Anya paced around the hospital lounge rubbing her sweaty hands together. She was startled when Willow came from behind and lightly caressed her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, everything’s going to be ok.” The Wicca assured. She never knew what to say in these situations, so she resorted to the stereotypic response.

Anya looked at her wide-eyed. She choked back the tears as she tried to speak. Willow padded her on the back and brought her arms around the ex-demon, holding her until the sobbing subsided.

From the long green hall came a man dressed in what looked like green pyjamas with a stethoscope around his neck. Anya immediately ran to him, assaulting him with an avalanche of questions and sobs.

The man smiled sweetly. “Don’t’ worry, Mr. Harris will be fine. He suffered a minor concussion, other than that his CAT scan’s normal. He’s conscious now and seems completely aware of his surrounding, which is always a good sign. He’ll have to stay the night and probably tomorrow too, just to be sure.”

“He’s ok? Are you sure?” Anya asked in disbelief. As the doctor nodded she flung her arms around the man’s neck and started giving him light pecks on each check. “Thank you, thank you so much. Can I see him?”

“Sure.”

The doctor entered the room followed by Anya and the rest of the gang. She brought her hand to her mouth at the sight of Xander laying on the bed. He had an IV stuck in her right arm and a bandage around his head.

“Mr. Harris, there is someone here to see you.” The doctor announced.

Xander slowly opened his eyes and looked up at a flushed and teary Anya smiling down on him.

“Hey.” He struggled to speak.

“Hey.” She could hardly get the words out as she tried to fight back the tears.

Xander smiled tenderly and looked behind her to see the whole gang.

“Hi, guys!”

“Hey!” they all greeted him.

“You gave us all quite a scare there!” Willow whispered coming closer to the bed.

“Next time, let me handle the bad guys, huh?” Buffy joked.

Xander laughed but soon regretted it as throbbing pain took over his head.

“Now you see what I have to suffer with this damned chip in my bloody head!” Spike teased playfully.

“Spike? What are you doing here?” he asked surprised, but deep inside he was sort of happy to see the vampire there.

“They forced me to be here. I didn’t really care.” Spike lied badly.

“Sure.” Xander smiled.

“You feeling ok?” Spike asked, a serious tone taking over.

Xander simply nodded.

“Doctor says you’ll be back on your feet in no time. You’re not getting off research duty that easily.” Willow spoke softly, holding Tara’s hand.

“Thanks, you guys. For being here.” Xander paused and then remembered. “What about ET?”

“We named it It. Isn’t it cool!” Dawn finally spoke. “We left Clem babysitting him, plus Tara did this captivity spell on him. He can’t move more that 10 feet in any direction. It’s pretty cool, you should see the little guy walking round and round in circles. He-“ Dawn was forced to shut up when Buffy put her hand over her mouth.

“We’ll leave now. We’ll be outside if you need anything.” Buffy explained dragging her sister with her. The rest of the gang quickly followed leaving Anya and Xander alone in the room.

“Don’t. Ever. Do. That. Again.” Anya started.

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t let them-“

She pressed her fingers over his mouth and spoke softly:

“Don’t ever leave me again. It hurts too much.”

Xander’s heart almost jumped out of his chest as she leaned in and planted a soft kiss on his lips.

****************************

Buffy and Dawn walked home silently. Behind them, tightly tied with a leash the Khind’Ara demon was dragged by a very discontent vampire.

“Oi, why do I have to take him?” Spike protested.

“Cause if It gets some slime on you, nothing will happen.” Buffy explained for the fifth time since they’d left the hospital.

As they made their way home, the Khind’Ara sneezed, its entire body jolted and in doing so the demon successfully covered the vampire’s right arm in slime.

“Oh, bloody hell!” Spike complained as he walked into the Summers residence.

The two young girls giggled at the sight of the very pissed vampire.

“I’m very fond of this duster and slime-ET over here has pretty much destroyed it.” Spike grumbled.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby, that’ll come off in a second.”

Spike stomped his way up the stairs and headed towards the bathroom cursing under his breath.

“Dawn go wash up too. I’m ordering pizza.” Buffy told her younger sister.

“No, Spike said he’d make Spike-Specials tonight. He promised.” Dawn informed on her way upstairs.

“Fine. I’ll order pizza for myself. Don’t come crawling back when you want some cause you’re not getting any.” Buffy shouted at the teenager at the top of the stairs.

*******************************************

Buffy hung up the phone when she finished ordering an extra cheese and pepperoni pizza.

“Hey, you’re all washed up.” She noted looking at Spike who was now sporting his famous red shirt and black jeans look. “Did it come out?”

“Hum… yeah.” he mumbled pass her and into the kitchen.

“Willow called. Said she’d stay over at Tara’s. Guess they’ve working out their problems, huh?” she asked, trying to start a conversation, but when she had no answer from the vampire she added: “Whatcha doing?”

“Spike-Specials.” He answered distracted as he picked the ingredients off the various shelves.

Buffy leaned on the kitchen sink and watched him in silence. She fumbled with a spoon between her fingers; she couldn’t understand what had gotten into the vampire. He was so… indifferent to her presence. “Good, maybe he’s gotten over this stupid infatuation.” She tried to convince herself, but she couldn’t ignore the gut wrenching feeling brought on by the idea.

Spike moved through the kitchen apparently completely engrossed in his cooking. Buffy nervously tapped her fingers on the table trying to look occupied. As the vampire passed by, she deliberately moved in his way, bumping into him and causing her to loose balance. With supernatural reflexes, Spike snaked his arm around her for support.

As he looked down into her eyes, her chest crushed against his, Spike thanked the gods he didn’t have a heartbeat because, otherwise, the cool and indifferent appearance he was trying so hard to keep up would have been blown to bits. His entire body ordered him to kiss her, but instead, he moved his arm away from her and returned to his cooking without another word.

Buffy just stood there. Shocked. “What?” She felt her heart shrivel up in her chest, while in her stomach a painful battle seemed to break out. She swallowed hard; trying to understand how all of a sudden it looked as if she had absolutely no effect on him. She was brought down to reality by the doorbell ringing.

As she left the kitchen to answer the door, Dawn walked in drying her hair with a white towel.

“Hum, smells good.” She complemented, standing next to the vampire, who was taking an egg from the frying pan into a clean plate.

Spike smiled at her as he started cutting the bread. Buffy walked into the room carrying a pizza box in her hands.

“Who wants pizza?” she asked.

“No, thanks. The Spike-Specials are almost ready.” Dawn replied.

“Bring me those plates over there.” Spike requested.

“Okie-Dokie.” Dawn put the plates in front of him.

“There you go.” Spike said with a huge grin on his face.

“Do you think It is hungry?” Dawn inquired.

“Well, I made an extra one, I’ll go and take it to him.”

“No, let me.” Dawn moved to take the plate from the vampire’s hands but was stopped by her sister’s remark:

“Don’t you even think about it! Let Spike take it. I don’t want you going all wonky because of goo-intoxication.”

Dawn pouted as Spike took the plate from her hand and walked over to the living room.

“Hey there slimy, brought you dinner.”

The Khind’Ara demon immediately started moving around in excitement.

“Food good.” He noted stretching out his long arms.

“Hey, watch the fast movements, buddy. I just got cleaned, don’t want your goo all over me again.” Spike protested jumping back.

The demon looked up at the vampire with large pleading eyes.

“Ok, don’t look at me that way. Here you go.” Spike left the dish on the floor, immediately the demon grabbed it and swallowed the whole thing, plate and all.

“Bugger!” Spike exclaimed opening his eyes wide in surprise.

Buffy half-heartedly munched on her pizza as Spike walked into the kitchen.

“This is absolutely wonderful, where did you learn to cook this?” Dawn asked with a mouth full of sandwich.

“Ah, that’s a secret, little bit.” He winked at her.

**********************************

Buffy dried her hands on her jeans as she put the last plate in the dishwasher. She walked into the living room, from where she heard laughter. Looking over to the sofa she saw Spike throwing a chip in the air. The funny looking demon immediately jumped up and caught the chip in his mouth, swallowing it with a very satisfied face. Dawn was sprawled on the couch holding her stomach as she giggled uncontrollably. Spike soon joined her; the Khind’Ara was just too hilarious. “He’s laughing? Since when does he laugh? He never laughs around me.” Buffy thought. Suddenly she felt evil-Buffy taking over as she ordered her sister:

“Dawn, go to bed, you’ve got school tomorrow.”

“But, Buff-“

“I don’t care. Bed. Now!” she commanded.

“Come on, Slayer. It’s only ten o’clock.” Spike disagreed.

“Stay out of this. Dawn!” Buffy snapped.

“You better go.” Spike suggested giving her a light peck on the forehead. “Night, bit.”

“Night, Spike.” She replied moving past Buffy without even looking at her.”

“What bit you in the ass?” Spike asked with a cold tone.

“Nothing. Just don’t butt into things that are none of your business.”

“I care about the Nibblet, that makes it my business.” Spike snapped.

“Hey, she’s my sister. I’ve told you; stay. Out. Of. This.” She shouted.

Spike pressed his lips together to avoid saying something he might regret.

“Look, I don’t know what’s got your knickers in a twist, but you’re not being fair to the Nibblet.” Spike argued standing up to face her.

“Stop calling her that!” she shouted.

“No more food?” the demon protested.

“Shut up!” both Spike and Buffy yelled back at him.

“Ups! Sorry!” It squealed slowly caressing his sore stomach. Probably he had over done it when he swallowed the second plate.

“You’ve got to stop treating her like a kid. She’s fourteen.” Spike said turning to face Buffy again.

“You are not her father.”

“No, I’m her friend.”

“Wake up, Spike! You’re a vampire. You can not be her friend.” She yelled and stormed out of the room without giving him a chance to reply.

Part X - Restless

Spike tossed and turned trying desperately to fall asleep, but as usual Buffy’s face haunted him. His mind insisted on replaying the scenes of the day over and over again. “If she wants it to be over, fine, it’s over”. Everything would be over, including his constant slavering and pining over her. As he turned to face the TV, he remembered holding her in the kitchen, earlier that evening, when they had bumped into each other. “Bloody hell, man, forget about the chit!” he ordered himself. But it was useless. The simple memory of her body crushed against his sent shivers down his spine. “Bugger!” he hissed.

“Me want to sleep. Shut up.” It protested as he lay on the floor.

“Oh, bugger off!” Spike grumbled.

“Evil.” It mumbled half asleep.

“Dam right I am.” Spike spat.

“You angry because Slayer shout?” It asked raising his eyes to the fellow demon on the couch.

“None of your bloody business.”

“You like Slayer.” It squeaked with a large toothless grin.

“I do not.” Spike denied.

“You think Slayer is beauuuuuuuuuutiful!” It teased.

“Shut up.”

“You want to kiss Slayer?” It continued pushing his lips to simulate a kiss.

“If you don’t shut your gob I’ll come over there and ring your neck.” Spike threatened.

“You looooooooove h…” It wasn’t able to finish the sentence as the vampire’s cold hands were tightly gripping his throat.

***********************************

“Stupid Spike. Stupid, stupid.” Buffy mumbled to herself as she paced around her room clutching the pillow between her strong arms. After about an hour of walking around in circles, Buffy gave up and prepared to go to bed when she heard a noise coming from the corridor.

“Finally!” she whispered heading for the door and opening it abruptly.

In front of her was a very surprised vampire.

“What are you doing here? If you’re thinking about apologizing you can just turn around and go back to the couch, cause I really don’t want to hear it.” She spat out in her usually arrogant tone.

Spike just stared back, his scared eyebrow raised high on his forehead.

“I wasn’t.” he answered calmly.

Buffy was caught off guard by the answer; her widened eyes were a testament of it, but she decided to play it cool.

“Well, then what are you doing here?” she asked haughtily.

“Little accident with ET down stairs.” When Spike saw Buffy’s please elaborate on the subject so I can understand look he added: “Accidentally tried to choke the little fellow, got slime on my hands and had to wash up.

“Oh!” Buffy murmured heading back to bed.

“You ok?” he asked, he just wasn’t ready to leave her yet.

“Fine! Why wouldn’t I be? I’m just peachy!” she answered with a forced smile on her face that made her look like the Joker.

“Ok! Night Slayer.” He greeted her limply.

“Ah!” she sighed opening her mouth wide. “That’s it? Night, Slayer?” she shouted with a terrible reproduction of his London accent.

“Hey, could you bring it down a notch there? Dawn’s sleeping.” He warned her coming into her bedroom.

“Right, Dawn.” She sighed.

“What’s gotten into you?”

“I-I-“ she stuttered in anger. “I hate you.”

“Oh, it’s the I hate you speech. I’ve heard that one. If you don’t mind I’ll just skip it this time, Slayer.” And he turned to walk away.

“Fine. Leave. I should’ve gotten used to it by now.” She murmured.

“Slayer-“

“Stop calling me that!” she yelled at him.

“Shhhhh. Dawn-“

“Yeah, Dawn’s asleep. You know what? I really don’t care.” She continued talking in a loud voice and Spike was forced to cover hear mouth with his hands.

“Shhhh.” He repeated. As he looked at her, their proximity dawned on both of them and Buffy leaned into his hand. Coldly Spike pulled away from her.

“What is this?” she spoke angrily.

“What’s what?” he asked pretending not to know what she was talking about.

“Why are you acting like this?”

“What do you want from me?”

“I-I want you to stop this… thing. I want… I-I want…” she struggled with the words and finally said with a pout. “I want a Spike-Special.”

“Huh?” Spike looked at her in confusion. ”Why do I always go for the complicated ones?” he asked himself.

“Why didn’t you make me one?” she questioned him, looking up at him.

“All of this is cause of a bloody sandwich?” he stared at her in disbelief.

“You didn’t answer me.”

“Cause you had pizza. You said you wanted to eat pizza.” He explained. “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation.”

“Maybe I wanted the sandwich.” She continued.

“You want me to make you a bloody sandwich at 3 am?” he asked astonished.

“No.” she exhaled sharply and paused for a moment. “I know you think I’m ugly but that doesn’t mean I’m not sandwich worthy.”

“Huh?”

“You heard me. Why am I not sandwich worthy?” she asked serious as a heart attack.

“Did you get some of ET’s gunk on you or something?”

“No!” she shouted.

“Slayer, shut up and go to sleep.” He said dismissively turning toward the door.

“Stop turning away from me!” she hissed pulling him by his arm.

“What’s gotten into you, Slayer?”

“Why do you keep calling me that? Why does Dawn get to be the Nibblet, Willow gets to be Red and I’m the Slayer?” her voice was low, her hand still held a tight grip on the vampire. “Why don’t I have a pet name?”

“You had one remember? Goldilocks? You went and chopped off your hair.” He hissed at her.

“You think I look ugly with my hair like this? Is that it?” she asked running her hand thru it.

“What’s with the teenage crises all of a sudden? Why do you think you’re ugly?” he moved his head from side to side as he spoke.

“You’ve just been so different. So… distant.”

“I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“No. That’s not what I wanted. I-I want… I want…”

“When you do figure out what you want, be sure to let me know.” He murmured. “Cause I’m just tired of these games, I really don’t need this at-“

“I want you!” she breathed pulling him to her and crushing his mouth with hers.

Part XI - Giving In

“I want you!” she breathed pulling him to her and crushing his mouth with hers.

Spike stood there for a second, completely taken by surprise as she wrapped her hands around his neck. As he felt her tongue running across his lips, hungrily seeking a way into his mouth his body severed any connections to his brain and went into autopilot mode.

He folded his arms around her slim waist and lifted her off the floor. She tried to wrap her legs around his hips but her long nightgown wouldn’t allow her. She desperately reached for the hem of it pulling it up and this time she was able to entangle herself around him. She moaned into his mouth as she felt a familiar pressure against her groin.

She frantically searched for more contact, rubbing herself against his swollen crotch. A moan escaped both of them and Spike couldn’t resist the urge to slam her against the door and buck his hips towards hers. She let out a small cry of pleasure, which was muffled by Spike’s mouth covering hers once more. As their tongues battled, he continued to rub against her, increasing the pressure with every thrust.

Frenetically his hands travelled up and down her thigh, after a while the right one settled on cupping her backside while the left one snaked between their bodies and rested over her soaked panties.

Buffy managed to break the kiss and breathe: “Bed, Spike, bed.”

Amazingly, he was able to hear her and started moving towards it. When he bumped into the edge of the bed he threw himself on it. Buffy was crushed under his weight, but the urgency of her desire made her feel as if she didn’t have to breathe even though she was panting.

Spike assaulted her mouth once more and his hand returned to the place between their bodies. “God, you’re so wet.” He thought out loud as he started rubbing her already swollen clit through her panties.

With agonizing sluggishness his fingers made their way to the edge of her cotton knickers. Pulling them aside, he moved up and down her silky lower lips ignoring the entrance to her heat as well her throbbing bud.

“Spike, please.” She begged as she arched her body, exposing her neck to him and parting her leg further more.

The sight of her opening herself to him was too much to handle and he suddenly plunged one long finger into her.

“Aaaaaaaaaah!” she cried out in mind-blowing bliss.

He immediately pulled out his intruding finger and Buffy whimpered at the lost.

“Shhhh. I can’t do this if you keep crying out like that. Dawn, remember?”

Buffy looked up at the vampire hovering above her and nodded. He stared at her for a while as he gathered all his strength to ask her:

“Are you sure you want to do this? We can- I can still stop.”

“Do that and I’ll stake you.” She threatened.

“Buffy, we can’t go back to-“ he failed to complete his sentence as he felt her small hand roughly caressed his crotch through his jeans. It took all the strength in him to speak: “Luv, that’s… not…” gasp “fair.” Gasp “Oh, God that feels…” he moaned closing his eyes. As her fingers moved to unbutton his jeans it gave him time to rewire his brain and restart the program that allowed him to talk coherently. “Buf, please, are you sure? Cause I don’t think I can handle breaking up again, it just hurts too much.” He looked at her with trusting eyes as she stopped undoing his pants.

“Then it’s best we stop here.” She said nonchalantly.

Spike felt as if someone had just reached into his chest and pulled out his heart. His eyes quickly became glassy and red with tears. As he tried to pull himself off her he felt her hands tug at his red shirt. He wouldn’t look at her so she held his face and forced him to.

“I’m kidding.” She said with a big smile.

He stared at her in disbelief.

“Are you made of stone woman? How could you-“ once more he was cut off by her lips pressing against his. When he tried to push himself up she curled her legs around his thighs, successfully trapping him.

“I’m sorry.” She said breaking the kiss, but when he tried to speak she covered his mouth with hers.

When she felt him respond to her kisses she loosen her grip around his thighs which gave him more room to manoeuvre.

He trailed kisses down her neck until he found her jugular. He nipped her tender skin there as he whispered:

“Don’t ever do that again.”

Buffy nodded and started unbuttoning his shirt. When he saw she was having trouble with it, Spike stopped kissing her for a second and pulled both his shirt and t-shirt over his head. Buffy stared at his white marble skin as her small hands caressed his abdomen and made their way down his body. She finished unbuttoning his jeans and pushed them down to his knees, then she used her feet to pull the rest of the pants off of him. She looked at his naked body and a shy smile crept to her lips. Spike couldn’t help gasping at the feel of her fingers approaching his groin. She fondled his dark curls for what seemed like centuries, painfully ignoring his aching shaft.

Spike couldn’t wait anymore, taking her hand in his and placing it on the spot that claimed her undivided attention.

The feel of his hand over hers, making her wrap her small fingers around his swollen member sent a jolt of electricity right to her clit. All she wanted to do was stroke him till he begged her for more, but she was in a teasing mood. He was going to pay for the lack of attention he had paid to her in the last few days.

Spike was surprised when he realised that she just let her hand rest there, without moving. He abandoned kissing her neck to look at her. Her eyes teasingly smiled at him.

Swallowing hard he forced the words out of his mouth:

“Please... do it.” his voice was hoarse with desire.

“Do what?” she asked innocently.

Spike placed his hand over hers and guided it up and down his cock. Both of them gasped at the intensity of the moment. The powerful wave of pleasure that washed over him made Spike loose all his strength for a second and he was forced to bring both arms to the mattress next to Buffy’s head to avoid crushing her with his weight.

The moment his hand left hers she stopped stroking him. Spike sighed in frustration but soon thought of a way to make her pay for her teasing. “Oh, baby wants to play?” he asked. Buffy just looked at him.

He moved his hand between her legs forcing them to part. He pushed her panties aside and began stroking the edges of her lips. She let out a powerful moan moving her hips to place his finger at her entrance. But he wouldn’t have any of that. He continued to trace tortuous path along her feminine folds, staring down at her, until she had enough and began to slowly pump him.

The moment her tiny hand moved so did his. Sluggishly he buried his middle finger into her heat. She grew impatient as he refused to move any further and started stroking him faster. He responded by pulling his finger in and out of her silken channel.

She expected him to increase the pace but he waited for her move. So she did, massaging him cock up and down with long but fast strokes. He responded by accelerating the rhythm with which he plunged his now soaked finger into her.

“Faster!” she moaned closing her eye and arching into his hand. She was forced to open them again when she felt his finger stop. She glared at him.

“I want you to look at me.” He explained.

As their eyes interlocked, he resumed pleasuring her, increasing the pace. “Oh, God!” she moaned, moving her hand in accordance to his rhythm.

Buffy felt the waves of pleasure threatening to over take her entire body. She was amazed at how long this vampire could keep her in this state of blissful anxiety, anticipating the intense ecstasy that was to come.

They stared deeply at each other and knowing she was close, he choked back a moan to warn her:

“Luv, bite down on the sheets.”

She obeyed, pulling the edge of the covers into her mouth without ever braking eye contact.

Suddenly she felt another finger plunge into her and that was it. Her entire body jolted off the mattress as if consumed by a powerful electric current. The cotton fabric in her mouth thankfully, muffled her cries as she gasped and panted uncontrollably. As she came down from her orgasm, she noticed he was still hard in her hand and resumed stroking him.

To her surprise he brought his hand to hers and moved it away. She was about to protest when he placed a hungry kiss on her mouth and trailed down her neck. His fingers pulled the straps of her nightgown off her shoulders and in doing so exposed her swollen breasts to the dim moonlight. It overwhelmed him how seeing her like that always effected him as if it was the first time. She was practically naked, her nightgown pushed around her stomach exposing her heaving chest above and her damp dark curls below.

Slowly he supported his weight on his forearm next to her head and reached to caress her tanned skin. She opened her mouth and exhaled sharply, at the feel of his hand circling her breast, but kept eye contact.

The circles became smaller and smaller until he reached her erect nipples. He took the sensitive nub between his index finger and thumb and began to rub it skilfully.

His eyes never left hers as he bent over and took her other nipple into his cold mouth. His hand then abandoned her breast, moved over her stomach and stopped between her thighs pushing them apart.

His mouth soon joined his hand, until his face was between her soft legs. He broke eye contact for a second as he couldn’t help looking at her wet lower lips. He used two fingers to push them apart and didn’t give her a moment to prepare. With one long stroke his tongue licked her up to her swollen clit. “Aaaah!” Buffy wailed.

Without warning, he sucked her nub into his mouth and traced circles around it with his tongue. It took all of Buffy’s strength not to scream or break eye contact. The feel of his tongue on her and the lustful look he was giving her was a dangerous combination. She couldn’t help thrusting her hips towards him over and over again. The sight of his head between her legs was just overwhelming.

 “Spike! Don’t stop!” she begged him as he lightly nibbled at her nub.

His hands, that had been cupping her behind the entire time, moved towards her core and he shoved two fingers into her, mercilessly stroking her wet channel. Buffy seemed hypnotized by his eyes that stared at her while his mouth hungrily plundered her nub of nerve endings and his fingers penetrated her over and over again hitting just the right spot inside of her.

She couldn’t hold it back any longer and for the second time that night a surge of energy coming from between her legs spread like wildfire through her entire body. “Spike!” she screamed into the piece of cloth that was still in her mouth.

As the wave inside her subsided, Buffy entangled her fingers around his bleached hair, pulled him up and flipped him over so that she was the one hovering over him this time.

“Luv, I-“ he shut up at the sight and feel of her tongue licking his shamelessly ignored cock. She wet her lips before taking him into her mouth.

It took all of his concentration to prevent him from coming at that very moment. He could hardly remember what it felt like to be in her hot mouth. She had only done that once and he hadn’t even been able to see her do it because she was invisible at time. Her head bobbed up and down his length, making him loose control and thrust into her mouth. Feeling the tip of his cock in the throat she swallowed hard, making her muscled tighten around him and Spike groaned in pleasure.

Slowly, the hand that had been caressing his sac moved upwards and wrapped itself around his shaft. Now her hand and mouth moved in accordance up and down in a painfully slow pace. Spike bucked skywards into her mouth but she brought her other hand over his stomach and pushed him down.

“Please, Buffy!” gasp “Please.” Moan.

“Please what?” she asked huskily, her tongue darting out to lick the tip of his cock.

“Please” gasp “ah! Do it” groan “faster.” He finally managed to say.

She obeyed and greedily took his entire length into her mouth. Spike watched as her head moved up and down at an uncontrollable rhythm and felt her hand return to his sac.

“God, ah, Buffy! Stop! Ah! Stop, I’m gonna come.” He warned her trying to pull out of her mouth, but she wouldn’t stop. Instead she increased the pace and moved her hand between her legs.

Spike looked down at the blond headed girl sucking him into her mouth and noticed her hand moving between her own legs. “Oh God, she touching herself!”.

“Buffy, please stop! Ahhh! I” he looked down on her, she was still doing it. Her hand frantically caressed her nub as she moaned into his cock. “can’t control it much-“. He felt Buffy’s throat muscles tighten around the tip of his cock one more time  and he was gone.

He bucked into her one last time as he filled her with his seed in short and quick spurts. She milked him hungrily and swallowed every drop before coming up to rest her head over his chest.

“God, Buffy, that was…” he spoke breathlessly.

“I know.” She replied exhausted.

He lightly stoked her hair and closed his eyes waiting for sleep to come when he felt her move again. At first it was imperceptible, but soon he could feel her clearly pressing her stomach against his limp member, which seemed very willing to spring back into action.

“Buffy? What are you doing?” he pretended not to know.

She looked up at him with a concerned face and asked shyly: “You don’t want to?”

He didn’t answer, instead he flipped her over and pushed her legs apart with his hips. He leaned in to kiss her when she felt his already hard shaft at her entrance. Her eyes widened and she stared at him in disbelief. It never cessed to amaze her how quickly he became ready. Spike smiled down on her and dipped his head into her neck lightly nipping at her tender skin as his mouth made its way to her ear. “I told you, I always want” he paused for a second and she felt his cock slip into her. “you” he groaned. She gasped as she felt her core being stretched by him. It had been a while since she had him and she had forgotten how large he was. She hissed in a mixture of pain and pleasure.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked concerned. She moved her head from side to side in a silent answer. “Sure?”

“Yes!” she breathed.

Slowly he started moving inside of her and Buffy opened her mouth letting out a muffled scream. With long, but hard strokes he caressed her inner walls, the tip of his shaft hitting a small spot, which made her whimper. “How do you always know?” she asked him in her thoughts.

Spike squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to ignore her heat, the way her muscles closed around him, Buffy’s distracting moans, the way her hands travelled down his back and cupped his ass, forcing him to plunge deeper into her, the way she thrusted upwards, meeting his every stroke.

“Spike…” she moaned his name incessantly, over and over again.

“Buffy, please don’t.” he begged. “Shhh, don’t say anything. I… ahh… can’t… ahhh, concentrate.”

She tried hard to choke back her cries but it was too powerful, so she started kissing his shoulder as a distraction.

Steadily he increased the pace and Buffy felt her orgasm nearing. “I’m almost there.” She breathed arching upwards.

As she exposed herself, Spike leaned in and roughly bit her lower lip. The mixture of pleasure and pain took Buffy over the edge and she bit down into Spike’s shoulder to keep from screaming as yet another orgasm washed over her.

As he felt her inner muscles spasm and contract around his cock, he pumped harder three or four more times into her until he came. His body jerked as his semen filled Buffy’s silken core.

“God!” he whispered into her ear.

He tried to lift himself off of her out of habit. She always pushed him away after sex. But to his surprise she brought her arms around him slowly caressed his sweaty back. Spike felt as if his heart had just started beating again. He lifted himself up on his forearm and looked at her.

“What?” she asked frowning.

“Nothing. Nothing, goldilocks.”

Buffy smiled at the sound of her pet name and closed her eyes, falling asleep. Spike lay there next to her, his arm curled around her small body, staring at her until exhaustion won him over and he too drifted into slumber.

Part XII - The Morning After

“Buffy…” he gently whispered her name. When she didn’t show any sign of waking he lightly ran his fingers over her shoulder and down her arm.

She moaned, still half asleep.

“Luv, wake up.” He called out her name. He wondered how someone as strong and powerful as the creature that now slept beside him could look so frail and helpless during slumber.

Buffy refused to wake nuzzling her face against his chest, but instead of feeling the softness of his skin she was surprised by the rough touch of his red shirt. She forced her lids to open to see a fully clothed Spike laying over the covers of her bed. The room was completely dark, so she assumed it was still night.

“What are you doing all dressed?” she asked curiously as she continued to nuzzle against him.

He ignored her question and stood up, moving toward her nightstand from which he picked up a tray and brought it down on the bed in front of her.

“What’s this?” she questioned while he turned on the bedside light. As the small lamp illuminated her room she saw that the tray contained a plate with a sandwich, a cup of orange juice, a box of chocolates and a single red rose.

“I owed you a Spike-Special, remember?” he smiled at her, sitting on the bed.

Buffy couldn’t help the smile that spread over her lips.

“Thank you!” she whispered and leaned forward to give him a light peck on the lips.

“You’re welcome, luv.”

As she was about to bite into the sandwich a gush of wind blew the opaque curtains apart and Buffy was able to see it was daylight. Immediately she dropped the sandwich and sat up.

“What time is it?”

“Eleven.””

“Oh my God, Dawn!”

“Don’t worry, I made her breakfast and she said she was going to buy lunch, I guess she’s kinda tired of my sandwiches.” He smiled at Buffy. But his answer didn’t seem to calm her one bit, if all it appeared to add to her uneasiness.

“What did you tell her?” her tone was a mixture between anxiety and anger as she stood up abruptly.

“What do you mean what did I tell her?” Spike asked completely oblivious to the reasons behind Buffy’s jumpiness.

She inhaled sharply and sighed, closing her eyes before speaking.

“What did you tell her about this-this thing…” she trailed off pointing to the bed and then to him.

Spike grimaced watching her with a questioning expression, but suddenly he noticed the desperation and fear in her eyes and everything became clear. Range took over him and he stood up not caring his sudden movement had caused the glass on the tray to tip over and cover Buffy’s bed with orange juice.

“So now we are back to this being a ‘thing’, is that it?” he hissed between clenched teeth. Not giving her a chance to respond he continued blinded by anger. “Nothing has changed, has it? I’m still just a convenient scratching post that you use when you get a horny itch, is that it?” he shouted waving his arm. He paused for a while, trying hard to control himself as the tears of range and pain threatened to overflow, and then continued with a softer tone. “I asked you, Buffy. I asked you last night. Why…” he choked on the words as the tears ran down his face. “Why didn’t you say something then?”

Buffy’s own eyes where soggy and bright with tears, but she swallowed hard and repeated coldly. “What did you tell her?”

For a second he stood there, staring at her, expecting at any second to turn to dust as he was sure that this time she had ripped his heart from his chest and was clutching it in her powerful hands. But he didn’t, and the throat clenching pain inside him wouldn’t disappear, so he did the only thing he could. He left, slamming the door behind him, vowing to leave Sunnydale and never return.

Buffy wasn’t sure how long she had stood there, frozen in place, after Spike hard stormed out of her room. She felt numb all over, unable to move an inch, insensitive to anything and everything around her, as if she had lost all ability to feel. Gradually, a distant sound became clearer and clearer, until she identified it as being the ringing of her telephone. She willed herself to move in the direction of the sound and slowly picked up the phone. From the other side of the line Willow’s familiar voice was heard.

“Buffy? Where have you been, I’ve been calling you for and hour.” She asked.

“Hum… I was… What’s up, Willow?” Buffy forced the words out of her mouth.

“Anya called from the hospital. Xander will be able to go home in the afternoon.” Willow paused, waiting for a reaction from her friend, but when it never came she continued. “She said the dagger is already at the Magic Shop. Do you want us to pick it up?”

Silence.

“Buffy?”

Silence.

“Buffy?” Willow called out loud enough that it brought the Slayer back to reality.

“Hum…”

“I was saying the dagger-“

“Yeah, I heard. No, I’ll pick it up. But I need a favour. Can you guys come over and sit It. I have to go out.”

“Sure, Tara and I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

After Willow had hung up, Buffy stood there holding the phone in her hand, completely oblivious to the dial tone. She felt like she had just finished speaking to the Wicca when she heard the doorbell ring. She looked at herself and realised that somewhere in her numbness she had dressed into a pair of jeans and a white shirt. Zombie-like she made her way downstairs and opened the door to the two witches.

“Hey, Buffy!” They greeted joyfully in unison.

Buffy simply nodded, picking up her leather jacket and heading for the door.

“Buffy?” Willow called out. She never got an answer as the Slayer walked out.

******************************

She walked awkwardly into the high school as the dagger tucked into the jeans bit into the tender skin of her lower back.

She knocked on the door as she reached the classroom. In a few seconds a middle-aged woman stood in front of her:

“May I help you?”

“Hi. I’m sorry to interrupt. I’m Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers’ older sister and guardian.” She spoke calmly, but inside her heartbeat began to accelerate as she thought of how she would deal with her sister, now that she knew.

“Pleased to meat you. I was wondering why Dawn hadn’t come to class today. Is she sick?” the teacher asked.

“What?” Buffy asked surprised.

“Is she sick?” the older woman repeated.

Thinking quickly on her feet, Buffy lied:

“Yes… hum… She’s been feeling a little under the weather, so I came by… hum… to let you know that she’d be missing classes today.”

“There was no need to come all the way here. You could’ve called.” The older woman smiled.

“Our phone is out.” Buffy explained.

There was an awkward silence, but Buffy quickly broke it:

“Well, I’ll be going now. Goodbye.

“Goodbye.”

*********************************

Buffy nervously fidgeted with the key as she tried to open the door.

“Dawn!” she called out as she walked into her house. “Dawn!”

“Buffy!” Willow appeared coming from the kitchen.

“Where’s Dawn?” Buffy asked anxiously.

“She’s at school.” The Wicca offered.

“No, I’ve been there. She’s gone.” Buffy spoke quickly as she moved between the various compartments of the house in search of her sister. “She must have been too upset.” Buffy thought to herself. “I knew she’d never accept it.”

“Where did she go?” Willow asked as she followed the Slayer.

“I don’t know. If I knew I wouldn’t be looking for her, now would I.” She spat out arrogantly, but seeing her friend’s face she added. “I’m sorry Willow. I’m just worried, that’s all.”

“It’s ok. Well maybe she’s just skipping class… you know she-she’s done it before.” The Wicca stuttered.

Buffy sighed, leaning on the door to her sister’s room. “I think she’s upset about something.”

“Upset about what?”

“Just…” Buffy pondered her words and decided not to tell anything to the witch. “Just sister stuff. We had a fight.” She lied once more.

“Was it big?”

“I don’t know, I really don’t know.”

*************************

Buffy hung up the phone after another unsuccessful attempt at locating her sister.

“She’s not at Angela’s house either. Do you know anyone else?” she turned to the two Wiccas sitting on the couch, who both nodded negatively.

Buffy sighed. She had checked out all of Dawn’s usual hangouts and nothing. She had called all of her friends and also failed to have any clue as to her whereabouts.

“Stay here in case she shows up. I’ll take a walk around town, see if I can find her.”

The two Wiccas nodded once more.

“You’ll find here, I’m sure.” Willow tried to calm her friend.

Buffy didn’t answer and walked out silently.

******************************

Buffy searched her mind for another place where Dawn could be. She realised how little she knew about her own sister. All she knew was that she liked staying at her friends’ house and sometimes walk in the park. Nothing else.

She thought of what Spike might have told her sister and how much it must have hurt her. Buffy always knew that Dawn had a not so secret crush over the vampire. Everyone had noticed it, even Xander. Maybe that was one of the reasons why he disliked Spike so much. Before him, Xander was the one Dawn drooled over. The vampire himself must have been the only one who hadn’t realised it. Or maybe he just chose to ignore it.

The Slayer sighed as she realised what she had to do.

*********************************

Instead of the usual powerful kick, she turned the knob to open the door that lead to Spike’s crypt. Inside there was complete silence and Buffy’s footsteps echoed thunderously through the entire room as she moved towards the lower level of the crypt.

She was surprised to find it completely empty. She looked around, but there was no indication that anyone had ever lived there.

“Spike.” she whispered.

Silence.

“Spike!” she cried out.

Silence.

There was no one there. She climbed up the stairs and made her was out of the crypt. As the door closed, Spike came out of the shadows, where he had been hiding the entire time.

Suddenly the door was kicked open and Spike found himself pressed against the wall, the Slayer’s enraged eyes staring at him.

“What did you tell her?” she spat out venomously.

When she didn’t get an answer, she tightened her grip around his throat and repeated the question. “What. Did you. Tell her?”

Spike flung her across the room as he pushed her away. Buffy landed on the floor but soon enough she was back on her feet.

“Wha, afraid I did some damage? Afraid your lil sis will find out what you really are?” he spoke coldly and arrogantly. “Afraid she’ll learn that the only thing that does it for you is the feel of a cold, dead body pumping into you?”

Buffy stood there, taking it all in. She knew that she had hurt him and he needed to settle the score.

“Afraid she’ll figure out that a normal, warm blooded, human body just doesn’t get you all wet and horny like I do? Afr-“

“She’s gone.” Buffy whispered, her eyes filled with tears.

Spike immediately stopped and with a concerned tone asked.

“How?”

“Whatever you told her made her run away. She’s not at school, I called all of her friends.” She paused to be able to swallow the salty tears. “She’s gone.”

“I didn’t tell her anything.” Spike confessed.

“What?”

“She doesn’t know about… us.”

“But-“

“I woke up before her. I didn’t want her to find out like that. I wanted us to tell her.” Spike struggled with the words as he recalled his fight with the Slayer earlier that morning. He had woken up so hopeful, so strangely happy. “Woke her up, made her breakfast and she left for school. She never even saw me leave your room.”

Buffy looked at him surprised. A dreadful feeling of guilt and regret made her stomach turn as her mind replayed the events that had happen in the past few hours. As she remembered Dawn’s disappearance she shook her head and asked unemotionally:

“Then where is she?”

“I don’t know.” He confessed.

*********************************************

“I don’t understand.” Willow sighed as she looked through her notes.

“What is it honey?” Tara asked spooning a generous amount of rise into an empty plate.

“This translation, it doesn’t make sense ‘an inhuman heart which has possess Slayer blood’? I can’t seem to get it right.”

“You will.” Tara encouraged, caressing Willow’s fiery hair before walking out of the kitchen and into the living room to feed It.

Willow continued scrambling through her notes and the demon language dictionary.

“Why the two verbs if they mean the same thing…” she thought out loud, tapping her pencil on the table. “Do they both refer to the inhuman heart as the subject of the sentence?”

She looked through the dictionary searching for a different meaning for a certain word.

“Gyali… Gyali…” she spoke as her finger searched ran down the page of the dictionary. “Gyali – Present form of the verb to have.” She read “Ok, that would be has.” She rationalized and continued reading “commonly used in scrolls dated from 1000 BC. Prior to this date Gyali also constituted the past tense of the verb…” Willow stopped reading as she came to the realization she had translated the passage incorrectly. She looked horrified at the dictionary, reading it over and over again. There was no doubt about it.

***********************************

“Hey, Buffy any luck?” Tara asked as the opened the door to the tired girl and the familiar vampire.

“No.” she answered bitterly.

“Buffy…” Buffy turned to see Willow staring at her, bright red with tears streaming down her face.

“What?” Buffy panicked.

“I’m so sorry.” The witch whispered. “I was wrong…”

“What is it, Willow?” Tara asked concerned.

“Dawn…” Willow paused to swallow back the tears. “Dawn’s the inhuman heart.”