TITLE: Making Amends

AUTHOR: Samantha McCullah

EMAIL: ankhet@cswnet.com

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<Where in bloody hell is 'the Gap'?> Spike ranted to himself as he

stared at the mall directory. He and Buffy were still ten miles

outside of LA, but they'd decided to stop in a medium-sized town

to rest before finishing their trip.

They'd only been here two days, and Buffy had already cleaned out

the mall once. After all, it just wouldn't do for her to show-up

on her dad's front porch with only one set of clothing to her name

and smelling like she'd spent a week in a barn. At least that was

her logic.

Buffy was also still a little angry over Dru, but she was getting over

it slowly through many acts of revenge. Her current idea of revenge was

to take his credit card on her little shopping sprees, while Spike was

forced to stay in their motel room. Tonight, however, Buffy decided to

stay home for once, and he took the opportunity to go ahead with his plan

to make amends while keeping his credit intact.

Spike shook all those thoughts out of his head as he finally found The Gap

on the directory. He'd noticed the vast majority of Buffy's sacks were

from that store, so there was a almost no chance that she had missed

something she wanted. But Spike was willing to try.

He rode the escalator to the proper floor and fought the crowd as he

neared the store. When he reached the The Gap, he paused at the door

when he saw the greeter. <Oh, gods!> he thought <Its a cheerleader.>

"Hi, and welcome to the Gap!" She was literally bouncing. "My name's

Sheila." <She's way to perky for this early in the night.> Spike

fought the urge to rip her arm off and beat the annoying girl senseless

after she'd snickered out loud about his outfit. He pushed passed her

and walked over to the pants table.

He picked up a pair of black pants made out of some kind of stretchy

fabric. Spike nearly got ill when he saw the price tag. <Sixty bucks!?>

In the back of his mind he remembered Buffy buying a pair just

like the ones he was holding, in fact she'd bought three pairs

exactly like it. <I'm gonna kill her,> he thought darkly.

He walked around the store, checking price tags. <*Fifty* dollars

for a blouse!> If Spike had blood pressure, it was soaring. He decided

that the Gap was a little expensive for his tastes. <Besides Buffy

had probably bought three of everything in the store anyway.>

He headed out of the store and set off in search of another mall

directory. As he walked to the end of the mall, he caught the name of

a store out of the corner of his eye. <The Leather Shoppe? That has

potential.>

He walked into the store and immediately found himself in dominatrix

heaven. Leather was everywhere, as well as whips, chains, and handcuffs.

Spike walked over to one of the clothing rack and pulled out a leather

catsuit. <Buffy would look good in this,> he commented, checking the

price tag <And its reasonable, too.> He mental dodged the stake he knew

Buffy would throw at him if he bought the catsuit back. He looked around

at the various instruments hanging on the walls. <Buffy would kill me if

I ever brought anything from here back.>

And so Spike exited 'The Leather Shoppe' but had second thoughts. He hurried

back into the shop and grabbed a pair of handcuffs off the wall. He paid with

cash and left the shop a second time. <Never hurts to be prepared,> he

thought as he put the handcuffs into the pocket of his trenchcoat.

As he continued on his quest to find a mall directory, Spike constantly

searched the surrounding shops, looking for something, *anything* to buy

the Slayer.

<Chocolate? Nope, I can't stand the smell,> he commented as he passed a

candy shop. <She already has too much clothing,> he thought as he passed

the Gap again. He passed a pet store and considered getting her a puppy,

but then he remembered the whole Miss Sunshine-fiasco. Then he saw it.

It was a small jewelry store that had several tasteful pieces in the

window. He approached the display and scanned the necklaces until spotting

the perfect one. It was a bit pricey, but something inside him told

him Buffy would love it.

He purchased the necklace after convincing the saleslady to quite waving

it in his face, then he waited thirty minutes while it was being engraved.

Finally finished, he left the mall and headed for the motel.

___________________

When he got back to their room, Buffy was nowhere in sight. He was frantic

for a moment. But then he saw her old clothes in a pile in the corner, and

heard the shower running in the bathroom.

"I'm back, pet," he called, knocking on the bathroom door.

"Be right out!" came Buffy's muffled reply.

Spike peeled off his trenchcoat and tossed it across the back of one

of the motel chairs, then he leaned back onto the bed and closed his eyes.

He held the box with the necklace in it on his chest, and his hand

caressed the velvet of the box ever so slightly.

He opened one eye when he heard the door to the bathroom squeak open.

Steam came pouring out, followed by Buffy. Spike just stared at her;

she was radiant dressed in only a button down shirt. She walked out of

the bathroom, toweling her hair dry. She paused as she eyed the box.

"What's that?" she asked.

"A peace offering," he replied, grabbing her hand and pulling her to him.

He handed her the box and waited for her reaction. She glanced at him before

opening the box; he heard her gasp as she saw the necklace. Spike cringed

back when she pulled the small, diamond-encrusted cross out of the box.

"Its beautiful," she whispered.

"Turn it over," he ordered softly. She did, and her eyes widened at the

inscription. All it said was 'Together, S', but it was more of the

idea that Spike had actually done something so un-vampire like that

shocked her. "Do you like it, pet?"

"Love it, pet," she replied. Buffy placed it back in the box and set the

box on the nightstand. Then she put ran her hands up behind his head

and pulled him to her mouth. She kissed him softly before breaking the kiss

and pulling back.

"What?" Spike asked.

"Go take a shower," Buffy ordered. Spike wanted to argue that he didn't

smell that bad, but Buffy gave him a look that meant business. Spike pushed

himself off the bed and headed for the bathroom.

"Join me?" he offered.

"Go," she laughed.

____________________

When Buffy heard the bathroom door click shut, she strode over to the

pile of clothing sacks in the corner. She searched through all the Gap

bags until she found a sack hidden in the Gap clothes. She pulled it

out and surveyed the writing on the bag. <'The Leather Shoppe',> she

repeated silently.

Buffy quickly changed out of the button down shirt and into the leather,

then she pulled on a pair of knee-high, black boots. After she finished

she searched for something to help her hide her surprise for Spike.

Her eyes fell on the trenchcoat tossed carelessly across a chair.

She pulled the trench on over the leather and surveyed herself in the

full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. Her eyes narrowed

as she felt the unusual weight in one of the pockets of the coat. She

slipped her hand into the pocket.

Buffy smiled darkly as she pulled out the handcuffs.

____________________

When Spike exited the bathroom, conveniently wearing nothing but a towel,

he noticed that all the lights had been turned off. Then he noticed

Buffy silhouetted in the window.

"Pet?" he called out.

"Ssh, Spike," she hushed. <What's goin' on?> he thought.

He heard the rush of air around cloth as she walked over to him. She

leaned into him, and he felt the leather of his coat brush against

his chest. Buffy pushed Spike over to the bed, and he landed roughly on

it as the back of his knees hit the edge.

Just then she leaned over and flicked on the bedside lamp. Spike stared

at her, his eyes running over her from head to foot. Then she opened the

coat. His jaw nearly dropped as she revealed the leather catsuit he'd

almost bought her.

"Where did you get that?" he asked.

"Oh, in a quaint little shop in the mall. Like it?"

"Oh, yeah," he replied, huskily. She chuckled deep in her throat as she

leaned down and kissed him hard. "Hey, pet, does this mean all is forgiven?"

"Oh, no, Spike," she replied as she pulled the handcuffs out of the coat.

"You still need to be punished."

And the rest is left to the reader's imagination.

<Fin>

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Comments? Send too Samantha McCullah

Get me back to Angel of the Night!

Get me back to Spike's Corner!

Get me outta here period!