Chapter Twenty-Three

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she still hadn’t heard anything from Spike the next day she was getting more and more worried by the hour. He would understand, she reassured herself. She just had to find him and explain. She finally got her chance as she was training at the back of the Magic Box and the door flew open and the vampire strode in, stopping instantly when he saw her.

“Buffy,” he got out woodenly.

“Spike!” she exclaimed, moving towards him, “Did you get my note? It was crazy.”

She leant in to kiss him but at the last minute, he turned his head and she brushed his cheek. She frowned and pulled back but he would not meet her gaze and he carefully extracted himself from her embrace, moving away from her.

“Spike, I’m really sorry. I tried to get to you as soon as I could but you weren’t there.”

“Needed a drink,” he mumbled and she bit her lip, hating that he wouldn’t even look at her.

“Spike,” she pleaded softly, going to him and placing her hand on his arm.

Without even looking at her, he gave a deep sigh.

“Buffy, I really can’t be arsed with this right now,” he got out tiredly.

“I just want to explain.”

“Don’t need to explain,” he answered tautly, “Pretty clear what happened. Lover Boy turned up and clicked his fingers and you went running.”

“It wasn’t like that,” she protested and he turned to her, dark blue eyes pinning her.

“Really?”

“There was a demon. Suvolte. It’s hiding in the caves.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll have a very romantic evening killing it with Peaches.”



He was already moving away, heading for the front of the shop, but she grabbed his arm, halting him.

“Spike!”

Before she could say anything though, he spoke up, pulling a small box out of his pocket.

“Happy Birthday, by the way. Here.”

He shoved the box into her hand and she looked down at it in confusion.

“Was going to give it to you last night, but you might as well have it now.”

Her eyes flew up to his but he looked away and before she could say anything, he had stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. She watched him for a long moment before turning her attention back to the box. She examined it before opening it carefully, gasping when she caught sight of the beautiful necklace inside. She pulled it out and laid it across her palm, fingering the heart with her name engraved on it. Oh God, she’d really really screwed up. Trembling slightly, her stomach aching, she placed the necklace back in the box and slipped it into her pocket. So much for this birthday passing without incident.


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


She met Angel outside the Magic Box later that evening, her heart feeling leaden as they made their way across town. He must have noticed her quietness because he finally spoke up.

“Are you okay? You’re quiet.”

“I’m fine,” she lied, throwing him a weak smile.

“Really?” he asked in disbelief.

She looked up at him again and gave him a wry smile.

“I just made a big mistake and I’ve got to fix it.”

“Oh?”

“The, err, the person I was meeting last night...not very happy about me being like four hours late.”

“Well, it was important.”

“Don’t think he sees it like that,” she muttered, forgetting for a moment that her companion had vampire hearing.

“He?” he repeated, “So there is a guy?”

“Yes,” she sighed, “There is a guy. But he’s really mad at me right now. I don’t really want to talk about it.”

He fell silent but she could feel him watching her and deftly ignored his gaze for the rest of the walk to the caves.



They reached the entrance to the caves and paused for a moment, readying themselves. Just as they were about to move though, there was a sound from the bushes behind them and they both whirled round, only to find Spike moving towards them, an axe slung over his shoulder. He stopped just in front of them, glancing at her only briefly before turning to his grandsire, chin jutted out in defiance.

“Heard there’s a beastie needs killing.”

“I didn’t ask for your help, Spike,” Angel bit out.

“Find I’m in the mood for some killing tonight,” Spike answered testily, throwing a glance in her direction, “So shall we get this out of the way and then I’ll toddle off and leave you two to catch up.”

She could only frown at his back as he strode into the cave, Angel following right behind. Yeah, she had a lot of work to do to fix this.

With a sigh, she moved to follow the two vampires into the cave. They quickly found the Suvolte and she spotted a new addition – several disgusting looking eggs.

“Angel,” she called, “You destroy the eggs. We’ll get the momma.”

He nodded in agreement and with a glance at Spike, she threw herself at the demon, lashing out with a kick that hardly affected it.




The demon lashed out and she ducked its claws as Spike got another kick to its head. She lashed out with a series of punches but was thrown backwards into the wall as the demon lashed out wildly. Spike continued to kick it and she was quickly back up on her feet, dodging its next blow and kicking it low in the stomach. This time, it caught Spike and sent him flying backwards and she was just behind him, colliding with him. They both righted themselves and he held onto her for just a moment longer than necessary, before turning back to the demon. He glanced at her and she nodded and then they launched into a simultaneous attack, stunning the demon and sending it staggering backwards into the wall. Before it could recover, she threw Spike the axe he had dropped and he caught it and swung it at the demon, embedding it in the demon’s neck in one smooth movement. The demon crumpled to the floor, gurgling in its throat and Spike yanked the axe out, only to embed it in the demon’s neck once again, beheading it and killing it.

Breathing heavily, she locked eyes with the vampire and gave him a soft smile. For a moment he seemed to forget their argument and he smiled back but then his eyes were drawn to the other vampire and he frowned. She turned to Angel too, only to find him watching them with surprise.

“You fight together a lot?” he asked in surprise, his gaze flicking to the dead demon.

“Now and then,” she answered awkwardly, glancing at Spike and straightening her jacket.



They made their way out of the caves in awkward silence and she kept throwing glances at Spike, wondering how on earth she was going to make it up to him. They stopped at the entrance to the caves and she took a deep breath of the fresh evening air.

“Right, well, that was fun and all but I’ve got better things to do.”

Her eyes snapped to Spike as he spoke and she went to speak but his sharp glare silenced her.

“Leave you two to...whatever. Try not to get too happy, eh, Peaches?”

He turned his back on them and strode off across the clearing, leaving her with a horrible feeling in the bottom of her stomach. She had to do something and quickly.

“Well, he’s-“

“I’m sorry,” she cut Angel off, “I’ll be right back.”

She took off at a sprint after Spike, catching up to him just at the other end of the clearing.

“Spike!”

He drew to a halt and she saw his shoulders sag.

“Slayer, I really don’t have the energy for this.”

She frowned and stepped in front of him, uncomfortably aware of the vampire watching them from across the clearing.

“Are you ever going to listen to me?”

He sighed and his eyes dropped to the floor.

“I can’t do this, Slayer. Just go back to Peaches.”

“I don’t want to. I want to fix this.”

“Well, it’s too late,” he answered dully, bright eyes rising to meet hers, “I’m tired. Tired of playing second fiddle to him. I’ve done it for most of my unlife, Buffy, and I just... I can’t do it anymore.”

“Who says-“

“Buffy, please,” he pleaded, “Just leave it. Go back over there to Peaches and leave me be. Go back to the vampire you really want because I can’t-“



She silenced him in the only way she could think how - by leaning up and kissing him. He was still for an achingly long moment but then he let out a little groan and returned her kiss, wrapping his free arm around her waist and tugging her against him. She kissed him harder, twining her arms around him and pressing her body against his. She finally drew back with a smile and met his sparkling gaze.

“You’re the vampire I want,” she whispered, trailing her fingers across his cheek, “You got that?”

“You sure?” he asked huskily, his eyes shining so brightly, his arm still tight around her.

“Positive,” she answered, “I...I love you.”

He went deathly still for all of five seconds before he suddenly tugged her against him again and kissed her passionately, dropping the axe to wrap both arms around her. She smiled against his lips and kissed him back, her heart singing for joy. He lifted her off the ground and spun her slightly before replacing her and pulling back to look at her, his eyes wide with awe as he brushed a hand over her hair.

“I love you, Buffy.”

She smiled and leaned her forehead against his.

“You’re not mad at me anymore?” she murmured.

“No.”

He smiled and kissed her again but she pulled back with a smile.

“Save some for later.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I think you should go back to your crypt and I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes, as soon as I’ve got rid of Angel.”

He smiled and kissed her once more, his fingers twining in her hair.

“God, I love you.”

“I love you,” she whispered.

He pulled back then and with a smile, retrieved his axe from the ground.

“Fifteen minutes?”

“Hopefully less.”

He smiled and moved to go but she stopped him again.

“Spike.”

“Yeah?”

She pulled the box out of her pocket and placed it in his hand.

“Maybe you could give me this properly.”

He smiled and gave her a nod, pocketing the box and reaching out to squeeze her hand.

“See you in a bit,” he murmured with a glance across the clearing.

She nodded and with one last kiss, he was gone, leaving her with a big smile on her face.