Chapter 4.05
Thursday, May 9th, 2002

Spike leant against the door to push it closed. He lowered Buffy's feet to the ground and started to shrug out of his clothes as fast as he could. Buffy followed his lead. All the while their lips only parted for seconds at a time when forced to by necessity.

It took each of them less then a minute to strip. It was fortunate that Buffy hadn't gotten around to removing the blankets she had put over the windows when he had last stayed the night because sunlight was the last thing on either of their minds.

Buffy was ready marginally before Spike and she took advantage of the fact pushing him back against the door as he threw his jeans across the room. Pulling her mouth away from his and dropping to her knees, she licked her way sloppily up his erection before she took him into her mouth.

She used one hand to grip the now-wet base of his dick, pumping slowly up and down, swallowing in rhythm with each downward hand motion taking him just a fraction deeper into her throat each time. Spike's hands curled into fists at his side because he wanted to twine them into her hair and force her to take him even deeper. He moaned deep in his throat, unable to withstand her ministrations for more than a minute or two in silence.

"Buffy, I can't take much more of this," he gasped. "If you don't stop soon I'm gonna come."

In response she met his eyes and kept right on with what she was doing. Spreading her knees wide she slid her other hand between her thighs. Opening her nether lips she rubbed her index finger up and down until it was coated in the juices which spilled freely from her core. His eyes widened slightly as he watched her and he struggled even harder not to spill into her throat, so much so that his palms were pierced by his talons and his facial features morphed from human to demon.

"Buffy," he half-growled with an edge of warning in his voice. Her eyes glinted mischievously and she reached behind him sliding her lubricated finger into his ass. She paused for a couple of seconds and then matched thrusts with her other motions pressing each time against the sensitive spot within.

"Bu-ffy!" He came with a scream that was almost a roar spilling his seed in one long gush into the back of her throat.

When she released him from intimate contact he fell to his knees and clasped her tightly against him as his features changed back to his normal human form.

"Jesus, Buffy, I swear if I wasn't dead already you'd have given me a heart attack."

"If you weren't dead already you'd be due for one, seeing as you're getting on for a hundred and fifty, Old Man," Buffy retorted.

"Not so old I can't get my own back, wench," Spike said by way of a rejoinder.

Buffy lifted an eyebrow and gave a passable imitation of a Spike smirk. "Prove it."

Spike rapidly tipped them both over to one side and then rolled them until he straddled her hips. Lifting her arms over her head he held them in place at the wrist using one hand. If she put some effort into escaping his grasp then there was no question that she could. However, the grip would be more than enough to quell the involuntary movements he expected.

His lips moved first to her mouth using teasing gentle touches on the area that he had earlier claimed so forcefully. The sensitised flesh tingled as he barely brushed it with his lips or when he blew softly on them. It seemed as if there was a direct connection between her mouth and her core as the tingling was accompanied by a tightening of the muscles in her lower body. Spike scored his first small victory as a low moan escaped her.

His mouth moved lower and he nibbled a trail along her jaw line and down the unmarked side of her neck finally moving along the line of her collarbone. He used the tip of his tongue to trace the route in reverse and then gently blew on her damp skin until the moisture dissipated. She shivered beneath him tremors flowing through her whole body and she knew that whatever sensation she experienced would be enhanced at least tenfold when he repeated it on the side where she bore his marks.

As she had anticipated he repeated the same pattern on the marked side of her neck. It turned out that she had underestimated the power of his claim. She had been right that first time he had shown her what they could do. Without any deliberate contact anywhere else, though her hardened nipples grazed against his chest, she found herself screaming his name as she bucked beneath him.

Even as the last quivers of her muscles died away within her, he moved lower on her body. He rained kisses on the firm curves of her upper breasts. His free hand teased her, his fingertips tracing the lines where her breasts met her ribcage. She arched her body towards him and he acquiesced, taking one taut nipple into his mouth and rolling the other between thumb and forefinger. His tongue traced circles around the swollen bud and she couldn't help but moan again as the nerve endings relayed their message of exquisite torture to the pit of her stomach. She could feel his member, hard and ready, the tip brushing against her lower lips and she moved beneath him trying to push against him to force him to enter her body, but Spike had other plans.

He sucked as hard as he could on her captive nipple, delighting in the fact that this only caused her struggles and moans to increase. He switched, to hold her wrists with his other hand and gave her a playful nip before he kissed his way over to her other side. She expected his free hand to move to her recently relinquished breast. Instead his nails grazed feather-light caresses up and down her outer thigh before shifting underneath her as she pushed her hips upward. He stroked and massaged her bottom as his lips, tongue and teeth on her breast brought her close to a frenzy.

His eyes moved to her face as he released her wrists, and her freedom prompted her to open her eyes and look into his pools of midnight blue desire. She watched as he shifted lower still, his tongue leaving a thin trail of moisture down the centre of her body. Lower and lower he moved until his tongue swirled around her navel. As he shifted backward his hands trailed under her thighs, tickling gently the sensitive skin behind her knees before he lifted her legs and pushed them forward bringing her hips up off the floor. He parted her knees and dipped his head between her thighs.

His tongue traced a delicate circle around her dripping entrance and her muscles responded by opening to welcome his anticipated invasion. He made one deeper more forceful swirl barely entering inside her but then in one slow sure lick he laid open her outer lips. Moving back to entrance he worked his way forward again this time with cat-like rasps against her sensitive flesh and when he reached her inner lips he parted them, seeking out her swollen bundle of nerve endings. She flinched as his tongue circled it and when he latched onto it sucking on it as he had sucked on her nipples earlier, she once more gasped her way to a breathless climax, feeling strangely light-headed as her partially inverted position caused her blood to go to her head.

Even as the waves of pleasure pulsed through her, he pushed his tongue inside her, probing hard as her muscles drew him in, savouring her salty taste.

He followed her upper wall until he found her G spot and then he flicked his tongue rapidly back and forth over it until she gasped and shuddered unable to control her body. He kept it up for minutes that seemed like hours or seconds before he lowered her to the floor once more, her body limp and boneless.

He crawled along the floor until he could lie next to her, his front against her side. Propping himself on one elbow he reached to smooth her hair from her sweat-drenched face.

"Proof enough, pet?" he asked in a husky whisper. She nodded her head unable to find her voice. His free hand wandered up and down her body, cool against her heated flesh.

Without moving her head her gaze sought out her alarm clock. "Dawn's nearly due back. We'd better get dressed and cleaned up. We'll finish this tonight?" Her tone turned the statement into a question and Spike nodded his assent.

She started to run a hand through her hair, stopping when it came away wet. "I need a shower." She kissed him lightly on the lips before getting up on wobbly legs and grabbing her robe. "Once you're dressed why don't you grab your coffee and come keep me company till Dawn gets back?"

She slipped out the door leaving him to search for his scattered clothing.

After a brief detour to the bottom of the stairs where he had left his now lukewarm coffee he made his way to the bathroom, dressed but still barefoot. Lowering the cover over the toilet he took a seat to watch while Buffy rinsed lather from her body before washing her hair.

"So, love, what time tomorrow is our visitor coming over?"

"Half past two. I'll come over for about two. That way I can help with any last minute tidying up."

"Sure you don't want to make it earlier?"

"I would, but I don't want the flat to be in the same state your crypt was that time Xander came looking for me. This way we've got time to tidy, but not enough time to mess it up... much.

Anya gave me a key to your place. I didn't know whether I was meant to give it to you or keep it."

"'S yours, pet." He gave her a remarkably innocent-looking half-smile.

"Makes me think it's time you had a key for here. Not that the door's often locked, as you so rightly pointed out."

"Got one. Had to have it for the times the witches had to work late at college and I had Dawn duty."

"Oh. Xander's going to do the basement, with some help, as long as we entertain Anya and keep you away from him."

Spike smirked. "I know you think I'm insatiable, but that's all for you. I'm not sure I could entertain Anya as well. It takes a lot out of a guy keepin' up with you... but, if you insist." He dodged the sponge that flew across the room, picking it up off the floor and tossing it back underhand.

"Behave. You know I didn't mean like that, pig!"

She tipped her head back to rinse the shampoo from her hair before she continued.

"I said if Dawn finished her homework early enough, which she should do if she does it when she gets in, that they could come over tonight and watch a couple of vids." She reached over and grabbed a towel to wrap around her hair before donning her robe.

"I can live with that, I suppose, if I get to sit with my two favourite women on either side of me."

"Given the lack of seating I might be sitting in your lap." She took his hand, leading him back to the bedroom. They were half way down the hall when the front door slammed open. Spike moved to the top of the stairs to call down, knowing Dawn's first stop would normally be the refrigerator, at least it always had been in the past when it had had food in it. "Hey, Bit. I'll be in Buffy's room, so knock when you're ready for me to have a look at your homework."  

He was surprised to see another figure behind her in the hall.

"Hey, Spike. Janice just stopped by so she could see the dress you guys got me for prom."

"Yeah, well, don't take too long getting round to doing your essay. Your sister's asked Anya and her lesser half over for a video night later."

"Does that mean if we do our homework Janice could stay too? ...If her mom's okay with it?"

Spike raised his eyes heavenward and shrugged. "I'll send your sis through to discuss it when you're finished raiding the fridge." He padded back to Buffy's room, informing her of the good news. "Bit's brought Janice home with her. Wants to know if she can stay for the films. I told her you would let her know once they're finished stripping the kitchen of all the junk food."

Buffy paused in the middle of pulling on a clean pair of jeans. "She would have to stay for dinner as well and I don't know what we're having."

"That would depend on what's left from Monday's shopping and who's cooking, 'cause it won't be me or she's going to start putting two and two together. Alone with my girlfriend in her bedroom there's an obvious explanation as to why the curtains are drawn, shutting all the kitchen curtains... not so easy to explain. Or we order pizza, which might not be the way to impress her mom with our healthy lifestyle."

By now Buffy had squeezed into the jeans and thrown on a T-shirt. "I'll go see what plans Will had and we can go from there." She scraped her hair back into a ponytail and headed off downstairs.

"Hey, Will." She darted glances in the direction of the kitchen, hoping Willow would take the hint. "Spike says he's too tired to cook tonight. He's going to have to lie down upstairs for a couple of hours." 'Till sunset.' "Is there anything healthy in the house we can throw together that'll feed everyone if Janice stays for dinner or would we need to order pizza?"

"More Tara's department than mine. I'd go with the pizza," the redhead replied.

"Pooh." Buffy sighed. "I need to learn to cook. It's embarrassing that even Spike can cook and I can't. I guess it's going to have to be pizza then." She raised her voice hopefully as she continued, "unless Dawn and Janice feel like cooking, that is?"

"Hey, conscientious students stocking up on brain food, not child labour for evil older sisters. We're going to be far too busy working on our essays," Dawn argued, following up with a very fake sigh. "Looks like it's pizza again."

"And, Janice can stay provided her mom says it's okay and she's either picked up, or dropped off at her door or walked home and I want to speak to her mom when she calls her so there's no confusion."

"Jeez, one time we're not where you thought we were and you're never going to let us live it down," Dawn grouched. "Like you were always at Willow's when you were my age."

Buffy decided to ignore the jibe. It wasn't like she could deny it or use the slayer excuse when Janice was around. Didn't mean she had to tone down the big sister act. "And do the homework thing before you start with the dress ...and wash your hands before you touch anything, no way am I trying to exchange anything that gets peanut butter on it."

"Ye-e-es, Buffy," the teenager sighed out the words as she headed upstairs, accompanied by her friend, peanut butter and chocolate spread sandwiches, a packet of cookies and ironically enough a couple of diet sodas.

"Thanks for the food, Ms. Summers. And for letting me stay over. I'll call mom when we've finished our snacks."

Words could not describe how unbearably ancient Buffy suddenly felt. Ms. Summers was what stuffy old people like Schneider called her in a sarcastic tone of voice when they were trying to make her feel insignificant, not what teenagers called her. And how much older was she going to feel when it was Mrs ...Something?

Less than a minute passed before Dawn came rushing back downstairs. "Willow," she half whispered, "is it okay if we use your room to get Spike to help with our homework, 'cause it doesn't get the sun like the rooms at the front?"

"Sure, I'm busy on the computer down here anyway."

Buffy rolled her eyes at the redhead, as her sister bounded back up the stairs. "Does Janice call you Ms. Rosenberg or is it just me that gets the mom treatment?"

"Honestly, it's the first time I can remember Dawn bringing anyone home," Willow replied.

"Will, if things had turned out different do you think you and Oz would be thinking about getting married by now?"

"Getting the jitters already?"

"Just wondering if I'm ready to be that grown up," Buffy admitted.

"And if you weren't getting married to the Hellmouth's answer to Peter Pan or if you were planning on having 2.5 kids, I could see the problem, but I suspect in your case getting married and settling down are going to be two totally separate things."

"We still have to do the PTA type stuff and not like he did it five years ago either."

"And if you weren't getting married you would just have to do it on your own. So maybe, it's about letting him have responsibility for some of the grown up stuff instead of having to go it alone? So it could be you're worrying about the wrong thing.

Are you in love with him?"

"I didn't want to be."

"But you are?" Willow looked into her friend's eyes as she rephrased the sixty-four million dollar question.

Buffy blushed as she nodded.

"Does he make you happy?"

"When he doesn't make me want to kill him," Buffy softened her answer with a rueful smile.

"If he wasn't here would you miss him?"

"How not here?"

"Doesn't matter. Fled the country? Dust? Never to return. Whatever."

"I'd miss him. I think I'm only just beginning to see where he fits in, or how he can fit in. If something happened now, I'd miss him but it wouldn't break me. The more I let him in, the more he becomes part of everything, the worse it could be. But, I don't think he would ever leave me. He's the one. The only one I can't scare away. The only one that wants girly Buffy and Slayer Buffy and depressed Buffy and Dawn's Buffy and kinky Buffy and bitchy Buffy and all the other Buffys."

"And still part of you is scared at the idea of letting him in far enough that it would break you if you lost him?"

This seemed to stall the slayer in her tracks. "Yeah ...I guess."

"Do you think Giles ever wishes that he never met Jenny?"

"I don't know. Probably, now, I don't think he'd change things. Maybe at the time he'd have said something different."

"See, that's the deal, Buffy. Sometimes life lets you find someone special and you can choose to dive on in or you can paddle about in the shallows or run for the shore, but the only real freedom is when you trust the water to support you, that's when you can really start having fun. Sometimes you might get out of your depth and you might think you're going to drown, but chances are you'll flounder for a bit and then get things back under control.

No-one can guarantee that everything's going to have a happy ending. Even vampires die, though you have to admit a hundred and twenty," Willow paused as she worked out how long it had been since he tried to eat her. "...eight is a pretty convincing track record. Frankly speaking, I think he's the one that should be worrying. Thing is, if you know in your heart that he'll never voluntarily leave you then he's already one up on every other guy in your life except possibly Xander. ...And, correct me if I'm wrong, but spells aside, I can't recall you ever getting as excited about Xander as you looked to be ...I mean there's obviously some major chemistry between you and Spike ...and I'm bibbling and there's way more to it than just sex.

Look, whatever Xander said to you that made you chase a helicopter, just substitute Spike wherever you originally had sneaky rat bastard farm-boy."

"Willow! Mee-ow!" Buffy interrupted, shocked at her friend's description of Riley.

"I just don't like it when me and my friends are manipulated. How long do that pair have to stand in front of the mirror every day to practice 'wholesome'? Euch." Willow screwed up her face, sticking her tongue out slightly before continuing.

"So, how did I do? You going to run like a big scaredy Xander or stick around for the whole show?" she asked the blonde.

"I doubt I could run fast enough or far enough to get away from this one. You were right first time. It's just jitters, but thanks for helping me bounce things around in my head."

"No problem, best to do all the worrying now rather than panic on the day."

"I miss Mom." Buffy looked down at her hands, picking imaginary dirt from behind her nails. "I never thought I'd be doing this without her."

"We're all here to help - not in a magic way - but anything else."

"Thanks, Will, but there's a load of stuff I have to work out before I could even ask anyone else to help. I don't even know how many bridesmaids I should have. I was just going to ask all of you until Spike pointed out there would be more people in the wedding party than in the congregation. We're kind of sad. Nearly no-one to invite.

I mean I've got my dad, an aunt and a couple of cousins. He's got Angel and he doesn't want to ask him because it could upset Giles. Then there's the Scoobies and Clem, and that's it.

And what are my family going to make of Clem? But he's got more right to come than dad has. He's been around more in the last few months for me than dad has in the last six years, let alone being there for Spike, so maybe I should just forget the family invitations?"

Willow shrugged. "I say let them take their chances. Your dad still hasn't been in touch since your mom died. In fact, the only way we know he knows is that he stopped the maintenance payments. Chances are he won't show, but you'd feel guilty if you didn't invite him. And if he does come and he won't buy the skin condition line what do you think he's going to say? 'Excuse me, honey, but is this demon a gatecrasher?' Phht.

And your aunt. She's the one your mom went to see way out east that Thanksgiving. If she's prepared to make the trip, I don't think Clem will faze her. Remember, people like to live in denial. I don't think you'll have a repeat of the Buffalo Lodge fiasco."

"Is that the official title now? The BLF?" Buffy asked with a half stifled laugh.

"Sounds good, don't you think? So who are you going to invite?"

"Well, there's dad and his shorthand trollop, Aunt Arlene and my cousins, Dawn, you, Tara, Xander, Anya, Clem, Giles and Olivia. Then there's the big question mark over Angel and Cordelia and Stephen, maybe the other three he works with. Kinda sparse, especially on Spike's side, and it doesn't help that his best friend is my chief bridesmaid, possibly my only bridesmaid."

"Have you ever thought about asking Giles whether he minds Angel being there?" Willow asked.

"Wouldn't that remind him about all the stuff we didn't want to remind him about?" Buffy countered, her brow creasing in frustration, before she remembered another potential guest. "Ooh, Wesley, nearly forgot Wesley, but Angel and him are all not talking as well."

"I say ask them all and let them fight it out in the parking lot at the reception. Cheaper than hiring a band."

"Ooh, bands. Dingoes are still doing gigs, aren't they? And maybe they would know how to get in touch with Oz. He might come, you think? Maybe? I mean, you would be okay with that, if he could come, wouldn't you?"

"I think it's more whether his wolf's okay with me," the redhead answered.

"When did life get this complicated?"

"When you moved to Sunnydale. At least you don't have any alcoholics or active vengeance demons to worry about."

"That depends whether the groom behaves himself and if Halfrek stays the hell away from him."

"Mmh, yeah, what is the deal with those two?" Willow asked.

"If I can judge by his dreams, he had a crush on her when he was human. When he got up the nerve to tell her and she shot him down like a total bitch. Not unlike someone else you're acquainted with."

"But you changed your mind ...after a couple of years."

Buffy smiled. "Well, the way she was playing with her hair at my party, she might have changed hers as well."

"Doesn't make any difference," the Wiccan said, treating Buffy to her resolve face. "Spike isn't going to be changing his allegiance any time soon. And he's not a happy drunk. He only drinks lots when he's miserable. He drank less than anybody else on Sunday."

"Will, do you actually like Spike?" Buffy asked.

"Sometimes, when I forget about the bottle in the face, and the wanting to kill me. When you see him with Dawn, when he was the one cheering people up last summer, keeping everyone going, when Tara was really shy still and he would smile at her when he thought no-one was looking, when he makes my best friend happy, then I like him. Lately, that's more often than not."

The pair fell into silence. There was nothing really to be added.

Finally, Buffy rose from her seat. "I'd best call Janice's mom before she starts to wonder where she is. Is Tara coming over tonight? It's been ...since Sunday ...since we were all together. I suppose it's not that long really, just a busy week. Anyway, if you're up for it, Scooby video night."

"That might depend on who's picking the videos," Willow answered.

"Well, how about we leave Spike in charge of the kids and head for Blockbuster once I speak to Janice's mom and Xander."

"That could be a plan."