| Chapter 1.05
Monday, May 6th, 2002
"How is it you keep surprising me?" Buffy asked
Spike.
"I could ask you the same thing. Only difference
is I thought I knew more about you than you knew about me. So
how is it you can quote Shelley?"
"Half a semester with Professor Lillian, and
they used it on a Twin Peaks rerun on the Sci-Fi channel the other
week, but only the end bit. I liked that class. Professor Lillian
was a sweetie and at least I understood what he was talking about.
Not like that class I went to with Willow." Buffy sighed.
"What's up, pet?" Spike asked.
"I re-applied for college, but they turned me
down because I didn't re-apply early enough, like while I was
dead."
"How long have you known?"
"That would be the morning after the night I
spent trying to get the grass stains out of what was my new wool
coat that ended up in the bin." She fixed him with an accusing
stare.
"You mean that mustard yellow duffle coat thing?
It was a mercy killing. That was ages ago. Did you talk to Pixie
or Red or the Watcher about it?"
"No. I didn't tell anyone. Nobody. it seemed
like there wasn't."
"Shh, pet. I know things were strained between
us but I was always there to listen to you any time you needed
it. I always will be. Don't suppose you checked to see if you
could have your credits transferred over to a community college
course?"
"No. Kinda figured I'd just mucked up college
altogether. Didn't want to talk about it to Willow and Tara with
them being all big with the studying. I suppose I could have told
Giles, with him being a drop-out, but he said he left to make
me stand on my own feet."
"Next time me and your watcher are on the same
continent, pet, I think it's safe to say we'll have words. Why
don't you pick up a prospectus for the next semester and try and
make an appointment to speak to someone about whether you can
salvage any credits."
"Will, there's no way I can afford to go back
to college even part-time."
"Look, pet. You want to go back to college. I
want you to be happy. If you insist we can call it a loan. You
know if you get a decent job after college you could pay me back
over two or three years and you know without an education you're
likely looking at one minimum wage job after another. No ulterior
motive, I'm not going to demand any money back or refuse to give
you the money for the rest of the course if we split up. If anything
happens to me, it all goes to you and Bit anyway.
Think how stupid you'd feel if you said no now
and two years from now we were either married or I was dust and
you were trying to go back and do this after another two years
in a job you don't like and the credits you've got have expired."
"And think how stupid you'll feel if you pay
for me to go to college for two years and then I die before I
can get a proper job and pay you back."
"Love, you're not leaving me here alone again.
If you die again I'll not be sticking round for longer than it
takes to see one last sunrise."
"Dawn-"
"Dawn isn't a little kid any more. She's nearly
old enough to be treated as an emancipated minor and what I'd
leave her would give her the house free and clear, pay her a decent
allowance and the rest would stay in trust for her until she's
twenty-one. She would be okay."
"No. She wouldn't, you selfish bastard. She loves
you. What do you think it would do to her to lose both of us the
same day? -"
"Well, you better not go sacrificing yourself
for some greater good then, because I'd rather spend five months
under torture with that hell-bitch, Glory, than re-live the time
when you were dead. I refuse to go through that again for anyone,
even Dawn. And you can either like it or lump it, 'cause by definition
you ain't goin' to be here to do anything about it."
The pair glared at each other in silence.
"Quitter," she spat.
"Yeah, like you were so happy to be back, and
that was with me, your sister and all your mates to come back
to."
"This discussion is not over. You ever think
maybe it might take more than a couple of years helping out the
good guys before there's a chance we'll end up in the same place?"
"Slayer, we're never going to end up in the same
place. You might end up with wussy-boy William, but I'm a demon.
At the end of my time on earth I'm going somewhere warm. I came
to terms with that a long time ago. If I can share what time I
have with you that's as much of heaven as I need."
"Stubborn, pig-headed vampire. Don't think I
won't talk to the priest about this next time I'm scrounging up
some holy water. We'll see about this 'damned' business."
"Think about it, pet. The bloody holy water you're
talkin' about gives me blisters. I think that's as much of an
indication as I need that God wants no part of me."
"You promised you'd never leave. You said you
would always be there for me. Well, I don't know if anyone ever
told you what Angel said when you first came to Sunnydale. He
said once you start something, you don't stop until you get rid
of everything that's in your way. So, you better start working
out a way to get your demon ass into heaven 'cause if you don't
then I'm damn well going to take that the same as you walking
out on me. Are you clear on that?"
"You're a Grade A bitch, d'you know that?"
"But it wouldn't be half as interesting if I
was all sweetness and light twenty-four seven, would it?" Buffy
turned his earlier words against him.
"Do you have the least idea how much what you're
asking would screw with the natural order of things?" A smile
was forming on his lips.
"No more than a soulless vampire and a slayer
being in love with one another."
"Yeah, well I've always been a reb-" The grin
that had made its way onto his face at the prospect of this ultimate
rebellion was suddenly replaced with a shocked expression. "What
did you just say? Word for word."
"I said "no more than a soulless vampire and
a slayer." Shit. I guess that's what they call a Freudian slip."
"Say it, slayer." Spike's voice was hard, brittle.
Buffy's was filled with surprise and a little
awe. "I said I'm in love with you. I'm in love with Spike. I,
Buffy, the vampire slayer, am in love with, William the Bloody,
master vampire and slayer of slayers. I'm certifiable."
"No, pet. In a mad world, it's one crazy thing
that makes perfect sense."
Spike turned his back to Buffy and swinging his
legs out of the bed, bent over to pull on his jeans in one swift
movement.
"Wh-where are you going?"
"Only as far as the bathroom, love."
Buffy sat up, her voice getting louder as he
left the room. "But vampires don't need to use bathrooms."
Almost as soon as he left the room he was back,
duster in one hand, feeling through his inside pockets with the
other. The coat was slung to one side and he took Buffy's hand
pulling her forward until she sat on the edge of the bed.
Spike dropped to one knee and Buffy suddenly
realised what was happening.
"No, Spike. No way. Don't do this."
"Stop being a bitch for once and just listen."
One arm stretched up, just managing to reach far enough to place
his fingertips on her lips, stilling her protests. "Buffy, I asked
you this once before and you said yes, but what I imagined I felt
then is only a fraction of how much I care for you now. You are
what makes my existence worth living. You are the sun that lights
my world. Every day we can have together is precious and I don't
want to waste a single one. Please would you do me the honour
of consenting to be my wife."
"Stupid vampire." Tears of frustration welled
in Buffy's eyes. "How on earth can you propose when we've only
been on one date. It's ridiculous. And what you said was beautiful
and that makes me feel like I should say yes, but it's way too
soon."
"Buffy, you're the one who's always said slayers
come with an expiration date. If I'm going to have less than a
handful of years with you then I am damn well not going to hold
back because of convention. Maybe if Dawn didn't exist and there
wasn't anyone from social services snooping around and I could
spend every night in your bed then I might be prepared to wait.
Honestly though, the part of me that isn't demon is one hundred
percent Victorian male and damned if I don't want to make an honest
bloody woman out of you, you stubborn awkward bint. It's so bloody
simple even Harris could manage the math. I'm in love with you.
You're in love with me, now for Christ's sake just say yes so
I can get up off this floor and kiss you, woman."
"I suppose you call that a proposal?" Buffy queried.
"No. I called the first bit a proposal. This
is an argument with my demented soon to be fiancée who
hasn't got the good sense to know when she's onto a good thing.
Besides, you might as well give up now. You just said that once
I set my sights on something I don't stop till I get it."
Buffy realised she was beat and decided to get
as much out of the bargain as she could.
"On two conditions. One, we have a church wedding-"
"Are you stark ravin' bonkers, woman? We can't
have a church wedding."
"I've never actually seen any physical reason
why not. You're not repelled by crosses. They don't bother you
unless you actually touch them, so stop acting like a fledgling.
As far as I'm aware wedding services don't involve touching crosses
or holy water, so I don't see what your big problem is. You can't
tell me you can't go in a church 'cause I've seen you in one.
Besides, I think it might be a step in the right direction for
condition number two.
You do not in any way shorten your life, or unlife
I should say, unless you have good reason to suppose that we will
be together in the afterlife or you've spent at least as
long helping the good guys as you did on the other side of the
fence." Buffy's face set in her best imitation of Willow's resolve
face.
"What the hell do you expect me to do? Play nursemaid
to every slayer they send to this hell-hole for the next hundred
and twenty years?"
"See if you can up the average life-expectancy
a bit. Maybe a few more will get the chance to have a life, but
look after Dawn and if she has any family, well, hey, you know
what you're like for Summers women. Maybe keep an eye on the Scoobies
as a whole."
"The concept of sarcasm just flew right over
your pretty little valley-girl head, didn't it?"
"No, I'm deadly serious. And when their eighteenth
birthday's coming up find out from Giles about the Cruciamentum
or whatever they call it and warn them. Them's the conditions,
put up or shut up."
Buffy wasn't sure exactly what the string of
muttered curses that came from Spike's mouth consisted of, but
she did think she caught the phrase "blackmailing bitch" and "whipped"
in there.
"It's a deal, love. You have my word, provided
you find a Protestant vicar prepared to perform the ceremony knowing
that I'm a vampire."
"Done." Buffy grinned, pleased with the concessions
she had gained.
"In that case, Buffy, my love, would you please
do me the honour of consenting to be my wife?"
"I will."
Spike produced a rather worn looking leather
box, snapping it open to reveal a reddish-gold band with five
good sized diamonds set into it in a row. Around the stones and
particularly at either end of the row the band had been engraved
or etched with curling lines. "It belonged to my great-grandmother
and then my mother. I had the family lawyers take it out of storage
and get it cleaned a while ago. It might need to be resized, but
I don't think so. I have the matching wedding band, as well, but
if you'd rather pick something more to your own taste, then we—"
The fingers of Buffy's left hand were placed
gently on his lips and then dropped to where his hands were waiting.
It was hard to believe that Spike's hand would shake as he placed
the ring on her finger, but maybe he was more William than he
would ever admit.
He rose to his feet, pulling his fiancée
into his arms with a "Come 'ere, ya stubborn bint." Then he swept
her over in a dip and laid a kiss on her that would have done
credit to Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara.
"Just 'Buffy and William'," he said as Buffy
struggled to regain her composure.
"What?"
"The wedding invitations. No 'Summers'. No 'the
Bloody'. 'No Spike'. Just 'Buffy and William'."
"That works."
"Well, I'm not just the most gorgeous hunk of
man-flesh that ever walked the earth, you know." |
