly. “However, she has been an excellent slayer and guardian of the Hellmouth and I daresay she is quite capable of continuing to do so with or without their assistance.”

“So,” Buffy asked dubiously, “you think they’re going to just leave us alone?”

“Oh, I suspect there is a new slayer already on her way here. No doubt she will appear with her own watcher in tow. However, I cannot see why they would object to having the Hellmouth guarded by two slayers. Surely, between the two of you, you will be able to handle anything that comes up. Without assistance from any outside sources,” he added with a quick glance at the vampire still hovering protectively over his slayer.

“Well, that’s all good then,” Spike responded through tightly clenched teeth. “You won’t be needing me for backup if you have another slayer around, will you, pet?”

“What if that’s not what I need you for?” Buffy asked softly, leaning into his chest and rubbing her face against his shirt.

“And here we are again!” Joyce interrupted brightly. “Not a conversation we all need to participate in.” She began to limp towards the hallway, saying conversationally, “I, for one, am going to have a long soak in the tub before I go to bed; hopefully it will turn out that some trace of Buffy’s fast healing has been shared with her mother. Mr. Giles, I am sure you can see yourself out?”

“Please, Joyce,” his voice was rough with emotion, “call me Rupert. I know you are angry – and you have every right to be so – but I love your daughter as though she were my own. I promise you, I will never again do anything to knowingly put her into danger.”

“Gonna take up patrolling for her, then, are you?” Spike asked mildly.

With a glare, the man growled, “Anything not a part of her everyday duties as the Chosen One. I cannot change what she is; I can only guide her and support her decisions in whatever manner is necessary.”

Before there could be more harsh words exchanged, Buffy moved away from Spike and said forcefully, “Okay, that’s enough for the night. Mom is going to soak her sore hip and go to bed; Giles is going to go home and call the Council and tell them what they can do with their Crucia – whatever; and I am going to spend some time with my vampire before he disappears again. We can go back to yelling at each other tomorrow.”

Surprisingly, there was no argument from either Joyce or Giles as they said “good night” quietly. When the kitchen was quiet and empty except for the two blonds, Buffy moved back into Spike’s open arms, sliding her hands around his waist and looking up at him wistfully.

“So,” she said as casually as she could, “about that ‘hi’….”

With a groan he tightened his grip on her, whispering softly, “You know this is a really bad idea, don’t you, pet? It’s just going to make it harder…on both of us.”

“There you go again,” she giggled, “thinking you’re all that and that I can’t resist you.”

Rather than answer her verbally, he nuzzled her neck until she was tilting her head back to let him suck lightly on his mark, then trailed kisses up to her waiting mouth. When their lips met for the first time in a year, it took only a fraction of a second for the warmth between them to explode into an inferno that had Buffy molded to his body while he tried to pull her even closer.

Spike’s accidental tipping over of the stool upon which he’d been sitting reminded them that they were in her mother’s kitchen and they reluctantly broke apart, breathing harshly.

“Where…?” Was all the vampire could gasp out, but the question was clear.

“The mansion,” she answered quickly.

Whirling as one, they were out the door and into his car, moving almost too quickly for the human eye to follow.
 
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