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I Know You II by slaymesoftly
 
Twenty-One
 
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Chapter Twenty-One

“It’s about time you two got home,” she grumbled, standing up and wrapping her arms around herself. “Where have you been?”

Instead of answering, Buffy put one hand on her hip and asked with some asperity, “Why didn’t you just land in the kitchen? Nobody asked you to wait for us out here.”

Dawn looked around for a minute, before finally dropping her head and admitting, “I did land in the kitchen. But I got bored and I came outside to look for you and the door locked behind me.”

“Brilliant,” Spike muttered, not trying to hide his disgust at having his plans interrupted. Buffy poked him in the side and released his hand so that she could get out her key and open the door.

“Hey! Were you two holding hands? Have you been out on a date?” Dawn’s excitement was palpable and even Spike broke into a reluctant smile at her enthusiasm.

“Not tonight, Little Sis. Tonight was all business.” He held up the weapons bag and shook it at her.

“Last night?”

Buffy blushed and mumbled under her breath. Dawn turned away from the embarrassed girl and continued to badger Spike. “So, did you go out last night? How long have you been dating? Are you having sex yet? Are you in love? What are— ”

“Whoa!” Spike’s voice was a mixture of pride, embarrassment, and anger. “Not really sure that what we’re doin’ or not doin’ is any of your business, Dawn.”

“But, my Spike and Buffy will want to know!” She blithely ignored the yellow flashes in his eyes as she pursued the answer she wanted to hear.

“Not any of their business either,” he growled, slinging the bag of weapons into a corner and taking off his coat. “Now, what are you doin’ here?” he asked pointedly.

“Fine,” she grumbled. ”Don’t tell me. But I saw you holding hands. You can’t deny that.”

“What do you want, Dawn?” Buffy’s no-nonsense tone reminded Dawn that to these two people, she was just someone who knew their other selves – not someone that either one of them knew well.

“Willow is worried that her vamp self might also be a witch and she wanted me to give you these.” Dawn held out her hand and allowed the two amulets in it to dangle from their strings. “She says they should ward off any magics that vamp Willow might try to throw at you, and also block the Master’s thrall. Have you seen him yet? Is it the Master that you killed last year?”

Buffy nodded, taking the amulet and examining it curiously. “Yes, we’ve seen him. Or, I have anyway. I haven’t even had a chance to ask Spike about what he saw while he was inside.”

“Inside? Inside what?”

“Oh, we went to the city where the master has his lair. I guess you’d better sit down. This could take a while...”

Buffy described what she’d seen; then Spike added his experiences when he’d gone through the line to get blood, including what he’d had to pay for it. He told about seeing Willow about to enter the room and how he’d ducked out quickly before she could recognize him. They described what the master was doing to cement his control over both the human and demon populations and shrugged when Dawn asked if they had a plan.

“For tonight, the plan was to get out of there in one piece,” Spike growled.

“Well, be sure to let me-us know when you decide what you want to do. Everybody wants to help if they can.”

“ ‘less the Slayer can toss stakes through portals and hit her target, don’t see what any of you lot can do. My slayer will think of somethin’ and then we’ll send old Bat Face to his reward.”

Buffy blushed and stared at Spike as she realized that he meant her, not the older Buffy, and that he was saying that he had perfect confidence in her ability to win. He gazed back at her with an expression that made Buffy’s stomach flutter, and she colored even more as she found herself unable to look away. Dawn watched the locked stares and suddenly decided that she’d been there long enough.

“Just don’t do anything without letting us know, ok?” she said, edging towards the kitchen. Neither one actually turned to watch her leave, just waving their hands absently as they edged closer together on the couch.

“Right,” Dawn muttered as she pulled her portal up around herself. “None of my business.” With her usual loud pop, she disappeared back to her own dimension leaving Buffy and Spike alone in the empty house.

“Your slayer?” she asked in a whisper, her irises were big pools of emerald as she held his gaze.

He raised his hand and ghosted his knuckles over her cheek as he responded. “Was a figure of speech, love. Know you’re not mine –not really. But had to say something to let her know which slayer I meant, didn’t I?”

“Oh,” Buffy’s face clouded with disappointment. She sat up straighter, and he let his hand drop to his lap. “Sure. I knew that’s what you meant.”

They sat there uncomfortably for several seconds – the erotic high they had both been on after the escape from the Master’s lair having dissipated during their lengthy discussion with Dawn, and their usual miscommunication about their feelings left them both feeling too insecure to pursue it.

With a yawn, Buffy finally rose to her feet. “I didn’t get much sleep last night – and it’s already 3:00 now. I guess I’d better get to bed or I’ll be too tired to work tomorrow...”

He flowed to his feet with her, nodding his head, eyes shuttered to hide the disappointment there.

“Right you are, pet. No tellin’ what we’re gonna run up against tomorrow night – you’ll need to be on your toes.”

“Yep. Toes on Buffy, that’s me,” she said in what she hoped was a casual manner. “I guess I’ll just...” Moving very slowly, she turned away from the vampire. When he didn’t touch her or call her back, she sighed and began walking towards the bathroom. “Good night, Spike.”

Spike watched her walk away, disappointment in every line of her body. He watched stoically as she entered the bathroom and shut the door without looking at him again. He replayed the entire night in his head, right up to the point where she’d released his hand in order to open the door. He walked slowly towards the bathroom, stopping just outside the door and leaning against the wall in his familiar slouch. He could hear her moving around inside and could picture her brushing her teeth and washing her face. The rustle of cloth told him that she was taking off the layers of heavy clothing, and he growled softly as he envisioned her standing naked only feet away from him.

When Buffy left the bathroom, she was surprised to find Spike right outside. He quickly straightened, stepping closer to her, as he asked, “No good-night kiss, then, pet? I thought we had an arrangement. Were you going to send old Spike off to bed without his nightly snog?”

“N...no. But I thought you didn’t want—“

“Told you last night – don’t ever think I don’t want to kiss you. Jus’ figured your little sis’s arrival had pretty much killed the mood for now.”

“For now?” Her lips twitched in a small smile.

“Oh yeah. Wasn’t givin’ up on you – jus’ figured I’d have to go find us another good fight tomorrow night if old Bat Face lets me down and doesn’t send some minions for us to beat up on.” He was grinning, his posture much more relaxed as he saw that she was now smiling happily and moving closer to him.

“So, what are you saying? That I’m only going to be interested in you if I’ve staked a bunch of vampires first? Or been scared to death in a car?”

“I’m sayin’ I think it helps my case a lot,” he whispered, dipping his head toward her face.

“I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit,” she whispered back as their lips met. “I don’t need a fight to want to kiss you...or whatever.”

With her “whatever” ringing in his ears, Spike put his arms around her pajama-clad body and pulled her to him as he deepened the kiss. She smelled of soap and toothpaste and he thought it was the sexiest thing he’d ever inhaled – until the scent of her arousal drifted to his nostrils. Growls were rumbling deep in his chest as he pulled her against him, rubbing his erection into her hip. When Buffy gave a little whimper and wrapped one leg around his, he put his hands under her ass and boosted her up until she could wrap both legs around him and grind her pelvis against him. The extra friction had her moaning and whimpering as she used her powerful legs to pull him even closer.

Without releasing his hold on her churning butt, Spike took two long strides to the doorway of her bedroom and kicked the door open. Two more strides had him at the edge of the bed, where he hesitated just long enough for Buffy to begin to worry that he was changing his mind. She flung herself away from him – falling backwards onto the bed, pulling the surprised vampire down on top of her and clamping her legs around him again as soon as he landed. Practically growling herself, she continued to rub against him, his groans and muttered “bloody hell”s only urging her on.

With a supreme effort of will, Spike tore his mouth away and pushed himself up on his arms. Buffy’s “nooooo...” of dismay gave him a burst of masculine pride, even as he fought her attempts to pull him back down.

“Easy, love,” he murmured. ‘Want this as much as you do – I just wanna make it good for you.”

“It was feeling pretty damn good to me,” she gasped, glaring at him. “Why are you stopping?”

“Not stoppin’, love. I jus’...let me...” He used one hand to push her pajama bottoms down to her knees, and then dropped his head and began to kiss his way down her torso, pausing to push her top over her face and to suck on each nipple until they were standing in little peaks and Buffy was arching into his mouth. As he worked his way down her body, she kicked her pants the rest of the way off and yanked her top off her face, smiling at his rumble of approval.

“Ah, love, you are so beautiful. Like a flower you are – and you smell delicious...” He ran his tongue through her folds, sending her hips arching off the bed and bringing a small scream to her lips. “Taste delicious, too,” he mumbled as he pulled the swollen and needy bit of flesh into his mouth. He’d barely begun to suck on it when Buffy uttered another shriek and shuddered around him, her thighs clutching his head so tightly he was briefly worried that he wouldn’t survive to enjoy his reward. Then, her legs went limp, as did the entire body under him and he looked up to meet her half-closed eyes.

“Kinda thought I might get to do that a bit longer,” he said ruefully.

Buffy gave an embarrassed laugh. “I think I was already almost there,” she replied, blushing lightly. “Did you know that you give the best good-night kisses of anybody in the whole world?”

“The whole world, huh? Jus’ how many good-night kisses have you had, Slayer?”

“Enough to know that nobody else can do it like you can,” she said with a smile. “I don’t have to try them out to know that.”

“Better not be tryin’ them out,” he growled, smothering the surge of jealousy that went through him.

She tilted her head to look at him where he was lying between her legs, his chin resting on her bare stomach. “I wasn’t planning to,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

“I’m not mad, love.” He wormed his was up the bed until he was lying beside her where he could drop kisses on her neck and shoulder. “Jus’ brings out the demon in me to hear you talk about kissin’ anyone else...Not my place, I know, but—“

“Why isn’t it your place?” Her question startled him and he flashed back to how she’d looked at him when he called her ‘his’ Slayer.

“Not mine, are you?” His suddenly intent eyes bored into hers, the fierceness there causing her to look away briefly. She felt him sigh when she turned away and she barely heard his whispered, “Didn’t think so.”

She whipped her head back to glare at him. “I could be,” she said angrily. “If you would just tell me you really want ME. That I’m not just a substitute for the other Buffy.”

“Oh, love,” he breathed, cupping her face. “You could never be a substitute for anybody. You’re you, and anything else is just a cheap copy. Want you more than anythin’, Buffy. Want you to be mine in every way there is – but—“

“Don’t ‘but’ me. If you want me to be yours, then say so. Do something about it.”

“Nothing the demon’d like more,” he said cryptically, rising up on one elbow, “but we’re not there. One day, though, maybe...”

“Okay, I don’t know what the demon has to do with anything – and I’m not sure I want to – but if you want me...I...I kinda want that too,” she finished with another blush, her voice trailing off as she finished.

“Do you mean what I think you mean?” Hope battled with uncertainly as he tried to read her flushed face.

“I mean,” she raised her chin and met his gaze firmly, “that I know I don’t look like a little girl anymore; I know that I’ve had to live like an adult and take care of myself for a long time, and ...and I think I’m ready to have an adult relationship. With you,” she added, in case there was any doubt.

“Oh, Buffy...” The vampire’s soft whisper almost sounded as though he was fighting tears, although her common sense told her that wasn’t possible. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her still-naked body against his. “Want you so bad, love. Want to hold you and love you and...”

His still-hard cock pushing against her hip reminded them both that only one of them had actually had a relaxing good-night “kiss” and she said coyly, “Wouldn’t that be easier to do if you took your clothes off too?”

“That it would, love,” he agreed with a grin. “Don’t go away, I’ll be right back.”

He rolled away from her, already pulling his tee shirt over his head and reaching down to untie his boots. Suddenly Buffy grabbed the sheets and pulled them up to her chest, her heart rate accelerating.

“What’s wrong, pet? Haven’t even got to the good parts yet,” he said with a leer as he began to unfasten his jeans.

“Do you think she’s watching?”

“She, who? Watching what?”

“Dawn! She said they can watch us. What if she’s – they’re watching now? What if Willow’s watching? Oh my god! What if Giles is watching?”

“Then I hope they get an eyeful,” he said with a grin, pushing his jeans down and kicking them off. In the light coming in from the living room lamps, he looked like a marble statue come to life as he stood, unashamed and unconcerned beside the bed. When he realized that Buffy was close to hyperventilating, he stopped laughing and got back on the bed, sliding under the covers and running a reassuring hand over her shoulder.

“I doubt they’re watching, Slayer. You know what she said about never peekin’ in at the other two without warning. Now that she knows we’ve got something going, she’ll be just as afraid to surprise us.”

“I hope you’re right,” she said dubiously. “She seemed kinda nosy to me.” She allowed him to pull her down beside him, but kept the blankets pulled up to her chin. He nuzzled the side of her neck, reminding her that she was now lying stark naked next to an also naked and still very hard vampire. As she felt their flesh meet – smooth coolness contrasting with silky warmth – she forgot all about any possible onlookers as she gasped into his mouth.



 
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