Chapter Sixteen

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Dawn was more than happy to see them and the three of them settled down to watch a film together. Spike sprawled on the sofa in that sexy way he had and with a smile, she sat next to him, leaning against him as he wrapped an arm around her. Dawn made a gagging gesture in their direction and Buffy gave her sister an evil smile before turning and kissing the vampire, who quickly caught onto the game and kissed her back.

“Eww, please! I don’t want to watch you two play tonsil hockey! I want to watch the movie!”

Buffy laughed and parted from him, grabbing the remote and starting the film as Dawn curled up on the floor in front of them. She leant back against the vampire and rested her head in the crook of his neck, enjoying the slight brushing of his fingers over her arm. She wrapped her arm around his waist and relaxed against him, feeling his breath stirring her hair lightly.

She had definitely missed having someone to share cuddles with and had found, to her surprise, that the vampire was prone to cuddles. Remembering the hours of their engagement, she should probably have guessed, but she had put that down to the spell. In reality, it seemed Spike would use any excuse to have her in his arms. She smiled and shifted her head against him to get comfortable.

“Not your pillow, you know,” he growled teasingly.

She giggled and curled up against him even more as he pressed a kiss to her hair.



As the credits rolled past, Dawn got to her feet and gave a slight yawn.

“Bedtime for me.”

“Okay, Dawnie, sleep well.”

Dawn nodded and yawned again, giving a sleepy stretch.

“Night, guys.”

“Night, pet.”

“Night, Dawnie. Don’t forget to set your alarm for school.”

“Yes, Mom,” Dawn answered sarcastically, giving them a tired wave and heading up the stairs to her room.

“Ah ha,” Spike exclaimed lowly, drawing her even closer to him, “Got you all to myself now.”

She smiled and tilted her head to meet his lips in a gentle kiss. All of the desperate, dizzying hunger of earlier seemed to have dissipated and she smiled against his lips, leaning into his touch. He pulled back and leaned further into the sofa, stretching his legs out in front of him. She curled up against his side, running her fingers in lazy circles over his shirt.

“What you thinking about?” he asked, brushing a hand over her hair.

“Not much. My brain’s asleep,” she answered with a giggle, nuzzling his chest with her nose. He laughed and hugged her close to him, hooking one of his legs around hers.



A knock at the door brought them out of their sleepy cuddle and Buffy sat up with a frown.

“I wonder who that is. It’s quite late.”

She got to her feet and peeped through the window – and jerked the door open when she spotted the person waiting on the porch.

“Giles!” she cried, stepping forward and hugging him tightly, “You’re back!”

“So it would seem.”

Releasing him from her bear hug, she pulled back to look at him.

“Why are you back?” she asked, continuing before he even had a chance to answer, “Oh, come in. This is so great. You never said anything on the phone the other day.”

“Well, it was somewhat of a last minute decision,” he explained, stepping into the house and setting down his bag as she shut the door, “I was talking to Xander and-“

He froze in the doorway of the living room and she bit her lip as she moved towards her Watcher. She hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with her Watcher about her relationship with Spike.

“Spike,” Giles said tersely.

“Rupert,” Spike answered with a nod, already on his feet by the time Buffy reached the room. He glanced to Buffy and smiled wryly.

“I’ll get going. Leave you two to catch up.”

“Oh,” Buffy got out, nodding but unable to keep the disappointment out of her voice, “Right. Okay.”

He was already at the doorway and she turned to Giles.

“Why don’t you, err, sit down? I’ll just see Spike out.”

Giles gave her a strange look but finally moved into the living room as she followed Spike onto the porch.



“He knows, Slayer,” Spike said, as soon as she joined him on the porch, shutting the door quietly behind her.

“Huh? Knows what?”

“’Bout us. And he’s not happy about it.”

“Don’t be silly. He hasn’t said anything.”

“Slayer, I saw the way he looked-“

“Spike,” she interrupted, stepping close to him and resting her hands on his chest, “I really doubt Giles came all the way from England to lecture me about my love life.”

Spike gave her a doubtful look but she leant up and kissed him and by the time she had pulled back, the look was gone.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“’Course.”

He bent and pressed another quick kiss to her lips and then dropped to the path and disappeared into the darkness with a swirl of his jacket.



She went back into the house and smiled as she moved into the living room to sit beside her Watcher. Before she could speak, express her surprise at seeing him, he spoke up, eyes fixed on the coffee table.

“So it’s true.”

“What’s true?” she asked.

He raised his head, tired eyes meeting hers.

“You and Spike.”

With a frown, she got to her feet.

“Oh my God! You did come all the way from England to lecture me about my love life!”

Giles said nothing – but he didn’t need to, she was already fuming.

“You said you spoke to Xander. He told you, right?”

“He’s worried about you.”

“I knew he was just pretending to be okay with this!” she cried, pacing the small distance between the coffee table and the door, “I can’t believe this.”

She took a deep, calming breath and turned to her Watcher, steeling herself against whatever he might say.

“You’ve wasted a trip. You don’t control my life. Not since you left me to make my own decisions.”

“I expected them to be sensible decisions though!” Giles burst out, immediately reining himself in again, “Not the decision to start some sort of depraved relationship with that vampire.”

She forced herself to stay calm, even though she would much rather have screamed and shouted.

“I think you should leave, Giles. I really don’t want to speak to you right now.”

His eyes met hers and she could see the disappointment there as he rose to his feet.

“Fine. When you feel you might want to talk – and I won’t leave ‘til we have talked – I’m staying with Xander and Anya.”

She gave him a curt nod but refused to meet his gaze as he left the house, feeling tears ready to break through.