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Present Childe by Ariel Dawn
 
Exhibitionism
 
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Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters, I am just playing around for my own amusement.

Author’s note: Special thanks to Bloodytearsoflife who beta’d this chapter twice, once a month ago when it sucked the big one and a second time after I started writing again. She rocks. Thanks to everyone who has been waiting patiently for updates to my fics while I took a hiatus from the writing. It did me lots of good. *Hugs everyone* Some dialogue taken from ‘The Prom.’
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Chapter 21: Exhibitionism

Safe in the knowledge that Faith was taking care of the hellhound menace, Buffy strolled into the decorated goodness that was the Prom, her pink dress clinging seductively to her body. Everywhere couples danced, held hands, and giggled together.

Buffy wasn’t happy. Spike hadn’t showed up yet. He'd promised that he'd be back in Sunnydale by now. Buffy walked through room, passing by the assembled couples. Her senses once again overloaded by the smells and sounds generated by the masses of prom goers. Her head full of these distracting sights and sounds and smells, Buffy bumped into Cordelia and her date, a jock who’s IQ was probably the circumference of a football. Then there was Xander and Anya, not far away. Focusing on Xander and Anya's conversation, instead of the blood pumping beneath the skin of the students in the gym, Buffy could make out that Anya was babbling about vengeance wishes and Xander was trying to make her stop talking.

“So then this one time, this girl wished her ex would cannibalize himself. Even I had a hard time watching that, let me tell you,” Anya babbled on.

Xander caught a glimpse of Buffy and Cordelia, his eyes hoping for anything that would get him out of his own private hell that was his date.

“Cordelia! Buffy! My God in heaven, it's good to see you. How are you both? And details, please,” pleaded Xander as he and Anya walked closer.

“Yes, thank you,” said Cordelia with a funny wag of her eyebrows.

Buffy raised her own. Something was up between those two. She really hoped that they weren't getting back together. Buffy liked Anya and Xander seemed happy. Cordelia was bad news for Xander Harris.

“It looks good on you,” said Xander, with soft eyes to his former girlfriend.

It was official. Xander and Cordy had their own secret code.

“Well, duh,” responded Cordy, watching Anya pull Xander away, a look of jealousy on her face.

Buffy watched perplexed as the pair left, only to be reassured by the appearance of Oz and Willow. The tender touches that the pair were sharing could not go unnoticed by Buffy. As much as she wanted to have a good time, regardless of whether or not Spike showed, she knew in her heart that his presence would colour her memories of the Prom for her.

“Buffy, you look awesome,” cooed Willow.

“So do you,’” Buffy smiled back at her friend.

“Everything cool?” asked Oz with his usual calm demeanour.

“Spike’s not here yet. Other than that? Coolness. Faith’s taking care of the devil dogs. How's the prom?” asked Buffy.

“Strangely affecting. I got all teared up when they played 'We Are Family',” noted Oz.

“Everything's perfect,” agreed Willow.

“Almost,“ whispered Buffy.
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By the time the awards started to be handed out, Spike still hadn’t shown up, making Buffy a very cranky vampire. She’d missed out on a good portion of the dancing goodness. It was getting to the point where if she wanted to have even one dance she was going to have to tear Xander away from Anya. And she was pretty certain that the vengeance demon wouldn't look to fondly on that.

Buffy walked by the punch bowl and scowled, wishing that she had brought a flask of blood with her. The problem was that she had no pockets in her dress. She just hoped that she didn't start to get rumblies in her tummy.

There came a voice from the stage. “We have one more award to give out. Is Buffy Summers here tonight? Did she, um...”

Suddenly the whole crowd turned to look at her and in that moment she was infinitely glad that she hadn’t been drinking out of a flask.

“This is actually a new category. First time ever. I guess there were a lot of write-in ballots, and, um, the prom committee asked me to read this,” the boy said as he took out a piece of paper and unfolded it. "We're not good friends. Most of us never found the time to get to know you, but that doesn't mean we haven't noticed you. We don't talk about it much, but it's no secret that Sunnydale High isn't really like other high schools. A lot of weird stuff happens here."

Throughout the crowd there was muttering about some of the things she’d had to deal with over the years.

The boy on the stage continued. "But, whenever there was a problem or something creepy happened, you seemed to show up and stop it. Most of the people here have been saved by you, or helped by you at one time or another. We're proud to say that the Class of '99 has the lowest mortality rate of any graduating class in Sunnydale history. And we know at least part of that is because of you. So the senior class, offers its thanks, and gives you, uh, this."

He held in his hand a sparkly umbrella.

“It's from all of us, and it has written here, ‘Buffy Summers, Class Protector.’“

Sniffling back a tears from her eyes, Buffy smiled and went up to the stage to accept her award. She was touched by the wonderfulness, the generosity, and gratitude that the award meant. She was getting an award and yet at the same time Faith was somewhere out there fighting hell dogs. When Faith graduated, she'd probably get the Class Protector award too, that is if she didn't drop out of school again. Not that Giles would let her.

Faith's attitude hadn't really changed much, even with all the helping that Buffy had been doing against the Mayor, a man that had actually tried to bribe her over to the dark side. Buffy thought that the mayor was grasping at straws, and Faith expected that Buffy would betray her friends any day now. Faith was stupid, really stupid sometimes.

Hey, vampire, sometimes we think not nice thoughts. It’s allowed.

With a smile on her face, Buffy looked around the assembled students and guests and headed towards her former watcher, who was smiling on proudly.

“Congratulations, Buffy,“ he said looking on her fondly. “I had no idea that children en masse could be gracious.”

“Every now and then, people surprise you,” she responded.

Giles looked over her head and his eyes narrowed slightly, but he made no comment. Buffy didn’t have to turn around to know just whom he was looking at. She could feel the tingles that meant Mate and Sire to her. Buffy hugged her watcher gently even as she handed him the umbrella for safekeeping.

Giles stepped away leaving the vampire couple to the dance. Buffy turned around and gazed into her mate’s eyes. She had missed him terribly.

“Spike!” she said happily, closing the short distance between them rapidly and lifting her arms up around his leather clad shoulders. She wasn't even mad that he hadn't dressed up for the event.

He said nothing, but pressed his lips chastely to hers.

Now everything was perfect. He wrapped his arms around her as they began to sway to the music. Buffy closed her eyes blissfully and rested her head against his shoulder. The peaceful calm of his unbeating heart was a relief. She’d been around humans for such along time now, their constant bodily noises was unnerving. The sounds and smells were giving her a headache here in the close confines of the gym. Spike smelled like leather, whiskey and smoke, comforting smells. She sighed as if finally she had come home.

All around them couples were moving to the music, Cordelia and her jock date, Willow and Oz, and Xander and Anya. Without opening her eyes Buffy could tell that Faith had entered into the room. Her eyes flicked open even as her head rested on Spike's shoulder. Faith's clothes were covered in blood smatters.

One sniff and Buffy could tell that the blood wasn’t Faith’s but that of the hellhounds the Slayer had been sent after. All was right with the world, all of her people were safe.

Faith walked up to Giles and started telling him about the kill, how much fun it was, yadda yadda yadda. Buffy watched on with a smile as Giles' face went from happy to annoyed. It wasn't Faith's conversation that made Giles annoyed. His face actually winced as another man stood behind Faith wearing a tweed suit and looking very watcher like. Buffy had never seen the man before but the ‘Watcher’ label suited him to a ‘t’.

Giles’ lips pursed and he glared out into the crowd angrily. Giles was not a happy camper.

Spike spun Buffy around and tried to discover just what his mate was looking at so intently, instead of enjoying her prom.

“Who’s that?” he asked simply, moving around the dance floor.

Buffy shrugged. “I don’t know, but Giles doesn’t seem too happy with him.”

Suddenly there was a screech from Giles’ direction. The entire room stopped dancing as Faith’s voice rose up over the music.

“What!” cried Faith. “I refuse! You can’t make me! I…I quit!” she screamed as she flew out of the room.

The silence in the room only lasted as long as the doors sung swung closed and the crowd went back to dancing and now with new topic of gossip. That Faith girl had always been weird. Who shows up to the Prom looking like she was ready for Halloween?

Buffy giggled at Faith's exit and what the students around her were talking about. What Buffy wanted to know though was what and who this man in tweed was and why Faith had stormed out of the room.
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As the dance wound down and couples headed back to their homes, and rented hotel rooms, Spike and Buffy walked out of the decorated hall and to their own house.

The two vampires barely got within the mansion’s front doors before they succumbed to the need to touch each other after their long separation. Spike pressed her against the doorframe, peppering her neck with kisses, his hands trying to loosen the bindings of her dress.

“Spike!” she gasp between kisses, “I’ve missed you so much.”

They slid slowly to the ground, Buffy’s dress pulled from her body, leaving the vampiress in her underwear and heels. There in front of the open door way in full view of Crawford Street, the two vampires pressed against each other, tugging at their clothes.

Buffy pushed his duster from his shoulders and ripped through his black t-shirt, exposing his cool alabaster chest. Hands and fingers fluttering over skin, Buffy inhaled unneeded air as Spike’s fingers delved beneath the elastic on her panties and began caressing her most tender areas. Soon his digits were covered in her juices and she was clinging to him as she neared her climax.

“Good grief!” came Anya’s voice from the driveway. “You couldn’t even make it up to your bed room.”

Buffy looked around Spike’s body and glared at the girl, and her date who were standing on the front walk way.

“Holy crap, Buffy!” shouted Xander.

Spike stiffened above her but made no move to get off of her.

“It’s my house, Xander. I’ll do what I want in my house,” she explained.

“Well I live here too,” noted Anya. “We were going to have sex, up in my room. We have restraint enough to actually get up stairs.”

“So why don’t you get the hell up the stairs?” growled Spike.

With an ‘eep’ Xander and Anya rushed by the pair of vampires on the floor and scurried up the stairs.

Spike turned back to Buffy, bringing his fangs and bumpies out to play, and growled once again, but this time playfully.

“Baby wanna play?” he asked.

“I thought we were already playing?” she asked sweetly.
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Buffy woke up happy and contented. Spike’s arm was draped over her thigh, only slightly marred by the scratches and bites that she’d given him the heat of the moment last night. Spike's head rested softly on her tummy.

Somewhere down the hall she could hear the snoring of Anya, the nasal, and the occasional grunts of Anya’s prom date, Xander.

The idea that in her house, the house of vampires and demons, where she was mistress, Xander, was sleeping peacefully beside his formerly demon girlfriend, brought a smile to her face. Well, she assumed Anya was his girlfriend now. She liked them together.

Spike nuzzled into her hip, nipping playfully at her sun deprived skin.

“What are we going to do today?” came his lazy reply.

“Oh lovely Saturday, how I love you,” she whispered, playing with Spike’s hair. “Well besides the inevitable conversation we’re bound to have about minions, saving the world, and Willow, I was thinking cuddling, leading to discussion and argument, followed by make up sex, and then more cuddling. Somewhere in there I promised to phone my mom to tell her how Prom went, phone Willow, to see if she got lucky with Oz, and probably a call to Giles to see who and the what was that Watcher guy last night.”

Spike sighed. “What? No call to the whelp?”

“No, we’ll probably see him in the kitchen once Anya wakes him up,” Buffy responded.

“Bugger,” noted Spike.

Buffy giggled “If you had a problem with him being in the house, you should have said something last night."

“To be fair pet, I was a little distracted last night.”

“Yeah, I can understand that. I was there, remember?
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Buffy and Spike stumbled into the kitchen, each pouring themselves a mug of blood from the fridge. Buffy cocked an eyebrow at Spike drinking from her blood stash, but chalked it up to his getting into town late and not having the opportunity to get a happy meal before going to the Prom.

With her warmed mug, Buffy sat down at the table, and looked into her blood as its scent wafted throughout the room.

“So where are all the minions?” asked Buffy finally, voicing the question she’d had on the tip of her tongue since Spike returned to Sunnydale.

“Dusted them all. Knew too much. Got me a good fix on the gem. It’s here, in Sunnyhell. Damned coincidental.”

“Funny how that happens,” she commented. “How long until you get more minions?”

“Don’t know, I’ll need some for the digging and all that rot. I can’t bloody do it all myself.”

“I need to give Anya some warning that minions are moving in,” she sighed. “I don’t think she’ll want to wake up dead one day...She’s still trying to get back to being a demon.”

“I’ll get it yet!” exclaimed the former demon in question, who entered the kitchen and walked towards the coffee machine. “You couldn’t turn on the coffee machine?” Anya accused as she glared at the two vampires.

“Funny how first thing I think in the morning is ‘Buffy need blood’ not ‘Buffy need coffee.’ I wonder what all my vampire friends will think?” Buffy noted with a glare at Anya and a roll of her eyes towards her mate.

“Your human friends still think of the queasy,” muttered Xander rubbing his face awake as he trailed after his orgasm partner.

“So you two together then?” asked Buffy, taking a sip of her blood.

The former demon and the boy looked at each other and each of them shrugged their shoulders.

“It depends...” started Xander.

“Well, it could change when...” said Anya at the same time.

Buffy nodded, effectively shutting the two of them up. “The demon thing.”

“The demon thing,” said Xander. “You got any cereal?”
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tbc..

 
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