Chapter Ten

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She sat at her dresser, regarding herself in the mirror with a dreamy smile. She had got home eventually - long after the rain had stopped – but it had only been because staying would have led to something far heavier than the passionate kissing they had indulged in. Surprisingly, it had been Spike who had stopped them – again – when she had been beneath him, pinned to the sofa by his hard body. It was probably a good thing.
She smiled again and let out a little sigh of contentment and started to fix her hair. She brushed it back from her face and paused suddenly, spotting something in the mirror. There on her neck was a small purple hickey. Hmm, so much for being able to hide the evidence of last night. Deciding to leave her hair down for the day and let slayer healing get rid of the mark, she finished getting ready for work, feeling somehow refreshed. Maybe there had been something in that rain that had drenched her.

With the memory, an image of Spike in his soaked T-shirt flitted through her mind and she smiled. Her head definitely felt a lot clearer now. Kissing good. Vampire...well, not quite bad. Hence, more kissing okay. She smiled to herself once more and headed out of her room, bound for another day of office drudgery.



After work, she headed for the Magic Box and entered the shop to find her friends, as usual, gathered around the table, sharing a box of doughnuts.

“Ohh, doughnuts! Any left for the hard-working receptionist?”

“You’ll have to rush,” Dawn pointed out with a giggle, “Xander’s working his way through them at an unnatural speed.”

Buffy smiled and moved to the table, sitting as she retrieved a doughnut from the box.

“So, how was work?” Xander asked.

“Same old. But it pays the bills better than kittens so I’m not complaining.”

“What’s with the kittens?” Willow spoke up with a puzzled look and Buffy paused.

“Oh. Demon currency.”

“As in...money?” Xander asked, “They use kittens for money?”

“It’s a very sensible system,” Anya piped up, “And much more reliable than the dollar. Especially with inflation the way it is right now.”

There was a silence as they absorbed that new information and Xander shook his head in disbelief.

“Who’d a thunk it?”

Buffy smiled and bit into her doughnut. The jam oozed out over her tongue and she shut her eyes with bliss. A very naughty image involving a certain vampire’s chest and jam skipped before her eyelids and she opened her eyes again slowly, smiling.

“How ‘bout that rain yesterday?” Willow spoke up, turning from her laptop, “Freaky or what?!”

“Got completely soaked on patrol,” Buffy added with a frown, her mouth half-full with doughnut.

“Seemed unnatural.”

“You think there’s such a thing as demon rain?” Buffy quipped and the others laughed.



“Anyway, I’m gonna do some training before patrol-time,” she announced, pushing herself to her feet and pulling off her jacket to hang on the back of the chair.

“Still quiet?” Willow asked.

“Kinda. Think everything’s still recovering,” she answered with a smile as she got a hairband out of her pocket and tied her hair up in a loose ponytail, “But I figure things will be pretty much back to normal soon.”

She noticed as she righted herself and smoothed her hair back that her friends were staring at her and she lowered her arms self-consciously.

“What?”

“Get into a bad fight?” Xander asked.

“Huh?”

“That doesn’t like a bruise,” Willow added with a slight smile.

“Oh my God, it’s a hickey!” Dawn exclaimed and Buffy immediately blanched. Oh crap, she’d forgotten about Spike’s little present.

“Of course it’s a bruise. A slaying thing. Not a hickey. Definitely not a hickey.”

She had a feeling her fervent denial wasn’t helping her case much as Willow smiled widely and Dawn gave her a smug look. Damn.

“Okay, okay. It’s a hickey.”

“From who?” Dawn asked excitedly.

“None of your business!”



Just at that moment, the training door burst open and she knew without even looking that Spike had decided to make a badly-timed entrance.

“Spike!” Dawn called out, confirming her fears.

She sighed and turned to him, greeting him with a weak smile.

“Hey, Spike!” Buffy called out, “Patrol?”

“Sure,” he answered with some surprise and she quickly headed for him, hoping to escape.

“Uh-uh!” Willow called out, “That was pathetic! You can’t run away. We want to know about your secret man.”

She sent a wide-eyed look Spike’s way but he just smirked in reply. Some help he was going to be.

“Retreating out of staking distance might be a good idea,” she whispered to the vampire before turning back to the group.

“Well...erm...you’re looking at him!” she got out, gesturing to Spike, “Bye!”

Before anyone could even blink, she grabbed Spike by the arm and dragged him back through the door and out into the street.

“I don’t think they’re chasing us, love,” he spoke up after a few moments, drawing her to a halt.

“Oh, right,” she murmured, glancing back down the dark alleyway.

“And here was me thinking it was going to be our little secret,” he murmured lowly, drawing her attention to him.

“It’s your fault!” she exclaimed, tilting her neck slightly to show him the hickey that had given them away.

He only smiled, reaching out to run his fingers over the mark.

“Well...” he drawled slowly, his fingers sending delicious tingles through her, “Now what are we going to do?”


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


She knew she wasn’t going to get out of it that easily though and so she wasn’t surprised to find the gang assembled when she got home. She sighed as she realised her appearance wasn’t exactly going to help things: her hair was a mess and her clothes were crumpled. Sure, Spike had contributed to some of it, but most of it had been the work of a pack of Ghora demons. She stepped into the living room, feeling all of them fix their gazes on her.

“Can we get this out of the way?” she sighed, “I’m really tired.”

That wasn’t exactly helping either, she realised as she saw Xander’s eyes widen.

“Eww, please. What kind of girl do you think I am?!” she exclaimed, “There were Ghora demons. Things got messy.”

She stood in the centre of the doorway, arms crossed – looking strong and confident, even if she didn’t quite feel it. There was a silence but finally Willow spoke up.

“So...Spike? Really?”

“Yeah. It kinda happened,” she got out with an awkward shrug.

“What, like you tripped and his mouth ended up on your neck?” Xander quipped.

She rolled her eyes and took a calming breath before meeting her friend’s gaze.

“No. More like two consenting adults acting on an impulse.”

“But, Buffy...it’s Spike.”

“Yeah, I had noticed that,” she murmured with a smile.

“You hate Spike.”

“I don’t think any of us really hates Spike anymore, do we?”

“I don’t!” Dawn piped up and Buffy smiled.

“But he’s...”

“What? A vampire? Knew that.”

“Evil.”

“He plays poker for kittens. Doesn’t seem too evil to me.”



There was a pause and she dived in with her main argument – aimed primarily at Xander, who was obviously her chief opponent.

“Look, Xander, you’re my friend, right?”

“Of course.”

And you want me to be happy?”

“Yeah. You know I-“

“As long as it’s on your terms, right?” she remarked.

“No. Buffy, I just...I worry about you. Angel-“

“Oh, you are so not going there. That was a long time ago. And this is a completely different vampire.”

“Not better, though.”

“You think I don’t know that?” she quipped with a sardonic smile, “I mean, God, it’s Spike!”

There was a pause and then she continued.

“If you really care about me, you’d want me to be happy. And this thing...well, it’s fun. I’m enjoying myself. With Spike.”

She paused and frowned.

“That sounded better in my head.”

Dawn giggled and she softened, sharing a smile with her sister.

“That’s all this is? Fun?” Willow asked uncertainly.

“Well, yeah. It’s not like I’m in love with him or anything. It’s just...nice, you know. You’ve got Tara...and Xander, you’ve got Anya. Is it so wrong for me to have someone?”

She turned to Xander as she addressed him and she could see him softening.

“I know it’s Spike and he’s...well, he’s Spike. But, don’t you think I should get to have a little fun? Sometimes I feel like a fifty-year-old nun instead of a twenty-year-old girl!”




“Buffy’s right,” Willow spoke up after a moment’s pause and Buffy turned to her, smiling warily. Willow turned to her and smiled.

“You deserve some fun. And if Spike’s your fun guy, then hell, go for it! He is kinda hot, in a punky way.”

Buffy giggled and moved forward to hug her friend and whisper a ‘thanks’. She turned then to Xander, pouting. He glanced at Anya and she rolled her eyes.

“This is good for Buffy. She can have many pleasant orgasms with Spike and they can join us on double-dates.”

She wasn’t sure if that was helping her argument or not but then Xander turned back to her and smiled hesitantly.

“Just be careful, Buffy.”

“Totally. You know I’ll totally stake his ass if he puts a foot wrong.”

Looking somewhat relieved, Xander smiled and she drew him into a hug.

“Cool. Well, I’m off to bed. Need all the sleep I can get to cope with Spike, you know?”

Her friends laughed and with a smile, she left the room and made her way to her bedroom. She was pretty sure there would be another Scooby meeting – without her – to go through all the pros and cons of Buffy’s latest wild adventure, but right now, she couldn’t be bothered to worry about it and just hoped things would work out. She planned on lots more kissing.