Buffy awoke, curled in Spike’s arms, to the sound of loud pounding on their door. Before she could sit up, Spike was standing and peering out of the spy hole. He sighed and turned to Buffy.

“It’s Gwen. How the bloody hell….”

To her amazement, Spike opened the door, growling deep within his throat.

“What?”

Gwen was taken aback by his bluntness, but quickly regained herself.

“Ethan! What in the hell do you think you’re doing here?”

Spike looked over his shoulder at Buffy, who was still lounging, fully nude, on the bed. He winked at her, and then turned around to Gwen.

“What the sodding hell do you think we were doing? Playing canasta?”

Gwen huffed and rolled her eyes.

“I swear to God, Ethan, I can’t believe you’d do this to me! Especially after what she did to you!”

“And what, pray tell, did she do to me?”

“Well, for starters, she leaked the information about your paternity to the tabloids….”

“Oh, get off it, sweetheart, I know you and your bloody mother sent that in. I do watch the s…I watch things.”

Buffy couldn’t help but chuckle at the exasperated expression that crossed Gwen’s face. She was flummoxed to say the least, her eyes bulging out, and a painfully quizzical mask replacing her normally stoic, yet beautiful, face. Gwen closed her agape mouth after a moment, and straightened her blouse absentmindedly.

“Well then, Ethan, I guess I don’t have anything left to say.”

“Yeah, I s’ppose you don’t.”

“Ethan…I’m….”

“Don’t,” Spike said, dramatically covering his eyes with his arm, “You broke my sodding heart, woman…just…go!”

As Gwen walked away, Spike shut the door and turned to Buffy, who was enthusiastically applauding him, with a wide grin.

“Well, now that we’ve gotten that little unpleasantry out of the way, what, oh what, can we do next?”

Buffy rolled her eyes, climbed out of the bed, and walked into the adjoining bathroom.

“Oh, yeah, in your dreams, Spike. We have other things we need to focus on right now.”

Spike followed her into the bathroom when he heard her break out in peals of laughter.

“What’s so funny, pet?”

Buffy smiled broadly as she held up a pair of wrapped toothbrushes that had been lain across the counter in a miniature, knitted hammock, hung so that it sagged slightly over the sink. Spike’s eyes bulged out and he shook his head, slowly.

“This woman is a loon.”

Buffy nodded and handed one toothbrush to Spike, while she squeezed a blue line of toothpaste onto hers, and began to brush her teeth. Spike followed suit, turning on the shower as he brushed. After rinsing their mouths, Spike waggled his eyebrows at Buffy, and gestured over to the steamy shower.

“C’mon, Slayer, you’re still covered in me. Don’t you think we should pop in there and get you cleaned up?”

“Right, shower together so I can have you all over me again?”

A flash of worry passed through Spike’s mind as Buffy spoke, but it was eradicated when the sheet she had draped around herself fell to the floor. She winked as he gawked at her body.

“Race you in there?”

Climbing into the large shower, Spike stared at Buffy’s taut form, still entranced by her beauty. As the water fell over her body, Spike pulled her close to him and kissed her gently. When he pulled back, Buffy let out a small whimper.

“What’s the matter,” she asked.

Blinking the beads of water from his eyes, Spike captured Buffy’s gaze.

“Slayer…Buffy…pet…I…I want you to know something, and you don’t have to repeat….”

“I know, Spike.”

“You what?”

“That you love me.”

“What are you talking about you daft bint? I was going to say that I like the Outback Steakhouse…and was wondering if you’d join me there for a Bloomin’ Onion.”

“Yeah, right. You love me, don’t you?”

“Well, I’m not going to say it now, you ruined my big moment.”

“No, I’m sorry…go ahead.”

“Nope. Moment’s gone. Ruined now.”

Buffy smiled and caressed his face with her damp hand.

“Spike, I don’t know if I love you yet…I could…I…I like you…a lot. And I enjoy being around you…and I trust you…with everything.”

Spike nodded.

“And you want me.”

“Well, yeah, that too. A girl’d have to be crazy not to want you.”

“Even the crazy ones want me, pet.”

“I guess. Just…just promise me something?”

“Anything, pet.”

“Be patient with me about this whole thing…I…after the whole ‘Angel’ thing, I feel….”

“Vulnerable?”

“Yeah, that about sums it up.”

“Know what you mean, pet. Felt the same way every time Dru left me.”

“If I love you, I want it to be because I want to…not because I feel like I’m supposed to.”

“I’d wait forever for you, Slayer.”

“Well, you have forever…I have a good 40 years, tops.”

“Don’t say that, pet. You’ll outlive us all, I’m sure.”

Appreciative of the patience that Spike gave her, and finally noticing that his member was at attention, Buffy knelt on the shower’s floor in front of him. Spike looked down at her, in awe, as she took him fully into her mouth, massaging his balls, and lapping at his tip with end of every stroke. When he began to feel his balls tense, Spike pulled her to her feet and propped her up so she was leaning against the wall with her back towards him. Sensing she was already ready for him, Spike thrust into Buffy’s tight cavern, her warmth causing lapses of thought within him. Pumping in and out of her feverishly, he found his release as Buffy hit her own peak. Resting against each other, out of breath, they entwined their fingers in a loving grip, staring into each other’s eyes until the water began to run cold. Quickly washing off, Buffy and Spike grabbed fluffy white towels and wrapped them around themselves before they relaxed in each other’s arms on their trusseled bed. Spike smiled at Buffy as her eyes began to flutter shut.

“Can’t sleep just yet, Slayer, we have to go see the witch and the doll.”

Buffy’s practiced pout weakened Spike’s walls slightly.

“Alright…you sodding princess. Twenty minutes. That’s all of a nap you get.”

Buffy ginned as she snuggled closer into Spike’s arms and drifted off into a cat nap.

--


**Note, I have a huge pet peeve with authors, directors, producers, whatever, who forget about one key element in a story, commercial, movie, whatever: dental hygiene. I can't stand coffee commercials where the couple wakes up and smooches on each other. I am not a fan of my own morning breath, let alone anyone else's. So, the tooth brushing thing in this chapter, had a purpose, because we all need to appreciate good dental hygiene (maybe next chapter, Buffy and Spike will floss!).