Chapter 1.07
Monday, May 6th, 2002
The store was empty of customers so Buffy decided
to try a small experiment.
"Hi. Spike's in the alley out back with money
and goods if you wanna open the door for him."
'One elephant, two elephant, three elephant,
four elephant, five elephant. Five seconds from dusting the front
window display to opening the back door of the shop for Spike
and his money. The power of commerce.'
"Hey, kitten, how's married life treating you?"
Spike was speaking to Anya, but his smile was all for Buffy. He
deposited the carrier on the counter and swaggered up to stand
behind her, draping his arms around her shoulders. Buffy's hands
came up to latch over his and Anya caught the gleam of diamond
from twenty feet away as she followed Spike back into the main
shop area.
Her treatise on the fun of being able to order
a whole new set of cheque books, bank cards and credit cards with
her new name on was forestalled indefinitely.
"Buffy, were you aware that you're wearing that
ring on a finger which would traditionally indicate that it was
an engagement ring?"
"Well I guess I'm just an old-fashioned girl
at heart," said Buffy.
"That's you, conformist to the end," Spike added
in a mildly sarcastic tone of voice.
"Well, honest to Pete, is it an engagement ring
or not? Because if it isn't, it's just a touch showy for everyday
wear."
"Anya, you should know by now that my fiancée
would never accessorise inappropriately," Spike said in a staid
voice, which was belied by the smile that adorned his face as
Anya dashed across the room to hug them both.
Spike happily watched the pair of them poring
over the ring. "Kitten, is there any chance that your husband
might be able to make it over here for a late lunch come Scooby
meeting, or will he already have had his lunch-hour?"
"He's still on holiday. He took a week off for
the wedding, but I didn't want to close the store again so soon
when it was already closed when I went away after Xander left
me at the altar. He just popped out to get some snacks but he
should be back soon. He said even if we couldn't have a honeymoon
he could still be with me.
You do know how to summon a vengeance demon if
Spike leaves you at the altar on the day, don't you?"
"I'll take that as my cue to ring Tara's dorm
and a pizza delivery company, and I'm not being funny here, but
I think it might be better to hide the ring when Xander gets back.
He might take it better if the others are here when he finds out.
And before I forget there's the money for the
flat. Tara said she put all the wrappings for the stuff we used
back in the bag, so you should be able to tell from that what
we owe and your scarf's in there as well because we needed something
personal to do the location spell. I wouldn't have broken in except
with the shop bein' shut, we didn't know if you'd been kidnapped
or spelled or something."
"You're always breaking in."
"Hey. Only to the shop, not to where you live,
and I won't be doing either again unless we have another magical
emergency and while I think on you better gimme some burba weed
and add that to the bill."
Spike wandered off to the far corner of the shop
to make his call, whilst the girls took the ring over to admire
it in the light by the front window. It wasn't long before the
witches were on their way as were a couple of large pizzas with
Anya and Buffy's favourite toppings.
As he wandered back over to Buffy, Spike's attention
was caught by the display of candles. "Hey, pet. I don't suppose
we could get away with buying some candles and keeping them in
your room?"
"I don't think so. We're still keeping the whole
house "magic" free. You're going to have to get used to these
newfangled ideas like electric lighting some day."
"Very funny, but surely Tara doesn't strip-"
Spike paused as the shop door opened, but after giving a brief
nod by way of a greeting he continued again when he saw it was
Xander coming in. ".her place bare of all that stuff when Willow
stays there. So what's the point of taking everything out of your
place, if half the time she's going to be at Tara's."
Anya decided to add her view to the discussion.
"I think Spike's right. He should buy lots of candles for your
bedroom. Candlelight is far more romantic for having sex than
electric light. I think if you bought lots of candles it would
improve your sex life. Hey, sweetie." She hugged Xander.
Spike's face wore his patented smirk and Buffy
snorted at the very idea of being able to fit in any more of a
sex life.
Buffy and Xander exchanged greetings and Xander
returned Spikes nod with an even smaller one.
"Hey, Ahn. I think we're in the realms of images
I don't want to think about."
"I don't see why. You yourself commented on how
attractive Spike is, last year, when you thought he was having
sex with Buffy, and Buffy is a very attractive woman. I would
have thought that imagining them making love by candlelight would
be at least as erotic as many of the pictures in your magazines."
Instead of making an arch comment, Spike just
raised his eyebrow even more and leered at the carpenter over
Buffy's shoulder.
"I guess we better ask Red when she gets here
whether it's still a problem or not."
"What's he doing here in broad daylight anyway?
Shouldn't you be sleeping somewhere rather than hanging round
here in the same clothes you were wearing last night?"
"I'll survive until I can grab an hour or two
while Buffy's at work." Spike countered before Anya added her
take on the situation.
"He's returning some items of stolen stock and
paying for others. He might also buy lots of candles. And we're
waiting for pizza and Willow and Tara so we can have a Scooby
meeting."
As soon as she said it everyone in the room could
see Xander fighting the urge to demand to know when Spike became
a Scooby. He only succeeded because he knew the answer wouldn't
be something he wanted to hear.
"So what type of pizza we got? Inferno?" Xander
asked hopefully.
"Hawaiian and pepperoni," replied Spike looking
first at Buffy then at Anya.
Spike took Buffy's left hand in his right, covering
the ring before Xander had a chance to see it and led her over
to get a seat at the research table. Xander looked on unhappily.
Spike never sat at the research table before, either. Spike sat
on the stairs to the loft or on the counter or anywhere that wasn't
at the table. The table was for people who belonged, not for Spike
who was barely tolerated. It was his shop, well it was mostly
Giles's but partly Anya's and he was married to Anya so that made
it his, right? And he built the table, and okay it had been a
bad idea to light the thing from underneath, so that it lit up
the area around the books you wanted to read without casting any
light on the pages themselves. But it looked pretty and now Evil
Dead was going to eat pizza off it.
Since the pizza hadn't arrived yet, this called
for chips and dip, at the counter, where he wouldn't get any dead
fingers in his food. Maybe he didn't really want any pizza after
all.
The jangling of the shop's bell interrupted his
chain of thought, and the two witches entered. A round of 'Hey's
and 'Hi's ensued, before Spike broached the candles question.
Willow and Tara exchanged looks before Tara suggested, "Maybe
plain unscented ones would be okay?" Willow smiled and nodded.
"You actually carry such a thing as unscented
candles, kitten, or do they all have bits of plants and molluscs
in?" Spike asked.
"We've got these." She indicated some boxes each
holding a dozen tea-lights.
"Okay, stick half a dozen of those in with the
burba weed and tell me the damage."
"Well, the burba weed would probably crumble
a bit but you crumble it up before you. -"
"I meant tell me what the bill comes to," Spike
forestalled her explanation.
"Oh, in that case," Anya rang up the last items
on the till as she spoke, "it comes to seventy seven dollars and
sixty three cents."
"I'll give you an even hundred if you get the
watcher on speaker phone for ten minutes now everybody's here."
Buffy gave him a look that was now slightly panicked,
and Anya carried the phone over to the research table after ringing
up the sale, putting the change into petty cash and making an
appropriate note in the petty cash book.
"Are you ready, pet?" Spike looked at Buffy,
who now looked even more nervous.
"Me?"
"S'your mates. but if you want." The mischievous
tone he used for the second part convinced Buffy to forge ahead.
"I'm ready."
Anya dialled through to Giles' home where it
was ten o'clock at night and after some brief greetings including
Giles comment that this was the first time Buffy had managed to
phone without waking him up in the middle of the night Buffy began
the build-up to her big news.
"Hey, Giles, I'll bring you up to speed with
the others. We managed to catch Warren and his gang last night
and thanks to Anya they were arrested on various charges, so we
shouldn't have any more trouble with them for quite some time.
We took these artefacts off Warren called." Buffy
paused and Spike filled in.
"The Orbs of Nezzla Khan"
". And anyway Xander has them now, but if you
can see if you can find out any information about them, in case
they're cursed or anything but they seem to make whoever has them
wicked strong as long as they keep them close together."
"Now you say they might be cursed?" Xander wailed.
"And because the bank got back more than half
the money they stole and Xander got Jonathon and Dawn got thingy
and me and Spike got Warren, then me and Dawn and Xander get to
share the finder's fee, which is a bit over nine thousand seven
hundred bucks."
"That's better news," said Xander approvingly.
"Yes, we can afford to have our marriage blessed
now, and maybe a small honeymoon but not for several months as
the shop has been closed far too many days this month anyway."
Anya joined in.
"Yes, quite," came a slightly tinny voice from
the phone. "I'm sure this will ease things financially for a while
for you Buffy."
"Actually, I might let Dawn spend a little of
hers but the bulk will go in her college fund and mine might help
me with mine.
I heard back from UC Sunnydale a while back and
they turned down my re-application, but Spike's talked me into
looking at community college courses for next term. I'm going
to hand in my notice at DMP today. As of next week I'll be an
official slacker."
Protests were voiced from various corners of
the room and the globe but Willow's intervention style comment
was the most persistent.
"Buffy, I think it would be unwise to leave your
job on the basis of one cheque which will barely cover one term's
tuition fees. It's important to consider Dawn's welfare and how
you can support her."
"Well I thought about that, so I decided to raise
your rent, since you're not sharing a room or looking after Dawn
any more." Buffy watched the surprised expressions on all their
faces including Spike's. He'd come to the conclusion Willow's
mooching was something Buffy was too soft-hearted to bring up.
"Kidding." Buffy continued, but Spike knew that at least the idea
she was underpaying was now in both Willow's and Buffy's minds.
Hopefully Red would volunteer to contribute more.
"I'm reliably assured that finances aren't going
to be a problem. Dawn and I will both be provided for. Which brings
me to the last topic for today.
Giles, if you're willing, I'd still like you
to be the one who gives me away. Think you can make the time to
come over say in two or three months time? And Olivia or whoever
else if you're not still. -"
Squeals of delight went up from the wiccas and
Tara was the first to hug Spike whilst Willow concentrated on
hugging Buffy and getting a look at the ring. Buffy could just
hear Giles' exasperated tones over the sounds of excitement.
"Buffy, it might assist me in coming to a decision
if you were to provide the name of the prospective groom."
Spike was the one to answer however. "Buffy reckons
that Peaches warned you when I first came to Sunnydale that once
I started on something I didn't stop until I got what I wanted.
Does that answer your question."
"Actually, I think Buffy may have been euphemistic.
Angel's precise words were more along the lines of you would kill
everyone who stood in your way, but the spirit of the message
is still the same. Spike, this is all above board? You haven't
used any undue influence on her?"
"You mean have I put her in a thrall? Rupert,
the witches could take her in the back room now and give her a
strip search and they wouldn't find a fang mark on her newer than
Drac's. After last summer, you can't think I'm stupid enough to
make the same mistake twice. Putting Buffy under a thrall and
convincing her she loved me would be like having the 'bot back,
only worse. Couldn't do it."
"Yes, well, quite. Buffy says you have the means
to support her and Dawn."
"I do, and I can provide you with references
to prove it if that's what it takes.
Rupert, what I said about fang marks may not
apply by the time you get here. If Buffy agrees to it, at some
point in the not too distant future I mean for us to claim each
other as mates. She's probably going to want to get a viewpoint
other than mine before she makes any decision so if you've got
any reference material on matings with humans or if it's ever
happened before with a slayer then it may be in your best interest
to look them up. All I can really tell her is what would happen
with two vampires. I'm counting on you to find out the rest."
"Yes, well, I shall look into that. I'd be obliged
if you were to hold off taking any action until I have some time
to research the matter."
"I'll give you time, watcher, but I won't wait
indefinitely. Then again- Watcher, got to go someone's upsetting
my girlfriend. Anya, why don't you tell the watcher what you did
on Saturday? And don't let him hang up till he speaks to Buffy."
Spike moved across the room so fast that he practically
flew.
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