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Chapter 3.05
Wednesday, May 8th, 2002
Spike took some of her shampoo and massaged it
into her hair. When he had finished he spun them round so that
instead of hitting his back the water from the shower was hitting
hers instead. She took a step backward, still holding him round
the waist and let the water rinse the suds from her hair, his
fingers working through the strands directing the water flow until
the last of the lather was rinsed away. He found himself in the
perfect position to claim a kiss. Buffy's head was tilted back
and her eyes closed and one of his hands was wrapped in her hair
while her arms still circled his waist. His lips moved on hers
with a light touch, nibbling at her lower lip to prevent the pout
he expected, when she realised he had finished doing her hair.
Pulling back, he turned off the water. "I guess
it's time we went back to pretending that we're responsible adults
and head back to Sunnyhell. See Bit. Do some sort of patrol."
Spike sounded as if he wished they had other plans.
"I thought we had a date with some silky underwear,"
Buffy suggested.
"Much as the idea appeals, and believe me it
does;" He treated her to a trademark leer to prove his point.
"I think a rain check's prob'ly in order. Don't want the Niblet
thinking that we're too interested in screwin' each other's brains
out to spend time with her, or attend to your slayer duties. She
seems happy we're together. Don't want her to change her mind,"
the platinum blond responded.
"You know, if you had to choose, life and death,
between me and her I sometimes wonder which one you'd choose,"
teased the slayer as she led him back into the main room.
The couple started, albeit reluctantly, to get
dressed as the vampire responded with a rueful smirk. "Already
answered that question, pet, long time ago. Right before our first
proper kiss. Well, first one that wasn't 'cause of a spell, that
is."
Buffy cast her mind back, trying to think what
he could mean, then she remembered his words. "...the other,
not so pleasant Buffy ...anything happened to Dawn, it'd destroy
her. I couldn't live her bein' in that much pain." Yeah, he'd
made it plain where he stood. He would die to protect them, but
implicit in his words was his acknowledgement of Buffy's willingness
to die to save her sister. She had her answer, not necessarily
the one she would have expected but then when had her vampire
ever been predictable. Her vampire? Her vampire.
"I guess you did," she replied softly as she
moved behind him, passing her arms around his waist once more,
pressing into his T-shirt clad back so he wouldn't see her face.
"There's no limit to what you would do for me, is there?"
"I thought that was obvious by what I agreed
to, to get you to marry me." Spike adopted a teasing tone, trying
to lighten the serious mood.
"No, that showed me what you were prepared to
do to be with me. Knowing that you would let me go because it's
what I'd want that means even more."
Spike shrugged. "Not really. No point keepin'
you here for you to end up hating me and yourself for lettin'
Niblet get hurt. Still just the same old selfish Spike. Couldn't
go back to havin' you hate me not after this."
"Oh well. If you put it like that, then." her
teasing tone came back, as did Spike's.
"Couldn't have you thinkin' I was all noble and
self-sacrificin', could I?"
"That'd never do. Can't forget you're the Big
Bad... Cutie." Her last word prompted the vamp to twist in her arms
and sweep her feet from under her, pinning her to the tile floor.
"What did I say to you about the "C" word?" Spike
proceeded to tickle her mercilessly. "Who's the only cutie in
this room? ...Tell me, love."
Buffy gasped for air and squirmed beneath him.
"You ...are."
The tickling onslaught stopped and Buffy realised
that Spike's lips were only a fraction of an inch away from her
own. "Wrong answer, slayer." He stood up and turning away he finished
getting dressed.
Buffy continued to pant on the floor for another
minute or two. "That's it. You're just going to give up?" she
managed after some time.
"Hell no, just waiting till I can consult with
an expert tactician as to my best form of attack, and then I'll
mount an offensive in my own time. For just now, it's time to
go home." He reached down, offering a hand to help her up, and
was relieved when she took it.
"Translation?" Buffy gave him a sceptical look.
"I'm going to find out from your little sister
how best to make you suffer, since tickling doesn't appear to
do it. I'm sure she'll think of something," Spike smirked and
gave her a slap on her behind. "Now, put some clothes on, woman,
before all my good intentions go to waste."
The slayer jumped, startled by the blow rather
than hurt. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the vampire sit down
on the bed to put on his socks and boots.
"Spike, you're a pig," she responded as much
out of habit as out of conviction.
Spike was quiet on the drive back. Couldn't the
bloody woman just give way on anything? Was it her aim in life
to strip him of every last vestige of pride that he possessed?
Hell, yeah, he was love's bitch again. Always had been, probably
always would be. Still, "cutie", that's a girl's nickname and
damned if anyone had ever seen him in a skirt, even if Dru had
been quite intrigued by the idea in the eighties. And okay, he
was making it into a bigger deal than it deserved to be, but it
was the final soddin' straw. Damned if he'd got his own way in
anything since the pair of them had got engaged and look at the
concessions he'd had to make to get her to agree to that.
Okay, she hadn't gone back to that dump she'd
worked in, but that was because she'd totally ignored what he
said about wanting to stay in control until the Watcher could
tell them whether it was safe to claim each other. She hadn't
liked the idea that he could rein himself in when they were together.
It hurt her pride. So she deliberately set out to make him lose
control. Even when he'd already told her the reason he was holding
off. Stubborn bitch.
And when she did find out what that password
meant he probably wasn't going to hear the end of that either.
Further embarrassment to come at the slayer's hands. They'd been
using that same bloody password for decades. He'd always thought
it was a nice ironic touch. Back in the day anyone who found out
would most likely have been creeped out by it. They certainly
wouldn't have found it amusing like the slayer would. That was
why he'd refused to tell her. He wasn't good at being laughed
at. He'd had a lifetime of it before Dru saved him. After that
he'd sworn he would never put up with it again, and he hadn't,
not till that soddin' wheelchair that she put him in. If she insisted
on finding out at least he didn't have to be in the vicinity at
the time.
God, why couldn't he, just for once, fall for
someone who would give him a bit of slack? Someone who would treat
him with some respect.
Buffy stole sideways glances at the man behind
the wheel of the car. If he wasn't smoking, his jaw had that tick
that said he was barely in control. She wished she could tell
what he was thinking right now. Whatever it was, it wasn't of
the good. He'd been fine in the motel, well maybe a little off,
the last five minutes, but definitely more than welcoming up until
then and he'd seemed okay when they left the room. Then when she'd
come back to the car after checking out he'd gone into silent
mode. And kept it up for half an hour so far, which had to be
a Spike record. Guess Angel wasn't the only one she was going
to have to prise information out of.
"Okay, what's the what?" she threw in as an opening
gambit.
"Who says there's a what?"
"I do. If you were human you would have ground
your teeth to talcum by now. What gives?"
"Not you, that's for sure." The Brit flicked
a cold glance over her before returning his attention to the tiny
bare patch on the windscreen.
"What? What are you talking about?" Buffy's temper
immediately rose to take on his.
"You. I had this stupid idea that if you loved
someone, then what they wanted was supposed to count for something."
"Okay, I'm sure that makes some sort of sense
to you but I don't have a clue what you're talking about."
"Name me one disagreement or argument or fight
that we've had where you've actually backed down and let me have
my way. You do realise that when people talk about give and take
in a relationship it's not meant to be all give on one side and
all take on the other."
"I didn't go back to DMP. You didn't want me
to and I didn't go back."
"There's a good example. You didn't go back because
I bit you so you couldn't go back that night and by the next day
you were enjoying playing hookey too much to want to go back.
It had nothing to do with what I wanted. And to go back to me
biting you, I bloody told you I wanted to keep things as they
were until Rupert finished his research. That I had to stay in
control until we knew it was okay, so you decided it was a challenge.
You just had to push to see if you could get me to lose control
and look where that's got us."
"Yeah, well, I don't see a problem with where
that got us," Buffy responded.
"So you don't think you're eventually going to
come to resent the control it gives me."
"No more than I resented the fact you weren't
being completely open."
"My point exactly, slayer. It doesn't matter
what we're talking about or what any reasoning behind it is, as
soon as you don't agree you just do whatever it takes to get your
own way. Compromise just isn't in your vocabulary. Well maybe
you should think about what you might lose in the long run if
you win every argument," the vampire ground out, his eyes never
leaving the road.
"Are you threatening to leave me? Didn't take
you long to threaten to go back on all your big promises, did
it?"
"For goodness sake, how many times do I have
to tell you that I'm here to stay? What I'm saying is if you can't
get over always having to win you'll destroy the last few scraps
of pride this buggerin' chip lets me keep. I told you once I was
a willing slave. I can't deny you anything and if you keep going,
that's what you'll have a slave, not a husband."
Buffy was stunned into silence. He was right.
She knew he wouldn't leave. She knew that he would do anything
to make her happy and if she didn't curb her slayer instincts
she would walk all over him for it. He could read her so easily.
He knew when he should back off. She didn't, not yet. She still
didn't even know what she'd done to bring all this up.
When she finally found words to speak all the
anger was gone from her voice. "You're right, as you almost always
are. I just don't know what I'm supposed to have done. I mean
you were right I did set out to make you lose control, but I don't
think that's it. I don't... What did I do?"
"I might be into pain, but emasculation, verbal
or otherwise isn't my scene. Not that I do great on ridicule of
any sort, in fact..." came the vampire's cool reply.
Buffy mentally made her way through the last
five minutes in the motel room. "You're in a foul mood because
I called you Cutie? That's what's got you so bent out of
shape? In case you hadn't noticed it's supposed to be a term of
endearment. It doesn't bother you when you use it on me. In fact
it was you using it that started it. Turn about's fair play."
The vampire sorted in disgust. "Not when you're
throwin' around words like that. Cute, I'll just about put up
with since with your age group it sort of means sexy, but I still
don't like it. Cutie though. To me a cutie is a little big-eyed
bint, which to me seems appropriate for you, but it's hardly going
to make me feel all manly, is it? And I'm not this pissed off
because you called me cutie, I'm this pissed because even when
I gave you the chance to take it back you were too bloody pig-headed
to do it. A stupid little thing not worth fighting over but you
still had to win. That's what pisses me off."
"Well, that's not what I mean by it ...or Will,
I mean Willow. We both talk about guys being cuties, or we used
to, but I'm sorry that I upset you. I'll try to avoid calling
you anything girly in future. And I'll try not to push everything
to the limit."
"Yeah, just remember you said that when you get
'round to doing your research."
"If you stop the car I'll find you a nice big
weapon from the trunk. Something very butch," Buffy offered.
"What?"
"Well, you did tell me once that weapons made
you feel 'all manly'. I thought it might help repair all the psychological
damage I've done."
"I can think of other ways. And that was four
and half years ago. You telling me you've memorised every word
I've ever said to you."
"Actually, what I remember more were the ...actions
that went with it." Her cheeks flushed with colour as she spoke
and her eyes burned bright.
"Are you saying you had the hots for the Big
Bad way back then, pet?"
"Let's think, I was more than interested first
time I saw you, right up to the point where you said you were
going to kill me. That sort of put a damper on things. And when
we were fighting in the school I was a bit busy being scared and
generally trying to stay alive. The whole machismo thing came
across as skanky rather than anything else. That doesn't mean
to say that after our first engagement, it didn't feature in an
occasional late night fantasy."
"Now, see, that's making me feel more manly already.
So you dreamt about me even when you were seeing the hall monitor."
"Will, I thought about you while I was screwing
the hall monitor, okay?" Buffy blushed even redder. "I dreamt
about you and I got myself off thinking about you."
"Buffy, you naughty girl. What exactly was it
that made you want to imagine you were with someone who'd never
done more than kiss you? I don't even think you'd seen me with
my shirt off."
"I'd felt you though. In the crypt, just before
Willow reversed the spell, I could feel everything. I knew you
...measured up."
"And soldier boy didn't?"
"Let's say, maybe he was about the same height
as Angel but he wasn't as big, and you know how you compare with
Angel. I mean he was probably average size for his height, he
wasn't tiny or anything. He just wasn't ...you. And then there's
the whole bad boy thing." Buffy's tone shifted from shyly disconcerted
to mildly sarcastic as she continued. "Now have I embarrassed
myself and restored your ego enough or do you need me to suck
you off now?"
Spike laughed. "I think that can wait till we're
stationary, love. Maybe after patrol we can take the bike over
to the flat and christen the new sheets. If they smell of you,
I might be able to sleep."
Buffy leant over and kissed his cheek. "I've
never known anyone who could be so sweet and so crass all in the
same mouthful. God knows why I love you, Will, but I do."
"And I love you too, pet."
Buffy scooched over as far in his direction as
she could, trying to find a comfortable position to snuggle up
to him while he was driving, eventually squirming back into the
same position she'd been in the night before. He wasn't talking
any more but that was okay. The tension was gone from his jaw
and the hand she wasn't holding was drumming on the steering wheel
to some song in his head. She'd probably find out what it was
when he got round to singing along under his breath. All was well
with the world again ...for now.
"Buffy?"
The woman in question opened her eyes looking
up at the face of the man she was propped against. By her reckoning
they probably had another half-hour's drive before they reached
Sunnydale. "Mm-hmm?"
"D'you think Platelet would mind if I didn't
come in when I drop you off?"
"She'd be disappointed." Buffy gave him a questioning
look. "Why do you ask?"
"I was thinking if I got the bed made and the
curtains put up I could go back to the flat tonight instead of
staying at the crypt."
"You could stay at ours again?"
"It's only the third night since I spent the
night at your place and you had good reason to limit it to two
nights a week. Can't tell who might be watchin'. They probably
wouldn't be as bad now we're engaged but there's no point takin'
unnecessary chances. 'Sides we probably wouldn't be too popular
if we kept the rest of the house up on a week night."
"Well, come in, have dinner with us and then
the three of us can go over there together after and sort it out.
It's easier doing double beds with two people anyway, and Dawn'll
want to see your new place. You can drop her off at home before
we patrol.
And as to keeping everybody else awake, I've
been thinking maybe soundproofing the basement and putting in
another bathroom might be the best option whether the other Will
stays or not ...if we can definitely afford it?"
"We can afford it. And I can't imagine Bit being
upset if she ended up with the big room if the witches didn't
stay. Do you want to ask your mate or just pick someone from the
Yellow Pages? I'm not sure how well he'd take bein' asked to build
us a bedroom," Spike pointed out.
"I'll see what the other Will thinks," Buffy
mused. "If we don't ask him he might get offended, but then like
you say. You never know if the pair of you worked on it together
you might even end up tolerating one another."
"Or stranglin' each other, one of the two. Specially
since I've never used a saw in my life but that still doesn't
make me any keener on following instructions from Harris."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Men."
"And now for something completely different."
Spike pulled out his phone and passed it to Buffy. "Better ring
the Wiccans and see if they want anything from the Chinese. Then
if you ring the take away place it should be ready to pick up
when we get back to town. Bit wanted lemon chicken, fried rice
and banana fritters. I'll have the chilli beef."
"No rice?"
"No point, can't taste it."
Buffy picked up the phone and made arrangements
for dinner, deciding it wasn't worth explaining to the vamp that
nobody could really taste rice. |
