The past few days had been crazy in the Summers’ house for Spike. There was a new slayer in the house, one he got along with. He must have a thing for slayers. Buffy was the one slayer he’d love to be around and actually have something with, but Buffy didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with him. Faith, however, loved to hang out with him.
He wasn’t sure what the deal was with Faith, other than the body swap with Buffy. Red had gone to L.A., which he didn’t really care about, and had come back with Faith. He had noticed that Buffy wasn’t too happy about that, but she never elaborated on why.
Buffy seemed to be all right with Faith in the house now, but she was avoiding him lately. He wasn’t sure what her problem was, but every time he came into the room, she left. If it were important, she’d eventually tell him what was going on. Every time he asked, she brushed him off, so he’d stopped trying to find out. It hurt him a little that she couldn’t talk to him all of sudden. He thought they had been close, but it seemed like things had changed and he didn’t know why.
Faith was a good person to hang out with. She smoked, they could patrol together, and she didn’t treat him like everyone else did. Maybe it was because she was reformed too, but he didn’t know for sure. She really didn’t seem to care that he was a vampire, other then the fist to the nose that he had gotten when he had first met her. She wasn’t Buffy, but maybe that was okay.
After being cooped up in the basement all day, he was ready for patrol, but Buffy hadn’t invited him to go with her. He wasn’t even sure if she was home yet, but he needed to get out. He thought he was going to rip his hair out from all the estrogen in the house. If he had to hear one more minute of teenage hormone problems he would fall on a stake. And he wouldn’t miss this time.
Spike went upstairs after sliding on his duster. He wasn’t surprised to find Faith in the kitchen, on the counter like she owned the place eating potato chips out of the bag. “Hey Faith,” he greeted, smirking at her. “Seen Buffy?” Faith was definitely nice to look at, and she had a carefree attitude, even in the middle of an apocalypse. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. But for now, he didn’t care.
“Hi, Spike,” Faith said, sliding off the counter next to Spike and flirtatiously caressing his leather clad bicep. He could feel the buzz from her body and it was easy not to react to her touches. “No clue, but I wish she’d hurry up.” He knew was a good-looking guy, for a vamp; and he was probably her type, but if she had any common sense she would know that he was off limits. . He hoped Faith had learned her lesson the first few times with Buffy’s men and that she wouldn’t try something with him.
Spike laughed. “Come on. She’ll have to catch up with us. I want to go out too.” The routine of being cooped up in the basement for hours on end, like a bloody pet dog waiting for mommy to come home to let him out, was wearing on his nerves. Everyday, all day, all he did was sit in the basement and wait for Buffy to come. He didn’t need Buffy’s permission do to what he wanted to do, and neither did Faith. They could leave when they wanted to, and Buffy was just going to have to deal with it.
“Thank God,” Faith said, as they left the house. “You tired of being chained up?” She had a teasing note to her voice and she wore a slight smile. “I thought you kinda liked it.” She looked up at him coyly and winked.
He smirked at her. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He missed flirting and trading barbs with Buffy, and he was tired of being treated like something that everyone hated. Faith, at least, was interested in him. It seemed like she was always trying to bump into him and spend time with him.
Relieved to be out of the house, they walked side by side through the cemetery and relished the silence that nightfall possessed. Crickets chirped in the background, and the silver clouds were swirling around the full moon overhead. Good thing werewolves weren’t on their list of things to kill. He itched for a cigarette as his hands traveled into his pockets for his smokes. Faith offered him a light, with a tilt of her head as he lit the cigarette, and a smile. He couldn’t respond. Her smile - it seemed too flirtatious, but she hadn’t made any moves on him. Dawn said she was a sex addict and would do anything for it, but to Spike, it didn’t seem like she wanted that. Her presence just screamed sex, but she didn’t flaunt it like everyone said.
The only thing Faith did was sort of what Buffy did: she brushed up against his arm every now and then. He really, really missed that kind of contact with Buffy. He missed Buffy’s scent of vanilla too. Faith had a distinct scent of jasmine, very different from Buffy, and certainly no substitute. No one could take Buffy’s place, in any sense of the word. Spike could at least be friends with Faith, and hope that things worked out with Buffy. Hanging out with another slayer would be a very nice distraction.
They walked through the iron-wrought entrance, and took the left path into the cemetery. “Think Buffy will join us?” Faith asked. “She doesn’t really like people doing things without her permission.”
Spike shrugged. “She’s had a stick shoved up her ass lately, so who knows,” he said, blowing a stream of smoke out of his mouth. He didn’t know what Buffy’s problem was, and he was pretty much past the point of caring. She had wanted him to get his stones back, and now he had them. If she didn’t like it then that was too bad. He liked being his own man and he needed that. He needed to make his own choices based on what he wanted, not what she wanted.
“Is she pissed at me?” Faith asked, softly. “If you know?”
“Did you do something?” he asked, cocking his head at her and raising his eyebrows in a questioning manner. He could relate to Faith, and it was nice. It was hard to know when someone pissed off Buffy. The first sign was usually her fist to someone’s face and since Faith wasn’t sporting a black eye yet, he was sure that she hadn’t pissed off the blonde slayer yet.
Shrugging, Faith replied, “With Buffy? Hell, you never know. The slightest things always set her off.” Pausing, she eyeballed Spike with a cocked brow. “I thought you two still had a thing?” She rested her hands on her hips as she continued. “It’s obvious you love her, but she’s definitely not your kind of girl. She doesn’t have it in her to be with a bad boy.”
“Be news to me if we did. And you’d be surprised and what she can handle,” Spike said, as he looked straight ahead. His dream of a cozy crypt for two had long since died away. Buffy had made that very clear but he still didn’t think it was anyone else’s business about what they were doing. “But I know how you feel. You never know if you’re in trouble with her or not.”
“So, you aren’t going out with her then?” Faith asked. She was acting calm, cool, and collected, but he noticed that she was digging for information. He also noticed how she let the other subject drop, not caring if Buffy was pissed off or not. Just like he didn’t care. They were both needed in this fight, there was no time to worry about Buffy’s emotions. Not anymore.
“Never went out with Buffy,” he said.
“But you love her.” It was more of a statement than a question, one that no one needed him to answer. Flicking his cigarette to the ground, Spike smashed it out with his boot, ignoring Faith’s stare and hoping that she would get the hint that the subject was no longer up for discussion. Luckily, Faith kept her mouth shut about it. “New subject?” Faith suggested, as the silence stretched on.
“New subject,” he said in agreement. He didn’t want to talk about his relationship, or lack thereof. Buffy didn’t want it to be made a big deal of, and frankly, neither did he. It was best just to leave it in the past where it belonged. There was no sense in reopening old wounds when he had just started learning to get past them.
***
Buffy came through the door half an hour after Spike and Faith left. She closed her front door and leaned against it with a sigh. It had been a long few days, and she still had to patrol. She was looking forward to that. She looked up, just as Dawn came out of the kitchen with food in her hands.
“Hey,” Dawn said. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Spike ready for patrol?” Buffy asked. She really needed to talk to him, without Faith attached to his hip. She headed toward the kitchen, with intentions of going to the basement, but Dawn’s voice stopped her.
“He already left with Faith. They were getting antsy,” Dawn said, before Buffy even entered the kitchen.
“Oh,” Buffy said softly, the disappointment settling deeply. Spike was supposed to patrol with her. It seemed like now, all of a sudden, he had a new slayer. It was like she was being replaced. Why couldn’t she ever have something of her own that Faith didn’t try to sink her teeth into? Angel and Riley had fallen for it, but she didn’t think Spike would too. “I guess I’ll go see if I can find them.” She headed back towards the front door and closed it with finality. Her day couldn’t get any worse.
***
Not long into their patrol, Spike and Faith stumbled onto a nest of vampires. The activity in the cemetery had seemed to triple in the last few weeks, since the First had showed its ugly head. A vampire had risen and decided to give chase, leading them to a nice crypt full of vampires.
“You take the ones on the left, I’ll take the right,” Faith said, heading away before Spike could say anything. Her slayer senses were kicking in as she took control. They staked a few before the vamps started running out of the crypt. “I got ‘em, Blondie,” she said, heading after the group. Before Spike could respond, she had left the crypt. She hadn’t missed Sunnydale that was for sure.
Spike growled and staked the last two before running after her. She was just as bad as Buffy. Stupid slayers were going to get themselves, and him, killed. She was taking on 5 of the vampires that had gotten away and he staked one off the bat before pulling one away from her. He landed a solid punch to a jaw, growling in satisfaction as it crunch under his fist.
Another vampire joined the fight and the vampires got lucky, and pinned him to the ground. Even his strength wasn’t enough to lift the fat vampire sitting on top of his chest. He could never figure out how vampires got fat, unless they were fat when they were turned. There was one sitting on his legs, preventing him from using them. Thank god he didn’t have to breathe, because the vampire on top of his chest felt like he weighed half a ton. A normal human would have passed out by now.
He saw a flash of brown hair and the pressure on his legs disappeared, and immediately after, Faith jumped on the back of the last and staked it. As the vampire exploded, Faith fell on top of Spike with an “oomf”.
She broke her fall, putting her hands on the ground next to his head. Her chest was rising and falling heavily against his. He could definitely see why Buffy had her eyes on her, she was a very tempting girl. Her curves were larger and more fuller then Buffy’s against his solid muscles. She pushed herself up so she was straddling his hips. “You okay?” She asked. He was panting, and he found that a little odd. Only Buffy cause that reaction in him.
“Peachy,” Spike said. “Really shouldn’t have gone after all of them on your own.” He couldn’t help but notice the way she was sitting on him. Her body felt a lot different from Buffy’s. Where Buffy was soft and feminine, Faith was rough and badass, a complete one-eighty from the slayer that held his heart. Faith looked a little demanding, and he could feel the power rolling off of her.
Faith smiled. “Yeah, but I handled them. Do we have to go home?” she asked. “Cause honestly? That house is too much for me.” Coming from an all-woman’s prison to a house full of teenage girls wasn’t her cup of tea. She was almost on the verge of insanity, and she didn’t think she could handle it.
“No. I’m not ready to go either. Too many teenage girls,” he said, relaxed beneath her. It was nice to be out and fooling around with someone. He would prefer it to be Buffy, but that didn’t seem to be an option. Buffy was pissed at him. For what, he didn’t know. But he wasn’t going to just sit in the basement and sulk over it. Not when he could be out with a beautiful woman.
***
Buffy walked through the cemetery and stopped short when she saw Faith sitting on top of Spike. Tears came to her eyes when he made no move to push her off. In fact, his hands came up to rest on Faith’s thighs. Jealousy was raging through her at another slayer — not just another girl, but another slayer— putting the moves on Spike. She shouldn’t be upset. She didn’t own Spike, and she couldn’t count how many times she had said that she and Spike were over, but he had always been devoted to her. It was nice to have someone to rely on, like Spike, and she slowly felt that piece of her being ripped away - by Faith. “Spike,” she whispered, too softly for him to hear her. She turned and ran home, as tears cascaded down her face.
***
“You wanna finish patrolling?” Spike asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because I have to say, being flat on my back beneath a slayer, it’s quite pleasant.” He had meant it to be a joke, but he quickly realized how dirty it had come out. Faith didn’t seem to mind. She was probably taking it the same way he was. Where Buffy would get off him and call him disgusting, Faith did the exact opposite, and laughed.
Faith smiled, and they both got off the ground as Spike pulled a twig out of her hair. Faith blushed. “You’re funny,” she teased. Buffy must have been some kind of idiot not to have this guy all to herself, but Buffy was usually blind to what was right in front of her face.
“You sound like another slayer I know,” he said, raising an eyebrow in amusement. He didn’t know what had made him fix her hair. It must have been an impulse. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his duster, as they clenched into fists. What was wrong with him?
“Believe me, I didn’t mean to,” Faith said, smirking. “She gets all the good guys to fall for her, and she’s just too high and mighty to see what’s right in front of her face.” She rolled her eyes; and he noticed the jealous that flashed rapidly across her eyes. “You know, you’re definitely her kind of guy, and I’m pretty sure I’m you’re kind of girl. I can see that Buffy isn’t doing it for you. You’re tense and edgy all the time. I see the way you look at her. It’s very clear that Buffy didn’t return the feelings.”
“Well, I’m just friends with Buffy,” Spike said. It wouldn’t be anything new if she thought that. He really didn’t care, and he didn’t know why. Deep down he knew that he missed Buffy, but every day he felt that everything he had worked for with her was slipping away. It was killing him, but he didn’t know what to do. “And it’s really not any of your business. You don’t know the first thing about me, Slayer.”
“I’m sure I’m about to find out,” she said as he walked away from her.
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!