Quid Pro Quo
by Madrog

 Summary: Post ATS & BTVS. Surprises abound in different lands, different cultures, different times and a different relationship between Buffy & Spike. Magic and action thrives. The ATS crew is bitter after their treatment during S5 ATS by Giles, Andrew and Buffy. Starting w/a dream and phone call, the BTVS crew has to ask for the help of the vampire with a soul (unaware of Spike’s return). Can Spike and Angel get over the hard feelings? And old loves? Spike is cold and Buffy is hot for him. Can Buffy find a way back to Spike while they save the world-again? SPUFFY! B/S, A/N Bloodplay.

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Chapter 1 – Slayer Dreams

When she fell asleep, Buffy knew she was going to have a slayer dream.

Damn!

What? Another apocalypse?

The dream started, and she was confused. As a rule, she hadn’t understood most of her past slayer dreams until Giles decoded it for her, but this didn’t feel like any of her others. The look was like one of her regular Buffy dreams with a side dish of slayer prophecy. Normally, the slayer dream was about the future. However, instead of time as the focal point, the central character was Spike as he appeared in her every night, normal dreams.

In this first part of the dream, she could see Spike fighting. Not demons or anything. It felt more like sparring with someone. His opponent must be pretty good because Spike was going full out and, whoever it was, they were keeping up. Buffy loved to watch him move. He was grace in action, moving with speed, skill, and accuracy. One thing she could tell was that the opponent wasn’t her, but that she was watching from the sidelines and wishing she was his adversary. The dream left her wanting.

The dream shifted. She was with Spike in a room made of stone. She was arguing with him, definitely a heated debate. Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell what they were arguing over, but Buffy wasn’t too concerned about the dream. She and Spike had argued all the time. Why would it be any different in a dream? Then they were kissing, a passionate kiss. When they broke apart, Spike kissed his way down her neck. Nothing new in this dream from some of her others, until he shifted into game face. She could feel his fangs enter her neck. Strange, she wasn’t surprised.

The last dream faded to be replaced by blood. Lots of blood. Buffy could make out Spike laying on a stone floor with his pants leg in tatters and bleeding from shallow wounds on his lower leg. She could see a couple of people crouched over him, but she couldn’t make them out. Her stomach churned seeing Spike in that condition and she itched to go to him. But she felt that for some reason she couldn’t move closer. All she could do was wring her hands and watch him bleed.

Blood played a predominate role in the next part of her dream. She could see stairs? stairs that went up and up with blood rushing down. Spike was there, trying to climb the slick, stone steps of what looked to be a temple, and she just knew that he was trying to get to her. He looked desperate, but she felt disjointed. She knew what he was doing, but didn’t! The dream faded before she could see if he was successful or not.

The last was strangest of all. Nothing like any other dream she had ever had with Spike in it. She was suddenly thrown into a room with lots of plants and glass windows. There were two men in the room, both dressed in old fashion clothes. She guessed that they may be Victorian, but she hadn’t paid all that much attention to history class. She recognized Angel first. He looked so strange with long hair and fancy clothes. When she looked at his face, though, she saw pure evil. Buffy knew she was looking at Angelus, not Angel, and he was furious. She looked at the other man that was on the receiving end of his wrath. He was leaner in build and shorter. His hair was a light brown. Not until she got a good look at his face did she recognize Spike. Or should she say William? She might not have recognized him at all if Angel hadn’t been there. Spike was just as furious as Angelus. She could tell that they were yelling at each other, but again, as in the rest of the dream, there was no sound so she couldn’t hear what they were fighting about. Suddenly, just as Spike rushed Angelus, the dream abruptly ended.

Buffy awoke with a start. How can this be the future? Slayer dreams were prophetic. Not exactly, but more a suggestion of what was to come. How could this dream come true if Spike was in all of them? She wanted them to be true. What she wouldn’t give for him to be with her? be anywhere for that matter! But Spike was gone. Out of her reach. Burned to ash. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe it wasn’t a slayer dream. It just felt extra strong because Spike was in it. Her first instinct was to ask Giles, but no, she would keep this to herself. Keep it private, close to her heart.

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TBC

I know it is short, but the story is just starting up. Just please stay with me.


TBCA/N: Thanks so much to Megan for beta-ing this story and for the encouragement.

Chapter 2 – What a Change a Phone Call Can Make

“Good afternoon, Angel Investigations, LA Branch. How can I help you?” Every time Nina said that it made her smile. Helping Angel and seeing him everyday made her smile. She loved him so much.

An English accented voice came over the line. “Good afternoon. I was hoping to speak to Angel if he is in?”

“Yes, he is. Can you hold on?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

With eyebrows raised, Nina turned from the phone and looked over at Angel, whose own curiosity was written all over his face. “This guy on the phone wants to talk to you. He has a British accent, but not like Spike’s. More like Wesley had.”

“Nina, that was how Spike originally sounded before he was turned. Ask him about that sometime. He will love it.” Angel threw this over his shoulder as he headed for his desk. Even though he was setting Spike up, which he loved to do, Nina could see a tick in Angel’s clenched jaw. It still hurt hearing Wesley’s name, and to make it worse, he had a stinking suspicion who was on hold. To say that Wesley was a friend sorely missed was an incredible understatement. Spike, Angel, Nina, and sometimes Illyria? when she pitched in? made up a poor excuse for what he’d always brought to the table.

After the battle against the Black Thorn, Angel had disbanded what was left of Wolfram and Hart’s Los Angeles’ office. He and Spike had then gone back to the building and took as many books, weapons, computer data, files, numbers of the trustworthy employees? according to Lorne’s reading a few months back in the fall? and anything else they deemed valuable. Of course, the formula for the glass that protected the vampires from the sun and all of Angel’s cars fell into the ‘extremely valuable objects to go’ category with them to the Hyperion. In fact, Spike had the Viper at the moment. His own was a Masserati. Oh, not to be forgotten, they transferred enough funds to Angel’s account to last a century or two; so much that they had invested it and were living off the interest along with the profits from Angel Investigations.

Then under the name of Angel Investigations and using the trustworthy employees at Wolfram and Hart, Angel and Spike started up a hand full of branches in hot spots across the United States and Canada, ones that weren’t already crawling with slayers. No locations in Europe. Neither one of them wanted to go anywhere near the Watchers Council or a certain slayer in Rome. A complete about face from earlier in the year, neither of them had any desire to see the ex that they had in common. In fact, after the defeat of the Black Thorn, Angel and Spike had sincerely agreed for one of the few times in their existence to be done with not just Buffy, but slayers in general. As for organization of the business, Angel ran things from LA while Spike and Illyria traveled, checking up on branches in person. After his long, unappreciated stint in Sunnydale and then being so tied to Wolfram and Hart in LA, Angel was hard pressed to get Spike to stay in any one place for long, so the arrangement worked out nicely.

“This is Angel…Giles?...Yes, I am surprised you bothered to call us…” Nina was startled to hear the cynicism in Angel’s voice. She had heard bland and sarcastic, but not cynicism very often. “You have a problem that you need help with? Really? I’m shocked. Why don’t you send Andrew to handle it, and some of those new slayers. They certainly did a good job on us, but you can do the leg work this time. Thanks for calling. Bye.”

Nina got up from her seat and perched on the edge of Angel’s desk. She knew from experience that Angel was boiling underneath so she took his hand and lightly massaged it, trying to help him in some way with this obviously bad situation.

Angel would be happy to know that Giles felt the sting of his sarcasm. They both knew that Angel was referring to the incident of the mentally disturbed slayer, Dana. In typical Giles fashion, he chose to ignore Angel’s references and move on. “Wait…wait please, we have a situation developing at the Hellmouth of which we need your particular…your unique condition.”

“Don’t tell me. Wait. Let me think. Ahhh, you need a vampire with a soul.” Angel held his hand lightly over the mouthpiece and looked up at her. “Nina, guess what? I’m psychic today. Remind me to buy a lotto ticket later.”

Nina? That was a new player that Giles didn’t know about. Regardless of her, Giles was sorry to find that Angel was being less than helpful. Actually, he was shocked to find the usually stoic vampire smart mouthing him. First this Nina and second Angel’s attitude, two unknowns that didn’t sit well with him. “Yes, we do need you in Cleveland. To be exact, among a few other supernatural creatures, we need a vampire with a soul. We have an issue with the Hellmouth…er…leaking.”

That got Angel’s attention. “Leaking? Leaking? Giles, the Hellmouth isn’t some child’s beach ball deflating.”

“But…”

“But fine.” Angel let him off the hook. “Where do I go?”

He tried to cover it, but Giles’ voice sounded very relieved. “I am currently in England, but I will be leaving in a little over an hour, putting me there before you get there. The Hellmouth and our facilities are located in a suburb of Cleveland in an area called Tinkercreek. We are located in an old mansion where we outfitted the stables as a dormitory for the slayers-in-training.”

Angel interrupted Giles’ longwinded explanation. “I don’t think I will have any trouble finding it. You know, that whole vampire-hellmouth attraction. But, Giles…?”

“Yes?”

“I will be bringing my own crew. You know…so I can trust them.” He hung up before Giles could say anything more or give any orders that Angel had no intentions of following.

During the conversation, Angel had started to mention Spike as another vampire with a soul, but that wasn’t quite true anymore. After the big battle against the Black Thorn, Spike sort of Shanshu-ed, or whatever you would call it. The obnoxious punk was now a living vampire, which was a contradiction in itself. It was like the Powers That Be said that he was only half way to the reward. He still had a vampire’s characteristics, strength, enhanced senses, and stamina, and also human characteristics including breathing, able to go out in the sun and organs functioning. He was a supernatural human, but neither wanted to acknowledge that he was similar to a male version of a slayer, just with fangs and a need for blood. That was when they reminded themselves that they were done with slayers. Hell, after that phone call from Giles, Angel guessed they weren’t as done with the Watchers Council as they had wanted.

There wasn’t a day that went by that Angel hadn’t thought about how he had signed away his chance to shanshu. And Spike and Nina wouldn’t let it go? but for different reasons than his. Neither believed that you could just sign away his eventual fate, and they both believed that his successful fight against the Black Thorn earned him another chance. God, Angel hoped they were right.

He looked up into Nina’s beautiful face and immediately felt better, soaking up her warmth. But as he looked up at her, he thought about what Giles? said that more supernatural creatures would be needed. That worked into the plan nicely since Nina had been working with some gurus that specialized on control in creatures such as werewolves, and she had been progressing nicely and quickly. “Nina, how would you like to take a little trip?” After a quick kiss and explanation, he turned to his computer to surf for a hotel. “We need to get hold of Spike. He’ll just love this, and won’t they be surprised he’s back. Oh, and when you get him on his cell, put it on the speaker phone. I just gotta hear him blow up.”

“Hope no one is standing close to him when he hears this.” Nina was already headed to the phone on her desk. “He’s in Mississippi at the casinos on the coast. Our office there is having a problem with shertt demons.”

“Well, tell him to get his butt off the poker tables and meet us in Cleveland. I will get us some hotel reservations while you track him down.”

*****
TBC Chapter 3 – Best Entrance Goes To…


In the old, colonial Tinkercreek Mansion, a watcher’s research session was in full gear. Towards the back of the building on the bottom floor, there was rectangular shaped room. There were double doors at one end and shelves of research materials on the three surrounding walls, leaving the fourth wall with the door unoccupied. The center of the room was sunken three steps down. In the sunken area there was a wide, posh u-shaped wooden table with a red leather top. Giles sat at the head of the table with Andrew on his right and Buffy on his left. Down the sides were various watchers, their slayers training at the Cleveland facility.

Buffy’s slayer senses suddenly went off the charts. She shot to her feet, and just before the somber atmosphere of the research room was shattered, the double doors slammed open. Whatever it was that had arrived, it had been moving fast.

Not it. They.

As the doors were still swinging on their sorely used hinges, four figures walked into the room, standing abreast of each other. However, due to the bright lights in the hall and the dim lights at the door to the room, the occupants of the room had difficulty making out just whom the newcomers were. From what Giles could make out, the left door had been thrown wide by what appeared to be a woman? judging by the outline of long hair and her curves. Next to her was another woman holding a much larger man’s hand. The man was wearing a long, black coat which flapped around his dark brown leather pants at the knees as he walked with attitude, a demeanor as if he ruled the room. That one Giles knew. Angel. They weren’t being invaded; Angel had arrived sooner than he had been expected. However, even though he had been told, he hadn’t expected Angel to bring three other people with him. Nonetheless, once Giles knew this was Angel, he dismissed interest in the others for the time being. He searched through his papers for his notes to discuss with the vampire.

Upon recognizing Angel, Giles may have relaxed, but Buffy, however, felt like the roots of her hair that she needed to dye were standing on end. The four were sending her slayer senses through the roof, more than just four run of the mill demons. Angel definitely wasn’t your average demon, but the other three felt strong, also.

She knew she didn’t know the first woman farthest to the left. What she noted about the second girl was that she was holding Angel’s hand. A girlfriend. Wow. It was a shock to her that Angel had a girlfriend. But who was she to talk. He had said that he would wait for her, but why should he when she hadn’t? And it wasn’t lost on her that Angel was wearing leather. Leather meant Angelus, his darker and dangerous side, and symbolized the dangerous power he was capable of. Buffy wondered what was going on.

When she glanced at the last figure on the right, who had practically broken the wood of the door when he had kicked it in, she felt the blood drain from her face, leaving her feeling light headed. As with Angel, the man wore a long coat, but this one was longer and moved with a heavier sway than Angel’s; the material was obviously leather. Of course, the hair was a give away. The lights from the hall had turned the color white. It couldn’t be. No longer trusting her legs, Buffy sank back into her seat. It just couldn’t be.

Angel and Spike stopped only a foot or so into the room, making it clear that they were cautious allies with those in the room.

Giles cleared his throat. “Well, uh…Angel…I see that you have made it.”

Angel tilted his head slightly and waited a moment, clearly annoyed by such an obvious statement. “Yes. Let me introduce you to Nina.” If they could have seen his expression, they would have seen it change from dark to light as he smiled gently down at her. “Nina, the man in the middle is Giles, the one that called our office. To his left is Andrew. You have heard me speak of him.” Missing the hard edge to Angel’s voice when he spoke his name, Andrew preened under the mention. “And on the right, is Buffy.” That is all he said of the slayer, dismissing her with a single sentence. He wanted to establish up front that he was with Nina, no longer pining for her. No way he wanted Nina to feel jealous or hurt due to his past with Buffy. “The rest of these people? I don’t know, and I am not sure that I care.”

The man with the crown of white hair raised his hand and spoke up for the first time. “Oh, I’m sure that I don’t bloody care.”

The English accent and the deep timbre of his voice that sent goose bumps up her arms cinched it for Buffy. She could live in denial until she could see his face, but her heart told her no. Spike was back. Oh, man, was she glad that she was sitting down because her legs now felt liquid.

At the same time as Spike spoke, Illyria stepped onto the table in front of her and began inspecting the people she stood above. Spike chuckled at the site. Since Angel had not introduced her already, he indicated Illyria with a sweep of his hand. “And this is Illyria. Illyria, luv, don’t get to close to the gits at your feet, or they might want to study you, put you in a petrie dish or some such.” Spike gave a wicked smile to all the people lining the room. He loved the sight of all these brainiacs with their mouths hanging open. “And me? You’ve got books. Look it up, kiddies. Spike. William the Bloody. Slayer of Slayers. And now call me Spike the Resurrected.” He left out the whole now human part. Little too much for their baby brains at the moment. In fact, he didn’t plan on telling the know-it-alls at all unless he had to.

Angel shook his head. “How about ‘Spike that never stays dead, gone, incinerated…nothing.’ Overall, he is annoying twenty-four seven. Right, Nina?”

She shook her head. “I think he is funny.”

“Don’t encourage him!” Angel put his hand over her mouth.

Illyria ignored Spike’s long list of titles, Angel’s ribbing, and stayed with the previous subject. Her voice dripped with superiority. “Spike, these people would try to study me as you studied me?”

“Yes, but not near as fun, pet.” He wiggled his eyebrows at the expressionless demon. That woman was bleedin’ fun to tease.

Spike’s implication of intimacy hit Buffy hard. Was this blue-haired demon his girlfriend? Both Spike and Angel had girlfriends?

Mirroring Illyria, Spike had stepped onto the red leather surface in front of him. But as Illyria had no hesitancy stepping on the books or bumping a coffee cup or two, as he talked Spike did his own graceful dance around the objects, turning and spinning on the table as only he could do so gracefully in a pair of Doc Martens. However, he lost all playfulness when he stood above Andrew. “Spankie. Angel and I have thought about all the advice and wonderful words of encouragement that you have relayed to us from your superiors.” With that Spike pointed at Buffy and then Giles.

Illyria stopped in front of Buffy, and looked where Spike was pointing. “This is the Giles, the man who presumed to judge you and Angel?”

Spike beamed at her and heard Angel give a snort of laughter. “Yes, luv. You’re spot on.” Spike turned his attention back to the boy. “Andrew, you piss-ant, remember that demented slayer” Unsure of where this was going, Andrew just nodded. “You brought out your dozen little slayerettes and took her from the brood guy back there. Gramps, tell the class what Spankie here said.”

Angel’s voice was flat, chilling in its own way. “To paraphrase, I was told that nobody in your camp trusts my camp any longer. Nobody. And to condense your other pearls of wisdom, anyone connected to Wolfram and Hart were traitors. We are traitors today, right, Spike? I just can’t seem to keep track which side we’re on.”

“Just call me Benedict or Arnold. What the hell, I’ll answer to either.” Spike put his foot on Andrew’s forehead and tipped him over, ending with a satisfying bang as he hit the floor. “You made sure, Spankie, that we understood that we no longer played on the same team. Quick history lesson. Angel helped against the master, Jasmine and the Mayor to name a few. I helped against Angelus, even though I wasn’t even on the white hat side yet, I helped against Glory, and I died fighting the First Evil. And then, kiddies, both Angel and I defeated the Black Thorns. Naaa, you’re right. Don’t trust us.”

Andrew tried to back pedal but just ended up sputtering. “It wasn’t my fault. The order came from Buffy about that slayer. Besides you can’t do this to me. I am on the Watchers Council.”

Giving a bark of laughter, Spike glared down at Andrew. “Just. Did. So bugger off.”

Angel started to say something else, but stopped. First because he liked watching the watchers squirm in front of Illyria and Spike, and even better squirming by Andrew and Giles. Spike was a master at mixing menace with taunting. Secondly, since the blonde vampire could always make Nina smile, Nina’s giggle now assured Spike full reign.

Ready to move on, Spike moved to stand in front of Giles. However, Illyria interrupted the festivities. She cocked her head to the side as she stared down at Buffy. “Right now, this one has strong emotions…”

Nina looked over at Angel in concern as he started coughing.

Across the room, Spike knew exactly how Angel felt. “Feel free to NOT share those little jewels, blue.”

It had taken all this time for Giles to find his voice. “You’re back.”

Spike looked down at the watcher. “Sharp as a witch’s ball, aren’t you, watcher?” Spike spun around and the tail of his jacket brushed Giles’ face, causing Giles to bat at them. Spike jumped down, and making a gentlemanly gesture, he offered his hand to help Illyria down from the table, drawing her over to stand in front of Giles. Illyria tilted her head down and looked at Giles as if he were an insect she looked forward to dissecting. “Call this the year of resurrection, Rups. Illyria, luv, show him Fred.”

When she changed into her human form, Angel stepped up to the edge of the steps. “Remember, Giles? I called you to find Willow to help save a girl’s soul, and you refused me. You. Refused. As you made so clear, no one having to do with slayers or the Watchers Council trusted me or mine any longer, so you wouldn’t help.”

All teasing and taunting had left Spike’s voice. His voice was low and full of contempt for his audience.

“Now you see the shell of the girl we wanted to save. Illyria was resurrected in her body. Fred had been a true innocent. If anyone deserved saving, it was her. Now we’ve sort’ve bonded with Illyria because she fought the apocalypse with us, but Fred left a permanent hole in the team.”

Illyria turned her head to a different seemingly awkward angle. “Wesley died performing his mission.” She watched as the man in glasses flinched at her words. “You feel guilt.”

Angel’s voice was bitter. Guilt was good. How about some more? “Did you even know that one of your comrades died saving the world? And Gunn, another member of our family died. Would you have cared?”

Still holding Illyria/Fred by the hand and with great show, Spike moved them down the length of the room and up the steps next to Nina and Angel, standing together in an obvious show of solidarity. Buffy noted how close Spike stayed to Illyria/Fred.

The brunette vampire pulled up to his full height. “Now, Giles, it appears that you need our help. Funny how these things happen.”

Keeping his eyes on the papers he was aimlessly shuffling, Giles tried to guide the conversation back to the present. “Yes, we do need a vampire with a soul. Actually, we are still translating the text, but we need a witch, a werewolf, a monarch demon. The part that mentions Shanshu with the vampire with the soul is still being translated…”

While Angel patted Nina’s hand, he and Spike shared a look. Shanshu? Interesting. “Well, we have driven a long ways, and I’m sure Nina would like to rest. Get ready the information you have so far and send it over to our hotel…

Since this was a much harsher, foreboding Angel and Spike than he was use to dealing with, Giles jumped at the opportunity to offer an olive branch. “We have an account at the Marriot on…”

Oh, Spike thought, he was going to really enjoy saying this. “Don’t need your blunt, Watcher. Send the information to the desk of the Wyndham Cleveland Hotel at Playhouse Square, and they will get it to our suite. Quite posh, it is.”

“If you want to go fab, that hotel is it.” Andrew added.

Four voices, Giles’, Buffy’s, Spike’s and Angel’s were in unison. “Shut up, Andrew.”

Sending a packet of information to a hotel wasn’t regular watcher procedure. Giles was positive that it just wouldn’t do. “I’m sure we need to do this…”

“Clean your ears out, Rupes. Send the papers to us. And when that information leaves your hands and comes to us, remember distrust goes both ways. So does trust. Quid pro quo.” Then Spike waved his hand once above his head, dismissing everyone in the room. “Ta, ta.”

The four turned to leave and found themselves facing what was surely slayers-in-training with their mouths hanging open. Spike loved the audience. He leaned in as if he was going to impart a secret of secrets. They leaned in with him, and then he gave them a loud, unexpected “boo.” The girls scrambled to move out of their way, and they walked through the opening.

Angel, Nina, Spike and Illyria stopped once they were on the steps of the mansion where Angel was safe from the daylight. Actually he was safe for a thirty feet diameter due to all of the old trees in the yard that their cars were parked under.

Spike was still hyped. “Now that was a great entrance.” Spike was bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I’m talking on a scale of one to ten, it was a thirteen.”

Angel nonchalantly shrugged. “It was ok…umf.” Nina jabbed him in the ribs.

Now that had the British blonde hopping “Ok?...OK? Just bloody ok?...You’ve got to be sodding kidding me...”

Illyria’s calm voice broke through his tirade. “The hinges were still holding the doors up.”

“There is that, blue.” Spike visibly deflated. “Ok, it was an eleven then.”

Before Illyria and Spike got into the Viper and Nina and Angel into the Masserati, the demon shook her head. “You found enjoyment in that?”

Spike and Angel looked at each other and said in unison, “Yes.” Out the open window of the car, Nina’s laughter drifted back to the mansion as they sped away.
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TBC


I have forgotten to mention for awhile that I do have an alert list. If you want to be added, send me your email to madrog@sunnydale-tales.com.

Chapter 4 – What Did I Do?

As the footsteps of the quartet echoed down the hall, the occupants that remained inside the room were totally silent. All eyes were on Giles? except for Andrew who was trying to get up off the floor, and Buffy who was starring at the spot where she last saw Spike before he turned the corner and left.

Falling down on his leadership duties, Giles was still at a loss of what to think, but then the jabbering of the slayers-in-training in the doorway broke through his stupor. “Girls…GIRLS, please go about your business. And Anne, be sure to shut the door behind you.” Once the doors were closed, he looked around at the other watchers. “Well…uhm…”

Before Giles could say anything that made sense, the doors flew open again. This time, though, Willow and Xander stood in the opening. The sight of her two friends broke Buffy out of her trance.

“Holy bleached blond nightmares, what is going on? I just heard that we had some trick or treaters. One playing a brooding, leather clad Angel and one playing a Spike in all his leather and peroxided glory. I hope you gave them tricks instead of treats.”

Nobody laughed.

Xander decided to take another tact. “Ok, Angel must have arrived, but who was playing the part of Spike?”

Willow moved to stand in front of her friend, who looked much too pale for her comfort. “Buffy? Who was here?”

Buffy’s voice sounded choked up when she answered. “Sp...” When she couldn’t even finish saying his name, she fled by a side door before Xander or Willow could ask anything else.

“Yes, it was Spike.” Xander and Willow had to look under the table to see Andrew, who was speaking. “The real Spike is back.”

Still looking under the table, Willow wondered what in the world was going on. “And this explains you on the floor because…”

“Spike put him there.” Giles took in a big breath and blew it out before continuing. “Seems that we had set the bridge to Angel on fire. And without knowing, now the fire has spread to Spike.”

Xander shook his head. “What bridge? I thought brood boy said he would help.”

Not surprisingly to anyone in the room, Giles took off his glasses and scrubbed the lenses. “It appears that we made a tactical error in our treatment of Angel and his compatriots. Both Andrew and I told them that we no longer trusted them. That we were in different camps now.”

“Way harsh, G-man.” Xander rubbed his hand over his face. “You know that there is no one as goody good as Angel…with his soul, that is.”

“I have to admit, though, it seems that I made the biggest error.” Drawing in a big breath, Giles let it out slowly. “Angel called a few months ago and asked to get in contact with you, Willow.”

Surprised, she blinked several times. “Me?”

“Yes. But I didn’t even let him explain why he needed you. If he was still with Wolfham and Hart, I told him that he wasn’t trusted. But now, as Spike has just shown us, Angel had been calling for your help to save one of his friends and team member’s soul. Now a demon inhibits the body.”

‘What a mess,’ Xander thought. “Where was this memo Willow and I missed? I may not be overly fond of Dead Boy, Senior, but I trust him.”

Willow supported her best friend. “Xander has a good point. Who exactly was it that didn’t trust him anymore?”

Not liking the question one bit, Giles looked anywhere but at Xander and Willow. “All of the Watcher’s Council. But more specifically, the distrust was created by me; Andrew because I told him to not trust Angel, and…and Buffy. Of course, even though Buffy and I did not know about Spike’s resurrection, he would and did still fall under the same umbrella.”

“Buffy? You mean ‘Angel is my soul mate’ Buffy? There is no way she wouldn’t trust him. And ‘I died to save the world for you’ Spike? Is it April Fool’s Day, and no one told me?” Xander just couldn’t believe what he was hearing. What had gone on while he had been in Africa?

“Was this when Buffy was in Rome?” Willow was starting to connect some of the dots.

Giles’s eyebrows met. “Yes, Buffy sent slayers with Andrew to forcibly take a damaged slayer from Angel. No violence had been needed, but the show of forces was still noted by Angel and Spike. Why?”

“Giles, we need to discuss some things, and I think it would be best if you cleared the room.” Willow looked around for a chair, but Xander was already bringing two. “Buffy wanted me to keep it to myself, but we need to talk about spells.”

*****

As Buffy raced out of the Watcher’s Councils on the main floor up to the floors above that housed the private quarters, she flew down the hall, thanking those above that she hadn’t run into anyone in the halls. When she made it through her bedroom’s door? which slammed shut behind her? she flew onto the bed and bounced a couple of times before she found a pillow to hug. The tears she had been trying to hide now flowed freely.

Of course, Angel had looked stern but not fuming as Buffy would have expected after their treatment of him. However, it did shock her to see him with a girlfriend, a girlfriend that must be taking the edge off the fuming. Surprisingly, Buffy was happy for him. Angel and she had always had such a tragic relationship, so she wished him well with this one. But she was crushed by what she and Giles had done to hurt him and those of his crew. Angel had every right to be angry. Who were they to judge the souled vampire that had proved himself over and over and over? Yes, Buffy hurt because she and Giles had hurt Angel.

But the word ‘hurt’ didn’t begin to cover how she felt about seeing Spike. Maybe mortally wounded would be better. After the ten thousand volt shock of his appearance had numbed enough to re-start her thinking processes, pain settled in as she realized that the stunning, blue haired demon was in all likelihood Spike’s girlfriend. Spike had treated her much as he had with Drusilla. Even though the demon did not look fragile, Spike demonstrated great consideration. Treatment that she would have never allowed, and Spike had known that then and must assume that now. Ironic how envious she was now of a demon.

And thinking about watching him move and interact with the room brought on the second bout of pain. The thought of Drusilla made her realize that Buffy hadn’t seen Spike so cocky and playful since he had rolled into Sunnydale with his black princess. However, that behavior had slowly died. The longer he had been in Sunnydale? the longer he had had contact with her? the more he had lost his high polished shine. She had tarnished what he had been for decades; but it was back, just without the evil part.

It was the Spike from his early days in Sunnydale when he was her enemy, and she had disbelieved and distrusted him. Even after he had proved himself to be an ally over and over; watching over her mom and Dawn, not giving in to Glory, fighting for his soul, standing by her no matter what she did to him. She had still distrusted him

From a few minutes before, she could still see a pair of blue eyes that were ice cold and a pair of brown from the front of the research room. Two vampires that were displaying distrust due to bad treatment from her and Giles. What had she done with that show of strength against Angel? What had Giles done by refusing Angel help?

And where was she while all this was going on? Trying to keep her moan as quiet as possible, Buffy knew where she was. She had been in Italy - not caring. Well, she cared now, and it hurt, throbbing though her body in waves. She wanted to run to them and try to work things out. This was Spike and Angel after all. They cared for her, didn’t they? Maybe if she had gone to retrieve the slayer herself? or maybe if she had trusted Angel with the crazy slayer and had kept an open line of communication? she wouldn’t be so hurt now.

Wake up and smell the mistakes, idiot girl.

*****

Buffy thought back to two days prior. She and Xander met Willow at the airport. When Willow saw her friends, her smile had been warm for Xander but faltered when she smiled at Buffy. They chatted and caught up in the car on the way back to the mansion, and then talked some more as Willow settled into her room. Dawn joined them at dinner, and everyone continued to talk until well past bed time. Willow noticed that there was something a little off about Dawn, as with Buffy. Afterwards, when everyone said their good nights, Buffy surprised Willow by following her to her room.

Willow settled on her bed and watched her friend pace around the room and chew her lower lip. “Come on, Buffy. I haven’t seen you in a while, but it’s still me. ‘Happy to listen’ Willow. Spill.”

“When I saw you at the airport, you first looked at me and frowned. Is there something wrong? I don’t want to be on the outs with you and not even know it or why.”

“No, Buffy, I love you, and you know that. It was…er…I don’t know how to say it gently so I am just going to say it. Your aura is off.”

“Off? Like I took it off and hung it on a coat hanger?”

Willow quietly laughed. “No, the color is off. It has a grayish tinge to it like it’s cloudy. And after talking to you all afternoon, I don’t think you caused the cloudiness. I think someone has done it to you, something like a spell.”

“Uh? What? Someone put a spell on my aura thingy, and I didn’t know it. No one else noticed by now? There are witches in and out of this place all the time.”

“Ok, ok. Relax. They just don’t know you as well as I do.”

“So can you fix it? Fix it now? I want a pretty, non-cloudy aura. Can I get it to match my new shoes?”

“Yes, we can do something about your aura situation.” Willow dug out two pink crystals from her bag. “We need to sit down facing each other. The bed will be fine. Take this crystal and hold it in your hand, and I will do the same.” When they were in position, Willow began. “Now, concentrate on the crystal and don’t talk.”

A few minutes passed before Willow spoke again. “That’s what I suspected…”

“It’s been like hours…What is it already? ”

“A spell. Someone did cast a spell over you.”

“Can you de-spell me?”

“Yes, it’s a weak spell. Easy. Let me see where it is centered, and then we will see about breaking it.”

Willow took her pink crystal and slowly moved it over Buffy, starting at her head. When she got to Buffy’s hand that was not holding the crystal, she stopped. “Got it.”

“Well…?”

“There is a swirl of black all around your ring.”

“But the Immortal gave it to me. I promised to keep it on always, and I never take it off.”

“This Immortal is your boyfriend?”

“Yes. He is sooo fantastic. If the ring is making a black aura, that must mean it’s good, not bad. He does love the color black. Something else must be connected to the spell. Try again.”

Willow looked into her friends hazel eyes for a long moment before shaking her head. “Does Dawn and Xander know about the Immortal?”

“Dawn does; she adores him.” Buffy’s answer was perky. “But Xander doesn’t know about him yet.”

“Let me go get them so you can show off your ring, ‘k?”

“Great.” Buffy held her hand out to admire the Immortal’s token of love.

Willow thought she was dealing with a Stepford wife. Maybe she was. First Willow got Xander out of his room. “Do you know about this Immortal guy?”

When Xander shook his head, water droplets flew from the shower he had just taken. “No.”

Willow caught him up on the situation on the way to Dawn’s room. “Dawnie, do you know about this Immortal?”

“Oh, yes. He is so wonderful and so good for Buffy.” Both Xander and Willow watched her eyes glaze over.

‘Oh, great,’ Willow thought, ‘another Stepford wife.’ “Did he give you that ring you’re wearing?”

“Yes. He’s so sweet.”

Xander had heard all he needed to hear. “I am sooo going to puke.”

After looking at each other, Xander grabbed Dawn’s arm so that Willow could get the ring off.

“What do you think you are doing? I can’t take that ring off. The Immortal…” When the ring was off, Dawnie looked stunned. Xander and Willow took advantage of her silence to explain. When they were done, Dawn looked at the ring in Willow’s hand as if it were a snake. “I can’t believe it. He seemed so nice, but he was manipulating us. What about Buffy?”

Willow nodded. “Her, too. I figured that it would take all three of us to get the ring off of her.”

And it did. They had to tackle her and jerk the ring off fast. Buffy protested even more than Dawn but ended up even more mortified. The Immortal had used her.

They listened to Buffy rant for awhile at the Immortal’s controlling of her before Willow interrupted. “But, Buffy, I told you that it was a weak spell. You must have wanted him or something about being with him…”

“You were missing someone.” Dawn knew. “You were missing him so bad.”

Buffy collapsed on her bed. “Yeah, I must have been susceptible because of losing Spike. I missed him so much that I must have been looking for anyone to make me feel better. But now that I can see clearly, the Immortal was no Spike.”

*****

Now, after seeing Angel and Spike, Buffy thought about what Willow had said. Could she blame her orders completely on how she handled the insane slayer situation on the spell from the Immortal? Damn it! All for a slime ball that had to put a spell on her to get her to stay with him, she had alienated two of the most important men in her life. Two men she would trust with her life.

And Rome. She had a feeling that there was more to the story about Rome than Andrew had told her. Actually, he hadn’t told her anything connecting Angel to Rome. Andrew was going to give her a very detailed explanation and very soon.

*****
TBC

Don’t worry. Buffy isn’t getting off the hook so easy at all. Author: MadRog Hits: 818
A/N: Sorry that this has taken so long. Megan had to do some judging and then has been sick. She still is so send her some good wishes.


Chapter 5 – Who the Hell Is At The Door?

Ring…Ring…Ring…Ring…

Nina, who was spooned up against Angel’s back half asleep, whispered in his ear. “Don’t you need to get that? We are here on business, so to speak.”

Angel growled and then rolled over so that he could wrap his arms around Nina. “Let Spike get it. His curiosity will finally get to him.” After a few more rings, Angel yelled, “Spike, get the phone.”

“Lazy Bugger!” Spike slowly sat up in bed and rubbed his face.

“I heard that. Still a vampire over here.” Spike could hear a touch of playfulness in Angel’s voice. Nina was good for him.

“Damn eavesdropping vamp…” Spike jerked up the phone and practically growled out the word, “hello.”

A hesitant female voice spoke. “Very sorry, sir. That package you were expecting is here at the desk. Would you like for us to send it up?”

“Yeh…yeh. Send away.” Spike hung up, flopped back down, and promptly fell back asleep.

Knock, knock, knock…knock, knock, knock.

“Spike! Get the door.”

“Your turn. Get the sodding door yourself.” Spike rolled over and burrowed under his pillows.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Spike…!” Nina tried pleading.

“It’s Illyria’s turn.” That should be fun, Spike laughed into the linens.

Angel wasn’t playing anymore, not that Spike cared. “SPIKE!”

“Why do I get the bleeding deed?”

“You don’t have a beautiful lady warming your bed.”

“Angel!” Angel had sounded smug, and Nina sounded embarrassed.

“Well, there is that.” He didn’t bother yelling at Illyria. There was no telling what she was doing in her room, and he didn’t want to know.

Spike got up and slipped into a pair of his jeans. Not bothering to zip them all the way up, he padded barefoot to the door. He jerked it open just as the young bell hop started to knock again. “Oh no, mate, your knocks don’t meet the wood again.”

“Your package, sir.” The boy’s eyes were huge taking in a half nude Spike.

As the package changed hands, Spike fished around in his pocket and came up with two crumpled dollars, a quarter and a nickel. That’s what he handed the teenager before swiftly shutting the door in his face. Spike broke the seal on the large manila envelop and reached in.

Knock, knock, knock.

Spike walked off. “Now it’s your turn, peaches.”

“Not this time either, Spike.” That was Nina’s voice again.

‘Bloody hell.’ Spike spun around and stomped back to the door. “That cheeky bastard better not be looking for a better tip…” He jerked the door open. “This had better be fucking good.”

“I think it is, potty mouth.”

Spike’s brain came to a roaring halt. “D…”

“Dawn. Yeh, that’ my name. And you’re Spike.” Dawn looked down at his pants with its zipper only half way up and at his bare chest. Besides his condition of undress, there was something different about Spike, but she would leave that for later. “And I would say I’m seeing more of Spike than I expected.” She tried hard not to laugh as he came out of his stupor and rushed to fasten his pants properly.

“Bit, I…uh…wasn’t expecting you.”

“You stole my line. Really wasn’t expecting you…to be on this planet.” With a crease between her eyebrows, she looked him up and down again before a grin grew. “Now can I have a hug?”

Spike opened his arms, and she stepped in. The hug was tight. Again she was struck that something was very different, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Too preoccupied on other things. As she thought before, it could wait until later.

Her voice was muffled against his chest. “You came to the Watchers Council’s building and didn’t even try to talk to me.”

“I’m sorry, Nibblet.” Spike rubbed her back as he had done many times before when Buffy had been dead. “We didn’t really want to see anyone…even the people we did see.”

Dawn pulled back so he could see her smile. “Actually, I’m ticked I didn’t get to see you walking on the tables.”

“Ah, Bit, it was a right glorious sight to see. Let me grab a shirt, and I’ll spin you some yarns.”

Dawn walked around the suite as Spike put on a t-shirt. They had the penthouse suite in the rounded end of the Wyndham Cleveland Hotel. What a view. “Geez, Spike, now this is my idea of a hotel room. I heard you turned down Giles’ offer of a hotel. This is way, way better.” Dawn wasn’t surprised when Spike walked back into the main area wearing a black t-shirt. “Spike, you do know there are other colors than black, don’t you?”

“Yeah, there’s red.” As Dawn laughed, Spike headed for the bar. “Bit, how about something cool?”

Dawn made herself comfortable on a sofa. “Sure, is there any pepsi?” One was flying her way just seconds after her request, which she did catch. “Nice hands, pet.” Holding a beer, Spike settled on the sofa, turned so that they were facing each other.

“I’ve been training. Just think, all those days sweating, and now I can pluck soda cans out of the air. Yea, me, my hard work pays off.”

They spent the next hour with Spike telling her stories about the last year. Stories that mostly made him look good and would embarrass Angel if he were in the room. When Spike got to the puppet story, Angel came out of his room with a dark frown. “Enough, Spike. I think she has the picture.” He came over to stand above Spike. “Where is the packet?”

The dominance trick of towering over him just made Spike laugh. “Why, you great poof, you were eavesdropping.”

“Yes.” His frown washed away when he looked at Dawn. “Hi, Dawn. Good to see you.”

Dawn smiled. “Hi, Angel. He was right, Spike. Alright already with the ha ha stories. Tell me what is up with you. All of you. Being cold to Giles and Buffy isn’t the norm. So I have heard parts, but I want it from you.” Dawn could see Spike tense at the mention of her sister. Oh, there are still feelings there.

After Spike pointed out the packet to Angel, the serious stories began. Even though the lack of trust had been directed at Angel, it still bled over to Spike and the other that worked with the brooding vamp. Dawn wanted to cry when he talked about losing his hands, and then Andrew took the slayer from Angel. What a thanks the two vampires had received for their retrieval efforts. She also made note to kill Andrew when she got back to the mansion. No wonder the jerk had been hiding since Angel and Spike had visited the Watchers Council. And Spike and Angel had been in Rome, and that rat hadn’t told her or Buffy. She had to learn about Spike being back from today’s events and the grapevine in the slayers-in-training. But he was here now, and she would be happy with that.

Finally, Spike was up to current events. “Nibblet, I am glad we are no longer with those Wolfram and Hart blighters, but they had the coolest toys. Special glass for vampires, company jets, and some bloody fantastic cars. I’ve got a Viper downstairs.”

Angel laughed as the seventeen and one hundred thirty year old kids flew out the door to play with the very fast toy.

At a side door leading outdoors, Dawn stopped so abruptly that Spike hit her in the back.

“What? What’s wrong? It’s the red one on the front row. Let me grab the keys from the valet gits, and we can be off.”

“But Spike, it’s still daylight out, and we forgot a blanket.”

“Then maybe I shouldn’t do this.” He walked out into the sunlight. Her mouth dropped open. Then he took her hand and placed it over his heart. “Or maybe I shouldn’t do that.”

She could feel his heart beating, and now she knew what was wrong upstairs when he had been half clothed. He had blushed, and he had been warm when she had hugged him. “You’re human.”

“It’s called Shanshu, Nibblet. To be specific, a vampire with a soul, once he fulfills his destiny, will Shanshu, become human as his reward. Now, Peaches and I are guessing that the Powers That Be decided I am only half way there. I still have my vampire capabilities.”

“So you still go all grhh and have to drink blood, but you’re all warm and breathing?”

“You got it.”

Dawn’s mouth was hanging open. “Oh my gosh…everyone is so going to freak.”

“That’s the rub, Bit. For now, let’s keep this between us, ‘k?”

“Ooh, a secret. Even better.” She grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the valet.

~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&

By the time Spike and Dawn returned to the hotel suite and settled on a pair of barstools, Illyria was coming out of her room.


“Hey, EC, say hi to Dawn, here.” Spike leaned over to Dawn to explain the initials – emotionally challenged.

Illyria glanced over when she heard Dawn’s peppy “hi.” She gave a very dead pan “hello” to the girl and continued on her way to the kitchen.

“Come on, Blue, do it with a little bloody enthusiasm.” Spike gave Dawn a playful wink.

Without looking back, the blue and red demon threw over her shoulder. “No.”

“Told ya, bit, she is very emotionally challenged, but I’m helping her. With a little elbow grease, we can make it through.”

Angel spoke as he walked into the room. “More like driving her crazy.”

Spike squawked at the slam. “Hey now…”

Angel held up his hands. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. Better her sanity under fire than mine anymore. Dawn, did blondie here use to baby-sit you?”

“One long summer, until Buffy came back from the dead.” Dawn watched Spike flinch at the mention of Buffy’s name. Yes, Spike still had some feelings. The question was, how much.

Angel’s voice was full of pity. “You poor, poor girl.” He easily ducked the apple Spike threw at him from the hotel’s complementary fruit basket.

After Dawn was introduced to Nina, she sat back and watched the interaction. Dawn marveled at all four of them, all getting along, all comfortable being so close that they shared a suite without knocking holes in all the walls-- especially Spike and Angel. The name Dru alone had stood as a gigantic barrier between them. What Dawn was the most interested to observe was Spike and Illyria. Some chemistry was there, but the dynamics seemed complicated. In a way, Spike talked of and to Illyria like a girlfriend. He smiled, he teased and he watched her move through the room. But she did notice they had separate bedrooms. Then again Spike said they traveled everywhere together. How together was together? However, Illyria seemed to just put up with Spike’s smart ass comments. What a great mystery to unravel, and no matter what, she bet her allowance that Buffy was going to go ballistic with jealousy. Even though Buffy had been with the Immortal, Dawn knew her sister still missed the blonde vampire.

Illyria’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. “Are there any of those croissant things left from this morning?”

“Ms. ‘barely puts up with humans and vampires but wants one of those human made pastries’ talks!” Spike teased before turning back to Dawn. “You’ve gotta love her.”

‘Really?’ Dawn thought. Friends or lovers? Dawn definitely needed to solve this mystery. It had better be friend or that would conflict with her match making plans for her sister. Buffy needed Spike even though she may not know it. And Spike. Who was he kidding, the miserable man? He needed her sister!

~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&

Later at the hotel after Dawn left, Angel found a moment to privately speak to Spike. “Even though I am happy with Nina, it was still hard seeing Buffy today. But then I looked at Nina again and knew I’ve done the right thing. It’s hard with the curse and all, but it’s worth it. How are you doing?”

Looking at the scuffed toes of his boots, Spike thought for a moment. “Peaches, the truth?…I wanted to go straight to her, but then I reminded myself about her betrayal of trust and about the Immortal. And now seeing what you have with Nina, Buffy’s type of heartache isn’t worth it. I’d rather do a swan dive into the Grand Canyon. The Immortal can have her.” Spike visibly shook himself and strived for a little humor. “Hey, have I ever asked if Nina has a friend?”

“You’ve asked, and yes, she does have friends, but no one for you.” Angel laughed and slapped him on the back like it would knock his feelings for Buffy out. Spike hoped it would.

Regardless of the blow, Spike was lost in thought. He wanted to believe his own words about his resolve about Buffy, but wasn’t one hundred percent sure. Spike knew Angel hoped for Spike’s sake that he had meant what he said. Regardless, before they had entered the Watchers Council, Plan A had been hoping that Buffy was still in Rome, and Plan B was that she was there and they avoid Buffy if at all possible. Since she wasn’t in Rome, they were at Plan B, and they had again agreed to stick to that plan.

And Spike didn’t think it would be very hard to at least attempt to avoid the slayer. Not only was he pissed at her over the trust issue, but he was disgusted with her sleeping with the Immortal. No, it shouldn’t be hard to stay away from her.

Famous last words, mate.

~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&

Before Dawn was three steps through the front door of the mansion, Buffy walked out of a side room, obviously trying to act cool.

Dawn wanted to laugh. Her sister must have been glued to a window. She was as transparent as the window in her curiosity. “You’re back.”

“Looks like.” Dawn headed for the stairs while Buffy followed at her heels.

“So,” Buffy tried to sound nonchalant. “Where have you been?”

Dawn flipped her hair over her shoulder. Yep, crystal. “As if, Buffy. As if you didn’t guess already.”

When Dawn opened the door to her room and stepped in, Buffy finally got enough courage together to ask, “How was he?”

“I assume ‘he’ is Spike, and he is doing great. They all are. Spike is so funny with Illyria.” Dawn started to shut the door in Buffy’s face, but hesitated. “But he and Angel are mega hurt and pissed at you and Giles. And I think they should be.”

“But, Dawn, I didn’t know…” She was talking to solid wood. And she hadn’t known. She was still stewing over the trust issues. But what was this about that demon, Illyria, with Spike. She would hate to admit just how much she was disturbed hearing about Spike with someone else. Distrubed? More like crushed. She headed to her room, and a long night of lying awake and thinking painful thoughts.

~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&
TBC

Reviews would be very much appreciated!!
 

A/N: Thanks again to Megan for beta-ing this story.


Chapter 6 – A Little Brimstone With Your Breakfast

“The hellmouth awaits.” Spike was ready for the challenge and exuded so much energy that those around him could feel it.

This morning, promptly at eleven o’clock, Spike, Illyria, Angel and Nina, were met at the door of the Tinkercreek Mansion by Giles. Behind him hovered Dawn, Willow, and Xander. Last, in the very back, stood Buffy. Spike stole a quick glance that she didn’t see. He wanted to laugh at her, but he couldn’t. She had her hurt face on. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her head was tilted over to the side, displaying her pain. However, she just didn’t know yet that her attitude, no matter what, was going to get her nowhere. Certainly not sympathy.

Giles opened the door to the Tinkercreek Mansion wider. “Welcome. I trust that you had a good night’s rest.”

“If you mean if the hotel was up to par, it was better than expected.” Angel thought he would drive that little point home a little more.

“Quite.” Giles cleared his throat. He had already heard from Dawn how posh the hotel was.

It appeared that Giles was going to go through some formal greeting. Spike decided to head off any of the rubbish. “This is Illyria, and this is Nina. Rupes, where’s the hellmouth?”

Angel was relieved at Spike’s tact and led their group inside and down the hall. Giles had to run to catch up.

No one greeted Buffy, and Buffy didn’t try to greet anyone. Actually, she had been expecting some type of acknowledgement. This was Angel and Spike after all. Only Illyria had served her with a stare before she moved on to the next person. The last time she had seen the two vampires separately in Sunnydale, they had shown their love for her. Angel in a kiss and words. Spike in a grasp of their hands that burned with fire. Now the pair acted like she didn’t exist, and she could feel it tightening around her heart.

Angel…in a way, she was happy for him if he was happy with this Nina. Months before, Buffy had already come to terms that her window of opportunity with Angel had past.

But Spike…she didn’t understand him at all. He had loved her so deeply, and he hadn’t even told her that he was back. With that thought, her heart constricted more. She wanted to know, but for her, talking and emotions weren’t mixy things. Besides, how did you talk to someone that didn’t even acknowledge your presence? When Spike had stepped into the hall with the rest of his gang, she started to open her mouth to say something? anything. After all, this was her Spike that couldn’t get enough of her. But no, this wasn’t her Spike. He passed her by without even a glance. She, however, looked her fill. This was the Spike of days of old, down with eye liner and black fingernail polish. This was Spike of the pre-chipped days. All attitude, air of danger around him, and most painful to Buffy, this was the vampire that hadn’t loved the Slayer.

Giles led the way downstairs into their basement where the concrete was cracked with an approximately fifteen feet opening. Gold light like from a fire shone up.

Spike was the first to approach it. “Oh, you’ll just love this house. Lots of space and ten bedrooms upstairs, just don’t mind the Hellmouth in the basement. Just throw a rug over it.”

“Spike!” Angel rolled his eyes as they approached the hole.

“Looks like this opening goes twenty feet down,” Angel estimated. Out of instinct he wrapped an arm around Nina’s waist when she moved a little too close to the opening for his comfort.

Illyria walked up and looked down. “That looks familiar.”

“Good,” Spike slapped her on the back, which put him on the receiving end of a glare, “You can show us around. Maybe a vacation spot, Blue?” As the other three were doing, Spike was peering down. “Why are these kind of places always lit. It’s not like they’ll get an electricity bill at the end of the month.”

“When I had my little jaunt to hell, the walls there glowed. A little darker than this, but it was the walls giving off light. I’m guessing it’s the same here.” Buffy flinched at Angel’s comment on the time she had sent him to hell.

“If I may interrupt?” Giles was just replacing his glasses on his nose. “We have a limited amount of time. This Hellmouth opens and closes on its own schedule and has moved twice so far. Once two blocks away and then the second time it moved back here. It has been here for the past three days, and it stays open for only about two hours.”

Angel stepped up closer and looked down. “So since we just got here, how long do we have?”

Willow spoke up. “You were lucky arriving when you did. It has only been open for about fifteen minutes.”

“Explore time, ladies and gents.” Spike rubbed his hands together. “Chickies, that looks to be a twenty foot drop. The ladder was a nice touch to the décor, Watcher, but you didn’t have anything in red?” Spike held out a hand for Illyria. “Ok, puss, you said that you knew your way around, so you first.”

Long used to his ways, she took his hand and let him lead her to the edge. She looked down. Ignoring the ladder completely, she stepped into the opening and sailed down to land in a crouched position. Leaving Nina with Spike, Angel was next to follow in the same manner. Once down he looked back up and held onto the ladder to make it more secure while Nina was climbing down. When Nina moved to step on the first rung, Spike swept her up into his arms. With laughter in his voice, he called down below, “Peaches, catch!” and dropped her into a surprised Angel’s arms.

“Damnit, Spike!!” floated back up, causing Dawn to giggle and combine with Nina’s.

When Spike looked over his shoulder to grin at Dawn, he caught sight of Buffy moving towards the Hellmouth out of the corner of his eye. He turned to confront her. “No, no, missy. You stay top side.”

Buffy stopped in her tracks, shocked. She had already been thrown off guard in Spike’s treatment of Illyria, and now this. “Of course I go. I always go.”

She again tried to step up to the opening, but Spike stepped in her way. When she still tried to advance, he stuck a finger in her face. He wasn’t playing around. “The only people that go with us are people we trust.” She slapped the offending digit away, but he stuck it right back in front of her nose. “Besides, we are tainted by Wolfram & Hart, so you had better not trust us with your life down there. And…if you come down with us? the contaminated? we’re out of here. Don’t push us. You wouldn’t like the results.” With that threat and a cocky salute, Spike took a step back and dropped down. “WhooHooo!”

Buffy wanted to scream and strangle that vampire at the same time. She wasn’t sure which first, but she didn’t want to show her feelings now because she could feel everyone’s eyes on her. Instead, she moved so that she could look down into the hole and try to tell what was going on.

Down below, the gang broke up into the two natural pairs. Angel and Nina went to search the left as Spike and Illyria moved to the right. They soon disappeared from the view of those above.

The wait was boring. Xander, Willow and Dawn had left the watching to Buffy and Giles and were talking quietly, discussing the change in Spike and Angel. Dawn led the talk, telling them what Spike had told her. Buffy tried not to listen but couldn’t help it. Every time they mentioned the Immortal, she felt like such an idiot. She had been sucked right in by the sneaky mega creep, and she let herself.

Just as Buffy thought she saw Giles doze off, Angel came into view. He jogged towards the direction Spike and Illyria had gone and was calling Spike’s name. For a moment or two, he was out of view and then Spike and Illyria followed Angel back towards where he must have left Nina. Next, Spike appeared again. He looked up towards the hole.

“Watcher, we need a hammer, a chisel, and a sturdy rope down here. A long one.” He was talking to Giles, but his gaze caught with Buffy’s. He looked a moment longer before looking away. “And hurry it up, Rupes.” Damn, that was the kind of thing he was trying to avoid. There can be no eye locks, Spike reminded himself.

Buffy, however, tried to catch his gaze again. He had only directly looked at her two other times, once in the library when he had first arrived and earlier when refusing to let her go below. This time she saw a glimmer of the vampire she had known, and she wanted to see that, know that again. She would keep trying. It just wasn’t in her to quit, not on Spike. She had ruined all of her other chances in Sunnydale, but she wouldn’t now.

When Giles returned with the rope he dropped it down to Spike, who then disappeared out of view again. Their wait wasn’t long. Illyria and Nina came up first. Then Spike came up with one end of the rope. Once on the top, he started hauling up what looked to be a large flat stone, a tablet. Giles and Willow were on it as soon as it cleared the opening. Spike had trouble carrying it to the research room without stumbling on one of the two of them.

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Once everyone was out of the Hellmouth and the basement, they reconvened in the Watcher’s library. Angel seated Nina at the end of the u-shaped table, but he stayed standing in a position of dominance. In fact, everyone was seated except himself, Illyria, and Spike, who was pacing in the stacks of books in the raised area above the tables, appearing to inspect the books. He had too much energy flowing through his body to sit in a chair. And he would never admit it, but in his wanderings, he was able to catch glances here and there of Buffy when she wasn’t looking. Nope, no admitting that, but damn, she looked good.

Angel kicked off the debriefing. “The area below was a twisting and turning maze.”

From her spot near Giles, inspecting him, Illyria spoke up. “On purpose, so you get lost and stay until someone eats you or makes you a pet.”

“Nice. Home sweet home.” Angel nodded and continued. “If or when we go back down, we will have to have some kind of system to keep from getting lost.”

“Get out the yummy bread crumbs, missy.” Spike gave Nina a wink and she smiled back.

‘How outrageous,’ Buffy huffed to herself. ‘She’s Angel’s girlfriend. He can’t flirt with her.’ She didn’t realize that she was thinking like a child.

Angel continued. “Now, about the tablet…”

“It will be, as you would say, a road map. Where to go and what to do,” Illyria stated matter-of-factly. She had moved on to inspecting Xander, who reacted with nervous squirming.

“A road map.” Angel gazed directly at the Watcher. “Giles, get your Watchers on it. We need the translation by tomorrow.”

Bristling at the obvious order, Giles responded. “They will get right on it. Now, about the information I sent you yesterday. I trust you…”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. I wouldn’t just throw around that “t” word, Watcher.” Spike wagged his finger at Giles. “We might make a mistake and think you mean it.” His words sounded playful on the surface, but his boiling anger hovered below.

Willow was troubled over the obvious tension building in the room. What did he mean, T word? “Trust?”

Spike tapped the side of his nose. “Got it in one, Red.”

Interrupting before Spike could get them sidetracked anymore than they already were, Angel plunged on. “Let’s get back to the topic, shall we? We did look over the papers. You have a hellgod, Zornerah, who is trying to come to our dimension through the Hellmouth. No surprise there. Our job is to retrieve something from somewhere, and that object will be used to block the hellgod from coming through. Got it. No surprise there, either.” Angel was looking forward to this next part of the meeting. “We have chosen our team.”

That brought Giles to his feet. “What? You’ve chosen? Giving you that information wasn’t meant…”

“I have saved the world eight times, and Spike six times – one of which when he was still evil. We are champions in our own right. What we are not are your flunkies. We won’t be taking orders anymore.”

Hands to his throat, Spike looked like he was gagging. “And we are NOT bloody Scoobies. Ugh!”

“We are capable of calling the shots. Giles, we need you for research only. Otherwise, it’s only our people.” Angel lowered his voice and enunciated every word carefully. “It’s all a matter of trust. Which by your own words, we no longer share.”

Spike stepped down level with the table. “Your research said we need a monarch demon and a witch to guard the Hellmouth while a vampire with a soul, a werewolf, and a nonspecified supernatural go after the Vessel of Catarh, which will be used to block the hellgod. We found some mistakes in your research, but let’s see. Who has the text?” Giles found the correct volume. “Now, let a lowly layman ask a question. What are these three words here?” He pointed in a text.

Giles adjusted his glasses. “Monarch demon. We are trying to figure out exactly where to find this particular demon, who is directed to guard the hellmouth.”

Spike gave a dramatic eye roll. “Not a cutesy little butterfly, laddie. You missed a word. What’s this middle one?”

Giles looked closely at the text. “What…uh…it’s ‘of.’

“So what we are actually looking for is a monarch of demons.” Spike indicated Illyria with a grand sweep of arm.

Puffing up, Illyria stepped forward. “I ruled the world when demons ruled the planet. Now you humans are infesting it. My world. My army…”

Angel broke in before she got a full head of steam. “There you have it. She is a demon of demons…”

“And has no hesitancy to tell you,” Spike finished for Angel. “Illyria is our monarch of demons. Next off, we need a werewolf and peaches’ sweet meat fits the bill nicely. Now, kiddies, we have the mention of a souled vampire.”

“Giles, on the phone you said you needed a vampire with a soul.” Angel tapped a couple of books on the table. “Actually, in reading your direct translation, I noticed reference to Shanshu.”

The watcher nodded his head. “Yes, quite. It did actually say past and future Shanshu, which would be you since Shanshu is only for a vampire with a soul. Of course we didn’t know that Spike was back, making there two souled vampires in existence. But which one of you it applies to is now the question.”

Spike slapped his hands together, starling everyone. “Hate to burst your bubble, Rupes, but that is in reference to both of us. Angel is the future part.” Spike held his hand up when Angel opened his mouth to talk. “Now before we get into it, Peaches, you are the future Shanshu. I don’t care if you signed the Shanshu away. That was my Shanshu. Yours is coming. It’s in this bloody text. Enough already.” Spike stepped over and opened a window and let light in without burning Angel. He stepped where the sun bathed him. “You’d think somebody would have noticed my tan by now.”

Buffy was half way across the room to knock him out of the light before it registered in her brain that he wasn’t going up in flames.

Spike, however, was enjoying himself and hamming it up, especially seeing Buffy’s reaction. “I’m melting.” Then he stopped and inspected his hand illuminated in the sun’s rays. “Interesting.”

“How many movies are you going to rip off?” Nina laughed at his antics. “The Wizard of Oz and The Pirates of the Caribbean. Besides, it would be better if you were holding a gold coin for that last one.”

Spike dug around in his pocket and pulled out a coin. “How about a quarter?”

Dawn was just as off the subject of the meeting as he was. “And Johnny Depp is so gorgeous.”

”And I’m not?” Spike looked horrified. Buffy thought he looked better, and that was saying something.

Dawn wasn’t done yet. “Show off.”

“Damn straight, Nibblet.” Spike with arms wide open spun in the sunlight. “But before we get too far, I am a hybrid. A mixture of vampire and human. A vampire with all the benefits of a human, but still needing blood.”

Buffy grabbed hold of Dawn’s arm and whispered fiercely. “You knew?”

“Sure.” Dawn wanted to laugh at her sister, Miss ‘I don’t know everything’ but settled for a smile. Buffy was in such a bad spot, Dawn felt kinda sorry for her. “One hug, a little light, and I knew.”

As much as he envied Spike’s metamorphosis to part-human, Angel wanted to laugh at all the stunned faces in the room, especially Buffy’s. But back to business. “We have one supernatural of our choice. Spike and I will think that one over tonight. And last, the witch to help guard the Hellmouth and then unleash this Vessel of Catah. Spike?”

“I’m thinking of that bonnie lass, Krista. She can be here in a couple of hours.”

Angel considered and nodded. “Sounds good.”

Giles leapt to his feet again. “We already have people for…”

“No.” No one in the room questioned the firmness of Angel’s answer. “We’ve been over this before. Since you no longer trust us, we will pick the people that we can trust. It’s that way, or we leave you to your Hellmouth.”

Giles looked like he was going to dispute the announcement.

Spike spoke to Giles, but looked at Buffy. “Remember in Rome? Andrew does, ask him, and so do we. Summed up in six words, kiddies. Get over it and move on.”

Before Giles could ask about Rome, Angel laid down the law. “Giles, we are in the driver’s seat…”

“And mine is a viper. Try catching that,” Spike threw in.

Angel gave Spike a long-suffering glare, then looked back at Giles. “…Unless you have a vampire with a soul of your own.”

As they left, Spike volleyed the parting shot. “Trust goes both ways. You brainiacs shouldn’t have burned that proverbial bridge.”

“You were in Rome and didn’t …” Buffy was talking to closed doors. She looked at all the others in the room. Everyone looked just as confused as she was about the reference to Rome. Oh, but one person didn’t look confused. Her sister.

Buffy slowly turned to her sister as pain ripped through her. Rome. Had Spike been in Rome and didn’t try to see her? Or did he? That wasn’t like her Spike to not be more persistent. Or she guessed that was the point now, he was no longer hers. Regardless, she wanted him which means she wanted to make things right. What she needed now was information. “Dawn, what do you know?”

“I know that you need to ask Andrew.” Dawn could tell and she was dying to, but she thought Andrew deserved to suffer for the Rome debacle. Buffy looked furious, but Dawn felt no pity for the rat.


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Buffy had Andrew pinned against a wall on the second floor of the mansion with his feet dangling a foot off the floor. “All right, Andrew, let’s have it. What happened in Rome concerning Spike and Angel?”

Andrew’s eyes were wide, and his voice squeaked when he talked. “It wasn’t my fault. I was just trying to do the right thing.”

Buffy had her best Slayer glaring face firmly in place. Something had happened to turn Spike and Angel away from her, and she demanded to know what it was. “How come I doubt that? Spill.”

Andrew’s gulp was audible down the long hall. “They came to see you.”

Buffy was so stunned that she let Andrew slide down so that his feet were on the ground. “You knew about Spike? They came to see me, and you didn’t tell me?”

“Well, I meant to but just…forgot.” He started squirming, trying to get away.

Her shock wore off and then came the fury. Andrew’s feet were dangling again. “What did you do to make them so mad?”

“I…”

“Stop stalling. Tell me.” Buffy had had enough.

“The Immortal. They thought it was a spell, but I told them that it wasn’t and that you were happy with the Immortal and for them to move on.”

Letting him down, Buffy was dazed. She wanted to wring Andrew’s neck but settled for shoving him down the hall. No wonder Spike and Angel were so mad, and so was she. The two men that had loved her most in her life had been sent packing. First they were told that they were no longer trusted, and then they were turned away. She had a lot to make up for…if they let her. No, she would make them let her.

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TBC

I’ve set up a live journal at livejournal.com. I am still learning and trying to set up better but please come visit. Just search for madrog. I would love more friends and hear from you.

A/N: Let me again thank Megan_Peta for betaing this chapter for pushing me pushing me to improve. Her advice is invaluable.

Special thanks to Anon, Kimber, shippy, aliciaspiked, becky, millie, and jane for the reviews.

I promise that the spuffy is coming, it has just been slow developing, and that is why I started writing Just a Fling to get a smut fix :)

Thanks to madders for putting me on her list of friends.

Chapter 7 – A Little R&R

“Aahhh, just what the doc ordered.” Spike took another drink of his Guinness, licking the foam off his upper lip. The five of them: Spike, Angel, Nina and Illyria plus Dawn, were all at O’Reilly’s on Euclid Street partaking in a little R and R. The bar was dark, crowded, had an alternative rock band playing and had Guinness on tap. Perfect. They immediately took over one of the pool tables in a back corner.

“Peaches, you play like a bloody turtle.” Spike and Dawn were playing Angel and Nina while Illyria/Fred was playing some chump for money a couple of tables down.

Angel stopped for a minute, put his hand on his hip and scowled. “What the hell are you blabbing about, you idiot? They don’t have hands. They barely have paws.”

“My point exactly.” Pleased that his grandsire had fallen for the joke, Spike laughed as he sank his shot.

During the third game where Nina and Spike were playing against Angel and Illyria, Spike felt someone touch his arm. Instantly alert, he swung around, tense. What he found wasn’t threatening in the least. What he found was Willow wearing a tentative smile.

Willow prayed she would say the right things. “Spike, I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

Spike shook his head coolly, unsure what she was doing in the bar.

Willow knew this might be hard, and she was right. “I know that we buried the hatchet earlier today, but I wanted to talk to you and Angel.” She turned to address Angel. “Dawn told me why you are so mad with me. I want you to know that I had no idea that you had needed my help with your friend. Giles never even told me. You should have known that I would have come to help if you had needed me.” Willow stood there wringing her hands.

Angel considered and then nodded. He did know Willow, and he did know deep down that she wouldn’t have refused to help.

She turned to Spike

Spike melted at the expression on Willow’s face. All his anger over the Fred incident was gone with those few words. There was no way this woman would have let Fred die without trying to help. He would just save his anger for Giles, the bastard.

Willow let out a sigh of relief. “Now, can I be the witch that you use for this hellmouth problem?” Her smile was much bigger this time.

*****

After one of Angel’s turns, he stopped the usual constant banter and walked over to Spike.

Nonetheless, Spike beat him to the punch. “She’s here.” He didn’t even need to look to see Buffy. In fact, he didn’t want to see her. He had felt her the second she entered the bar, and Angel’s approach confirmed that Angel had, too.

Angel’s jaw clenched but then relaxed some. “Yes, I feel her and wish I didn’t.”

Spike knew exactly what he was talking about. He blew out a long stream of air before answering. “I’m trying to get over the ‘loving Buffy’ illness. I’m staying away, and talking to her the least as possible during this bloody mission. And…I am making an educated guess that ignoring her will drive her out of her noggin.” Spike’s smile was wicked, but inside he wanted to saunter over there and kiss her senseless.

Angel smiled, also.

Spike moved away to teach Illyria how to smile sweetly and fleece for money some guys at the next table that had been watching her. He needed the diversion badly.

“Spike…”

Spike smirked. He knew what she was going to say. He had been teaching Illyria how to be a top notch pool shark for the last couple of months. “Buggered are you, Spankie?”

“Spike, they won’t play with me any longer.”

“I told you, luv, you have to lose once in a while to keep them playing. Sucker them in.”

“Spike…”

“Look, blue meanie, they have a new keg of Guinness on tap, and you’re messing with a perfectly good buzz. Piss off.” Spike pretended to ignore her for a moment, but then turned his attention back to Illyria. “Try this, love. Go back over there, do an ‘awe shucks’ and maybe even throw in a nod this way, tell ‘em how your boyfriend isn’t being nice to you. Let’s see how well that goes, pet.” Illyria fixed her face in a pout with Spike’s help and left for another try.

*****

When Buffy stepped into the bar, the group from LA was easy to spot. In the far corner was a well lit, raised area with four pool tables. Why was she not surprised that the group was playing pool? Angel with his usual dark and handsome looks stood to the side of one table. What was unusual, at least to Buffy, was that he had his arm casually wrapped around the waist of the girl called Nina. A small smile played at his lips. Buffy had to admit she had never seen him so happy-- or had she ever seen him truly happy?

It was even easier to spot Spike with his hair appearing white under the bright lights illuminating the tables. And from what she could see, Spike was partnered with Dawn, and they were playing Willow and Nina. When neither one of them were shooting, Dawn stood close to Spike, laughing at his comments. Buffy had known that Dawn had grieved the loss of Spike, but seeing her now, Buffy realized just how much Dawn had actually missed him. And judging from the way Spike looked down at her, the feelings were mutual. What she had no idea of was that they were talking about her.

“Bit, big sis just came in.”

Dawn started looking around. “And…”

“She’s staying on the far side of the bar, at least for now.”

Well, that wouldn’t do, Dawn thought. How were these two going to get back together if they are never together.

Back by the bar, the more that Buffy watched, the more she felt like she was in an alternate reality. Angel watched Spike and her sister play pool against Buffy’s best friend, and Angel’s girlfriend. A truly warped reality. What had happened? Angel and Spike had hated each other with a passion. Willow had almost been killed by Spike - twice, and Angelus had tried to kill one and all. Now, everybody was all smiles. Go figure. They appeared to be friends out for a night of fun like she used to do with her friends at the Bronze in Sunnydale.

As she watched, Nina and Willow won the game. Buffy smiled a tiny curve of her lips, suspecting that Spike had thrown the match. Willow handed her pool cue to Angel as the girl whose natural state was that of a blue and red demon, came up to Spike.

And there she sat in the shadows stealing peeks at the group. Buffy was hurt. She couldn’t believe Willow had come without asking her if she wanted to join her. But knowing Willow-- since she had unknowingly been in on the display of distrust shown to Angel and his crew-- Buffy suspected that she had come to bury any hatchet in the form of hard feelings. That blame lay on Giles and herself. Oh, and Andrew that must have reveled in playing the big man and telling the two vampires that they were no longer part of the team.

She wanted to put more of the blame on Andrew, but she had to take a good portion on herself. She had been the one to send Andrew and the slayers to collect the insane slayer. But could she completely blame the spell she was under from the Immortal? Most of it, but she had also jumped into the Immortal’s camp too fast and too easily. She had been hurting so much from the last days in Sunnydale -- she had been searching for something that would make her feel good-- and had found that sleaze. She had been hurting from losing Spike and found a poor substitute. The other part of blame was definitely at Giles’s feet. She couldn’t help to be reminded how Giles had tried to kill Spike during that last year in Sunnydale. And the year after that, he had alienated Angel. She had questioned Giles’s judgment in Sunnydale and maybe she should have questioned it even after Sunnydale was gone.

But Spike was acting like he had no blame in this melodrama. Ha. That blonde pest always had some blame somewhere or it just wouldn’t be Spike. How was she supposed to run into his arms if she didn’t even know that he and his arms were back? Just think. He told that rat, Andrew, but not her?!

And Angel. Whether he liked it or not, he should have known that she would have wanted to know that Spike was back. When he had come to Sunnydale that last time and smelled Spike on her, she had made it clear that she had feelings for Spike. He was almost as guilty as Spike was in this mess. And the wimps. Letting Andrew and the Immortal get between the strong bonds between herself and Spike and Angel. The more she thought about it, the madder she got. They fought to get Dru and Darla back, but not her?

“Buffy?”

Buffy had been so lost in thought that she hadn’t noticed Dawn and Willow until her little sister had called her name. And when she did become aware of them, Buffy also noticed how cloudy both of their expressions looked. “Dawn? Willow?”

Willow put her hand over her friend’s on the table where Buffy was sitting. “Buffy, what are you doing here?” What a stupid question, Willow thought, but they did need a conversation starter.

“Oh, just out for some fun.” Why was Willow ignoring the obvious? Buffy didn’t know where this was going, but she didn’t think she was going to like it.

Willow hated to do this, but she and Dawn had agreed that it had to be done. “If you are trying to get up your nerve to go over there, don’t. Tonight we think you need to leave.”

“I can be here if I want to.” Buffy puffed up and sounded like a petulant child

Grimacing, Dawn tried to help Willow out. “Buff, you are sitting over here just spying on us…”

Buffy went on the defensive. She would have put her hands on her hips, but she didn’t think it would make much of an impression since she was sitting down. “I am not spying.”

Shaking her head, Dawn continued. “I know that you have hurt since the moment that you lost Spike, and I know that is one of the reasons for that beast, the Immortal, but judging from the way that Spike and Angel are acting in the last day or so, it’s not such a good idea that you should be here tonight.”

Buffy could feel pain shooting through her chest. She loved those two men. Differing amounts over the differing years, but each for extended times. They were a part of her, and now they were completely rejecting her? “Who says? Angel? Spike?”

In a way, Willow felt sorry for her. Her friend had brought some of this onto herself, but on the other hand, so had Angel and Spike. A little honesty goes a long way, guys. Duh. “Even if they know that you are here, neither has said anything. Buffy, I know that you love both of them, in different ways, of course, and want to be over there with them, but Buffy, they are pretty bitter against you and Giles.”

Dawn put her arm around her sister. She had seen the toll of losing Spike had taken on her sister, and wished that with Spike back, things would get better. But this might be rushing it a bit. “And I unfortunately agree that they have good reason. In the same way, you have every reason to be mad at them. Here you had been hurting over Spike when you didn’t have to. Either way, maybe tonight is not such a great idea.”

“Buff, we’re not trying to do anything behind your back. We’re just having a nice civilized night between friends.”

“But what about her? Friend?” Jealousy flying like a flag, Buffy pointed at Illyria/Fred, who she could see had Spike’s attention.

“She fought by Spike and Angel’s side in LA.” Dawn found the reference to Illyria interesting. Jealousy was a sign of the good. Love was still there, even though the Immortal had tried to erase it.

Out of hurt, Buffy turned on her little sister. “When did you become Spike’s appointed mouth piece?”

“For what he did in Sunnydale and all the grief we gave Spike over the years, he earned my friendship again. And if he wants tonight Buffy free, then that’s his choice.” Dawn changed tact. “Buffy, the Immortal was scum. I can’t talk, but we were both just too blind. You were just like a long string of other women with him, including Drusilla and Darla, which hurt Spike and Angel even more. You and Andrew chose him over Angel and Spike. I’m not saying that it is hopeless for you with Spike. Farthest from, but try to make peace some other time.”

Buffy pleaded her case. “I was under a spell. Didn’t you tell them that?”

Willow didn’t let her off the hook. “But you fell for the Immortal’s lines before you ever got that ring. And no, I didn’t tell them about the spell. I think you should talk to them about the Immortal yourself.”


Dawn wrapped her arms around her sister. “The mega love he had for you is still there. I know it. He just doesn’t want us knowing it. Please, Buffy. I want you to be around and talk to Angel and Spike, especially Spike, but I don’t think now is good.”

Willow squeezed Buffy’s hand again. “She’s right, Buffy. They are both way, way defensive right now. If it is the future you are looking for, one more night waiting isn’t very long.”


Back at the pool table, Angel was now playing Spike. As Angel and Spike passed close to each other, Angel spoke in a hushed tone. “She’s leaving now.” He would have loved to have heard the conversation that had taken place, but the noise level in the bar and the distance away were too great.

“About bloody time.” Just as Angel had, Spike had known the minute Buffy had walked into the club and felt it the minute she left. He may be part human now, but he could still feel vampires close by-- and his Slayer. Try as he might, he still thought of Buffy as his Slayer even though it had never really been true. Merely true in his heart. The only time he had allowed himself to glance her way was when Dawn and Willow headed in that direction. Oh, how he had wanted to be a fly on the bar during that conversation, but they must have said something convincing because Buffy had left instead of coming their way. He wanted to live in the land of denial, but he did have some fault in that he didn’t tell her that he was back. Would things have been different? Would she be in his arms now instead of walking away? Spike could just kick himself because his traitorous heart followed her.

But then he remembered the night that she had asked him about the death of the two slayers at his hand. He had bragged and exaggerated while they had played pool. She had been cold. He had shown her the moves out in the alley, and she had been below zero. Then it all changed when she had pulled out her money to pay. He had tried to kiss her, and she had knocked him to the ground where the money rained down on him. Now he was the one cold to her. Well, he didn’t need the money or the heartache anymore. He didn’t need her. He just had to tell his heart to zip it up.

TBC

Reviews would be very much appreciated!! Huge thanks.

Big thanks to Megan_Peta for looking over this so many times.


Chapter 8 – Welcome to the Hellmouth


Again there was a welcoming committee assembled when Spike, Angel, Nina, and Illyria arrived at the Tinkercreek Mansion the next day. Giles, Dawn, Xander, Buffy, Willow-- and even Andrew dared to show his face. The significant change was the warmth in the greeting that passed between the groups.

Dawn took the initiative and pounced on Spike. “Hi ho and huggie.”

“Sure bet, Bit.” Spike returned her hug.

Next up was Willow, who was much more self-assured since the get together the night before. She gave Spike a hug after Dawn finally let go. Then she turned to Angel. “I know you hate it, but you get a hug, too,” which she did and Angel only squirmed slightly. She then turned and greeted Nina and Illyria warmly.

“Come in, please come in.” Giles was trying to mend the broken fences. “It is good to see you again. I say that it is still rather strange to see Spike whole and hearty.”

Xander stepped up at the jolly welcome from Giles, still a little wigged about the situation. “You’re not kidding. Dead Boy Junior, let me say ‘freak out’. Super glue does wonders.” He spoke without venom. Spike had earned his respect those last days in Sunnydale, but the jabs were still mandatory.

“Nice to be seen, whelp.” Spike shook the hand that Xander offered.

As they entered the mansion the day before, Spike and Angel didn’t even spare Buffy a glance, and Buffy felt the sting again, but this time also came the anger. Those two asses could get off their high horses anytime now. However, she stood at the back, looking between Dawn and Willow.

Her arms ached to do as her sister and friend had done. Ached to hug Spike. Since he was ignoring her, she looked her fill. He looked…looked glorious. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. When he walked by, she started to reach out and touch him for just an instant, but she stayed her hand. She settled for the smell of his leather duster. But then the anger strengthened. How dare he ignore her? She wasn’t some wall ornament. They had come this day to enter the hellmouth. She should be helping lead the charge. There had to be a way to change the situation, but she was going to take Willow’s and Dawn’s advice and take it slow. Not push things, especially considering the present situation concerning the hellmouth.

Once everyone was in the mansion, Willow delivered the good and bad news. “On the bright side, we know from the tablet that you will be searching for a crystal today. However, the Hellmouth hasn’t opened up yet. We’re in a holding pattern.”

This, of course, left everyone in an uncomfortable silence, not sure what to do with themselves. Spike was first to fill the void. “A spot of violence sounds good while we’re waiting. Have a proper gymnasium in this place, do ya?”

‘That was certainly no surprise,’ Buffy thought as Xander led everyone to the slayers-in-training’s gym, talking the whole way. Once in there, she watched Spike walk around and size up the place. He appeared to be impressed.

He took his coat off and laid it on a bench, surprising Buffy greatly. It was rare that he took it off-- even to fight. He walked out to the center of the gym. “Blue, are you up for a little rough and tumble?” Spike started to bounce on the balls on his feet, warming up. “Or are you too good for this lowly half-breed vampire/human?”

Buffy watched Illyria join Spike in the center of the room and felt jealousy cut her deep. “Even though you are a lower life form, I will grant you a match. However, I am still not appreciative of the fact that my powers were lessened from my original strength.”

“Oh, balls, Angel and I are handicapped with morals, and we make it work. Shut your gob, and let’s have a go.”

And the match was on. Buffy watched the growing fight with her stomach starting to ache. Spike and Illyria were an impressive sight to see. Punches thrown, counter moves, attacks, retreats, then attack again. Their actions looked like a violent ballet with the moves carefully choreographed for optimum beauty. They obviously had done this many times before, and Buffy felt sick watching it. The way she and Spike used to fight each other was one of the few things that Buffy had thought could never be out done. Buffy and Spike’s well matched, natural grace could never be replaced—until now. Illyria was the name of her successor.

Illyria kicked. Spike countered by slapping her leg down and throwing a punch with his left hand to her abdomen. She was caught off guard and doubled over. “Come on, your highness. Sucking air, are you? Poor wittle demon.”

Illyria stood back up straight. “I used to step on you insignificant beings…”

“Yeah, yeah. You use to bat us across continents, kick us up to the clouds…got the Cliff notes. Now take this.”

As they started again, Buffy recognized the scene. This had been the first part of her slayer dream. He had been fighting someone she couldn’t see, but she knew it was sparring instead of fighting. She remembered that it had left her wanting, and that was exactly how she was feeling right then.

Nina leaned over to Angel. “Wow. I have seen Spike and Illyria spar before, but never this all out.”

Slipping his arm around her, Angel pointed out. “I taught him all he knows.”

That drew Spike’s attention, causing Illyria to get in a good blow. When he and Illyria were going again, Spike threw a round house punch, but Illyria ducked and then swept his legs out from under him. Spike landed flat on his back with a thud that for a second left him dazed. Angel’s snicker didn’t help. Illyria pounced. She jumped down and straddled him, raining down punches. And Spike, just for a moment saw Buffy in Illyria’s place, and even though he enjoyed sparring with Illyria, he had to admit that he wanted to fight Buffy instead.

Seeing his new predicament, Buffy took a step forward by reflex. Why? She didn’t know what was more strongly drawing her. To help him out of a tight spot or jealousy of Illyria, who was now sitting on Spike. To tell the truth, it was probably the jealousy. Seeing another woman so intimately sitting on his lap was like seeing Spike without a shirt sitting on his bed with Faith. That time she had seen red. But then Faith left, leaving her alone with Spike. However, this time, she couldn’t step in and interrupt. Or could she?

Spike and Illyria were back on their feet, temporarily relaxed. So Buffy took the break as an opportunity to make her move. After two steps, Buffy had Spike’s undivided attention. Without a word spoken, Illyria moved away and Buffy took her place. Good. Finally some contact between them, even if it was physical, but it was a start. She laughed to herself. Now he had to at least acknowledge her. Maybe she could maneuver a way to sit on top of him as the demon had. On the other hand, she could take some of her frustrations out on him for not contacting her, for ignoring her, for putting the blame solely on her side.

Spike watched Buffy walk up. He hadn’t let on, but he had known the moment she had moved a foot to come to him. He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t resist sparring with her. She had always been his favorite combatant. Going a step farther and giving in to his desire, Spike looked his fill--and she looked glorious. Golden hair, warm tan, and those hazel eyes focused on him. He wanted to step up and kiss her senseless. But down to business. He threw the first punch.

Buffy was pleased and relieved that Spike didn’t turn her away. But she did move away out of reach of his fist. She returned with a kick to his side, and the fight began in earnest. They were trading dominance for about fifteen minutes before Spike began to get the upper hand, ending up with a punch clipping her on the right side of her face, landing her on her ass, down for the count. Stunned, she looked up at him. They had always been so evenly matched. Neither able to get the upper hand for long, but now he looked down at her, a furious victor.

“It would be so easy to top this off. There’s a difference now, Slayer, I don’t think I really wanted you dead before. Now,” Spike shook his head. “I just don’t know. Maybe Dru would say that you aren’t swimming around me anymore. I’m no longer drowning in you. Slayer, today my one good day, will have to wait for another.”

Buffy’s leg shot out and swept Spike’s legs our from under him. “You wouldn’t win on another day either.”

Standing up and with no expression on his face, Spike turned on his heel and walked away. He wondered if she had seen through his bravado. No, it wouldn’t have been easy to finish her off. No way could he have. But the rest? He didn’t think he was still drowning in her since she had let the Immortal into her bed, but she was still swimming around him. His dreams every night reminded him of that. Bloody hell, how was he going to stand being around her without his insides being torn in two?

What in the world was that? Spike had just defeated her soundly, and the hostility in his words took her off guard. They made tears shine in her eyes. Was he really as over her as he said? But if he was over her, why would he be so mad? Buffy’s stare at Spike’s back was broken when a hand appeared in front of her face. Angel helped her up. “He’s not kidding. He could have killed you. I learned when he proved that to me while kicking my ass this past year. We were fighting for a chalice. He wanted it, wanted it bad and beat me. Don’t make the same mistake as I did, thinking he is what he used to be in the old days. Don’t underestimate him at all.”

Buffy understood him completely. It looked like she had to learn about a whole new Spike. But on the bright side, Angel was talking to her. That was a great relief, and she thought it boded well for Spike eventually talking to her. Maybe Angel would even help her out a little.

After picking up a large machete that was hanging on the wall, Spike walked towards Andrew who had made the unfortunate mistake of following everyone to the gym. “So, Andrew, we didn’t really get to talk before. How is the wacko slayer? Wonder if she was satisfied just cutting off my hands.”

Buffy’s eyes were immediately drawn to Spike’s hands, those hands that dealt out to her pain, pleasure, and comfort. Dana had cut off his hands? No one had bothered to tell her that. Well, of course, since it would have been Andrew, and slime ball had been keeping secrets. It made her nauseous to think of the pain Spike must have gone through.

Spike noticed Buffy staring at his hands but couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Too many emotions were flitting across her features. But the easiest to read was surprise. He could also make out compassion, which softened his heart towards her. Nonetheless, he continued to take his anger out on Andrew.

“I’m sure Miss Mutilator would be happy to know that those evil doctors at Wolfram and Hart reattached my hands just fine. Maybe I could…No, now that I think about it, I did better trying to kill slayers than showing compassion to them.”

Buffy looked up and met Spike’s gaze. Looking into his eyes, she had no doubt he was talking about their tumultuous past, more than his encounter with the mentally unhinged slayer. On a scale of errors, the lighter side was definitely in Spike’s favor in the matters of the heart between them. Hell, other than the Immortal, she had even gone out on a date with Woods right under his nose. She had a heavy load to overcome.

Nina stepped next to Buffy as everyone left the gym. “He’s bitter.”

Surprised that Angel’s girlfriend was talking to her, Buffy said the first thing that came to mind. “Looks like.”

Nina shook her head. “First was when you sent the slayers and Andrew to retrieve the insane one because you didn’t trust Angel or any of his people-- which included Spike.”

Throwing her hands up, Buffy was frustrated. “But I didn’t even know that Spike was back.”

“I think his anger bled over onto you, especially because he had lost his hands.” Nina moved on. “Second, Giles refused to help Fred.”

Now this one wasn’t fair. “That was Giles, not me.”

Nina just shrugged before going on. “Lastly, the Immortal. Angel and Spike have some kind of animosity that extends back before Angel gained his soul.”

“Oh, God…”

“He tried to have Spike and Angel killed while he was screwing Darla and Drusilla. He did the same thing in Rome.” Nina’s voice turned as cold as ice. “The bastard tried to blow them up to keep them away from you.”

“I didn’t know any of that.” Buffy’s eyes swam in tears, especially because of their history with the Immortal. The Immortal had used her to hurt Spike and Angel; almost killed theml.

“Now, Angel still has a soft spot for you and will get over his anger pretty quick. Spike is being an ass.” She paused and tried to think of the best way to say what she wanted to say. “He is so sensitive, even if he doesn’t want anyone to know. You should know that. He’s gonna need time to work through his anger, but he will.”

Putting a hand on Nina’s arm, Buffy asked, “Why are you telling me all of this?”

“Your love for Spike is obvious on you face, and I have been watching the looks he has been giving you when you are not looking. So don’t give up.” Nina patted her hand before walking off.

&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&

When the Hellmouth opened, the search was on. The target? A green colored crystal that the tablet told was necessary to find the Vessel of Catah. “Crystal, crystal,” Spike spun around, arms wide, coat flaring out as he walked down a tunnel, “where is the crystal?”

Lowering her chin, Illyria gave him one of her stares, intense and steady. “You fool. It is not going to answer you.”

“You don’t know that, Blue. It might want to chat over a cup of tea.” Spike laughed at the umph noise she made at his teasing.

Spike and Illyria marked their way as they went. Then suddenly the tunnel turned and opened up into a large, rectangular room. They took a moment to stop and look around before crossing the threshold. On the far wall, they could see a small niche that contained what they thought was a small, emerald green object. “Blue Meanie, I spy with my little eye… a green crystal.” Spike entered first while Illyria hung back, watching the rear. He made it across the room, pocketed the crystal in his duster, and turned to strut back. Maybe he would have that cup of tea after all. Before he could put the kettle on, the ground fell out from under Illyria’s right foot, and simultaneously, a mouth with sharp, pointed teeth came up to claim her foot. The creature was fast, but Illyria was faster.

Eyes wide, Spike froze where he was. “What the bloody hell was that?”

The demon glared down where the teeth had been five seconds before. “A creature dared to try to bite my foot.”

“Of all the balls, your highness.” Spike commented sarcastically. “I think I sussed that part out.”

Illyria took a tentative step, and a creature came up from the new spot. Since she was only about four feet from the tunnel entrance, she just gracefully jumped out. Spike didn’t have that luxury. Somehow, he had made it a good forty feet into the room without triggering a creature, if there were more. Maybe they had let him, their next meal, in. Nonetheless, he had to get out. He looked down and saw sand. “Here, throw me some rocks.” Stones peppered him. “Ha, ha, ha, you didn’t have to throw them that bloody hard, did you?”

Her expression was blank as usual. “Yes, I did, so that most will make it to you.”

“Then how about you throw them to me instead at me this time?” Spike was ready to start throwing rocks back at her.

Once armed, Spike threw a rock in front of him, and as he had expected, the floor opened up, exposing two crescent shaped sets of sharp, pointed teeth that’s only reward was a rock that time. The next rock met with no reaction. Spike made a successful step.

The progress was slow going, but going. Throw a rock, no reaction, take a step. Then the creatures demonstrated their capacity to learn. Spike threw a rock. No reaction. Step. Definite action. Spike felt the rock ground give way as he stepped on it and watched in horror as the teeth came up for him. He pulled his leg up fast, but not fast enough. He was skinned from below the knee down to his foot. All the creature was able to keep was Spike’s boot.

Blood must have done the trick because now the creatures were appearing all over, making it easy for Illyria to go in and help Spike out. Once clear of the room, they inspected his wound. When they moved the pieces of his jeans out of the way, they found some deep and some shallow slashes down his calf and his foot.

The problem was the bleeding. “Blue, I don’t think that anyone will be offering a pint of O negative out there, so we need to stop the bleeding.”

“Take off your shirt.”

Even though Spike was still grimacing, he managed to wiggle his eyebrows. “Now, I don’t think we have time for…”

“Another attempt at humor. Pathetic. Now give me your shirt.”

Illyria used it to tie above his knee to stem the flow of blood until his fast, vampire healing could get a chance to take effect.

When Illyria and Spike came into view down below, at first all Buffy saw was Spike’s naked torso and him leaning on Illyria, and Buffy immediately jumped to the conclusion that the pair had been fooling around in the caves. Jealousy burned until she looked down and saw his injury.

After she kicked herself for being such a fool in jumping to such a conclusion, she realized that another part of her slayer dream had come true.

Lots of blood. All she could see was Spike laying on a rock ground with his pants leg in tatters and bleeding from his wound. She could see a couple of people with him, but she couldn’t make them out. It made her sick to her stomach to see Spike in that condition. She wanted to go to him, but she felt that for some reason that she couldn’t. All she could do was watch him bleed.

Now she knew exactly what was barring her, her past behavior and that he already had others to help him. Still, it had her on her feet and heading for the ladder. “What happened…?” He needed help, and she immediately felt drawn to offer it, to make sure that he was going to be fine. But the blood. Lots of blood. He was part human now, and couldn’t afford to lose too much blood.

She was half way down the ladder where she was met by Nina scrabbling up to get out of the way. Buffy was forced to climb back up and watch Illyria come up after Nina. Next was Spike, who was only climbing with his arms and one leg. Angel was coming up from behind just in case Spike faltered. Buffy didn’t care who was helping him. When he cleared the hole she was at his side, helping him lay down on the ground. He looked up into her eyes with a silent thank you, and Buffy gave him a small smile before more people were kneeling next to him to give first aid. She stepped back but kept her eyes on him.

When Angel made it up, he looked down at Nina, who was caring for Spike. “The Hellgod must be fighting back.”

&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&

“Enough.” Spike batted at Nina’s and Dawn’s hands that were still hovering around his bandages. He couldn’t help but glance over at Buffy to find her face a mask of worry. He hated how much that meant to him, but it did. Time to change the direction of his thoughts. “Ok, let’s get down to brass tacks. We’ve found the crystal, minus a tad a flesh. Rupes, did you get the pearls of wisdom from that hunk of rock?”

Spike’s words caught Giles’ attention from another watcher. “Let me get my notes…uh, the language turns out to be a form of Mayan, which posed a problem because the Mayan carvings are still not completely translated by the scientific community that specializes in those particular natives. However, I think we have been successful for the most part.” The watcher was anxious to be an active part in this dilemma, whether Spike and Angel wanted him to be or not.

Buffy wasn’t sure where Giles was headed, but she could tell it would be ages if he kept going the way he was going. “Giles…,” she warned.

“Yes…There are two parts. The first described what we will need to retrieve to handle our present situation. I think it is called the Vessel of Catah. It will not kill the hellgod, but block him from coming through the Hellmouth.” Giles’ head of steam started to cool. “It is not very clear at all about what the vessel does, but we are hoping that it will be written on the vessel itself.”

With a smile, Xander watched Giles’ eyes glaze over. “Hey, G-Man, the second…?”

Surprised, Giles brought his thoughts back to the group. “Oh…yes…The second is a map to the vessel.”

Trying to sit up straighter in the wooden chair he was in, Spike rolled his eyes. What he wanted was to be standing up and pacing. “Which Illyria already told us about. So where are we bopping off to this time?”

“The Yucatan Peninsula.” That caught everyone off guard. “The places on the map were described during the Mayan era, which is a thousand years in the past. However, the crystal you brought up can be used to divine the location, which we will be doing shortly with Willow’s help.”

Finally, Angel thought, we have something to go on. “Fine. I will arrange a plane, and we will start packing.”

Giles stopped him. “There is one more detail, but we have covered this before. You, Spike, Nina will be making the trip. The monarch of demons, Illyria, and the witch, Willow, are directed to guard the hellmouth while you retrieve the vessel.

“Got that, Blue? We go, you stay.” Spike started to stand up. “We’ll bring back some pictures and a t-shirt.”

Giles had no idea how this next bit of information would be taken. “The problem is, the text says that four supernaturals are needed to go, not three. It just doesn’t specify what kind the fourth is to be. So…who will it be?”

Spike and Angel shared a look that ended with both giving almost imperceptible nods. Angel turned back to the room. “We’ll make the leap of trust. Buffy will make up the fourth.” Actually what they didn’t want to say was that neither Angel nor Spike thought it was any type of a leap of faith to trust Buffy. No matter what had happened over the last year, they both trusted her without question. They just didn’t want to be asked and have to admit it.

Buffy blew out a breath that she hadn’t even known that she had been holding. If she really thought about it, she would have realized that she had started holding her breath when Giles said that Spike would be headed to the Yucatan Peninsula. As in Yucatan Peninsula without her. Biiiiggg breath. How was she going to get on Angel’s and Spike’s good sides with them out of the country? Another big breath.

But then relief came in the form of Giles’s prodding of Angel. ‘Buffy will make up the fourth.’ Incredibly essential six words. Life was good again, or as good as it would get with the more time she could spend with Spike, trying to mend the fence between them. Hell, knock the frigging fence down. But what hurt was that they hadn’t just trusted her. They had to make a ‘leap of faith.’. Buffy had to turn her back on everyone and swipe away tears rolling down her face. She waited for the room to empty before turning back to leave. She was horrified when she saw Nina dragging Angel over to her.

They stopped in front of her, and Nina jabbed an elbow in Angel’s side. Angel actually looked nervous when he started talking. “Buffy, uhm, the whole leap of faith thing wasn’t quite right. I…we trust you. There wasn’t a leap of faith. We already trusted you.” Then he looked down at Nina. “Okay?”

“Yes.”

Angel turned to leave. Nina reached out and squeezed Buffy’s hand and winked. Buffy smiled the first big, genuine smile since seeing Spike and Angel again. The future was looking much more promising. She ran out of the room to pack.

*****

TBC

Please, please, please review. Your opinions and insights help me greatly and are helping to shape the story.

Thanks so much
Dana

Ok, guys, this is where the tide starts turning.


Chapter 9: Men Will Be Boys

By nightfall, the four supernaturals making the trip were ensconced in a private jet hired by Angel. Before the airplane ever left the ground, everyone was getting annoyed with the lengths that Spike was going to make his injured leg comfortable. One pillow, three pillows, a different seat, a different angle to sit in… Gritting her teeth, Nina finally was forced step in. “Spike, have you tortured Angel enough yet?”

Spike looked the broody vampire up and down. “Just one more pillow…Yeah, the scowl is frowning enough.” That got him a growl from Angel.

The beginning of the trip fascinated Buffy. Up until the last couple of days, she had never seen Spike and Angel in the same room without them wanting to kill each other. It was…Their antics were major league freaky and surprisingly funny. She had never associated the word, “funny,” with Angel, but she did now. She spent the first hour on the plane just soaking up the atmosphere. Unbelievably, Angel was relaxed. Almost kicked back if it wasn’t for Spike who was doing his best to be annoying. He even smiled at Nina from time to time. Nina was soaking it all up, obviously loving the interaction between the two males.

Concerning Spike’s words on the current topic, Angel threw up his hands in disgust. “You have got to be kidding me. Of course an outhouse is better looking than a port-a-potty. An outhouse can be built to look good and be painted any color. And it has that cute little sliver of a moon.”

Spike did his wimpy imitation of Angel. “’That cute little moon?’ You pansy, the port-a-potty is a nice, electric blue body and a white roof. It never fades or chips because it is plastic.”

“Electric blue is gaudy.” Angel thought that went without saying. “It should be some sort of dark color.” Typical Angel, Buffy thought.

Nodding his head, Spike did find some ground to agree on. “It would be better black and red.”

And typical Spike, she thought with a smile. Some things just don’t change, thank goodness. ‘Black and red?’ That was her Spike, Buffy reflected. She anticipated the next round as they both looked lost in thought…just for a moment.

Angel let loose the next volley. “But comfort…You have GOT to admit that there isn’t a huge difference in comfort.”

“No, I have not ‘got’ to admit that rubbish. The port-a-potty is more comfy.”

“A grown man shouldn’t say ‘potty’ and ‘comfy’ in the same sentence,” Nina dared to observe and then laughed when they gave her the dear caught in a headlight looks.

It took Spike a moment to recover. “But…” He looked back over at Angel. “But the port-a-potty is more comfy, luv.”

Chiming in, Angel laughed at the bleach blonde. “Ha, brain donor, the outhouse could have a seat custom fit.”

“And get splinters in your arse, you nit. Now, I will give you that the outhouse smells better…”

Buffy tried not to laugh, but she did a few instances along with Nina. She loved seeing Spike like this, carefree and laughing. It took all of her control to stay in her seat and not go over and plant one on Spike’s sexy lips. Just being this close to him was enough for now, but the teasing of Angel was just an added bonus to this in-flight entertainment.

After a time, a long time, Spike and Angel finally wound down and fell asleep. Buffy did the same, knowing that once they were on the ground.

What she didn’t know was that while everyone slept, Spike had woken up and slipped away to use the restroom. When he returned, he paused and looked his fill down at Buffy. He couldn’t stand it. He had been suppressing his feelings too much over the last few days, so he took the dare and leaned down, kissed her forehead and brushed a lock of hair out of her face. Then he watched her smile blossom. Had she woken up? Did she know who kissed her? Was she dreaming of him? A bloke could hope, couldn’t he?

Later, Buffy was woken up by more of the Angel and Spike show currently appearing on the card game channel. They were arguing over who was cheating the most at the gin rummy they were playing. Believe it or not, she found it a pretty good way to wake up. But of course, any way where she woke up to Spike was a good one, even if she wasn’t in his arms. She would work on that, she promised herself.

Trying to be subtle but wanting to stare, Buffy avoided looking at Spike directly. She would occasionally make eye contact with Angel, which was not too bad since Angel didn’t seem as hostile towards her as he had that first day at the mansion. It was like they had signed a peace agreement over the trust issue. She had Nina to thank for the little improvement. What she really wanted to do was glance at Spike, but didn’t. She didn’t want to see the fury in his eyes. In her peripheral vision, she could see how animated he was in his argument with Angel. Under the circumstances, she would have to be satisfied with that tidbit of a view. No. No way, she was satisfied. She wanted to look at him, and there was no rule, no law against it. So she turned in her chair as Nina had and watched the men like it was a tennis match, not talking but openly laughing.

Spike was actually glad to have his grandsire in the plane to argue with since it helped take his mind off of the slayer sitting four feet away. Kissing her had only made it worse for himself and his control. He wondered if she had chosen the seat next to him on purpose. That close, he could smell not only her perfume, but also the aroma underneath that was uniquely her. His sensory memories went crazy. The most predominate was the last time he held her while they slept, before fighting the First Evil. But he didn’t want to think about a cherished memory that he tried to keep buried. No matter his effort to shore up his will, slips still occurred-- such as the kiss. While he and Angel argued, he couldn’t help but feel good that he was able to make her smile and laugh. He had seen it directed at him so rarely, and that last year in Sunnydale she hadn’t had much to smile about. But no, he couldn’t cave in. To stay away from her he was going to have to stay strong and ignore those beautiful smiles. Ah, hell, now she was facing him, which only made it worse. It wasn’t like he was known for refusing temptations.

*****

They landed shortly after nightfall. An hour later, they were no closer to leaving than when Buffy and Nina had begrudgingly finished loading the luggage. The men were…preoccupied.

Men. Buffy and Nina stood on a bustling street of Cozemel. Tourists and natives were all mixed together, but they were all getting along better than the dysfunctional pair of alpha males standing in front of the jeep, arguing. Men. They were getting on Nina’s last nerve. “What was it about driving and remote controls that makes a man think he should be in control of everything?” Men.

Buffy finally stepped in between them. “Okay, guys. Okay. Since we are acting like twelve year olds, let’s solve this as twelve year olds would. Odds or evens.”

“Good one,” Nina told Buffy. Holding back her mirth, she made the assignments. “Angel, you’re odd, and Spike, you’re even.”

Spike and Angel stood with mouths agape. Finally Nina popped both of the men on the shoulders.

“Ready, boys?” When both were looking at her, she started the count. “One…two…three.”

Angel held out three fingers while Spike held out two. Three plus two equals five. Odd. Therefore, Angel.

Not surprised, Buffy sputtered and then laughed when Spike quickly changed the number of his fingers to three, making the total six and therefore even. And the argument was on again.

It didn’t help when Angel gloated. “Ha. Five. I drive.”

“What are you blind, lug head? Three plus three is six. Even. I drive.” Spike made for the driver’s seat.

Angel stopped him by catching his arm. “What? No, you had two out there, bleach boy. Five.”

“Peaches, needing some specs in your advanced age? You would probably run into a tree anyway. I had three out so it was even. Give me the keys.”

Before Spike could, Buffy plucked the rental jeep’s keys out of Angel’s hand. “Nina, what’s the ruling?”

Nina pointed at Spike and laid down the law. “Only two fingers, so it was odd. Angel.”

Buffy handed over the keys back to Angel, who immediately headed for the jeep’s driver’s seat while Spike grumbled about a rigged game. Nina set him straight. “You’re always saying you’re a big bad. How about a big baby?”

Spike hesitated before getting into the jeep. He hadn’t thought about this. Of course Nina would sit next to Angel, leaving him sitting only six inches at best away from Buffy. He also had no doubt that many of the Mexican roads would be bumpy, throwing the jeep and its occupants around.

However, all went well-- at least from Spike’s point of view. He had no interaction with Buffy but had reveled in back seat driving, thoroughly angering his grandsire, who was using a GPS monitor and a map to guide them.

Spike started yelling. “Right, right, turn right.”

Angel hit the brakes before he recovered. “Shut up, Spike. We don’t go right.”

“Left, left, turn left.”

Angel glared back at Spike. “Spike, we go straight. If you don’t stop, I’m going to reach back there…”

“What, DAD? Spank me?”

Spike could hear Buffy laughing next to him. He had forgotten how much her laughter drew him to her. Moth to a flame, and now her laugh was only a few inches away. A bump startled him out of his thoughts.

Bump and suddenly Buffy was in his lap. “Sorry.” That was the first word that had been said directly between them since he had refused her entrance into the hellmouth. Not what Spike had ever envisioned as the second interaction. And how wonderful she felt in his lap, and… and she didn’t seem to want to move anytime soon. Then Spike made the mistake of looking into her face. She was smiling at him. He felt his heart start to melt. He could see her pert little nose and wanted to kiss the light sprinkle of freckles across the bridge. Catching his traitorous lips before they could get him in trouble, Spike couldn’t get her off his lap fast enough. He mentally chanted his mantra. The Immortal, the Immortal, the Immortal.

Buffy had been waiting for such an opportunity the entire time they were in the jeep. One good bump, and she practically jumped into his lap-- just where she wanted to be. But she didn’t turn out to be a fluent orator as she would have wanted. “Sorry.” That was the exact opposite of how she felt. Not sorry, but glad. She hoped that this would help break the ice. Spike still avoided any eye contact. But not this time. The next thing she knew, she was looking into his beautiful, blue eyes. And they weren’t that hard, arctic blue but softer and slightly darker. For a moment, just a second, she could see the old Spike; the one that she had loved in Sunnydale. But then she was practically flying back into her seat as he tossed her off his lap. She wanted to laugh. Judging by the bulge she felt in his pants, he wasn’t as immune to her as he was letting on. Hope grew, no pun intended. The second time she landed in his lap, she even got in a little wiggle and then giggled when he groaned.

Once they reached the area where they needed to enter the jungle, they hid the jeep behind some vegetation, strapped on their packs, broke out the lanterns they kept tethered to their belts for emergencies, and started walking. Angel led with the GPS.

They walked all night and rested during the day so that Angel could stay out of the sun under a tent. While they were resting, Buffy was trying to think up more ways to make physical contact with Spike. At the moment she was fascinated by watching Spike touch up his eye liner. It reminded her again that this was the old, temperamental Spike-- not the insightful, gentle, supportive one. Both were good, though.

Luck was with her. Some opportunities did open up. In the line they naturally walked in, Angel took the lead, followed by first Nina, Buffy and Spike in back. She had already stopped short once, and his body became flush with her back. He was warm. That was something she was going to have to get use to. If he let her. No, she would make him let her. Next she thought she would try tripping and see if he would help her up.

The strategy worked well that night. She made sure her foot hooked in a vine, and she fell down on her knees. He was instantly there, helping her up. He grabbed her hand and politely drew her to her feet, and best of all, her eyes locked with his for a good twenty seconds. Definitely progress.

When Buffy had stopped the first time and his body came in contact with hers, Spike’s first instinct was to wrap his arms around her-- feel her as one with him. And then when she tripped and he automatically helped her up, they had locked gazes. Blue to hazel. She was hard to resist. But he scolded himself and moved away. What the hell was going on? He was being such a pansy. He didn’t want her. She had broken the trust with Angel, which bled over to him also. She had fucked the Immortal. She was not wanted. So why was he having such a hard time resisting her? He didn’t want an answer to that.

The next night, they arrived. They hadn’t known just what they were looking for, but they did now. Actually Spike ran into it, bruising his toes. The overgrowth was heavy, disguising what appeared to be a large but low, stone pyramid.

Buffy pulled vines aside. “It’s a lot of stones.”

“Yep, it’s a big bugger.” Spike yanked at more of the foliage.

Looking over her shoulder at the others, Buffy asked, “So what do we do about this pyramid?”

“I’m guessing that we should go inside.” Angel actually said it with a straight face.

Turning to face his grandsire, Spike put his hands on his hips. “Ya think, peaches?”

“So we need a door,” Nina added.

Spike rounded on Nina. “What? Is big brow rubbing off on you?”

“Okay, big rocks. Need in. Need plan.” Buffy interrupted before a full blown fight could break out and took the initiative. “Spike and I will go to the right, and you two, go to the left. There has to be a door somewhere.” When they just looked at her, she asked in a hesitant voice. “Doesn’t there?”

All was fine. It was just that Spike and Angel weren’t use to Buffy making the plans. They barely let each other. “Yes, luv, there does. Let’s go.”

‘If he would just keep calling me ‘luv,’ I would follow him anywhere.’ She took off behind him, admiring his back through his t-shirt. Since it seemed to snag on so much, he had shed his coat when they had first entered the forest. Actually, if she could watch his ass in his tight black jeans, she would follow him anywhere. ‘Great buns!’ she thought with a smirk.

Pulling foliage back as they searched their way around the pyramid, all Spike and Buffy found was carvings in the stone. The pyramid was definitely not small. The side was longer than a football field. When Buffy and Spike were working on the end of their second side, they ran into Nina and Angel.

Nina gave them a small wave in greeting. “We didn’t find a door.”

Spike winked at her. “Not so much as a mouse’s hole, sweetness.”

Tilting his head, Angel looked up towards the top of the pyramid. “There has to be a way in. Let’s hunt again, and this time look for unconventional doors in.”

Spike and Buffy had only gone a few yards when Buffy stopped him. “Spike, look. All these stones have carvings, but this stone has an impression of a hand. Maybe that is a way in. You know, like you see in science fiction movies. Some guy puts his hand on a plate, and he is let in a door.”

“It’s as good a guess as any, pet.” Spike turned away and called for Angel

Buffy was happy. He was talking to her more, he was using nicknames, and he had just now smiled at her. Maybe the ice had a crack in it.

Angel rushed back. “So what do you have?”

“A handprint.” Buffy gestured towards the indentation.

Angel looked nonplussed. “So…?”

After rolling her eyes, Buffy explained. “Ya know. Think about all those movies that somebody gets into a room using their handprint like a finger print.”

Spike looked at the stone closely. “Something tells me that the people that built this temple have never seen those movies, luv, but you probably have a point worth a go. So who’s game?”

“I will. I’m the one who found it.” Buffy walked up to the hand impression and paused before putting her hand in the imprint. Nothing happened.

“Angel, shine your flashlight on this.” Nina pointed to a carving next to the hand imprint. It showed a Mayan warrior cutting his hand while crouching under the imprint. “I think this is what we are missing.”

Angel squinted at the carving, “You have to cut your hand?”

“Blood thirsty lot.” Spike smiled. “Gotta love’em.”

Buffy put her pack on the ground and scrounged around until she found a knife. “Ok, let’s try it.” She cut her hand and placed it in the imprint. A portal opened up, and after a second of hesitation, she stepped in. The portal immediately closed behind her.

*****

TBC

Several of my stories have been nominated for the Lovebite Awards,and they need your vote. If you would go to http://home.arcor.de/lovebite/Lovebite%20Awards/LA-Vote.html  and vote for Memory Redux in the Best Long & Best Original Plot categories, Cretian Escape in the Angst, and With A Little Help in the Fluff category. Thanks so much for your support. 

Thanks so much to Megan_Pita for beta-ing this chapter so fast.



&&&&&&&



“I don’t like this one bloody bit.” Spike may tell himself that he didn’t care. What a lie! At least in this case. Watching her walk through a portal, and that portal closing behind her shook him to the core. It reminded him too much of when she had dived off that tower that Glory had built to close the portal Doc had opened with Dawn’s blood. Buffy closed it with her life. The portal closing behind her just now gave him visions of her lying on the ground, her body broken. Her life-force gone. Well, he wasn’t having any of that again. Spike quickly slit his hand, placed it dripping with blood in the imprint and then stepped through the portal that had opened up for him.



“Slayer?” Spike was already calling her name before he was completely through the portal. Looking around, he found himself in a room constructed solely of cut stone, making him assume that he was inside the pyramid. “Slayer?!”



“I’m here, Spike.” She wanted to jump up and down at the sound of concern in his voice.



Spike spun around and found Buffy standing behind him. Relief swept through his body. He took a step forward and opened his arms and hugged her tight. Hugging her close felt so right, but then he caught himself and dropped them back to his sides. He was thankful for the distraction of Nina coming through the portal. Then Angel.



Spike felt the need to talk and take his mind off of how good Buffy’s body had felt against his own, put the moment behind him. “So what’s next on this little jaunt?”



Nina supplied an answer. “Outside we used a carving.” She waved her arm at the barren room. “Let’s look and see if we can do the same in here.”



Buffy’s body hummed with her contact--as short as it was-- with Spike’s body. He had hugged her. He had actually hugged her and had been worried about her. The bleach blonde was a big faker. He still cared, at least some. Now she had to see just how much and make it more.



All four took a wall and started looking.



Buffy stepped forward to look closer. “Is it just me or are these carvings thingies making sense?”



Nina summed it up. “Yes, and freaky.”



Still puzzled, Buffy offered up an explanation. “Maybe when we came through the portal we gained the ability to read pyramid talk.”



Angel waved his hand at the walls. “Now which one tells us what we need to know?”



“This one with the box drawing says the Vessel of Catah, which is what we have come to retrieve,” Nina pointed out. “I think this carving after the vessel will help us.”



Angel read over her shoulder. “’Those gave essence…trials face bravery.’ Then there is another row. ‘Past four weapons…sun metal.’”



Buffy made a try at translating. “I gotcha on the first part. Essence must be blood, and we have to go through some tests. Lost me on the second part.”



Spike finished for her. “ ‘Sun metal’ I’m guessing is gold. So we need four weapons of gold. But ‘past’?”



“The weapons are old?” Nina was confused.



Angel shrugged. “I don’t know. We may have to figure that one out as we go.” For a moment, he stood perfectly still. “That was what Wesley was so good at doing.”



Buffy’s euphoria over her headway with Spike shot down through the floor. “I am so sorry about Wesley. I had no idea. I know that is no excuse, but…” Angel’s heated stare stopped her poor excuse of an apology in its tracks. His attitude sent a chill down her spine.



Everyone picked up their packs, preparing to go down the passage way in front of them, and put the present topic behind.



“Uh oh.” Angel’s exclamation stopped everyone.



Spike turned to look back at him. “What’s ‘uh oh,’ Peaches?”



The brunette looked like he would rather not answer, but did. “I may have left the blood cooler outside.”



“Maaay?” Spike drew the word out. As he had told the Scoobies before, he was a vampire with all the benefits of a human, but still needing blood.



Angel’s voice was soft. “Well…I did.”



“WHAT!!” Spike lunged for Angel, but Buffy was fast enough to get between and deter the attack.



Stepping up to the two men that were sandwiching Buffy, Nina tried to reason with the angry blonde. “Spike…SPIKE. It’s done. The blood is outside. We will just have to find the vessel fast and then get out of here. I’m sure the blood will still be there.”



After thirty more seconds, Buffy felt Spike let up and watched him walk over to a nearby wall and kick it. “Of all the fucking hell, should have expected the ponce to bugger the whole thing up.” Unexpectedly, Spike turned and threw a punch that caught his grandsire on the right side of his jaw. No one had realized how close Spike had gotten to Angel again.



Angel stumbled a step or two before coming back with an uppercut. “Look Bleach brain, I didn’t ‘bugger’ things up on purpose.”



“Guys…” Buffy jumped in between them again, which certainly wasn’t one of the safest places she had ever been. “Boys, we are all in this together, and if we don’t get out of here fast enough…no, we will get out of here fast enough.”



With one last, black look, Spike stomped away. “You pansy, I…Ugh, at least you’re as buggered as I am.”



Buffy blew out the breath she was holding. Watching Nina taking a look at Angel’s jaw, Buffy thought that all was at peace again. She could certainly understand why Spike was so mad. It would be like she was without food and water for god knows how long. She didn’t know what happened to a vampire when they are without blood, and she didn’t want to find out-- especially concerning Spike.



*****



Angel led the way down the tunnel with Spike--who was still pouting and mumbling to himself-- bringing up the rear. Using his distracted state of mind, Buffy fell back a little so that she was now abreast of him. He didn’t even realize how close she was until she spoke and startled him. “I’m sorry about the blood.”



She watched him blink a couple of time. “I am sorry about the blood,” she repeated.



Spike turned and looked at her and blinked owlishly this time. “Oh.” It wasn’t his finest hour in the English language.



‘Oh.’ At least that was better than nothing, but it did give Buffy hope. “I’m sure we will be out before you need it.”



“Thanks, pet. I…”



They heard it first-- the blocks of stone making up the floor falling away to hit on a surface far below. The blocks had started falling far down the way that they had come and were moving towards them. Taking quick stock of the situation, Spike noticed that a ledge about two to three feet on each side of the tunnel was left. Closest to the wall, Spike grabbed Buffy and jerked her with him. They ended up with Spike’s back against the wall and Buffy plastered against his full length. She took advantage and stole a quick kiss. “Thanks.”



Spike’s eyes widened in surprise. Time to change the focus. Spike looked over her head to see Angel and Nina in much the same position. “Peaches, I guess they pulled the carpet out from under us.”



“Ya think?” he heard muffled into his t-shirt. He couldn’t help but chuckle.



Buffy shifted so that she would be better heard. “I’m guessing the trials have begun.”



“Ya think?”



It was Buffy’s turn to chuckle. Irregardless of their dire situation, Buffy couldn’t help but feel lucky to find herself in this position. She was so close that one of her feet was between his and the other on the out side. She could feel his hard body against her front, and his arm was wrapped around her. And the best part besides the one-sided kiss? She had made him chuckle. Again, she had chipped away at the ice.



Saving Buffy from harm was second nature to Spike. Of course, he made sure she was safe. And the kiss…He was still trying to get over kissing her in the airplane, let alone her adding temptation. Ugh.



The sound of more falling stones into the blackness below brought them both out of their thoughts. The ledge back behind them was dropping away. Starting with the ones next to where they were standing.



Nina sounded scared. She wrapped her arms around Angel tighter. “A bad situation just got worse.”



“We’ll make it.” Angel kissed Nina. Buffy was envious. She didn’t think she could steal another kiss this soon.



“I guess our direction has been chosen for us,” Spike observed.



Spike and Buffy moved first. Spike’s arm dropped away, and Buffy stepped onto the next stone. The stone she had been standing on immediately dropped away. The problem was that so did Spike’s . With Buffy’s help, he made the jump to the new stone in time.



“Peaches, bad news. You have to move together or bye bye. Pretend you’re at the Saturday night dance and step together.” Spike looked down into Buffy’s face. “Ready, pet?”



Buffy smiled up into his face. “I have my dancing shoes on, but I was never any good at the two step.”



“Hum a little tune, and I’ll show you.” After they took their first few steps together, Spike’s thoughts began to race. How was he supposed to ignore her when she was like a second skin? And his traitorous tongue. It had to go on and wag. ‘Hum a tune.’ Bloody hell. He shared a look with Angel over the heads of the women. Angel’s message was clear. ‘You’re fucked.’



Yay! Buffy was encouraged. He had said several sentences to her. She’d try to keep her winning streak going. She took a few more steps in time with Spike. “You’re wearing me like a coat. At least we can talk.”



She waited, but nothing. Okay, wrong approach. Next try. “Hi. Do you come here often to dance?”



“I mostly come for the atmosphere.” Spike’s traitorous tongue was at it again. His mouth never could behave.



“Yeah, this place has that Flintstone feeling to it.”



Spike pretended to look around. “And the crowd; I feel like I know them all.”



“And that guy over there…” Buffy moved her head, indicating Angel.



“The poof in the black coat?”



“…I’ve met him before. He…”



“Has a steel rod up his arse?”



“Spike! Why don’t you go down there and let me know what you find?” Angel had heard enough.



When Angel called over, Spike was struck again with his resolve-- or lack of. He was mad at the slayer. He was disgusted with her sleeping with the Immortal. But she was close with his arms around her and she felt so good, smelled so sweet. And he didn’t want to admit it, but he enjoyed bantering with her again.



After Buffy laughed at Angel’s admonishing, she and Spike fell into an awkward silence as they continued to move down the tunnel. Finally Buffy had to make an observation. “It’s so strange feeling you warm.” No success. Spike didn’t reply. He didn’t even look at her. The end of the ledge to ground was coming up soon so she didn’t think she would get another chance to try to get him to talk to her. At least, he had started to talk to her some. On the positive side, she did make sure that she wiggled against him as much as possible, and she could feel him grow hard.



She felt warm to Spike, but it wasn’t strange to him. He knew that she was warm. He knew exactly how warm she was. Two times he had to stop his hand from stroking her hair. Five times he had to catch himself from pulling her in tighter. His body needed her, but he had put his body on a Buffy-free diet. He could feel his needs organizing a revolt. His manhood was already responding to her.



As soon as they were on solid ground, Spike pushed her away like she was a leper and then he totally ignored everyone, mumbling something about ‘bloody poor resolve.’ He knew she was trying to be nice, but that only chipped at the ice around his heart. That wouldn’t do.



While Spike was in his own world pacing, the other three took stock of their surroundings. Of course, they couldn’t go back. Only forward ho. There were three cut stone walls. No place to go.



Angel turned around. “We are literally between a rock and a hard place.”



“Why don’t we look for more carvings?” Nina reached over and squeezed his hand.



Holding up their lanterns, they spread out, each taking a wall while leaving Spike room to pace.



Buffy waved her hand at her wall. “This wall is covered with those carving thingies.”



“Mine, too,” Angel replied



Nina started reading hers. “What does yours say?”



Bemused, Buffy shook her head. “This is so freaky how we can read this.” Buffy tried her hand at translating. “Mine says some king guy, a big army, fought some other guy and killed…yada, yada, yada.”



Nina nodded. “Mine talks about thanking the gods for a good harvest and depicts some of the partying.”



“Oh, oh, look at this.” Buffy’s voice conveyed her excitement. “It’s the hand impression like outside.”



Angel stepped up. “Here, I’ll do it.”



“No, wait.” Nina put her hand on Angel’s arm. “We don’t know what will happen this time. Here above the hand are the same words, ‘sun metal.’”



“Next to it is ‘who jaguar essence open.’” Spike had finally joined the group again.



“Jaguars are important to the Mayan religion,” Nina explained.



Buffy shook her head. “We’re not going to have to go catch one of those cat thingies, are we?”



“Nina…” Spike cut in.



Buffy kept going. “Because I don’t even like house cats…”



Nina answered Spike. “Yes?”



“…all those beyond gross hair balls…ack…”



“Nina…” The blonde crossbreed was beginning to get very aggravated to say the least.



“Yes?” Perplexed, Nina wondered why Spike kept saying her name.



Spike thumped his forehead with the heel of his hand. “No, Nina is the jaguar.”



“I’ve always known you were cracked,” Angel grumbled.



Spike growled at him before explaining. “Jaguars are fast, strong, have claws, viscous teeth and jaws. Now a werewolf answers to that description, yes?”



Spike looked at their blank stares. He snapped his fingers in their faces. “Hello? Asked a bloody question here.”



After blinking several times, Buffy was the first to hazard a guess. “Yes?”



“Yes!” Spike rolled his eyes. Looking at Nina, he motioned her towards the hand print. “You’re up, luv.”



“Should I cut my hand?” Nina rubbed the palm of her hand.



Stepping up, Angel didn’t want her to cut herself again if they could avoid it. “How about trying it without first?”



Nodding her head, Nina walked up and gingerly placed her hand on the impression. And nothing. “Nina looked back over her shoulder at Angel. “I guess I have to use blood again.”



“Just make a shallow cut.” Worry was readily evident in his voice.



Using her knife from her pack, Nina cut her palm and placed it on the imprint. They felt a rumble that they recognized as forewarning that a portal was opening. With nothing to lose, gathering themselves up, they stepped through together.



Shocked. All four of them were shocked down to their toes. One second they were walking, and the next second Spike and Angel were sitting on a stone bench with Buffy and Nina standing in front of them holding feathered…somethings. After turning them in their hands and examining them, they assumed that they were hats of some sort with great feathered Mohawks down the middle.



It was strange. After the hats, the next thing that registered on Buffy’s mind was legs. Bare, tanned legs, except for one pair in her line of sight. The pair of pale legs belonged to Angel, who was sitting on a block of stone in front of her wearing some sort of skirt. All the others legs? They belonged to men around them in an open area of a jungle. All were wearing a similar type of skirt, but they were in various situations. Some were sitting like Angel and Spike, some were walking across the yard and some were standing around and talking to others.



Buffy turned her attention back to Angel and the guy next to him with the tanned legs. Sure she had seen Spike’s legs before, but they had been as pale as Angel’s. Now they were darker. The only thing marring their beauty was the streaks of red where Spike had been injured in the hellmouth. The marks were almost healed now. But what was it about him? Just seeing his legs made her want him. She felt warm all over.



Daylight. They were in daylight. Angel popped up, covering his face with his arms and prepared to run for shelter until Spike grabbed his arm. “No slap it on the grill and watch it sizzle, mate. You must have a pass here, wherever here is.”



Angel turned his hands over and over before smiling up at the sun.



As Spike looked around, he slowly shook his head at the hustle and bustle happening around them. “Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore.”



”I don’t think we are in the same year anymore.” Buffy looked at Spike as she spoke, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes.



Spike heard her all right. Her voice trickled up and down his spine. Actually, he always felt that way when he could feel her eyes on him.



Nina was the only one that was really paying attention, and she was thrilled by what she saw. She was talking so fast that her words were running together. “Oh, oh, these are Mayans. I know this from a college course. But they have been gone for hundreds of years...”



Spike put a gentle hand on her arm. “Take a breath, luv, before you have the vapors, and we’re picking your pretty little self up off the ground.”



Angel came out of his daze. “We can’t be in ‘hundreds of years ago’. We’re in this year.”



Buffy turned three hundred sixty degrees trying to take in their new locale. “This year is so not this year.”



“In a nutshell, luv.” Spike responded to her before he realized it.



Buffy’s smile would have lit a city block. She had moved from “pet” up to “luv.” Granted, it was undoubtedly unconsciously done, but still, he had said it. Maybe, in the back of his mind, he might be relaxing some towards her.



Nina grasped Angel’s hand. “Wow, this is so great. I am looking at real, live Mayans.”



“We can’t be…” Bemused, Angel shook his head.



Spike elbowed Angel in the ribs. “’Said that already, ya ninny.”



Nina didn’t hear anything anyone else was saying. “Look at the colors. You always think of them as they look on the stone carvings with no color…”



Buffy tried to break Nina’s speech. “Nina…”



“The reds and the yellows. Just beautiful…”



“Nina! Earth calling Nina.” Buffy snapped her fingers into the other woman’s face.



“What?...Oh, sorry.”



Smiling at the enthusiastic girl, Buffy asked, “So… we’re in Mayan time, but what are we doing Mayan?”



*****

TBC

Thanks so much to Megan_Peta for beta-ing this chapter and to Kimber, Jane, and Mole for their support.

Chapter 12 – Things Change

“…And we don’t have any.” Nina’s voice was quiet but still echoed in the chamber.

“That’s the rub, pet.” Spike shook his head and stared at the stone floor. “No willing cow or pig here to give to the cause.”

Hesitantly, Nina voiced the question that Buffy didn’t want to ask or know the answer. “But what happens if you don’t get any blood?”

Angel’s eyes took on a far away look. “Just waste away. It’s not fun. Been there, done that.” He remembered being in the ocean over that summer not so many years ago and it certainly wasn’t something he wanted to do again. “However, I’m guessing Spike being part human now could die.”

“That can’t happen.” Buffy looked back and forth between the vampires. “We’re not going to lose either of you.”

Spike’s voice was missing its usual cockiness. “Unless we have a visit from the blood fairy, there’s no choice, luv. The game took it out of us.”

“No choice? Yes choice. I’ll give to the cause.” Buffy held out her arm, her wrist bared for them.

“No!” The men’s voices shouted in unison.

Hands on her hips, Buffy stared Spike and Angle down. “Is this mission important?”

“Yes.” Both agreed.

She paced in front of them. “Can you fight when you desperately need blood?”

“No.” Their answer was reluctant this time.

Buffy knew she was getting to them. “Will we probably need to fight?”

There was a long pause this time before they replied. “Yes.”

“Okay, then think of me as a private blood bank.” Buffy held out her wrist again.

Shaking his head, Angel tried to refuse her plan. “Buffy, we can’t…”

“Angel, I agree with Buffy.” Nina cradled her boyfriend’s hand in both of hers. “Let’s do it.”

For an extended period of time, dead silence prevailed.

Angel stood up on shaky legs, despite his efforts to disguise their weakness. He knew Spike was right. The ball game and the race to the portal had taken its toll. And Buffy was also right. He needed to be at his best, which meant he needed blood. He looked over at Spike and cringed as the blonde ex-vampire conveyed the message with a tilt of his head, “I want to go on record with a protest.”

Spike nodded. “I second that, grandpa. So that’s the ‘why.’ What about the ‘how’?”

Buffy had never thought about what happened to a vampire without blood, but she did know she didn’t want to watch Spike waste away. She thought fast. She and Nina could open a vein and fill a cup, but that wasn’t as personal and intimate as she would like with Spike. This was a fantastic opportunity to get close to him. From the looks of it, Angel and Spike were too tired and missing too much blood so that they weren’t thinking quite as straight as usual. Making a leap without a net, Buffy decided to go for it. She held out her arm. “Drink from the tap.”

Buffy had been right. Spike was thinking a little slow, but her offer sunk like a brick. “Slayer, you are out of your noggin.”

Sputtering, Angel lodged a protest. “B…B…Buffy, I don’t think…”

“Don’t think. We need you two all warriory.” Despite her Buffy speak, she used her slayer voice to end the disagreement.

Without another word, Angel stood up, took Nina’s hand and a lantern, and guided her into one of the two tunnels out of sight of the other’s eyes. Spike understood Angel’s desire for privacy because he desired it himself. He was about to drink from Buffy. A truly intimate act when drinking from someone with no intent to kill. Normally he was self assured to the point of ridiculous some times, but in this, he had no idea how to go about drinking from a slayer who was freely giving up her blood.

Buffy’s thoughts were following along the same path. How were they going to go about giving him some blood, and it wasn’t helping that Spike was staring at her. His blue eyes looked like a midnight sky due to the lack of light in the room, and those blue eyes were unreadable. He could be appalled, disgusted, ambivalent, agreeable or even enthusiastic for all she could tell. But her? She was definitely eager but didn’t want to appear so. Spike hadn’t moved so much as a finger since Angel and Nina had left the room. After waiting for a few minutes and still no movement, Buffy decided to take the lead.

“Do you think you can get enough blood from my arm?”

Spike started out of his stupor and stared at her arm that she presented. “Your wrist should do the trick.”

“You could do my neck.” Buffy brushed her hair aside, exposing the gentle curve of her neck.

Spikes head shot up, and his voice sounded dismayed. “No, your wrist will be fine.” Despite his words, Spike’s gaze fixed on the beautiful curve of her neck. He had to force his eyes away or take her up on her offer. After a moment, he looked down at her arm, a poor second.

Okay, scratch biting her neck, at least for now, she thought wickedly. After a quick moment of thought, she went over to him and sat down next to him with her back against the wall. With no fanfare, she offered her arm out in front of him, but he didn’t do anything but stare at it again. Finally, she just had to say something. “It’s yummy. Try some.”

Spike turned to look at her. He looked deep into her eyes. Angel and he had been driven the point home that Buffy and their camp didn’t trust them. Now Buffy was showing incredible trust in letting him feed from her. “You trust me that much? Quid pro quo?”

Buffy tilted her head in question. “What does that mean?”

With a small smile, Spike wasn’t surprised that she wasn’t familiar with the phrase. He searched for an example. “Did you see Silence of the Lambs?”

“Yes.” Now, finally something she knew.

“Lecter tells Starling ‘quid pro quo.’ She gave him some information; he in return gave her some information. It’s an even exchange. In our case, you must trust me just as much as I trust you.”

Trust. Buffy thought back to when Angel and Spike had first come to the Tinkercreek Mansion and how they had left no doubt that they didn’t appreciate the lack of trust she and Giles had shown them and that Angel’s camp no longer trusted them. She hadn’t thought of it before, but this was a perfect opportunity to show him just how much she trusted him. “Spike, I trust you. You were the one I trusted the most when we fought against the First Evil, and I still trust you the most now.”

“Thank you, pet. I’m honored.” Spike placed one hand under her hand and one below her elbow, touching her as little as possible. He could see the raised skin over her pulse and could hear the blood rushing through her veins. In fact, that was all he could hear now. His eyes saw nothing beyond her wrist.

Buffy watched in fascination as Spike’s face shifted. It’s funny. She didn’t think of him in game face anymore. She only pictured him in his striking human form; blue eyes instead of yellow, smooth forehead instead of wrinkles.

Spike involuntarily ran his tongue across his elongated canines as he looked at the tender skin on the inside of her wrist. Everything about this was wrong. All but his need, and then he would be beholden to her. He was amazed she offered at all, especially after the way he had been treating her since seeing her again. That would have to change in light of her generosity. In the face of her charity, Spike could feel the hurting inside of him begin to wane, and his heart crack open and feel again the trust that made him a better man for her. It seemed that their relationships had always been evolving. Enemies, reluctant allies, voluntary co-combatants, lovers. And then the hatred –her for him and him for himself – support, close and then nothing. He lowered his head and with a prick of her skin, he changed their relationship again.

As Buffy watched Spike’s blonde head lower, she held her breath. It was all she could do not to caress the hair at the nape of his neck. She didn’t know what to expect, and she was glad. She didn’t have time to dwell on her apprehensions. She had been bitten before by Angel, which was an emergency and rather harsh, and Dracula, which had been involuntary. This was…wanted, clear and simple. The pricks didn’t hurt near as much as she expected. Then she felt him take the first draw of her blood. Then another and another and she felt like she was floating. Her eyes rolled up, and her lids closed. And she felt like her spirit floated towards his. The sensation was the most intimate of feelings, and she reveled in it. Then she began to burn with desire. Warmth traveled up her arm and down to her sex. She had had sex with Spike numerous times, but this surpassed the best of those occasions. And she instinctually knew she would want more.

Upon the first swallow, Spike realized her blood was the best he had ever had, better than the other slayers. Why was he even surprised? His love he held for her back in Sunnydale alone sweetened her blood. And whom was he kidding? He had denied it in the past year, but this intimate act reminded him just how much he still loved her. Yes, he would allow himself to outwardly warm up to her, but of his continuing love, she would never know.

Having partaken in enough blood, Spike was as gentle as possible as he withdrew his fangs. And when she felt Spike lick the puncture wounds once, Buffy came back down to earth.

Spike saw the question on her face. “A lick or two helps turn off the tap.”

“Oh.” Since her body still hummed from the experience, Buffy didn’t know what to say. No, she did know what she wanted to say. ‘I love you. I want you back. And why are you being so pig headed?’ She wanted to thunder at him that he wasn’t so lily white. He hadn’t bothered to tell her he was back, that jack ass. But now wasn’t the moment for that clearing of the air. She didn’t want to spoil the buzz the bite had left her with.

With a deep and husky voice, Spike filled the void. “Thank you.” Actually, Spike thought ‘thank you’ didn’t begin to cover her act of charity. A vampire slayer voluntarily giving blood to this vampire? Go figure. Of course, she had done the same for his grandsire, but then she had been in love with the big poof. However, in this case, Spike hadn’t believed that Buffy had ever loved him in Sunnydale. If she had, why would she have been kissing his grandsire. Even so, with all the past put behind and judging from her warm actions towards him on this trip, he wasn’t too sure how she felt. Did she love him? Could she? He certainly didn’t want to guess. Regardless of each of their insecurities, they shared a smile.

Desire filling her brain, Buffy took a chance. She leaned in close and pressed her lips to Spike’s, then pulled back. There was no response, but he didn’t pull away. He just…stared. Frozen. So she chanced it again. This time she opened her mouth and ran the tip of her tongue along his lower lip. When he met her tongue half way with his own, Buffy let out a sigh and tilted her head so that they could deepen the kiss and began preparing to run her hands all over his back. But he jerked away. His words crushed any feelings of closeness or hope. “You taste like the Immortal.”

Tongue tied, Buffy would always wonder what would have happened next, especially since her temper was on high and her fists were balled up, but Angel and Nina entered the chamber. At first, not a word between anyone was spoken as everyone gathered his or her gear.

“I take it we are again looking for one of those hand prints.” Angel took the lead. “We have two options to go so let’s split in pairs and each take a tunnel.”

Plan agreed upon, they decided to travel light, leaving their packs and taking their lanterns, for now tethered to their belts.

Angel glanced over at Spike. “If you get lost… don’t call out.”

Spike smirked back. “If you get lost…good.”

*****

Ten minutes of walking in silence was all Buffy could stand. “So what do you do now?”

“Do?” Spike didn’t bother to turn his head. Thanks to his remembrance of her relationship with the Immortal, he had withdrawn into himself again. He could see her dancing with the male slut of Rome in his mind’s eye.

“Spend your time? You’re with Angel?” Buffy glanced over and admired his profile.

He didn’t really want to answer her question, any of her questions. What he wanted was to mend the crack in his outer shell against her, but he spoke. “I help out in Peaches’ Investigations.”

“In Los Angeles?” Buffy kicked a piece of stone with the toe of her shoe. She had been so close that she could have literally tasted it. He had warmed up to her. He had let her kiss him, but she guessed she had gone too far this time by using tongue. Oh, well. Her hope had returned, and she would just have to be a good girl and try, try, and try again.

“Much too small a town for me and his poofness.” He shook his head. “I cruise about and check on our satellite offices. More my style, sweets.” Damn, he was going to have to cut off his tongue. Terms of endearment weren’t helping out the situation. Endearments and Buffy just seemed to go hand and hand for him. And regardless of what he had said, she had tasted like the sweetest nectar.

“But you stayed in Sunnydale for years. I had always thought of you as more of the nesting type.” Buffy had a hard time not laughing. ‘Nesting.’ That should get him.

Mouth open, Spike looked horrified. “This big bad isn’t a nester. I’m footloose and fancy free.”

Buffy thought about it for a moment. She wanted to ask a question but was afraid. Finally she just jumped in. “And that demon goes with you?” Oh, she hoped she didn’t sound as jealous as she felt.

Spike thought for a second. What demon? “Illyria? Yes, she takes up space in the viper. Blue keeps things interesting.” On purpose he didn’t explain their relationship, mischievously hoping for a little jealousy on the slayer’s part.

Buffy didn’t like the smile that she could see play on his lips when he said the demon’s name. And his answer shut her up for awhile. She wracked her brain for some other topic and finally decided on attempting to mend some fences. “I’m sorry about what Andrew said to you in Rome. I didn’t tell him to say that.”

Trying to quell the pain that that memory brought on, Spike stayed silent for a moment. “Don’t be. Just stuck in my craw, but what he said needed to be said. With you cozying up to the Immortal, we needed to move on.”

“No, no, it didn’t need to be said – at all. Andrew put his foot and his shoe in his mouth.” Buffy smiled at the memory. “I helped him chew on it before we left.”

They walked for a few more paces in silence.

Maybe she could mend a little bit more of the fence. “Willow says that I was under a spell while I was in Rome. The Immortal gave me a ring…”

Spike stopped walking and stared at her until she began to squirm. No, it wasn’t at her, but over her shoulder at the wall, and his unseeing eyes glazed over. “Peaches and I thought that was his gig. Always knew that he was a right bloody bastard.”

Hell, the revelation of the spell hadn’t even helped. Trying to catch his gaze, Buffy moved a little but with no success. “I’m sorry about him. I wish I had never even gone to Rome.”

Leaving her still standing there, Spike started walking again. “No reason to apologize to me, pet. I was just an observer on the visit. Wasn’t even in your life anymore.”

“You used to be more than an observer in my life.” Buffy quickly caught up.

His voice had a sharp edge to it now. “Even then I watched you kiss Angel in Sunnydale, but not me that last year.”

“But I left Angel and came back to you that night,” Buffy pleaded.

A tick pulsed in his clenched jaw. “A poor second.”

“Never.” Buffy grasped his arm and pulled him to a stop. This was going to be hard to say considering how he felt about her now, but she had to say it. “But I told you that I loved you.”

Scaring her, Spike’s eyes were blank. “And I didn’t believe you then, and I don’t think I believe you now.” He pulled his arm free and continued walking. He had to keep walking, or he would be groveling at her feet. ‘I loved you.’ How he wished that was true, but he didn’t believe it. There was a time when he had known Buffy so well-- better than anyone else-- but now, he didn’t know what to believe about her anymore. What he did know was that he didn’t want her to know that his heart was yearning for hers. His hands itched to touch hers. His lips longed for the feel of hers again. Earlier, it was all he could do when their tongues met not to get lost in her again.

She had done it. She had mentioned the spell. And what did it get? Nothing. She had mentioned her declaration of love before she had lost him in Sunnydale. And what did it get her? Nothing. He still didn’t believe her. Well, she wouldn’t beg him to. She still had her pride, but she also wanted him. There had to be a way. Yeah, right between his gorgeous, blue eyes. She inhaled, ready to deliver her tirade. “Why you bleached brain, hard headed idiot, I told you it was a spell. I told you that I loved you, and all you can do is play the ice king?” Her temper flared white hot. “And did you ever think that I would have never gone to Rome if you had let me know that you were back? When you had showed up at Angel’s, I hadn’t even gone to Rome yet.”

Spike felt like he had been pole- axed. He could have stopped her from ever meeting the Immortal, and what was more, she was implying that she had wanted him to. He had just been…well, afraid of being rejected by her. But the bad part was that he was still carrying a good deal of that fear. Maybe the fear needed to go.

Buffy was on a roll. “Just one little call would have been enough. It was you I wanted to be with, and the pain of missing you so much sent me into the Immortal’s arms. You should have…”

Both Buffy and Spike pulled up short when the sounds of growls and snarls floated from behind them. It was the unmistakable sounds of a fight, but between who or what?

Considerably concerned for Angel and Nina, they backtracked at a dead run. Nothing was in the original chamber so they continued down the tunnel that the pair had taken.

As they ran, the sounds increased in ferociousness and in volume. They came around a sharp bend and put on the brakes hard. The sight nearly floored them. A werewolf was going at it in full force with another demon that they didn’t recognize.

Buffy yelled above the growls. “The werewolf has to be Nina. But where is Angel? He wouldn’t leave her to this fight alone.”

Grabbing her arm to get her attention, Spike pointed at the demon. “Look at the other demon’s clothes.”

The demon’s face had thick spikes coming out all over except for where the eyes, nose and mouth were located. But more importantly, the demon was wearing cloths. More specifically, Angel’s clothes. His trademark long, black jacket was a dead giveaway.

Buffy couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “That’s Angel. What the hell is happening?”

“Let’s gab about it after we get the lovers apart.” Spike was able to shove Angel away enough that Buffy could execute a flying tackle on Nina. They rolled and ended up in the tunnel on the far side of the chamber. When Buffy finally stopped, she was no longer gripping a werewolf but holding Nina.

“Okay? Are you okay?” Buffy was already glancing at Spike before she heard Nina’s answer of yes. “Why are you changed back? Why is Angel still…still…still whatever he is?” Buffy really wasn’t looking for an answer from Nina. She was asking more of herself. Nina was in her human form, and Angel wasn’t. What was different?

Spike hit the demon first with a left and then a right to the jaw. He jumped Angel’s leg sweep and kicked him in the side. Buffy stayed with Nina as she watched Spike and Angel battle, but she was also still racking her brain for what was different. She had a feeling the answer was right beneath her nose. And it was. The ground, Buffy thought. She and Nina were in the tunnel while Spike and Angel continued to battle in the chamber. In, out, that’s it. “Spike…Spike, it’s the room. Get Angel out of there.”

He wanted to glance over at Buffy but couldn’t. Out of the room? Spike began to work on turning Angel until Angel’s back was to the tunnel leading back to the main chamber. They traded blows. Right, left. Right, left. Spike took a couple of socks to his ribs and then one to the jaw before he could put his foot to Angel’s stomach and shove him out into the tunnel. The change was instantaneous. As soon as Angel crossed the imaginary line separating the room and the tunnel, he changed back to his human visage. He slowly sat up and shook his head comically.

“Angel, are you okay?” Anxious, Nina called from the other side of the chamber.

Angel was patting himself down. “I’m still checking.”

“Dark clothing, hair sticking up, lifts on shoes, empty head, uni-brow from the broodiness. Yep, all accounted for.” Spike brushed dirt off of his clothes.

Buffy was relieved that Angel didn’t rise to Spike’s bait, regardless of how funny and accurate his description was. However, both she and Nina gave in and laughed. “So what do we do now?”

“Good question, luv.” Spike looked down the tunnel back towards the main chamber. “We know what’s back there. Nothing. Why don’t you and sweetmeat look down your end of the tunnel?”

“It’s a plan. Like it. You up to it, Nina?” When Nina nodded, she looked back at the guys. “We’re out-y. No playing in the chamber while we are gone.” She gave them a saucy wink before turning away and walking down the tunnel with Nina, making sure her hips swayed.

Spike and Angel were left staring dumbfounded. She’s winking at them? Flirting? That was the slayer?

*****

TBC

I still new at writing this bitey stuff so let me know how it went. Also, expect a new chapter of Just A Fling soon. I am just heating it up a bit more. : )

Chapter 13 – The Past is Never Completely in the Past

Spike hated to lose sight of Buffy and Nina. He was worried about Nina, whether she was okay, if she was injured, but he trusted Buffy would take care of her. But bugger, he was worried about Buffy, too. Of course he could write it off as concern for a comrade in arms, but that just wasn't true. No denying it anymore. Double bugger. He was concerned for Buffy, the woman. Trying to shrug it off, Spike walked back towards the main chamber, but only made it a few steps before turning back. He joined Angel to watch the girls until they were out of view and then the two males stretched out their senses to check on them as long as possible.

Buffy tried to concentrate on the search, but she felt like there was a string stretched between Spike and herself that was being pulled thinner and thinner, trying to pull her back to him. And that wasn't good. Definitely not of the good to get too attached to him. At least not yet. She loved him. She had gotten used to leaning on him for strength in Sunnydale, but he was making it loud and clear that he no longer loved her. No, she refused to believe that. He had loved her all through the years that she hated him, treated him like trash. And she knew, just knew that he still loved her. She just had to remind him, the hard-headed fang face. Regardless, she could feel her eyes tearing up just thinking about the situation. Time to change the channel. She looked over at the pretty blonde walking next to her. "Nina. So, how did you meet Angel?"

Nina's smile was bright enough to light their way in the tunnel. "I was bitten by a werewolf. Angel tracked me down and gave me a place to stay on the full moon." She looked over at Buffy. "You can't believe how much I looked forward to full moons so I could see him. Finally I was able to talk him into breakfast, and things progressed from there. No offense, but thanks. I'm glad he didn't see you in Rome and that Andrew sent him away."

Buffy laughed softly. "No offense taken. I'm happy for Angel and for you. I just wish..." Nina would never know Buffy's wish. "Look..." Holding up her lantern, Buffy pointed towards the wall. "There's a handprint. Yay me!"

Nina was already turning around, "I'll go get the guys."

Nina must have flown, Buffy surmised, because she could hear them returning at a fast pace. Spike and Angel must have made it through the demon changing chamber without anymore grrh. As she waited, she looked at the carvings closest to the handprint. "Reborn for a goddess." She wondered what in the world that meant.

When everyone was together, Buffy pointed out what she had found.

"Reborn for a goddess?" Angel thought it sounded interesting but didn't know what it meant.

Spike took it a face value. "Hera, Aphrodite?"

Everyone thought for a minute. Finally tired of the tension, Buffy knew that she wasn't very good at puzzles, but she could eliminate people. "Well, Nina has already had her turn, so she's probably out of the running. Me? You could probably say that my being resurrected was a type of being reborn."

"But who was the goddess?" Nina asked.

Buffy shrugged. "That's it. Willow resurrected me, but as much as I love her, she isn't a goddess."

Spike slapped Angel on the back. "Batter up, peaches."

"Me? No! Reborn, yes in a way, but Darla was absolutely, positively not a goddess."

"Got to agree there, brood highness." Spike paced from one wall to the opposite wall, "but that would leave me. Drusilla was no more a goddess than Darla."

Biting her lower lip, Nina thought she had a possible solution but hated to say. "But wait. It says 'made for' not 'made by.' I once heard Illyria ask Spike about the trials you went through to get your soul back. She asked you if it was so horrific and supposedly impossible, why did you do it? You were quiet longer than I had ever heard you before you replied. 'I did it for a goddess.'"

Everyone looked at Spike, who was intently inspecting his boots.

After listening to Nina, Angel knew who the "goddess" must be and that Spike wouldn't want to admit it, but he couldn't help a little ribbing. After all, the blonde vamp had only gone through three weeks of insanity compared to his decades. His grandchilde could take some teasing. "Spike, do you want to share with the class, or do you need to write it down and pass a note?"

At that point, Buffy knew. When he had returned from winning his soul, he had told her in his own convoluted way. He had told her that it was for her. She had a hard time swallowing over the lump in her throat. She was his goddess, at least back then if not now. And he was going to have to admit it --not just to himself, but to everyone. Buffy decided that that was a good thing.

Nina was getting impatient for Spike to confirm the story. "Spike? Who?"

Now Spike was looking at the wall mumbling. "Bumph."

"Who?" Buffy asked, anxious to hear him speak her name. Maybe, just maybe this would remind him of how much he used to love her, and maybe those feelings would come back to stay.

There was a long pause, and then they had to strain to hear his voice. "Buffy." Spike looked up, and his eyes sought out hers. "Buffy was my goddess."

Angel had suspected as much. Ninety-nine percent sure actually. Nina's smile grew from a slight tilt of her lips to her teeth showing as her gaze darted between Spike and Buffy, and what she saw gave promise. She wanted Spike to be happy and she made an educated guess that Buffy was the only one who could do just that.

Buffy continued to stare at Spike who had now turned his back on everyone again. By his stance she knew he was feeling some thing he didn't want seen. Could he still feel the love? Could she still be his goddess? Dare she hope? Yes, she hoped. Oh, how she hoped, but she wasn't cracked enough in the head to think he was about to stand there and admit it.

"Oh, balls, I was the fool back then. Let's just do this." Spike wanted to take the coward's way out and hide from view. 'Don't think this backpack will give me enough coverage,' he thought with a snort. He finally turned back to them, walked over, slit his hand so that blood dripped, and slapped it on the imprint.

*****

As the four stepped simultaneously through the portal, they unexpectedly stopped in a row, frozen in place in a wide doorway facing what appeared to be a large, spacious greenhouse. Funny how each felt compelled to stand still and let quiet prevail, but it was true.

Because of the dim light, Buffy could tell that it was night wherever they'd ended up this time. There were three rows of plants in front of them, and to the right was an extensive work table with a couple of chairs tucked underneath.

As if mesmerized, Angel stepped into the room and stopped at the far side opposite the table. Buffy again felt a compulsion to stay still, but she stood amazed. Before her eyes, Angel's hair grew out to his shoulders, his long coat turned from black to a charcoal with thin stripes, and his shirt's ruffled cuffs peaked out. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Spike also take a step forward. Instantly worried for him since she still didn't know what was going on, she tried to take a step with him, but couldn't. Why not? She just couldn't. She tried to call out but was unable to do even that simple act. When Nina didn't mover either, Buffy assumed she was in the same predicament.

Spike's transformation was even more bizarre than Angel's. His black jeans and black t-shirt was replaced by a brown suite. His hair also grew out but not as long as Angel's and was in disarray. However, the biggest difference to her was that the white-blonde hair dye was replaced by an undoubtedly natural mousy brown. He looked so completely different in this guise, it really threw her for a curve, but she got it. She was looking at the past. This was not Spike; this was William. And she didn't know for sure, of course, but she guessed that Spike wouldn't want to be seen this way by her. Regardless, she soaked up the additional information about her love, gathering insight. She watched entranced.

In what appeared to be a daze similar to Angel's, Spike walked over and stood in front of the work bench, and as if on queue from a film director, the scene began.

Angel's face contorted in fury. "Give up, boy."

"I'm not your boy, and I'm not giving up." Spike took a defensive stance, hands balled into fists at his side.

Realizing another difference, Buffy noticed that William's accent was very unlike Spike. His words retained a British accent but was now crisp and clear. Actually they fit his new look.

Catching her attention again, Angelus growled. "Boy, don't cross me tonight. Even with those kills littering the parlor, I'm not of the spirit to take your insolence. I didn't come all this way to Spain to miss such a tasty, Spanish treat."

Nina was fighting her immobilization more than Buffy. She got it, too. Angel had told her about just this scene. The men were in Spain, and Nina assumed that this little show connected them to Mexico through Spain's influence on that country. That had to be the connection as was the Mayans that connected them to Mexico. But what she hated through and through, was watching Angel revert to such a vicious demon that she knew he hated with his whole being. She knew this just as that he would hate for her to see him that way. And even worse, she just knew that if she could get to him, she could help.

Seemingly unperturbed by the older vampire's anger, William held his ground. "Then be happy with what you've had, Angelus."

"I'm never happy with anything concerning you. Listen to you. You've slipped back into your pansy accent, William." Angelus wasn't sure which ate at William more, being called a pansy or being caught using his upper class accent. What he was sure of was that either one would goad a reaction out of the young vampire, and it did.

Spike saw Angelus through a red haze. With a roar as a battle cry, he rushed his grandsire.

Buffy watched as Angelus ducked Spike's first punch, and using his shoulder, lifted Spike up and flipped him into the closest row of plants. Spike was up as soon as he landed and back at Angelus again. To Buffy, it was obvious Spike's fighting skills had not developed anywhere near far enough yet to take on the older vampire, let alone win. It was Spike's heart that gave him any chance to survive. Buffy cringed as the brunette landed two punches and then a third round house punch which sent Spike to the ground. When Angelus started walking towards the worktable, Spike grabbed at his ankles and held on, tripping the irate vampire to the floor.

As Angelus fell, a small motion under the worktable caught Buffy's eye. Squinting, she could just barely make out a small child, a girl judging from her lacy, white skirt.

Changing to his demon façade, Angelus pointed at the girl. "What, William, you are fighting me over that? She's nothing, William."

His grandsire kicked Spike in the face, but Spike absorbed the blow and still held on. William shifted into game face. "You're not going to turn her."

Buffy cringed. Evil and hate charged the air with an underlying scent of compassion from Spike.

Angelus lashed out with his shoe again, but Spike was able to move out of the way this time. "William..." The name came out a growl.

Spike spit his words out. "I'm not William, and I am no longer that pansy poet. I'm Spike, and you're going to leave the lass alone. I don't care if Darla wants to give the girl as a fledgling to Dru for a living doll. You're not turning her."

Angelus scoffed at the younger vampire. "Just because your attempt at turning your mother was a failure doesn't mean this will be. Besides, not only will I enjoy it, unlike you I will do it right."

Nina was horrified. Angel had told her about Angelus, but seeing him was different. The demon was evil personified. No restraint whatsoever. But who was she to talk? Once every month, she changed into a killer that had to be locked up. At least Angel has his demon locked away all the time.

Spike was able to gain his feet and get between Angelus and the young girl again. "At least kill her instead of turning her. A three year old would never understand our existence."

Buffy felt like crying. Turning a three year old? Sick-o to say the least. And her heart went out to Spike. She realized how much he was going against his demon's cravings to let the girl slip away.

"William, the bloody awful poet's sensitive side in you is coming out again." Angelus started to circle to Spike's right. "What are you going to do? Write her a poem? That would scare her to death." Angelus lunged, but Spike had been expecting him, ducking under and getting a punch in himself. Regardless, Angelus started beating on him. "You're weak, boy, but I love fighting you. Do you want to know why?" He connected with a kidney punch, knocking Spike to his knees. "You just keep coming back for more. Never give up and that way I get to keep beating on you." As predicted, Spike struggled to his feet. "And this time, after your beating, I get to turn this little baby girl." Angelus slowly stalked the girl.

Spike picked up a hoe and moved to hit Angelus on the back of the head. As his hands swung down, the hoe turned into a deadly, golden sword. Angel and Spike were back to their present selves. Regardless of the change, Spike had swung half way down with fury still clouding his eyes. He raised the sword back up again, and Buffy could tell that he wanted to lop Angelus' head off right then and there. Even worse, Angel looked up at him and made no move to save himself. Guilt was written all over his face. But when the portal opened up behind Buffy and Nina, Spike seemed to deflate. He lowered the sword, and a somber group of four walked through the portal.

As before, they stepped into a new room in the temple where their back packs and lanterns were in the corner. All made a move to collect them except for Angel. His eyes were glazed over.

Spike walked back to him and shook him out of his stupor. "You knew what we were. Why be surprised?"

Angel looked down at his shoes. "I forgot how much I tried to change you, make you a killer and only a killer."

Shaking him again, Spike tried to clear his throat. For some reason, he needed his grandsire to understand. Angelus had been a right bastard, but he had had an evil agenda of his own. "I didn't want to be William."

Looking up at Spike, Angel's eyes conveyed his understanding. "But you were. You never killed children."

After the few words passed between the two men, they shouldered their packs and disappeared into separate tunnels.

Left behind, Nina looked over at Buffy and shrugged. "I guess they want to be alone."

"I think you're right." Buffy sat down and unrolled her sleeping bag. "Why don't we get some rest while they mope."

*****

TBC

Thanks to Megan_Peta for pushing me in a good direction, and thanks to everyone who reviewed this story. I am really iffy about this one, and your comments sincerely help.

With that said, please review again. : )

Dana

Chapter 14 – Out in the Air


Buffy woke up, and still half asleep, hastily glanced at her watch. Two and a half hours had passed which made it mega concerned time on her part about the missing men. She reached over and gently shook Nina awake. “Hey. You get some rest?”

Nina should say so. She had only expected to sleep an hour, but the men still hadn’t come back to wake them up as she had expected. She rubbed her face and glanced over at the tunnel Angel had disappeared down. “Yes, and I think the men have had long enough to brood.”

“Me, too.” Smiling, Buffy stood up and brushed herself off. “Before I go looking for Spike, I’m going to go talk to Angel.”

Jumping to her feet, Nina’s voice conveyed her instantaneous concern. “I don’t know if that is such a good idea…I’m a good listener. Angel told me all and so has Spike. Anyway, after those last days in Sunnydale and Angel and Spike thought they had a chance and then Rome, they were crushed. I was there for Angel, caught his fall and helped him move on. Spike didn’t have anyone. He just fell.”

Buffy’s expression slightly hardened. Just hearing her words hit home and broke her heart. “That’s exactly why I have to see them. Look, this is my determined face. Those two hard heads have been mad at me for long enough.” Buffy took a couple of steps towards the tunnel but looked back. “After that greenhouse scene, they got the chance to clear the air between them. Well, it is my time to do some air cleaning with them.”

“I don’t…” Nina paused to consider. “You know, I think you are right. Go get him, girl.” Nina gave her the two thumbs up.

Even shored up by Nina’s encouragement, Buffy knew getting into a conversation with Angel at this particular time would be tricky, requiring a soft touch. However, there was one problem with that strategy. She wasn’t known for a soft touch or even a medium touch. Regardless, she was going to try.

With a smile now planted firmly on her face, Buffy headed down the tunnel that Angel had disappeared. Her feelings were incredibly mixed. Even if it was platonic now, she loved Angel, but seeing Angelus again brought back anger and revulsion for the monster. And the scene she had watched just added to her hatred. Even though Spike himself had been evil at that time, Angelus was even despicable to the younger vampire. As a result, now she was having a little trouble separating Angel from the Angelus. She still cared about him as a cherished friend, and she felt their relationship was well worth saving.

Buffy finally found him standing up, facing the wall and leaning his forehead against the stone. The stance reminded her that this was pure Angel, full of guilt, not any evil running rapid inside of him, all of which helped her push her memories of Angelus away. “Angel…?”

He didn’t even bother to use his energy to turn his head towards her. “Go away.”

She took a few steps closer, determined to not be brushed off so easily. “Sure, I’ll be glad to…Ha, ha. Trick or treat. Let’s pick treat, and I’ll stay.”

Not amused, Angel let out a long, suffering sigh, and he still shrugged her off. He knew she had come to talk, and he didn’t want any of it. “Go away.” The words were carefully enunciated this time.

Hands on her hips, Buffy shifted smoothly into slayer mode. The gentle touch just sailed out the window. “Ok, Angel. If it’s a fight, then it’s a fight. But let’s have this out now.”

Angel let loose another very audible sigh. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” He never looked up from the floor as she stepped closer.

Only two feet separated her from her prey. “Oh, denial man, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Angel stayed quiet, not even one lone muscle moving, a talent of his. Buffy had no way of knowing how he did it to such perfection, but she remembered it well. No matter, now or then, it was just creepy.

Buffy growled before speaking again. “Let me guess. Five letters. Starts with T. Let’s see. Is it ‘Trust?’ In Cleveland, you said you trusted me, but you don’t act that way now.”

Glancing over at her, he gave in and responded. “What you did over the insane slayer, it’s hard to forget such a slap in the face. You didn’t even come in person. You sent Andrew instead. Andrew of all people.” Angel was still incredulous that Buffy chose the wimp of all people to go after to retrieve the dangerous slayer.

“I’ll give you that. Total insensitive girl, and I’m sorry.” Buffy relaxed her stance. “Angel, I am so sorry.”

However, Angel wasn’t done. “And the Immortal…?”

Buffy held her hands palms up in supplication. “It was a spell.”

Angel looked sharply up at her. “A spell?” Then he let himself relax some. “Spike and I thought he did something like that.”

“Ok, what else?” Buffy crossed her arms and waited, tapping her foot.

Not that he would admit it at this point, but Angel was actually relieved to get everything out on the table. Being honest with himself, it had been hard staying angry with Buffy. He loved Nina now, but Buffy was still a love if only as a friend now. But he still had some issues. “You slept with Spike.”

Not flinching, Buffy had been expecting that one. “Yes.”

Angel studied her eyes, searching for the truth. “But you didn’t love him.”

“No.” Buffy’s eyes dropped to the ground. She knew she deserved this one.

Angel’s stand and voice softened. “But he loved you.”

Her answer was slow in coming, and her regret of the circumstance was self-evident. “Yes.”

Angel closed his eyes and sighed again. He felt for his sensitive grandchilde who with all his whole heart felt passion. “Poor William. His heart twisted yet again.”

Buffy’s heart twisted at the thought. She had treated Spike so badly in those days long ago as Drusilla had done before her. And a Cecily had been mentioned, but Buffy didn’t know anything about her.

“But what makes me angriest, Buffy, is that you were kissing me, talking cookie dough garbage while Spike waited for you back at your house.” Angel straightened up and faced her. “You told me good-bye and went to him. You played both of us and then jumped to the Immortal. Quite the little player you’ve become.”

Resenting his assessment, Buffy started to seethe. “I never played any of you…”

Angel nodded. Typical Buffy. Oblivious as to how her actions affected others. “Yeah, you did. Think about it. All of us waiting for you, even the Immortal. He’s waiting for you now, isn’t he, back in Rome?”

Buffy’s eyes fell to the floor again. “Yes, but...” Truthfully, she hadn’t thought about that situation since before seeing Spike again. All she had been thinking about Spike. What a mess.

Waving her off, Angel relaxed. He knew the answer. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy with the way things worked out. I love Nina.”

She took a step closer and placed her hand on his arm. “And I am happy for you, but I can’t tell you enough how sorry I am…”

After several moments, he covered her hand with his own. “Thank you, but you should also be telling that to Spike.”

“That’s where I am headed to next.” Feeling bold, she hesitated a second before giving Angel a hug and was relieved when his arms encircled her.

Mischievously, Angel started to give her a little ammunition against Spike, the fact that he had messed around with Harmony on the day he found out that he was corporeal again, but he was the same side with Spike on this. He would just keep that little tidbit to himself, at least for now.

******

As Buffy hurried to meet Spike head on, she thought again about Angelus and William. She was still so amazed and proud of Spike. He had kept a strand of his humanity even when he was trying to overcome William and turn bad, not to mention fighting the instinctual evil behavior of a vampire. That was her Spike, even before he won his soul, trying to hide his softer side. Now if only she could get that loving side pointed her direction again. Angel may have taught her about look, but Spike had taught her how to burn.

Turning a corner, Buffy spied her quarry sitting down, leaning against the wall. Buffy rapped her knuckles against the stone. “Knock, knock.” She stayed where she was, hoping that Spike would make the next move.

He didn’t. He continued to stare at the floor with his shoulders slumped, defeatist posture breaking her heart. But she wasn’t surprised by Spike’s reaction to the scene with Angelus that had played out earlier. She knew better than anybody how sensitive he could be, and it looked to be ten fold in this case. First, he had wanted to protect the little girl when he shouldn’t have. A big bad vampire wouldn’t have done that. Second, he knew that Buffy had seen the side of his personality he strived to hide. She knew he didn’t want her to see the true William, see the weak vampire, see William the Bloody Awful Poet. After all, he had lied to her that he had always been bad, but instead, he had moments of being atypical as a vampire from time to time. And a poet? How evil could a poet be? She made an educated guess that Spike was now beating himself up about what had happened with Angelus, but she also knew he shouldn’t. Well, she would have to do something about that.

Spike had felt her coming before she came into view and had dreaded the sound of each footstep. It was a cliché, but true. How was he going to face her? He wanted to melt into the stone and flow far away.

No such luck in the response department. Stepping forward, Buffy closed half the distance between them. “I’m here because Angel suggested I come…Angel wants you to feed, make sure you are tip top.” Well, that was a little white lie. Angel hadn’t asked Buffy to feed Spike, but she knew he would have if he had thought about it. Right? She smiled her own secret smile.

“Not hungry, pet.” Listening to him, his voice sounded rough to Buffy’s ears. He might have been crying. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if the sensitive man that she loved had been. Buffy closed the last bit of distance between them. “Not hungry? Naaaay, wrong answer.” Putting her back against the wall, she slid down to sit next to him. She decided to shelf the feeding issue for now and thought they needed to clear some air first. But how to start the clearing? “I thought your hair would have been darker than that.”

Spike had no doubt she was talking about his confrontation with Angelus, but he gaped at her. “With all that you saw, you comment on my bleeding hair. You daft bint.”

‘Ok, this is better,’ Buffy thought. ‘Got him talking. For Spike, insults are a good sign. Now I think I’ll be brave and ambitious.’ “Yeah, darker hair. You know.” She ran a finger tip along his scared eyebrow and was rewarded by his quick intake of breath. “You’re eyebrows are practically black and the other ones…uh… from what I remember the short and curly ones are the same.”

At first Spike looked up at Buffy with a blank expression, blinked a couple of times, and then slowly grinned. Actually grinned. Success. Buffy was ecstatic and wanted to actually bounce up and down. She didn’t but kept up with the tease. “Ya know. Those down there.” She glanced down at his lap.

His eyes followed her gaze, and he gave a short laugh. Memories of his intimate times with Buffy, his cherished memories, made him smile. But then Spike sobered up again. Buffy let him break the silence when he was ready. “Oh how I hated that fucking bastard.”

She didn’t need to be told that he was talking about Angelus. “I could see why.” She hoped that would encourage him to say more but not be too pushy with this incredibly sensitive subject. Regardless of the Spike’s and Angel’s feelings, she was glad she saw their little scene. She had gained valuable knowledge about their relationship back then and how that influenced the present as well as each of them individually. Angelus, the bully, evil personified, and William, the vampire with feelings. She could feel her eyes tear up. It must have been so hard being with someone that was pure evil when you were left with some human sentiments. But then again, Spike had always been a very different vampire. He had always had tender feelings. For her mom, for Dawn and for herself. And what was that about his own mom that was mentioned in the scene? Maybe she would save that for later along with Cecily.

“Even knowing he wasn’t Angelus any longer, I wanted to take that sword and lop Peaches head clean off.” Spike was silent for a moment. “Bloody awful poet.” He shook his head. “I did get my nickname Spike from using railroad spikes on victims.” Now Spike’s voice was full of disgust. “But the ‘Bloody’ part was because when I was human, a wanker said that I was a bloody awful poet. Hence, William the Bloody. Peaches gave me that moniker to remind me of my humiliation.”

Debating if she really wanted the answer, Buffy asked, “Did you kill the gentleman jerk?”

“Yes, the arse was on the receiving end of one of my famous spikes.” Spike looked her in the eyes as he said it, daring her to judge him.

Buffy was chilled by his voice, and she was hard pressed to make out any remorse from him. Definite time for mood change. Choosing to be playful, poked him in the ribs. “You told me that you had always been bad.” Enough dark share time.

“Yeah, well I had a lapse once or twice.” Despite his low chuckle, there was no way he was admitting to anymore. He stood up and started walking down the passage way in the opposite direction from the chamber with Nina, Angel and the supplies.

Buffy quickly followed. “Ha. Or five lapses or six…” Chewing her lip for a moment, Buffy finally had to ask. “When was that? Did the girl survive?”

Spike snorted. “It was 1892 in Spain. I guess the Spanish part is how it was connected to our little jaunt here in Mexico in this pile of rocks. Angelus was a bloody wanker, especially when Darla was egging him on. Whatever, I was able to knock Angelus out and took the little bit away from that house, but there was hell to pay afterwards. I couldn’t walk for a fortnight.”

“Was it worth it?” She wanted to hold his hand, comfort him during this painful memory, but she wasn’t up for rejection right then. Instead, she could feel her eyes fill with tears on his behalf.

They walked in silence for a few moments before Spike spoke quietly. “It was worth it.”

“Good, I’m glad.” Her mind was going a mile a minute. She was finding out about the real William, which she had been discovering was his closely guarded secret. She loved the sensitive side and knowing more about William helped explain a vampire that cared about humans. Actually she realized that she had been seeing William in Spike since she had first met him. It was just part of the whole package that she loved. Buffy smiled warmly at him. “As with Dawn, you’ve always had a soft side.”

Surprisingly, his sideways glance towards her was more of a glare. He promised himself that he wasn’t going to make any more lapses around her. “I never made the mistake again…until Nibblet…well…and Joyce. ”

“But Dawn wasn’t a mistake, was she?” Buffy was relieved when the corners of his mouth tilted up. “She loves you.”

He nodded his head with the pleasant memories of being with Buffy’s little sis washed over him. “And I love Platelet. I must have a soft spot for the Summers women.”

Oh, oh, please may she be including her with her sister and mom. What a great opportunity to talk about the pleasant past. “How did you and Dawn first bond?”

Spike’s small smile grew. “It was your birthday.” Buffy was thrilled when he turned his smile her way. She quickly returned his before he returned to staring forward. “The Bit was sneaking out of the house.”

“What were you doing there?” Curiously, Buffy couldn’t understand his mumbled reply. “Translation?”

“I was bringing you a gift.” He was going to be so thankful if she didn’t ask what it was.

Buffy lightly touched his arm. “It is a little late now but thanks for the thought.”

Her touch was like an electric shock shooting up his arm but in a pleasant way. “Well see, Bit had snuck out. We broke into the Magic Box, read Rupert’s journal, and found out that she was the Key. I guess us finding out together was when we really bonded.” Spike paused, lost in the past. “Then the next day you came barging into my crypt, messing up my nail polish. The rest you remember.”

“You set me straight.” Buffy kicked herself. Now there was a chill in the air again. Here she ruined a good moment by reminding him of one of her bitch fests. He, of course, was on the receiving end which he was on all too often whether he deserved it or not. This time it was an “or not.”

“Well, I guess you should have dinner.” When he nodded, Buffy offered her wrist for Spike to feed. When his head began to descend, she whispered in his ear, “Will you at least agree that I care for you?”

Pausing, Spike thought about his answer. Did he believe her? He had spent so much of the last few years thinking she had no feelings for him, at least not of the tender type. Then that last year in Sunnydale, she had even gone so far as going out on a date with someone else, that principal git, right under his nose. And that doesn’t even count her swapping spit with his grandsire. After that episode, she came back to him, wanting to make with the cuddles before that final fight, but still…things had changed since being with her on this adventure. She had changed, and he had to admit it seemed to be for the better. He could see her emotions shining in her eyes. No hiding them any longer. It was in her eyes for all to see. She saw him, really saw him. Better yet, she appreciated him. Consequently, he had to admit that she cared for him, but he just couldn’t bring himself to admit it out loud. Nothing good had ever come from his declarations of his feelings to this woman. So this time he held his traitorous tongue. But he couldn’t help giving her a small smile.

*****

TBC

Sorry it has been so long to update the story, but rest assured that I haven’t forgotten it. Let me say thanks so much to megan_peta for beta-ing this chapter. Her insights always help.

If you enjoyed this chapter (or not), please let me know. It's been so long that I really need the feedback.

Chapter 15 – A New Angle


This time Buffy knew what to expect from the feeding, and as a result, she licked her lips in anticipation of the sensations Spike would cause to her system. This time, when his fangs pricked her skin, pleasure coursed through her instead of pain. And then with Spike’s first pull of blood, her head got light; then her whole body felt like she was floating. Another draw, and then another. Visions started flashing behind her closed eyelids. Sex. Intense sex with-- and only with-- Spike. The house was falling down around them, but reality changed into a wish that he had bitten her on the neck that night. In the dream, she unzipped Spike’s pants and lowered herself down onto Spike’s shaft. Ahhh, he fit her so well, and their rhythm began. Every time he slid up into her was in time with his pull of her blood in her dreams and in reality. She loved the vision. She loved the feel. She loved him.

His hand slid down from her elbow to her wrist. He could feel the pulse beating in her wrist, a rapid rhythm. He shouldn’t be doing this. What he should do is gnaw off his hand like a wolf in a trap before moving a millimeter closer to the source of blood she was offering. Well, he might as well start chewing. Sliding farther down without him realizing it, his fingers intertwined with her petite ones, a gesture so natural.

Opening her eyes, she looked at the blond hair of her love. As he retracted his fangs, she promised herself that she would double her efforts. She would get him back.

After retracting his fangs, Spike took a step back. He didn’t know it, but he had been visualizing the same images of the house that they had caused to fall down. Unlike her, he fought the feelings that the vision evoked, but he knew he was losing the battle. With every pull of her blood brought him that much closer to her. He started walking away to escape.

Buffy matched Spike’s steps, staying close to him. Not giving him time to move, she stepped in front of him and placed her hand behind his head. She pulled him into a kiss. She quickly let up on the pressure to pull back and gage his reaction. He wasn’t pulling away; he wasn’t frowning. All systems go. She pulled him back down.

His mouth stayed closed at first, but Buffy could work with that. Sliding her fingers into the short curls at the base of his neck, she brought him as close as possible, giving no room for escape. Her tongue left through her own lips to slide along his. Just tasting his lips made her tingle down to her toes, but then his mouth opened. Buffy quickly slid her tongue inside, searching out his own. When they finally touched, she moaned deep in her throat

He had sworn to himself that he wasn’t going to be drawn into her embrace again, not another kiss, but who was he kidding? He couldn’t resist her. He never could, and he wasn’t so sure he wanted to. Sugar and spice and everything nice and tasty. That was Buffy to him. He had rarely seen her sweet side in Sunnydale, but spicy? Oh, how many ways he had seen her spicy side. Bantering, fighting, and even sex, but this was a sweet side that made him want to sink into her warmth.

Buffy knew that he tasted like home. Her home, and she wanted to come back to that cherished place for good.

When they both had to come up for air, Spike took the opportunity to break the embrace and walk ahead, trying to get his equilibrium back. To Buffy, the kiss had been short but had meant everything to her. When he walked away, she was comforted that the expression on his face matched her own. He had felt their connection, too.

He stopped at the edge of a pool of something that looked like water but with bubbles coming up as if it were boiling. How deep? He couldn’t tell for sure due to the black color. It was deep enough that his lantern’s light did not reach the bottom. No telling how deep it was.

Buffy’s words brought him back to the conversation that he would rather avoid. “You were back and didn’t tell me.”

“I was a bloody ghost – dialing challenged, pet.” The lantern swung from his waving arms.

Buffy was a dog not going to give up a bone. “But later you became a real boy again, a boy that could have dialed the phone.”

“Well…I…I just didn’t want to.” ‘Lame. So lame,’ Spike admonished himself.

No matter the pain his comment elicited, Buffy held her ground and went back on the offensive. “You loved me.”

Turning his back to her, he cursed that his heart was so easily warmed by her words, her mere mention of his tender feelings he had and still did hold for her. “Maybe I’ve smartened up.” But he still swam in the deep end of denial.

“Have you? Have you really? I haven’t stopped loving you. I watched you die and that took a piece of my heart. Then more of my heart slipped away in this last year without you. And now…now my heart has been chipping away each day we have been together on this trip. Your cold shoulder towards me is tearing me up. So have you…geez, this is hard…have you stopped loving me?”

Hard? Hell, yes. Pacing, wanting to lie, Spike rubbed his hand over his face. In the end, he could only tell her the truth. “No, but don’t hold that against me. I’m just a daft wanker that works hard getting my heart shattered.”

He may be disgusted, but she was encouraged. Buffy pleaded her case. “And the Immortal…I know that really bothers you, but I was under a spell.”

Spike turned and looked her eye to eye. “He’s the Immortal, which means a long string of your type before you. He’s an indiscriminate fucker. Did you think you were special? A bleeding special flavor of the month maybe.”

Buffy was wounded, her heart bleeding but snapped back. “So are you so lily white. There’s been somebody you were with, wasn’t there?” It was a complete bluff on her part. If he had still loved her as he had admitted, he would have been loyal to his heart and to her. That was Spike. She was just drawing at straws due to her frustration.

Spike hoped she hadn’t noticed him wince. Bloody hell, did she know about Harmony? Did Angel spill? Ok, Spike ole boy, you have one option. Lie. He’d just lie. That’s it, mate. One big doozy. “No, I didn’t…” He couldn’t do it. He had to be honest with her. “Yes, I did, but it wasn’t really much.”

“What? You what?” Buffy was stunned.

Spike stared at the toes of his boots. That day hadn’t been one of his more stellar moments. “I…uh…it was just…Harmony…”

“You’ve got to be kidding. I thought you just said Harmony.” She couldn’t believe her ears. In fact, her stomach began to roll.

“Harmony, but we really didn’t do anything.” He held out his hands, palms up. “See, I had just found out that I was no longer a ghost. And she was there, ya know. But then she bit me, and I threw her off.”

Buffy tapped her foot instead of kicking him like she wanted to do. “But you resorted to Harmony?”

Frustrated, Spike got into her face. “Yes already, but remember I didn’t even end up screwing the silly bint, and you had been fucking the Immortal regularly. So back off.” He threw up his arms and paced away. “Hell, you slept with that slut and told your friends about it. I tried to do right by you when we were screwing, and you wouldn’t tell anyone about us.”

She slapped him. Hard. On her second swing, he caught her arm before it connected and threw it back at her. She stumbled as Spike continued his tirade. “And on top of all that, he sought you out to hurt me and Angel. Just as he did before in 1894. Did both Dru and Darla while trying to kill me and Angelus.”

Taken aback, Buffy shook her head. “I didn’t know there was any history. The Immortal never mentioned you or Angel. I didn’t even know he knew you.”

Listening to her say that wanker’s name as if she were defending him made him clench and unclench his jaw. “What did you think? Angel and I would be waiting for you until you tired of the Immortal?

“Angel? Well, yeah I guess I did because he told me he would the last time I saw him in Sunnydale. And you?” Waving her arms, she walked in front of him. “How was I going to wait for you if I didn’t even know that you were alive? Remember. One phone call. Just one and there wouldn’t have been a problem.”

“A call. Yeah. ‘Hi, this is Spike. Can I talk to Buffy if she can get out from under the Immortal long enough to chat.”

Buffy threw her arms up. “For the last time, I was under a spell!”

“My point made. So you would have rejected me for sure. Nope, not looking for another rejection. Rejected by Cecily, then Dru for Angelus, then Dru again for a slime demon. And then you.” His voice dropped low. “I don’t know how many times you rejected me. So tell the truth, slayer. That phone call would have been yet another rejection.”

“But that wouldn’t have been my fault. The spell…” Buffy wondered again who Cecily was, but she thought she’d continue to leave it be for now.

“No, no, don’t get me wrong. Angel and I are glad about how things worked out. Angel now has Nina. And me…” He gave her a smirk, implying that he had something going with someone.

Shock instantly gripped Buffy. Angel had already told her that he was happy with Nina, but he didn’t say anything about Spike. “That Illyria?”

Spike just stared at her, maintaining his smug expression, neither confirming nor denying. He watched with satisfaction as insecurity and jealousy crossed her face.

At first Buffy was crushed and jealous, but those feelings were quickly transformed into determination. To hell with this Illyria, she was going to triple, quadruple her efforts to win him back. Before they made it back to Cleveland, Spike would be hers heart and soul. She wouldn’t miss or waste another opportunity.

Satisfied by her reaction, Spike guided the conversation back to the Immortal. “Do you know that your precious Immortal tried to have Angel and me killed while we were in Rome both in 1894 and 2004?”

“No, I didn’t know.” She made a note to kill the Immortal herself when this mission was over. “But none of that was my fault.” She felt like a parrot repeating the same thing over and over.

Spike drove the point home with the finesse of a sledge hammer. “Yes, the second time was all about him besting us with you.”

This was getting ridiculous. Spike’s point had been made already. Time for closure and to move forward. “What’s really getting to you?”

The truth flew out of his mouth before he could catch himself. “Are you dense, woman. You screwing the Immortal.” He stared at her, eyes shooting bullets.

She matched him right on target. “So last year. Get over it already.” Her voice was forceful and carried a strong note of finality.

Both were so into their showdown that neither noticed that the floor had begun to move. Actually, the section between Buffy and the water was starting to move, starting to tilt up from her with the edge at the water forming a type of hinge. By the time Spike and Buffy realized what was tilting their world, the gap in front of Buffy was growing at a quick rate. Spike was starting to slip towards the black fluid.

Now unable to see him any longer, she could hear Spike’s usual smart mouth. “Bloody hell. Slayer, I have no desire to take a dip right now.” By the light of his swinging lantern, Spike could see the black mystery liquid below. At this point, he wanted to leave the water a mystery.

While the wall was still increasing its slant, Spike jumped and grabbed the edge of the stone. What he found there didn’t help. Instead of the flat edge with sharp edges, they were rounded off, making it difficult to grasp firmly. In between his own shouts, he could hear Buffy yelling.

“Spike. Spike!” Buffy admitted it. She was scared witless. Setting her lantern down, she jumped for the lip of the stone.

The wall stopped at about an eighty degree angle, and they both had precarious grips. To make a bad situation worse, Buffy’s had no traction since her feet no longer hit the ground, but she was certainly going to try. What she knew for sure was that she didn’t want Spike to find out just how hot the black ooze was. But first, she slipped off. The edge of the stone felt like rounded, polished granite. Looking up, she could see one of Spike’s hands slipping. Buffy leapt up again, one hand grasped the stone while her other one landed on top of Spike’s right one. But she couldn’t keep her grip and fell to the ground again. She was relieved, though, to see both of Spike’s hands over the edge now. “Son of a bitch,” she yelled, hoping it would float up to the Powers That Be.

“Is that Buffy Summers burning my virgin ears?” Contrary to the joke, Spike’s voice sounded strained.

Buffy fussed backed. “Spike, God…Spike, this is serious.” Her movements became almost frenzied. “You’re half human now. You could die in that sludge.”

Spike snorted. “Right, so get up here and save me, goody-goody slayer.”

“And you suggest…?” As she said it, Buffy watched in horror as one of Spike’s hand disappeared from her view again.

“Spike!”

“Still here, pet, but shake a tail feather already.” The comment sounded more frantic than a tease.

Buffy prepared to jump again. “Don’t let go, just don’t let go,” she begged.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, toots, until, of course, I slip and lose my grip.” Again she could hear the effort to be funny in his voice, but she didn’t believe it for a minute.

Jumping straight up, Buffy moved her hands up and over and was rewarded with two wrists. “Gotcha, thank God.”

“Thanks to him is duly noted. Now get me the hell out of this. I don’t care to have my arse boiled.” He wasn’t kidding. He could feel the heat of the liquid below coming up in waves.

Buffy knew that they were only half way there. “No butt boiling going to happen today. Can you turn your hands so that you can grip my wrists?”

No matter how mad he could and had gotten with her over the Immortal, he still trusted her with his life with no reservations. Spike let go of his grip on the stone with his left hand, and in the blink of an eye, he had hold of her right wrist. Then he did the same with his right hand. Buffy let out the enormous, deep breath that she had been holding for what seemed like the last hour.

However, Spike wasn’t taking a break. “If you’ve jump started your heart again, sweets, let’s see if we can find me a new bloody location, preferably nice and dry, feet on the ground. Ya know the type, pet.”

“Oh, right.” Buffy brought her legs up, braced her feet on the slab of stone and used them to try to pull Spike over. She made one last tug, and success, Spike came flying over. They landed hard, especially Spike since Buffy landed on him. After a moment of them both catching their breath, Spike knew he should roll her off of him, but this position felt so safe, so good, and felt so…right. Spike shook off that thought, but his eyes locked with her hazel eyes. After what seemed like hours, his eyes slid down to her lips.


****
TBC

Sorry, guys, that this chapter took so long. Summer school started and kept me very busy! Enjoy the chapter and look for a new chapter from Just a Fling.

Thanks so much to megan-peta for beta-ing this chapter.


Chapter 16 - The Ice Melts

'This was it; this was it.' That thought ran around and round in her head, never tiring. She could easily read desire in his clear blue eyes. She could have crowed for joy when his eyes slid down to her lips. And that she could feel his arousal pressed against her stomach felt like one of her erotic dreams come true.

Spike watched Buffy lick her lower lip and was so tempted to touch tongue to tongue, lightly nipping the tip of hers. He could practically taste it.

However, with much effort and poor resolution, he rolled her off of him and somehow made it to his feet on shaky legs. Brushing off the dirt that covered his front, he tried to calm his breathing and racing heart, not to mention the erection bulging in the front of his jeans. Turning his back to her seemed the best option.

As Buffy made it to her feet, her smile grew, but then she hid her emotions the best that she could. She didn't think it would be very good for him to see her gloat. He wanted to kiss her. The signals were screaming at her. Even after his comment about tasting like the Immortal earlier, as disgusted as he acted, she now knew with certainty that he still desired her. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and kiss him like there was no tomorrow.

Time for action, she told herself. His back was to her, but that didn't matter one bit. She wasn't going to pass up such a good opportunity. Quickly walking up behind him, she slid her arms around his waist.

Shocked, Spike wasn't sure what to do. Her arms felt wonderful as they wrapped around him, but that didn't compare to her body pressed against his back and her head resting between his shoulder blades. A small portion of his brain wanted to push her off. 'You're right. Any wanker knew better...Who am I kidding?' What he wanted to do was turn around and envelop his arms around hers and hold on tight.

Buffy felt him stiffen when she slipped her arms around his waist, but that was ok. She knew better than Mr. Denial that he did want her. When she rested the side of her face on his back, she could hear his heart pounding.

"Thump, thump...thump, thump," Buffy chanted in a stead rhythm.

With the ice broken, Spike had to laugh. "My heart beat. Surprising, luv?"

Yes! 'Luv' again. Buffy squirmed a tad, getting a better hold. "No actually, it sounds...nice. It fits you. You always did feel so passionately about people like Dawn. You had to have some kind of heart back then." Buffy listened for a moment more. 'And still me! Please, please, please,' she pleaded to the Powers That Be.

"I think it does, too, pet." Spike again wondered at their current position. Feeling her front pressed against his back. He couldn't help but think how well she fit him, even from behind. All the curves in the right place and all the dips and valleys nestled in the right places. "Thanks for saving me."

"I couldn't lose you again, not again." She rubbed her face against his leather clad back while she ran her hands into the front of his jacket, feeling his chest, and seemingly accidentally across his hardened nipples. She was pleased that he was aroused as she was. Hugging him a little tighter, she slowly swayed left and right, rubbing her chest, her whole body against him.

Oh, he wanted to lay her down on the spot and ravish her, sink into her heat, but his need just seemed to stick in his craw. However, his reasons to resist seemed to be fading in intensity. At this rate, he was going to forget that blighter in Rome's name. He carefully stepped forward, leaving a few inches between them and with her arms still loosely around him, but he did it in such a way that it wasn't a rejection.

She felt him start to pull away so she reluctantly loosened her hold on him. She wanted to hold tight, but she knew that wasn't going to work with him. Before she could even be disappointed in her loss, Spike slowly turned around in her arms, and his lips descended onto hers, an action that was both graceful and completely natural. At first his tongue didn't seek entrance into her mouth. He couldn't bring himself to make that next step just yet, a step to a higher familiarity that he had been fighting so very hard. However, he grew less and less content and ran the tip of his tongue along her lips. He tasted a spot and then kissed the same place. He repeated this until Buffy moaned in pent up frustration.

Pulling back and looking at her, he wasn't quite sure what did it, her beguiling smile or their growing camaraderie, but whatever it was, he capitulated. He gave into his driving desire for this siren, his siren. But the why didn't matter any more; what was important was the how. Why he didn't want to be intimate with fading. He wrapped one arm around her waist, the other hand behind her head and pulled her against his length again.

Finally, Buffy had had enough of his teasing. She returned the gesture, reached up and held Spike's head in place. Her tongue slipped out of her mouth and sought entrance into his. With a groan of his own, Spike gave in, and his tongue met hers. To him, she tasted like forbidden fruit, the sweetest of sweet ambrosia. He had surmised that their coming together would be intense, but the actual act blew him away. To her, he tasted like life. He was the center of her universe, and she was finally back in balance. He grounded her.

'Air,' Buffy's body told her. She needed air, but there was no way she wanted it if it meant ending this kiss. Her world was being shaken. Wasn't the ground trembling? Her tongue dueled with his, becoming familiar with him again, hers battling for more. But air, damn it. Her fuzzy brain finally worked out that she had to have oxygen, or she wouldn't be able to kiss him again. Whoops, Spike needed air now, too. With great reluctance to say the very least, she pulled back from him. Her eyes immediately sought out his. She had to know how he felt about their renewed intimacy, and Spike's eyes were always so expressive. Did he enjoy the kiss? Did he regret it? And most of all, did he want to do it again? Actually, his expression looked...stunned, like he hadn't seen it coming. Buffy chewed her lip. Stunned. Was that good or bad? Well, he was still holding her. That had to be good, didn't it?

Suddenly, while she was striving to judge his reaction, his lips crashed down on hers again. In any other circumstance, this would be rather comical. Spike's tongue found easy access between her lips because her jaw was hanging slack from shock. Lips of Spike were on hers again. Yum, Spike's lips. As the reality of his enthusiastic reaction sunk in, she melted in his arms. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, nor even a moment, she pulled his shirt tail out. Her hands roamed swiftly, desperately all over his smooth back, sometimes using her nails, an impulse due to the intensity of their kiss. She sucked lightly on his tongue, wanting as much as she could get, but she couldn't help but think the kiss was a poor second to his member inside of her, completing her. But some baby steps.

He pulled back for air again. Spike knew he had lost his tenuous control. No doubt about it. He wanted her, needed her and now he had her in his arms. Spike's eyes were drawn to where Buffy was worrying her lip. Actually, he should be worrying his, too. He wasn't quite sure of what all the ramifications of the kiss were, even so far as a relationship between them again, but he didn't think he regretted the action. No...No, he didn't regret anything. To kiss her had been a path of coming home. No, no regrets, but he wasn't sure how fast he wanted to head down that road with her yet again, and he knew he wasn't ready to open himself up, making himself vulnerable to her again so soon. He'd take it slow...but one more taste couldn't hurt.

This kiss, he took his time, melding their lips together. Buffy felt hope in this kiss, and she might be wrong, but she thought he felt it, too. She wrapped her arms tight around his neck as if she were going to fall into an abyss if she wasn't in his arms. She moaned in disappointment when the kissed ended.

When he let go of her completely, Buffy assumed she'd read him wrong, that she had done something wrong. That she didn't please him anymore. "What...?" But the slight tilt of his lips up took the sting out of the movement. She relaxed a little.

In the next instant, Spike jerked back from Buffy. A whistle shot through him like an arrow. It was Angelus' whistle, but now it was Angel's. Angel's. Spike had to remind himself again. "Angel is paging us. He and Nina must have found the hand print."

"Let's go see." Buffy had a smile plastered on her face, and she desperately wanted to grab hold of his hand. However, she was sure that was pushing things. It was enough to know that he had enjoyed the kisses. And possibly more soon? Oh, yes.

*****

Nina and Angel made their way down the tunnel they were scouting, scanning the walls on both sides. Having stopped to study a particular hieroglyph on her own, Nina trailed behind.

When she couldn't stand the silence anymore, Nina broached the subject which had been floating in the air between her and her boyfriend, namely Buffy and Spike and their relationship, or lack of. "Angel, I'm worried about them."

After a quick glance, Angel again focused on the tunnel ahead. "Who?" he absently threw over his shoulder.

"Buffy and Spike, of course." She wanted to smack him one for being so dense. Then she gave into her desire.

"Omf...No, I meant which one of them." Giving her a dirty look, Angel rubbed his injured side. "What I meant was which one are you talking about? The vampire or the slayer?"

Nina stopped and tilted her head in thought as she laid her hand on his arm. She stood in front of him just for good measure. "Now that you ask, I'm not sure. I am definitely worried about Spike. Even though he would never admit it, he has such a sensitive side, especially concerning her, and I don't want to see him hurt. I didn't know how much until I saw them together. But Buffy? I feel sorry for her." She got out of his way so that they started walking again. "You can read her face so clearly. She loves him and isn't trying to hide it."

Throwing up his hands, Angel paused again and gritted his teeth before speaking again. "But he doesn't believe her, and you know what? I'm not so sure I do either."

Nina threw up her hands, imitating her infuriating, hardheaded love. "But why?"

"The truth? You really want the truth?" He stopped and looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

Nina eagerly nodded. "Duh! Yeah."

Putting a hand on his head for a moment like he was trying to get rid of a harsh headache, he tried to explain something he didn't want to. "You know this, Nina. Alright already. Buffy shouldn't have been kissing me when she knew Spike would be waiting for her at home. She played him and me."

"She didn't mean to..." Nina attempted to defend Buffy, but Angel cut her off.

"No, Nina, I talked to her about this. She may have told herself that she didn't mean it, but deep down, she knew." Trying to diffuse and put behind the subject, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "My opinion? She deserves what he serves up."

His little speech would have more impact if his next step hadn't spun him around, ending him on his ass. His first thought was he hadn't said anything that bad for Nina to hit him again.

As he kept spinning, Nina laughed so hard that she didn't see the spikes coming out of the side walls. Instead she watched Angel, stand, tilt over taking another step and spin on another disk hidden in the dirt on the floor. She laughed harder until one of the sharp pikes slit the shoulder of his leather jacket down to his skin, leaving a red cut.

"Ow. Huh?" Angel's eyes widened as he finally noticed all the spears pointed at him. Contrary to self-preservation, thinking only of her, Angel practically yelled even though she was only fifteen feet away. "Nina...Nina, don't take a step this way, not one step." With his stillness, the floor stopped spinning him.

As he was from her, Nina was terrified for him. "But you're not spinning anymore." Lifting up her foot, she was desperate to get him back to her.


"You don't know if..." As soon as he shifted his weight, the disk start spinning quickly again. "Now we know. Movement triggers the spinning." He barely dodged a spear aimed at his chest before he stood up and took a few more steps and spins.

"Angel, come back." Growing desperate, Nina went ahead and took one step forward. "Please."

"No, you stay there." Nina gave him a wobbly smile at her very own overly protective vampire but was still worried for him. Angel, though, was ready to move on. "I'm already half way through the pikes, so I'll go ahead." Angel matched her smile with what he hoped was his sexiest smile, striving to put her worries to rest. "I won't get hurt when you are watching over me."

She started to take another step forward but thought better of it. "But I want to help." She so wanted to be useful. There had to be something she could do.

He inadvertently shifted his weight and spun but ended up facing her this time. "Nina, you know that I love you. I couldn't stand it if you're hurt." His usual stoic demeanor aside, Angel spoke with feeling, "But I've got to see the tunnel beyond this chamber." Thinking about it again, Nina decided that having faith in Angel was the better path.

Angel whistled sharply again. "What is keeping that boy so long? Just my luck and his hard headedness, he must be ignoring me." Before he could curse his grandchilde any further, Buffy and Spike came into view. Their responses varied to Angel's predicament. Buffy was confused but also concerned. Spike, however, came to an abrupt halt next to Nina, greedily taking in the scene. "Bloody hell, Peaches, you're hurting my ears with those girly whistles for help. 'Help poor, pitiful me!'" Spike looked like he had hit the Angel teasing pay dirt. "And what's with the over-grown, pointy tooth picks?"

"Look, brain bucket head..." As soon as he moved, the section of the floor that he was standing on spun which only gained him more ribbing from Spike. "I don't want to hear it, Spike."

"Oh no, gelled one, this is the perfect situation for ribbing." Spike tried to curb his laughter. "Now we go to the judges for their scores. I give you a four."

With Spike's levity, Nina relaxed somewhat and joined the fun. "I don't know, honey. This might really be an up and coming sporting event." She let Angel's black look bounce off of her. "I would give you a seven."

"This isn't funny..." In his irritation, Angel shifted his weight, spun and fell down. One of the pikes ripped the edge of his pants.

"I give that one a six, but I only give your costume a two. Lacks originality." Spike held up the appropriate amount of fingers in place of a score card. He was pleased when Buffy joined the impromptu game.

"No, no. That was definitely a six. My score was going to be seven. Compared to Nina's score of five, I give you an extra point for your tilting, and another point for grace, but then I took one off for getting scratched by the spear." Buffy laughed as Angel puffed up.

"Grace! Grace? I'm not graceful. Men aren't called graceful..." Angel sputtered as he carefully stood up.

"Good thing you're a vampire then. Yep, graceful." Buffy suspected that Angel would have tried to strangle her if he could stride back to her without spinning out of control.

"That's it. Ha, ha. Some of us have better things to do." Angel mumbled under his breath. The sorely teased vampire turned his back to them, and brushed off his clothes. Enough was enough. "I'm going to go down the tunnel and look for the handprint."

While spinning, it was near impossible ducking and dodging without injury. After only two more jabs from the pikes that made contact and from Spike, he made it to the end. Walking and with a wave, he left to scout the rest of the tunnel, thankfully leaving the ribbing behind. Twenty minutes later, he came back at a jog. "Found it. It's about a hundred twenty-five yards down."


TBC


Thanks so much for your reviews. The Spuffy has started rolling...

/N: Thanks so much to peta-megan for getting this chapter back so quick. This chapter took some work, and she turned it around so fast.
Also thanks to everyone that stayed with this story and thanks to those that reviewed, MarzBar, Kimber, Mole, and Jane. You guys are great!

Chapter 17 – It’s Only A Little Nudity

“This bleeding tunnel must be magical or some such because there is no bloody way all the tunnels could be housed in the temple we saw from the outside.” Spike picked up his backpack and prepared to transverse the spinning disks. However, when he took his first tentative step, the disk didn’t spin. He took another step and still no spin. “Peaches, you must have drained the carnival ride’s juice. Coming right over in a jiff.” But before he took another step, without thinking, he turned back far enough to offer his hand to Buffy. She was shocked but hurried to grasp his hand in case he took it back. In fact, he held her hand, escorting her through the spears, and didn’t let go until they made it completely through. Buffy wanted to jump for joy. He had voluntarily touched her and had for a period of time. Her progress with him was tangible now. Now if he would just let her put her hands on him, she thought while licking her lower lip.

Spike could have kicked himself for taking her hand so casually, as if by habit. However, he couldn’t bring himself to let go. It felt…well, in a nut shell, the touch seemed right. Her hand fit his like no other, but did he want that familiarity again? His answer was starting to lean towards wanting such closeness with her again. That was it. He didn’t want to follow that line of thought any further. He had enjoyed holding her hand. Leave it at that.

Shortly there after, all stood facing the next hand print. No one made a move to read the writing around it or place their hand on it, unsure what to expect, especially after Angel’s and Spike’s last enactment. Neither wanted a repeat of drudging up their past. All that garbage needed to stay in the past.

Figuring that this may be a place that she could help out, Nina started the ball rolling by reading the hieroglyphs. “A sun, a person and an infant, in that order.”

“Ok, that means…what?” Never good at puzzles, Buffy was completely confused.

“It’s Buffy.” Everyone turned to look at Angel as he looked at Buffy. “The sun shines down bright on a husband and a baby in your life. It’s what you always wanted. A normal family.”

Spike knew that Angel was right. That truth hurt like years of being stuck in hell, but he knew it to be true. Buffy with a husband, and he could picture her plump with child. Despite his resistance, it made his teeth clench tight. The baby wasn’t so bad. He could understand that, but he had to admit that the thought of her in another man’s bed for the rest of her life burned him severely.

With a frown marring her brow, Buffy held up her hand. “But I don’t want that stupid dream anymore.” She caught Spike’s eye, trying to convey that she wanted her crazy life; she wanted him.

Angel shook his head. “But you did. I left you so that you could have that.” It still hurt to think about why he left, and he easily remembered the pain that followed. However, in this circumstance, this needed to be said. His solace was Nina slipping her hand into his.

Buffy’s hands slid down to her waist, a show of defiance. “And thanks for nothing. Besides, I said that I really don’t want that anymore.”

Spike had heard enough. This little visit to hell was dragging out too long. He had taken the initial hit to his heart and wanted to avoid more. “Just slice your hand, Slayer, and be done with it.”

She had come so far, and she was back to the “slayer” stage. Damn. Gone were “pet” and “luv.” She wasn’t sure what to do to correct that, but she did know that she needed to put an end to this discussion. She slit her palm and placed her bleeding hand in the hand print. The other three prepared to step into the portal.

And nothing.

“Well, that was anticlimactic.” Spike watched Buffy pull back her hand and try again. But still nothing. Zip.

Spike went quickly from the pain of contemplating her idyllic life, to relief. She must not be the one symbolized in the hieroglyphs. No. He thought about it, and the inspiration came. Not Buffy but Angel. “It’s you.” He pointed at his confused grandsire.

“It can’t be me. The baby could be Connor, but his birth had nothing to do with a sun, and nothing about Darla related to the sun. That’s for sure.” When Buffy looked at him in confusion, Angel waved the subject aside. “A long story – for another time.”

With a smile, Spike slapped Angel on the back. “No, poof, I told you that you couldn’t sign away the Shanshu.”

Angel lowered his head, feeling the defeat that that once loved dream brought to him now. With sadness evident in his eyes, he first looked at Nina and then at Spike. “But you’re the one that received the gift.”

Uncharacteristic of his relationship with Angel, Spike grasped Angel’s shoulder tightly, giving a little shake. “Doesn’t mean there was only one to be dished out. It’s still your destiny.” He turned and pointed at the hieroglyphs. “See. We were being too literal. The sun is shining down on the man, gracing him with a rebirth.”

Angel tried to squash the hope that was building, but it was still peeking around the corner. “Rebirth?”

“Yeah, a reincarnation of sorts.” Nina wanted to jump up and down. In fact she did, just little ones. Angel had shared with her how badly he wanted to Shanshu, turning human, and how much it took for him to sign the possibility away to convince the Black Thorn that he had returned to evil. She also knew that he hated to hope. Slipping her hand in his, she tried to convey her own hope.

Angel stared at the hieroglyphs again, and all were happy to see a corner of his mouth lift up, hopefully the beginning of a smile. “Ya think?”

Buffy reached over and slapped him on the side of the head. “You should know by now that there’s always a way.” That released everyone from their stupor. Nina hugged Angel as tight as he could and Spike clapped the brunette vampire on the back again for good measure. Not to mention he got a kick out of the violence.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” With his voice superficially gruff, Angel attempted to cover his tapped deep emotions. After extracting himself from Nina’s embrace and a quick kiss, he slit his hand and placed it in the imprint. The portal opened immediately. Taking Nina’s hand, he stepped through first faster than he would have liked, anxious to take steps closer to his future.

Catching her balance from her big step through space and time, Buffy turned to make a joke to Nina when her eyes landed on Spike first, quickly ogling his body. He was naked all but a leather loincloth. Her mind raced back in time to the day of her invisibility. She had barged into Spike’s crypt and thrown him against the wall. She had grabbed the sides of his shirt and jerked the shirt open. Pop, buttons had flown across the room. His ripped abs had made her mouth water that day. Ok, she was drooling now just as she had back then, but back then, she couldn’t be seen. This time she could be, but she didn’t care. He had the body of a god, Apollo maybe. She really didn’t care which god; she just wanted to look her fill. Her eyes ran down along his shins to his toes which were in leather sandals. How could his toes even look sexy? Maybe she was developing a fetish, she laughed to herself. A Spike fetish as a whole. The weird part was that it didn’t sound so far fetched as she laughed.

Her gaze traveled back up, greedily taking in every square inch of exposed skin. When she reached his face, she discovered that his mouth was slightly hanging open, and his eyes were trained her way but not at her face. Actually, his gaze appeared to be focused several inches below her chin. Curiosity piqued, Buffy looked down. To say that she was shocked would have been an understatement. What she was, was aghast. Stupefied. She was without a shirt, only a loincloth like the men. No wonder he was staring…or could that be a good sign that he was staring at her naked breasts. Yup, a good sign. But instead of being embarrassed, Buffy stifled instinct and left her breasts uncovered. If it helped to win Spike back, then it was worth it.

Spike was knocked out of his daze as his knees gave in. Luckily his ass landed on a log. Tearing his eyes away, he tried to not look at Nina and thus having Angel tear his head from his shoulders. But his eyes couldn’t stay away from Buffy. He found his traitorous hand reaching for her own and pulling her down to sit beside him. With monumental effort, he forced that same hand from fondling her beauty.

Desire. Red, hot, burning desire was evident in his eyes, and she savored each and every flame. Those flames fueled her hope. Buffy wanted to stop and see if she could entice Spike into a little fun, but cursed the timing.

Unconsciously drawn, Spike’s eyes caught hers as he leaned to place a chaste kiss on her lips. The second kiss was different. Slow, smooth and sweet. Their mouths opened, and their tongues stroked each other. Spike lightly cupped his hand around the back of her head. Not to hold her still, but more of a guide, caressing her while encouraging her in the kiss. Buffy recognized the gesture for what it was and was encouraged not just for these kisses, but also for her pursuit of Spike. She didn’t fool herself that he had completely come around, but this was a yummy start.

Angel pulled Nina’s hand off his mouth, having no patience for Nina’s matchmaking. “Spike…Spike.” Impatient to obtain Spike’s attention but aware that Nina was still bare-breasted, Angel blocked Nina’s body with his own as he called the blonde’s name. “Boy, snap out of it.” When he finally gained Spike’s attention, he quickly lined out a plan. “First order, something to cover Nina and Buffy.” He couldn’t help his gaze from straying to Buffy, discomfited each time. Yes, he had seen her glory one other time, but she wasn’t his to admire anymore. He had Nina and was happy for it. “We have to get something now.”

“Naked epidermis. This would be perfect if they were all women. Where are good Amazons when you need…ow! What, slayer, a little jealous?” He was pretty sure that he had made a direct hit. Maybe baiting her would not violate his conviction to leave her be. Ok, ok, so he had kissed her. Some resolve alright. Smiling wickedly, Spike snapped to his feet. He watched Angel place Nina on the log next to Buffy, who now crossed her arms across her breasts, doing a little push up job to her small breasts but it also brought Spike’s gaze up to her own. If she disgusted Spike so much, he wouldn’t be lusting for her so much as he looked to be now.

All looking around, for the first time they noticed that they were not alone. Spike found himself facing what appeared to be a camp of natives. Gazing at the activity in the camp, they noticed that the natives were similar to the Mayans from their other portal jump. Similar to the Mayans, but not quite. They definitely weren’t dressed as opulently by a long shot. Loin cloths just didn’t yell wealth.

The natives were moving about preparing for something. From the looks of it, they were gathering up weapons.

Angel leaned down for a soft kiss. “Nina, are these Mayans?”

“I don’t think so. Their weapons seem different from the pictures I have seen, but they still look to be Mesoamericans. If I had to guess, a big guess, I would say that they are Aztecs, and they are getting ready to fight Spaniards.”

Armed with some information, Angel and Spike left to search. Near a tent, scrounging around, Angel came up with a couple large, leather pouches which he tore into strips so that Nina and Buffy could tie them around their chests. Even though she was relieved, Buffy felt like she was just wearing more of a skimpy swimming suit than her birthday suit.

Despite the scene in front of him, Spike didn’t see it for more than a minute due to his pent up pain. He hurt all over his body, every solitary cell ached for Buffy. Those perky breasts, his hands ached for what his eyes could see. His fingers twitched to go back to a place that they had once known so well. He could just reach out and cup her right breast. His fingers could tighten so he could feel the weight of the globe. He would gently knead until she made that breathy moan he loved to hear. Zeroing in on her nipple, he would pinch down until he would hear the catch in her breath, allowing him to go a little further. Then he would lean in and suck her hardened nipple into his mouth, biting down lightly. Her body would sway closer to him.

“Yes.” Buffy slapped her hand over her mouth. She had been truthful but certainly hadn’t wanted to blurt it out loud. Damn. Double damn, she thought as she looked at Spike’s raised, scarred eyebrow. She was mortified, but he was just so cute when he did that.

For some odd reason, Spike wasn’t sure what to think. He wanted to stay angry at her, revel in her jealousy that was obviously eating at her regarding Illyria. The other part gave a little cheer. That part that was left of him that wanted Buffy’s love. He stomped on that traitorous feeling, but he sure wished that she wasn’t so appealing in those strips of leather.

Angel’s voice broke into his thoughts, bringing him back to the present situation. “Well, they look like they are getting ready for a big fight.”

All alert again, Nina brought everyone back to the main goal of this jump. “That would at least make sense. We’re here to find a weapon.”

‘And love.’ Buffy smiled a secret smile.

Nina stood up and wrapped her hand around Angel’s bicep. “So we need to find a gold weapon.”

Mind focused on the current situation now, Buffy added to Angel’s plan. “This may be an easy one. Let’s split up to look around and then meet back here.”

“Deal.” Angel and Nina headed out.

Still not having found his voice, Spike struck out to search without a word.

His mind had drifted back to Buffy; the leather over her breasts was sexy. He was thankful that the natives in the camp seemed to be oblivious. He would hate to have to fight any of them that made advances toward her. What was he thinking? Not only could she fight for herself, but he had no right to defend her. She was her own person, not his to look out for. Right? Even his sensibilities were betraying him.

Just as in their little excursion to the Mayan ball court, the natives this night seemed to see them as one of their own, even down to Buffy and Nina being male, albeit males with leather bound chests. The difference here was that all the natives were armed with weapons, just apparently not gold ones. While walking through, they passed various weapons, pikes with obsidian tips, obsidian swords, other various implements of destruction.

Spike and the others grabbed a weapon for themselves, swords made of obsidian. All four met back up quickly.

Buffy looked back over her shoulder at the camp. “They’re definitely preparing for a fight, and I’d say they are making their move soon. Very soon.”

“And I didn’t see any gold, not at all.” Spike forced Buffy out of his mind and concentrated on what was going on around him. “I say we go with them and see if the enemy has the gold weapon.”

“Right.” Buffy was ready to get to business.

Angel rolled his eyes. Typical Spike and Buffy, going off half-cocked. “Whoa, whoa. We need a plan.”

Stopping, Spike turned and glared at Angel. He sure knew how to ruin a potential fight. “And that would be…?”

Glaring back, Angel laid out a plan. “It looks like they are moving out that way.” Angel indicated the direction in front of them. “Nina and I will go to the left, and you two go to the right. We’ll use that whistle I used in the tunnel so that we can contact each other.”

Again reminded of Angelus, Spike became defensive. “That’s it, peaches?” With an eyebrow cocked, Spike looked on sardonically. Angel nodded. “Brilliant. Let’s get to it.”

TBC


So I have this chapter of QPQ ready and another chapter is at my beta. I also am putting the finishing touches on the next chapter of Just A Fling.

*****

Chapter 18 – Worth the Wait


Angel and Nina, hand in hand, circled around behind the warriors heading out. They mirrored their movements parallel, just as Spike and Buffy were doing on the other side. They moved carefully in the dark, but then they could see light ahead. Angel leaned down next to Nina’s ear. “Maybe this is a key to the puzzle.”

“Let’s hope.” She smiled and her eyes closed when she felt Angel kiss the side of her neck. She loved him so, and the best part was that she knew he loved her. They had stopped making love the last couple of months. That was how much he loved her, and he didn’t what to chance the happiness clause. No chancing the happiness clause bringing forth Angelus who would no doubt kill Nina. Now they kissed, cuddled and he pleasured her. Mostly their love was expressed by their closeness. With such a wonderful man, she would be happy with what she had.

Getting back to business. Angel and Nina hid behind a large, thick tree. What they saw surprised them. A camp. A camp full of Europeans.

“Oh, wow.” Nina’s voice conveyed her excitement. “Judging by their breast plates and helmets with a ridge going down the center, these are Spaniards, conquistadors to be exact.” A light bulb came on for Nina. “That would make these guys we are shadowing Aztecs.”

“And we are with the Aztecs about to surprise attack. That will entail lots of weapons on both sides.” From his vantage point, Angel started looking around the best he could, visually searching the Spainish camp.

Nina pointed to some weapons stockpiled near a tent. “Looks like. If the Aztecs don’t have the gold weapon, the conquistadors should have what we need.”

“Let’s hope.” Angel whistled over to Spike, signaling that he was going to hold his position for now and received Spike’s agreement. “I would rather be on the side that is doing the surprising than be surprised.”

Buffy and Spike’s situation mirrored Angel’s. They were hiding behind a tree next to an incline of earth and foliage, also spying on the conquistadors. Thinking quick on her feet, Buffy made sure that she was standing directly in front of Spike, as close as possible without touching. She made an educated guess that he would reject such an action. But luck was on her side. When one of the conquistadors, who she could have kissed, headed their way, Spike’s arm snaked around Buffy’s bare waist and pulled her back against him, presumably so she wouldn’t be seen. Presumably not. She was pressed against him.

After a few minutes of looking around and then relieving himself, the conquistador walked away, and as if it had a mind of mind of its own, Spike’s hand moved further around her waist and slipped up, touching just under her breasts. When she felt his thumb stroke the underside of her breast, Buffy held her breath, afraid to move. She didn’t know where this was going, but she did know that it was in the right direction. She wanted to snuggle back against him but feared that he would withdraw again.

Then the thumb became a hand rubbing her breast through the leather. And patience paid off. Spike smoothly pulled down the leather covering her chest and cupped the closest mound, this time skin touching skin. He could feel her hard nipple pushing against his hand. He squeezed and kneaded, eliciting a heartfelt moan from Buffy that made him smile. She had always been so responsive to his ministrations.

She heard a “bugger resolve” right before his lips met her neck. Buffy was in heaven, riding on a wave of sensual bliss. He was touching her, caressing her, kissing her. Ah… his hand, his touch sent shivers through her body, quivering in all the right places. And she could feel his stiff shaft pressing against her back. Wanting to give what she was receiving, she moved slightly side to side rubbing against him--especially his rock hard erection--as he teased her nipple, rolling it between his finger and thumb. She could hear his breath catch. Yes, she was getting to him. She didn’t know it, but she had already broken through his resistance.

Spike had lost it. No more holding back; he didn’t want to examine his feelings. That was for another time. Now he flowed with his desire. His most primitive goal--to get inside of her. They could remain standing, do it doggie style-- ready to break apart if necessary. But no, she deserved better than that for their first coupling in over three years. He wanted to be able to look into her face when he entered her. And there was a big difference now. Now she was willing not only to have sex with him, but she didn’t seem to mind that others knew about her lust for him. Surely Angel and Nina had noticed by now. Angel certainly did. Overall, Buffy wanted him, was willing to chase him, and willing to let others know. Wasn’t that one of the things he had worked so hard to gain in Sunnydale? Yes, and he may be cracked in the head, but he was going to see their coupling in the woods through.

Then his other hand slid down, caressed her stomach, rode on down to her hip, running his finger along the edge of her loin cloth. Buffy groaned. How could he stop there? Desperate, she raised up on the ball of her feet. Yes! His fingers slid a couple of inches down in her loin cloth. She gulped when she felt his fingers gliding through her course curls. That did it. She didn’t care if he pushed her away or what. As fast as she could, she turned in his arms, threw her arms around his neck and using all of her slayer strength, locked her mouth onto his.

Spike was quickly loosing his mind, and he really didn’t care. Her mouth was ambrosia. Touching her breast was like a gift from the gods. After his and Angel’s trip to Rome, he had written off any chance to be with Buffy. That wasn’t quite true. He was fool enough to always have hope. And now, here she was in his arms, which were willingly wrapped tight around him. Oh, how he remembered the taste of her, so sweet but also conveying her underlying power. Her taste was the only taste for him.

Spike held back his moan, but finally any last restraint cracked like a dam and the water flooded through, never to be returned. The kiss wasn’t a gentle one, but a desperate and consuming joining of lips. Open mouthed, their tongues dueled. He could now feel her nipples pressing into his chest. Shifting a little to the side, Spike cupped her breast again, and they broke their kiss. Buffy’s head fell back as she moaned. Spike kissed her delectable neck, making his way up towards her ear. A nip and she let out a throaty groan.

Buffy’s senses were on overload. She had dreamed of this so many times, but usually they were in his crypt or in her bedroom or even down in the basement at her house that he had made home for a time. Once they had been in London on vacation. He was showing her the sites, and they had snuck around every corner to kiss and grope, making each other so aroused that they raced back to their hotel.

Now, during their kissage, she had left her eyes open, reassuring herself that it was him kissing her and not another dream. She soaked in his face-- the distinct scar and his sexy cheek bones.

He was so wrapped up in her that at first Spike didn’t notice that one of Buffy’s hands had moved between them and was now fondling his erection. She rubbed the palm and heel of her hand up and down his shaft through his loin cloth. He moaned into her neck. Her kiss may have been nectar, but her hand on him was heavenly. When he threw his head back, Buffy took the opportunity to return the favor of showering his neck with kisses. She even went so far as nipping above his jugular which caused a loud growl. She licked her lips.

Growing impatient, snaking her hand under his loincloth, Buffy grasped his member, and Spike thought he would come in his leather loincloth. To Buffy even though he was rock hard, he was velvety soft and…warm. Before she had actually enjoyed his coolness, but warm was good too.

His need was white hot. He lifted her up and her legs immediately wrapped around his waist. Her sex made intimate contact with his own through their loin cloth. Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck just as tight as her legs were around him. Spike put one hand behind her head to hold her still, devouring her in an intense kiss.

‘I need…I need…I need…’ Buffy thought as she tasted him. She needed him. Buffy was desperate. She hated to admit it, but she was. She desperately needed him to keep doing what he was doing, and oh could he do it well. `His taste was so sweet, and she had missed it so much. She needed him. Only him.

And he wanted her. Couldn’t help but think about the first time they had made love. At least love on his side. And now…now he could have her just the same as before. This time with ease. All he needed to do was make the material between them go away. Skin to skin. Him inside of her. His hard on was painful but sweet all at once.

He took a couple of steps away from the tree, taking her around a mound, blocking them from the view of the camp. He wanted to throw her down and slam inside of her. And that was practically what he did. Freeing himself from his loin cloth and her the same, he lifted her up and down onto his throbbing cock. Once inside, he let them fall onto the slope, covered in undergrowth which cushioned their landing. The fall caused his cock to enter her as far as it could. Their eyes locked. Their gazes conveying their satisfaction with the intimate action.

Still keeping eye contact, Spike began to move. Considering their hunger for each other and what was gong on around them, Spike picked a fast pace. Spike knew that time wasn’t on their side. Any moment now the attack would begin, and they would have to flow with the fighters.

But now wasn’t time to think of Aztecs or Spaniards. He was obsessed. Obsessed with the girl he was joined to.

Buffy couldn’t have asked for more. She didn’t care one bit that she was making love on the jungle floor with people all around. She was in Spike’s arms and that was all that mattered. In and out, pumping her, he filled her. The friction driving her wild.

The joining was fierce but touching at the same time. Spike was almost embarrassed. He was going to come in under three minutes? He at least had to insure that he brought her to climax first. But before he could slip a hand between their bodies to rub her clit, she came. Luckily, he sent her soaring to heaven during the forth minute as his own orgasm shook him.

Buffy thought her eyes would cross from her intense pleasure. She hugged him tight as she came back down. Nervous, she couldn’t stand to see his face with regret written on it. But then he kissed her on the forehead and rubbed his cheek in her hair. Her voice was tentative. “Spike?”

He had to catch his breath before answering. “Yes, luv.”

‘Luv.’ That was a good sign, giving her courage to ask the question she felt compelled to ask. “Spike, do you…will you regret this?”

He pulled back so that he could see her face. She was so very beautiful, an exquisite beauty. He gave her a chaste but heart warming kiss. “No, luv. No regrets here. None.”

There had been no mentioning of feelings, especially not love, and she was bursting with the desire to tell him how much she loved him. But she didn’t think they were quite there yet. Take it one step at a time. “Could we do it again? I mean, when we get back to the temple.”

“Yes, pet, I think we can arrange that…” When they heard movement in the brush, Spike perked up and looked around. He could hear the natives moving forward in the bush. The Aztecs were moving in on the unsuspecting Spaniards. He didn’t find it surprising that they were up against Spaniards. All their excursions on this mission were connected to the area around the pyramid’s location. The natives of different times and even Spain in that the country supplied the area’s invaders. Now they were combining the Spaniards with the Aztecs.

But that wasn’t the problem now. The problem was finding some mysterious gold weapon while not getting killed. Even Angel was in danger of being run through with a wooden pike at the right spot.

On the opposite side of the camp, Spike and Buffy could hear what sounded like cats, maybe jaguars fighting. An excellent diversion. The Aztecs had attacked the Spaniards by first making a superior distraction.

After tucking Nina behind a tree, Angel began his search on his side of the camp for the weapon while Buffy and Spike fanned out. Occasionally they had to do a little hand to hand, but for the most part, the Aztecs were keeping the Europeans busy. They just had to duck sword swipes and dodge flying bodies.

Angel spotted their objective first, a gold pike lying next to one of the tents in the center of the camp. He yelled out to the area in general. “Buffy, Spike, it’s a pike lying next to a tent here in the center. I’m going back for Nina and will meet you back there.”

Buffy heard Angel just fine and relaxed and enjoyed the fight. “Spike?” Her could hear him answer over to the right. “Get your ass over here.”

Spike had taken on two at once. “Keep your shirt on. Kicking arse here. Be there in a sec. Let a bloke have some fun.”

He sounded close so she wasn’t worried. Spike always came back. She easily found the gold pike thanks to Angel’s directions, but didn’t pick it up yet, knowing that when she did, the portal would open. But then she saw Nina and Angel running towards her. “Spike,” she called again but with urgency evident in her volume.

“Coming, bossy bint.” Spike was a little buried under two Spaniards, a minor delay. He hit one in the jaw, and he slumped to the ground.

With Angel and Nina only a few feet from her, Buffy was relieved to hear Spike’s voice near.

Not seeing the distinctive blonde, Nina was immediately concerned. “Where’s Spike?”

“He’ll be here any second. His voice sounded just around that tent.” Regardless of her words, Buffy had trouble convincing herself.

Before their eyes, a Spaniard stepped out of the tent and moved to pick up the pike. Angel and Buffy lunged on instinct. Angel took out the conquistador, and Buffy picked up the golden pike. Buffy’s move was a dreadful error. Still looking for the blonde half breed, Buffy glanced back and saw the portal open, but still no Spike. No, no, no. “Spike!” There was now more than a touch of panic in her voice.

“SPIKE!”

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