Disclaimer:
All the characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong
to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, UPN and lots of other people
who aren't me. "As You Were" was written by Douglas Petrie.
He's not me either.
Author's Note: This was my first attempt
at FanFic, in fact it was the first time I'd written anything
in about fifteen years. When it was posted originally it was completely unbeta-ed, but I and t_geyer, my beta of the past four years, are going to try to touch it up a little now that some kind person has nominated it at one of the award sites... Hopefully, we'll get it finished before the judges get to it.
Original note: Sorry to those
of you who think I've been unduly harsh to Riley, but it
was never my intention to give a totally unbiased representation
of his character. Any exaggerations and outright libels
in regard to the tin soldier are done a) for comic relief
and b) as a means to vent my frustration at having to put
up with him for about a series and a half. To those who
were quite happy with the Riley bashing, I expect there
will be some more to come, but sorry, Nos, much as I'd like
to have Riley explode I'm trying not to go AU till I have
to. It is very, very tempting though.
Chapter 4
Buffy rolled over, so that she was lying
with her back against Spike's chest, wiggling her hips as
she did so to couch herself snugly against his lower
body and it was no surprise to the vampire when he immediately felt his body react.
"Buffy, if you're just trying to get into
a comfy sleeping position, you should know that wrigglin'
about like a terrier down a rabbit hole when you've got
that cute little bum of yours up against me is not going
to lead to any sleep for either of us."
He smoothed away the hair at the back of
her neck, and placed a trail of feather-light kisses down
from her hairline to the base of her neck and then along
her collarbone.
Buffy gave a small gasp at the contact
with her sensitive skin. "Then it is so of the good
that slayers only need a couple of hours sleep." She again
adjusted the position of her hips, this time deliberately
rubbing in small circles against Spike's abdomen and rapidly
growing erection.
"Is that a challenge, Slayer? I think you'll
find vampire stamina at least a match for your staying power."
His arm draped itself across her body, his fingers gently
circling around the flesh at the inside of her opposite
elbow, alternately caressing with his fingertips and lightly
scratching with his nails. Despite Buffy's apparent eagerness,
he had no intention of being rushed.
She rolled over once more to face him.
"Prove it," she murmured, before she prevented any further
discussion with a kiss.
"How many does that one make?" Buffy asked with a sated smile.
"For you or for me?" Spike leaned over her shoulder to nibble at her ear.
"Either." The slayer rolled onto her side, pushing him over onto his back and lifting his arm out of the way so she could rest her head on his chest, draping one of her legs over his.
"Dunno," Spike gave her a half-apologetic smile. "Kinda lost count when you turned my brain to swiss cheese a couple of hours ago." The hand she had moved came back down, gently stroking her hair in a reverent rhythmic caress and his other arm reached down to pull the coverlet up over Buffy's bare skin.
"'M not sleepy," Buffy protested even as her eyes drifted shut.
Spike continued his soothing caresses long after her breathing had shallowed out, his gaze fixed on his precious prize, the woman it seemed that he might finally have won. It was an experience he savoured for as long as he could before finally his eyes fluttered closed, a single tear slipping out between his dark lashes.
The vampire was the first to come
back to his senses when his front door was slammed violently open for the second time that night. "Well, looky here!" Spike propped himself up on
his elbows to get a better view of his adversary. His grin
was wolfish, predatory and inordinately smug all at the
same time. Soldier-boy was in town. Judging by the matching
outfits, she'd seen him before she came here, but she'd
still chosen to spend the night with him. And it hadn't
just been about sex either. Nope, Spike had good reason
to believe that Buffy was 'his' now, and boy was the kid
going to know about it. Anyway, if she wasn't prepared to
tell Dawn or the Scoobies she couldn't complain if he took
his fun where he could, could she? After all, he had warned
her. He was 'Mr Passive Aggressive Guy'.
"I don't normally use the word delicious," the vampire drawled, "but I've gotta wager this little tableau must sting a bit,
eh? Me and your former? Must kill. What can I say? Girl
needs a little monster in her man."
He was being quite restrained.
He hadn't even mentioned that fact that if someone felt
they needed a gun that big they must be trying to
compensate for something. A glance to one side showed that Buffy thought differently. He'd been expecting
pissed, he knew she'd tear a strip off him after, but hey,
it's a guy thing. However, Buffy didn't look pissed, she looked broken.
"Not why I'm here. Doctor."
'What the fuck did he just call
me?' Spike silently asked himself. 'He'll have her thinking everything that happened last
night was just to fob her off. Oh hell, she's off again. There she goes, grabbing clothes. Five minutes and she'll
be out the bloody door, and this time it's his fault not
mine.'
Spike's eyes were hard as the sapphires whose colour they matched. "Here I thought we'd run you out of town,
mate. Last time I saw you, if memory serves, you were getting
the juice sucked out of you by some undead ladies of very
questionable reputation." If the
hall monitor wanted to make him look bad in front of Buffy
then he sure as hell wasn't going to come out of it looking
like her knight in shining armour.
Spike sat up and since Buffy had departed
with the blanket Riley got to see rather more than he wanted
to. Spike smirked again, confident than Riley would currently
be experiencing some feelings of inadequacy.
"Now be a good tin soldier and, uh..." He
waved his hand at Riley as if to urge the soldier to run
along like a good little boy. If only he could get rid of
the git before Buffy finished getting dressed, then he might
get her to listen to some sort of explanation, but damned
if he'd say anything in front of her ex.
"Where are they... Doctor?"
"Where are what," Spike demanded his tone betraying his irritation, "and why do you keep calling
me that?"
Spike flung back the covers and, making no effort to conceal his nakedness, got out of the bed and grabbed his jeans up from where they had fallen on the floor. If he was going to have to physically throw Finn out
he'd better have some clothes on. His jeans were half way
up his legs when it occurred to him that there was a possibility shoving Buffy's ex out the door
would make the chip go off. 'Nah,' he convinced himself. 'It couldn't, could it?'
"Glad to be back in Sunnydale," Riley announced ignoring the vampires question almost as pointedly as he ignored his nakedness. "The locals
all speak English, and I know who to beat for information.
It's all brought me here."
'He really believes that, doesn't he?' Spike marvelled at the man's naïvety and his inflated ego. 'Up
until he started getting suck jobs he spent a year and a
half turning every non-human resident of Sunnydale he met
into over-sized lab-rats. Now he thinks they're going to
spill their secrets to him? What a wanker.' Then. the vampire's eyes narrowed slightly as he considered another possibility. 'Either that or he
got to Willy and Willy offered me up in order to save his own worthless weasel ass.' With
the eggs downstairs Spike could hardly argue his innocence.
It was time for diversionary tactics.
"Look, crew cut..." Spike finished fastening
the buckle on his belt and treated Riley to one of his better
glares. "She's not your bint any more. And if I can speak
frankly, she always had a little thing for me, even when
she was shagging you."
"Nice... That's very distracting." Now that
Spike had covered up Riley didn't seem quite so intimidated and he moved closer to better
brandish his over-sized gun. "Now tell me, before I get
unprofessional... where are the eggs, Spike?"
'Shit, deny it, deny everything...' screamed the panicked voice in the vampire's head, the one that knew that this time he was really losing her. 'You smoked
but you didn't inhale. No, that only works if you're the
president.'
"Eggs?" Spike felt his lips moving, but it was as if they were working on autopilot, like he didn't know what they were going to say until he heard it right along with Buffy and Soldier Boy. "Phht. You're off your nut. It must
be those drugs they were keeping you on. I did warn you."
"Okay," said Riley. "We can do this the hard way, or
we can do this the fatal way."
'Bring it on,' thought Spike. 'I've been
tortured by a Hell god and he thinks he can get me
to talk.'
Riley punched Spike in the face hard enough
to knock him back slightly. "Where are the eggs?"
Buffy emerged from her hiding place, now
fully dressed, getting in between the two men. "Look, the
Doctor, it can't be Spike."
'Great! Now she's making me look like some
wimp. Maybe I can't hit the pillock back, but if I can take
a hiding off of Buffy I can sure as hell take anything he
can deal out.' No sooner did the thought go through his
mind than the words came from his mouth. "No need to defend
me, love." 'Wait a minute. Is she saying she thinks I'm
innocent?' Further ruminations along this line were interrupted
as Buffy punched him. Nevertheless, inside his head, Spike
did a little dance for joy. She trusted him.
"Look, i-it can't be, okay? He-he's too
incompetent."
The little guy in Spike's head suddenly stopped
dancing, smacked himself on the forehead, and fell over
backwards. Spike glared at Buffy, dumbstruck that after
all he'd done for her and all he'd been through, that this
was how she thought of him.
"Right." Riley replied. "Deadly... amoral... opportunistic..."
Yeah, he'd been teaching Buffy lots of amoral little activities
every opportunity he got. Spike couldn't help it the smirk
came back.
"Or have you forgotten?" Riley continued.
Buffy glared at her former boyfriend, but
with Spike apparently agreeing with every word of the description
how could she argue? Beaten, she turned away.
Riley took that as carte blanche. "I'm taking this place apart until I find
that nest."
"Over my dead body," Spike protested. No way was this guy
going to come into his home and start ordering him around.
"I've seen enough of your dead body for
one night, thanks," the soldier answered. He used the barrel of his shotgun to
push Spike to one side. He made to walk past but Spike grabbed
his shoulder, meaning to turn him around ready for a punch.
"Well, you're not gonna—" Spike was prevented
from completing his quip as Riley pushed him back again
and he stumbled against one of the pillars.
Riley descended
the ladder into the lower room. Then, his voice called back
up from below. "You coming?"
Buffy lifted her head, looking into Spike's face.
Spike stared back, willing her to have some faith in him.
Riley was making her choose between the two of them and
to Spike if she went with her ex then it meant that she didn't
believe that he'd changed. Either way Riley would find the
eggs, but if she had enough faith in him to stay there with
him maybe there was a chance that she would believe the truth. He held her gaze
for what seemed the longest time.
She turned away and followed Riley and Spike knew in that moment that he'd lost her.
In his pain, he floundered desperately.
"Oh this is... unconstitutional, is what it is! Here! There's
nothing to see down there!" As he continued what he knew
was a pointless rant, he grabbed his shirt up off the floor
and shoved his arms into the sleeves.
For a few seconds he listened as Buffy
tried to defend him, and it hurt all over again when she
used the incompetent defence. When he heard her pleading
stop in mid sentence he knew they'd found them. The Big
Bad wanted to leave before he had to look in her eyes but,
The Fool, he had to rush to her and try to get her to understand.
He pelted down the stairs and ran into the room.
"I can explain."
He was cut off by Riley. "We're gonna need
more weapons. Spike screwed up. You didn't keep them frozen,
did you, Doctor?" He appeared as far as Spike could tell
to be doing his best to make the situation seem worse. The
things weren't going anywhere for a good few days yet, or
so he'd been told. Either soldier-boy was exaggerating or
this whole thing was a set up.
"You can stop calling me that anytime."
He turned towards Buffy, his tone softening considerably.
"If I may: the thing of it is, I'm holding these for a friend..."
'Or three,' he added mentally."...Who—"
Spike's nose exploded under Buffy's fist,
spraying blood across his face. He hardly noticed that the
blow had also knocked him over.
"No more games, Spike."
Pure, unadulterated rage filled Spike from
head to toe. After months, his frustration at her insensitive,
manipulative and outright abusive treatment of him flowed
out.
"Well, that's bloody funny coming from
you! No more games?"
Buffy rolled her eyes at him, only incensing
him further.
"That's all you've ever done is play me,
and keep playing with the rules you make up as you like!
You know what I am - you've always known and you come to
me all the same!"
"Can you shut him up?" The enormous git
couldn't even have the decency to speak to him as if he
were a person when he interrupted. Instead he spoke to Buffy
as if he was her dog, one that she should muzzle.
"Not so far," Buffy replied.
Spike turned and stormed out the crypt,
pausing only to grab his duster and his keys. He was barely
out the door, when he heard them start shooting up the place.
He couldn't bring himself to go back. There was nothing
he could do about Iowa-boy, and he didn't trust himself
around Buffy when he was this angry. It was only stuff.
He was half way to the road when he heard
the blast of the first grenade and he turned in time to
see light from the second blast through the crypt doorway
as the rest of the belt went up.
The cigarette dangled from his lower lip, only held in place by dried spit. "What a fuckin' bitch!"
His eyes welled up and he tried to hold
on to the anger he felt inside... because if he didn't he
would be lying there crying his eyes out when she came out.
He got onto the motorbike and headed for
the Seven Eleven. He didn't want to go to the Bronze
or the demon bar where he played kitten-poker or anywhere
where he might see anyone he knew or where he'd been with
her. He even thought about heading for the garage where
he had the DeSoto and leaving town. She hadn't actually
dumped him but blowing up his home pretty much said it all.
He didn't notice the first few tears as they rolled diagonally
down his cheeks. He told himself it was just the wind in
his eyes and he kept telling himself that until he got off
the bike outside the store. After that he just decided
to ignore them, and hell help the teller if he said anything.
He went through and picked up a bottle of Glenmorangie.
Tonight was for slow drinking. He had to let his troubles
go, not drown them. it was then that he had a sudden inspiration.
He reached for a bottle of vodka and took
both bottles to the counter. He threw a bundle of notes
at the teller and walked back to the bike. He had someone he needed to see.
Minutes later, he unscrewed the top of the vodka bottle,
and poured a drink for his companion.
"Always thought that was a stupid idea,
you know? Waste of good booze. Who made it up anyway, was
it the Irish or was it you Yanks? But, right now it seems
better than drinking alone."
He made sure to avoid the wet patch over
the grave when he sat down.
"So how are you, Joyce? How's things up
in heaven? Things aren't goin' that great down here, not
for anyone, well 'cept Harris. He's getting' wed next week
to his little ex-demon..." So Spike told Joyce what was happening
in Sunnydale. How Dawn had been having problems, but that
he'd be there to help her. How he wanted to help Buffy,
but now she wouldn't ever trust him. How he'd lost that
trust, trying to save her and now he thought she was going
to get back with Riley. He wondered whether Joyce had ever
thought Captain Cardboard would make Buffy happy. He told
her how he hoped Joyce would have been happy for him and
Buffy. How he would have looked after her. How much he missed
Joyce herself. He told her about what had happened on Passions...
and everything else that was on his mind. He sat all night
talking and it was nearly dawn when he sought refuge in
the sewer system.
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