Dreaming

But I'm not sleeping

Or have I died

Died of life’

‘… So to truly please the man in your life, simply try to put yourself in his position, feel what he might be feeling, understand YOUR body from his point of view.

That’s our report today for the “The Difference In Men And Women” segment of our show. Tune in again tomorr-‘

Buffy pushed the button on the remote control, turning the television off, but remained on the sofa. She’d had a few minutes to waste, for once, and was trying to relax before heading out to patrol, when she’d happened upon the report given by the women’s show.

                                                            ~*~

After patrolling for almost an hour, she’d seen nothing more dangerous than a cat, when suddenly something large caused the bushes to her left to crackle. Standing perfectly still, Buffy listened carefully, slipping a hand into her jacket pocket to retrieve a stake. Armed, she worked her way closer to the brush, almost reaching it, when a large flesh colored demon erupted from cover, launching itself directly at her.

Buffy gasped, momentarily unable to move with the shock of recognition! The same kind of demon had almost driven her insane years before when she’d encountered two of them, getting the blood of one on her skin. The eventual resultant torrent of thoughts had overwhelmed her until Angel managed to kill the second beast, making a potion from its heart to counteract the uncontrolled telepathy caused by the first demon’s blood.

Recovering from the shock of recognition, Buffy reacted almost too late, throwing herself to one side as the creature lunged past her.

During that instant, she reached quickly inside her pocket exchanging her usual stake for a strong, slender cord. This time she knew to avoid the demon’s blood at all costs!

After several minutes of strenuous fighting, the Slayer maneuvered the demon into position and managed to garrote it with the cord, killing the monster without bloodshed.

The dead, limp demon fell, with Buffy collapsing to one side of it, momentarily exhausted from the struggle. She lay recovering her strength, catching her breath as she listened carefully to the night around her for any additional threats.

            She was thankful she’d had the length of cord with her. It was only by chance that she had taken the time to stop and help Willow pack a few items that were being shipped to Giles in England. There Buffy’d tucked the leftover cord into her jacket pocket without a second thought, then completely forgot it moments later as she’d reached to help Willow with an unbalanced box that had tried to slide precariously to the floor.

Pulling herself back to her feet, Buffy removed the lucky cord from the creature’s throat, wadding it up in her hand before shoving it back into her pocket again.

Reaching for the shoulders of the monster, she froze in mid-movement, gasping as she saw the faint, telltale glow of the creature’s blood seconds before it disappeared, sinking into the skin of her hand.  Visually scanning the demon, Buffy now saw the mark on its throat where the cord had abraded the skin just enough to draw blood. The cord was affected so slightly that she’d not noticed. But blood it was, and now it was in her, again.

‘No. No, NO! I can’t do this again! Angel’s not here, or Giles… Even if they were, there’s not a second demon this time! I don’t know how to make it!‘

Buffy knew she had to get home, find Willow… she hoped Willow might know how to make the same potion or possibly where to get another kind of antidote for the effects of the demon’s blood.

'Or maybe Spike... His demon connections, maybe he can find something...'

She tried to force the rising panic back down inside her, trying to reassure herself that this problem could be solved quickly…

                                                            ~*~

‘Swimming

As I'm sinking

I'm holding onto

Letting go, Yeah’

“I’ll try to find everything I can, Buffy, but I think telling Spike is a really good idea also.” Willow urged Buffy once more to let the vampire know what had happened.

“Find out what you can first, Will. Then I’ll tell him.”

Buffy didn’t want to let Spike know at all, unless it was necessary. She felt odd about the possibly of him having to help her the same way Angel had previously. Plus, she was simply uncomfortable being indebted to him any more than she was already.

“We know this will take a few hours before anything happens anyway. Maybe we can stop it before it even starts. Or at least before it becomes a problem like last time.”

Willow looked doubtful but acquiesced, opening her laptop, starting her research on the effects of the demon’s blood. She stopped Buffy as the Slayer started up the stairs, “Since it was such a tiny little bit of blood, maybe it won’t even cause anything to happen…”

“We can hope. I’m gonna shower and go to bed just in case. Thanks, Will.” Turning away from the redhead, Buffy climbed the stairs.

                                                            ~*~

Willow rubbed her tired eyes, finally closing the laptop. The clock indicated it was a bit past 3 am, but she’d found the information they needed… finally! She’d tell Buffy the next morning, or actually, later THIS morning.

‘But is it really morning yet if I’ve not been to sleep? I think I have to sleep before it’s the next day. There’s gotta be a rule about that…’

Barely managing to keep her eyes open, Willow dragged herself up the stairs.

When she reached her room, she simply dragged off her clothes, and pulled an over-sized tee shirt over her head before crawling wearily into bed.

She barely managed to turn off the bedside lamp before sleep claimed her.

                                                ~*~

“You’re sure?!” Buffy was elated!

“That’s what it said, Buffy. Since you were exposed to it before, and had the antidote; the blood is like Giles said the first time, like an infection. So you developed sort of metaphysical antibodies to the stuff. With that and the small exposure you got, it’s like the most you’ll have might be the equivalent of sniffles, if this stuff was a cold.”

Willow didn’t even want to mention the one in a gazillion chance that the exposure could possibly be as bad as the first time if Buffy hadn’t developed the immunity, as she should have. The redheaded witch simply planned to go to Spike if the situation looked like it was becoming as severe as the previous incident.

“Great! Thanks, Will. So what? I just kinda wait like before to see if it turns into telepathy ‘sniffles’? Is that like getting a word or two of somebody’s thoughts?” Buffy almost giggled with relief at the idea.

“Probably. Or maybe just hearing someone you’re right next to or such.”

Even after the two cups of coffee she knew she shouldn’t have had, Willow still simply wanted to go back to bed. She’d tossed and turned, sleeping badly, concerned about that miniscule chance mentioned.

“Then go back to bed, Willow, if you’re that tired.” Buffy said over her shoulder as she reached for the coffee pot again.

“B-but… I didn’t say anything.”

Willow was dismayed that the effects of the demon’s blood seemed to have already begun and wondered if Buffy had ‘heard’ her entire thought. She shielded THAT thought as hard as she knew how.

“Oh. I guess it’s started. It’s kinda fading in and out though. Nothing like last time, thank goodness!” The idea of not having to endure the onslaught of other’s thoughts caused Buffy to feel almost lightheaded with relief.

“I’ll go to work and if it gets worse; I’ll just have those ‘sniffles’ and leave. See? All handled. Go be sleepy-girl.” She quickly clasped Willow’s hand before heading out the backdoor, trying to arrive at work on time for once.

                                                            ~*~

‘Oh, how does it feel

Making love to me like you do’

Buffy’s ability to ‘hear’ thoughts had increased during the day, but as Willow had speculated, she had to be next to someone to actually hear them clearly. Otherwise, it was more of an occasional low murmur in her head, similar to what you might have after swimming and have a bit of water trapped in your ear.

However, it was more than Buffy wanted to attempt to handle all day, so the metaphysical ‘sniffles’ were used to get her off work early.

No one else wanted to catch her ‘cold’, wishing her well soon, as they hurried her out the doorway.

Buffy was almost halfway home when an idea occurred to her.

If she went to see Spike… Well, she could answer those stupid questions from that show yesterday. Oddly enough, she’d been wondering if there had been any truth to the show’s comments. Not to mention her own curiosity about what the vampire REALLY thought and felt about her. If she ‘poked around in his head’… ‘Or is that reading his thoughts in my head?’  Buffy wondered briefly. Well, she might be a bit disgusted by some of the things a vampire, Spike in particular, might think about but felt sure she’d have an honest and clear idea about why he did so many of the things he did.

Content with her plan, and the fact that… well, she’d not seen him in a while and she… well, she had needs too! Buffy headed for the cemetery.

                                                            ~*~

‘Tell me

Who would you be

Would you be me

Would you like to be

Under my skin’

Buffy was actually reaching to knock on the crypt door when she heard the first of Spike’s thoughts.

‘She’s here… Is she coming here to see me, or does she want something from me again? Hmmmm, she’s wearing a new perfume. I like it. I like her usual one better, but this is nice too… Is she just standing there?’

Buffy quickly knocked on the door and Spike opened it seconds later.

“Slayer… To what do I owe this visit? World falling apart again? You need some information?”

“Can’t I just come by to see you, Spike? We’ve been doing… whatever it is that we’ve been doing.” Buffy was puzzled and a bit curious. His tone and words were completely at odds with the ‘feel’ of what she knew he’d been thinking only moments before…

“Of course you can, luv. You just never do unless you need something from me.” Spike stood back from the doorway even farther, mutely asking her inside.

She accepted and stepped inside. This was what she’d planned anyway…

“I thought it might be nice to… maybe talk for a bit. I mean, we used to do that occasionally and if we’re doing this… whatever it is…”

“’S called sex, Slayer. We’ve been having sex. Shagging… bumping pelvises… all sorts of names. I can get into the less polite ones if you’d rather?” Spike smiled slightly as he saw the flush cross her face.

‘She likes to do it with me, but doesn’t like to admit it or even talk about it. Can’t even admit what we’ve been doing when it’s just us…’

Buffy felt the flush deepen as she ‘heard’ his thoughts. This might be harder than she realized, hearing Spike’s thoughts as well as what he actually said, then trying to keep them separated so he’d have no idea she could ‘read’ his thoughts.

 “I know what it’s called, Spike. It’s just that… well, considering our history, it’s hard to believe that we’re having sex now.”

Spike closed the door, turning back toward her as he reached for a cigarette, busying himself by lighting it.

‘Hard for me to believe it too, luv. ‘S most wonderful thing I can remember in a long time. I just wish you felt the same.’

“So we gonna stand here or shall we sit down for our ‘chat’? Even let you have the good chair…” He walked across the crypt and seated himself on the marble bench.

Buffy felt awkward as she walked across to the lone chair. She sat down, looking at Spike, already unsure of what to say.

“So… What shall we discuss, Slayer? The weather or current affairs? Oh right! We’re currently havin’ an affair, aren’t we?”

‘’Cept you won’t tell any of your little gang ‘bout us. I know you’re ashamed of having sex with me, ashamed to be seen with me except for fightin’ and slayin’…’

Spike pulled air through the cigarette, the tip glowing a bright cherry red in the dim light of the crypt.

“How… Why do you smoke, Spike? You don’t have to breathe and you didn’t smoke when you were alive, did you?”

Buffy was truly curious about when and why the vampire had acquired that habit.

“You really wanna know that?” Spike was puzzled at her line of ‘conversation’…

“Yeah, I do. It’s not something I’ve thought a lot about, but seeing you do that just now… you know, the air making it glow so bright, I wondered how or more like why…” Buffy was a bit unsure herself why she was asking him such a thing, but she realized she honestly WAS curious.

“No, I didn’t smoke as a human. Not very many bad vices back then… I started smoking maybe back in the sixties. You could get folks to chat with you, relax a bit if you had a cigarette with’em. Got me close enough for a meal or two… But that’s not something you really wanna know, Buffy.

It gives me something to do with my hands, let’s me kill a bit of time now when I need a second to two to think about somethin’.”

‘Like why we’re doing this. What are you up to, luv?’

Buffy knew that at the rate they were going, she’d never get around to the part she wanted to know about unless they simply just… unless they just had sex… “Oh… okay. I did come for another reason too, Spike.”

She slowly rose from the chair, taking a tenitive step toward him. “I – we haven’t seen each other for a while and I was kinda hoping we might… have sex, Spike.”

‘There! I said it! Oh, God, I’m having SEX with Spike! I just admitted it!’

Buffy was profoundly glad that he couldn’t hear HER thoughts…

Spike snuffed the cigarette out on the edge of the bench, standing quickly to meet her. “I’m surprised, Slayer. Admittin’ you want me? Well, that’s a first!”

‘Now if you’d just admit how you feel about me, luv…’

She stepped into his arms as he reached for her. She DID like the sex with him. He was good. He made her feel… alive, and she needed that. Would it hurt just this once to admit that she wanted him?

“Yeah, I want you, Spike. I like the sex.”

He looked down at her nestled against his chest, her arms wrapped around him, her warmth almost burning through his tee shirt.

“It’s a start, luv.”

He leaned to cover her lips with his as she rose on tiptoe to kiss him.

                                                            ~*~

‘Naked

Oh I like you naked

And when I fake it

You like me more’

Once down the ladder to the lower part of the crypt, Spike scooped her up in his arms, liking the feel of her there as he carried her to the bed, laying her down.

Buffy looked up at him, watched him meet her eyes as he slowly stripped off his tee shirt before reaching for the top of his jeans.

‘Does it excite her at all to watch me undress? If I thought it did, I’d strip even slower for her if she wanted… Doesn’t the little chit know I’d do almost anything for her, just to be with her, just to have her say she cares about me? I’d give a lot for her to love me like I do her…’

Spike watched her eyes darken with passion as she looked at him, a flare of hope that maybe watching him might excite her a little, after all.

“Seems you still have on too many clothes, Buffy.”

He slid the jeans down his slim hips.

“Yeah, but I was having fun watching you. Besides, you know how to get my clothes off if you want them off.”

‘I’m teasing him! Flirting with him! What the hell am I doing?’

‘The Slayer flirting with me? Gotta be something going on here…’

“Yeah, but you get upset with me if I just rip’em off…”

Spike put one naked knee on the bed, leaning over to slowly crawl toward her, completely nude now. He was gratified to see her glance down to glimpse how hard he was already before looking into his eyes again. The slight shiver that ran through her body delighted him even more.

“Don’t rip them off, Spike, just help me take them off. I want to feel your skin on mine…” Buffy struggled to sit up while trying to pull her shirt over her head. Spike’s strong, slender hands were suddenly there helping her.

‘She’s so beautiful… Does she have any idea how beautiful I find her? I can’t believe she’s actually saying these things to me… Why is she acting so different today? Almost like she really might care about me, or at least like me for a bit more than just the sex…’

“Glad to help, love. I like you better naked anyway. ‘Least ways when you’re in my bed, I do.”

                                                                        ~*~

‘Exploring

The taste I'm touching

You're watching

I'm watching you, Yeah’

Buffy decided things might progress a bit better if she simply ‘listened’ to Spike’s thoughts, while they… had sex. So as he dropped her jeans on the floor and turned back to her, she pulled him into her arms, spilling him half across her body while she kissed him.

It took only seconds before he demanded entrance to her mouth, his tongue teasing the inside of her lips, sweeping across the tip of her tongue before he gently sucked her lower lip into his mouth, biting gently.

Shivers ran down Buffy’s spine and she almost missed his next thought…

‘She’s so warm, so hot next to me. I love kissing her. She’s so good at it. Prob’ly all that practice she did with Angel… no, forget that, she’s here with me… Just kissing her makes it hard to keep things under control…I know what she wants, what she needs… Can’t let myself get ahead of her. Gotta hold back until she’s as ready to explode as me… God, I love her.’

Buffy pulled him closer and he obliged her, sliding his body above hers, resting his upper weight on his forearms while he tangled his fingers in her hair and pressed his groin into her, forcing her legs apart.

She was more than willing to have him there and bending her knees, wrapped her legs over his. Realizing now how much he enjoyed kissing her, she paid more attention to her technique, putting everything possible into the kisses.

Spike groaned deep in his throat, the sound falling into her mouth. He didn’t know why she’d suddenly gotten more intense with her kisses, but he knew if she kept that up, he wasn’t going to last long enough for her. He broke the kiss, almost gasping for breath himself from pure reaction. Sliding down her body, he tucked his arms under her back, hands caressing her shoulders, holding her while he turned his attention to first one breast then the other, but managing to move his groin out of contact with her.

‘Don’t know how tha’ solider boy managed to have any staying power at all with her. She must have had to hold back just to keep from hurtin’ him. She never has to hold back with me… Vampire’s only one that can take all that slayer strength and not get injured or killed. Hmmm, love it when she arches back like that… love the feel of her skin in my mouth, the taste of her…’

“Spike… now, I want to feel you inside me now…” Without vampire enhanced hearing, Buffy didn’t know if he’d have heard her, she could barely catch her breath from the assault he was conducting so incredibly well against her senses. She wrapped her legs around his hips, feeling the cool, satin hardness of him poised against her.

 Reaching down with both hands, she grasped his buttocks, pulling him closer, feeling him slide inside of her, forcing a gasp of pleasure from both of them…

‘Hot, so hot… like sliding into liquid fire almost. The feel of her beneath me, surrounding me, the scent of her all over me, around me… he had the better deal, just didn’t know it… She’s so beautiful…’

Buffy wasn’t sure she understood everything Spike was thinking about, but she was getting the picture loud and clear about how he felt toward her, how much he really DID care. But the next thrust of his body, combined with what his hands… She couldn’t think, couldn’t listen to him think, there was only here and now and him and her…

                                                            ~*~

‘I want

I wanna know

Would you feel it

I wanna crawl under your skin

I wanna know how you feel in me’

Spike dipped his head, catching her lips again, kissing her. Buffy was whimpering slightly into his mouth, but clinging to him tighter, moving faster beneath him, pushing him to a harder pace… He deliberately slowed, causing her to falter in her movements…

‘Know you likes it hard that way most of the time… not today, luv. Not today. I love you… wanna MAKE love to you, not just shag. Want you to want me tha’ way I want you… so much it hurts when you’re not here, so much I can’t think… So much th’when I kiss you, I wanna die…’

Buffy gasped again, but not for the reason she knew Spike assumed. His thought had brought her up short. She remembered making the same comment to Angel… She remembered how she’d felt… Did Spike love her THAT much? Had she been so incredibly wrong about him? Before she could pursue that or any line of thought further, she felt that golden edge of sensation filling her, rising from the point where their bodies joined, filling her like a cup, warm, rising inside of her… so full, so filled, so…

The sensations overflowed, exploding around Buffy in a haze of golden light, setting her nerves on fire, twitching, her skin too tight, too small, her muscles bunching, spasming…

Somehow, Buffy managed to hear Spike’s thoughts again though the pleasure that unfocused the world around her…

‘Oh, God. Oh, Buffy. Love you; love you… yes, yes, love, let go… oh PLEASE! Buffy… love you, love you, loveyouloveyouloveyou…’

‘So how would it feel

Making love to me if I were you’

“You’re so good, Spike… You always feel so good…”

Caught up in the aura of pleasure that filled and surrounded them, Buffy didn’t realize that she’d reached to sweep her hair away from her neck, leaning her head to lengthen the line of her neck before pulling Spike’s face down to the pulsing, pumping warmth there.

His lips kissed over the beating life, tongue darting out to graze her skin with a line of cool dampness. Spike knew he was tempting himself unbearably even as he pulled the flesh into his mouth, savored the scent and taste of her blood just below the skin. He let blunt teeth run across her skin, licking at the pulsing warmth of her, when she pulled his head down further into her neck…

Then he heard her. Heard her as clearly as if she’d spoken next to his ear, but her voice was only in his head…

‘Do it, Spike. Please do it… I want to feel it, feel you, be part of you… Do it now… PLEASE!’

He understood how careful he had to be, understood what she was asking of him. She was begging him to, and he wanted it as badly as she did.

Willing the change to occur, Spike bit her. Sharply, shallowly, gently…

Buffy gasped, arching under him, driving him further into her as she wound her fingers in his hair, tightening her hold on him and pushed him harder into the junction of neck and shoulder.

He knew he wasn’t first. He knew what she wanted. But he knew that this time it would be from love and the results would be for both of them.

Very carefully, he bit deeper, feeling the rush of her blood in his mouth. The taste, the connection between them deepened, pulled hard at things deep inside him, pulled all the way down to his groin. He felt the spasms take her at the same time.

Spike had to almost fight against the grip of her hand to pull away from her neck, but the waves of pleasure still rode both of them.

                                                            ~*~

‘Ohhhhhhhhhhhh

Making love to me like you do’

Spike put the last strip of tape across the bandage on her neck, standing back as Buffy dropped her hair across it before looking up at him.

She was still sitting nude in the middle of his bed, but had the sheet draped around her. He’d not wasted time with clothes as he’d grabbed for the first aid kit he’d started keeping after the chip had been put in his head.

“Spike…” Buffy was quiet, thoughtful, as she tried to say something to him, but he quickly interrupted her.

“You wanted me to, Buffy, and I was so bleedin’ careful!” He suspected he’d be told off for good and never get to be with her again, if he managed to not get beaten to a pulp or staked…

Buffy reached a hand toward him, wiggling her fingers, asking him to come closer. “I know, Spike. I DID want you to… I wanted exactly what you did, even if I had to force you to do it right. What I need to know is… How did you know that was what I wanted?”

He stepped carefully to the side of the bed, easing gingerly down to sit beside her. “I heard you, Buffy. I heard you as clear as if you said the words, but I heard them in my head.” ‘Was I wrong? Did I imagine it? Have I gone and bollixed up the best thing to ever happen to me? But she said she’d wanted me to…’

“No, Spike. You didn’t mess anything up. I did want you to bite me. But you heard my thoughts?” She was puzzled and beginning to wonder if this whole mind-reading thing was suddenly going to work both ways.

“Yeah… I heard you inside my head, so if that was you thinkin’ it, then I guess that’s what I heard. How’d you just know what I was thinkin’?”

‘Somethin’s not right here. She’s not tellin’ me everythin’…’

“Yes, I can hear what you think, but only when I’m close to someone, as in standing close to them. I just don’t understand how you heard what I was thinking, or to be completely truthful, why I was thinking it. I owe you an explanation and an apology, Spike.”

“How ‘bout we start with the explanation, Slayer.”

‘Ick, I’m back to ‘slayer’ again… He’s pissed at me.’

“When I was on patrol last night…”

Buffy explained about the demon, its blood, what had happened several years before and that she’d come over to find out what he really thought about her.

“I honestly don’t know why you could hear my thoughts, Spike.”

 When she’d finished explaining the entire situation, and apologizing to him, he was silent for so long she began to fidget with worry, twisting the sheets in her hands. Especially now that he managed to block her from his thoughts, knowing what was happening.

Spike reached over, laying his hands on hers, halting their incessant twisting before he looked into her eyes. She glanced down at her lap, only to have him tilt her chin back up, a finger beneath it, letting him look into her eyes once more.

“No, I’m not mad at you. I should be, by God! Pulling a trick like that on me. But I think I understand. You could always have just asked me, Buffy, and I’d have told you whatever you wanted to know, but I know that you wouldn’t have believed me. This way you got my unguarded thoughts and you could believe that. They wouldn’t have been any different than what I’d have told you, love.”

“I know that now. I really do. And… and it made a difference, Spike. There was one thing you said that really… No, don’t ask. I’m not telling you. It wouldn’t be a nice thing to tell the man I’m sleeping with, Spike. But it let me see everything differently. Kinda like something just fell into place and it’s okay.”

‘That’s enough to tell me it had somethin’ to do with Angel, so no… I don’t really want you tellin’ me more. But if it’s helped us… I’m glad of it. You just gotta explain one more thing, Buffy. Why? Why did you ask me to? Why did you want me to? I don’t understand.” Spike knew she understood exactly what he was asking her.

“You won’t like that either, but you deserve to know. When Faith shot Angel…” She ducked her head again, part of her wanting to be anywhere else than having to explain what she wasn’t sure she understood. “…With that poisoned arrow and he was dying, only Slayer’s blood could cure him. So I forced him to drink me and it was… I needed to see if it was any different between us, Spike.”

“Was it?” Just the two words. He’d asked quietly, almost hesitantly. He wanted desperately to know that it was different, better, more… But if it wasn’t… He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear her say it.

“It was very different. It didn’t hurt, but was intoxicating, erotic… It… You felt what happened, Spike.” Buffy was embarrassed by the sheer strength of the orgasm she’d had with his teeth in her neck. With Angel, it had hurt even while it felt good. But as good as it had been with him, it wasn’t even close to the intensity or pleasure she’d felt with Spike.

“Yeah, I did at that, love.” Spike chuckled. “Don’t know that I’ve ever felt it quite that intense before.”

“Spike… Can we… I mean, I’d… Is it possible…” Buffy couldn’t force herself to ask a vampire if he could bite her again while making love. That was enough of a shock itself, to know it wasn’t just sex between them. They had made love!

“Can I bite you again when we’re making love? Yes. You just have to let me know you want me to, Buffy.”

“I know that’s what we were doing, Spike. Not just sex like it used to be…” She felt perplexed and confused. “It changed. I think when I knew your feelings were real... Will it hurt me, Spike, if… if we do that? If you bite me? Am I in danger?”

“We can’t do it too often, Buffy. You’d be weak from blood loss. If you really want me to, it’s better to save it… Like for special occasions, you know. But you’re not in danger from me, love. I can control my demon an’ keep from hurting you.” He reached over to gently take her face in both hands. “I won’t you know. Hurt you…”

Buffy snaked one hand behind his neck, the other busy holding the sheet around her. “I know, Spike.” She pulled him to her, kissing him gently and the sheet was forgotten.

                                                            ~*~

‘Would you like to be

Under my skin

I'll let you in’

The sun had set when Buffy and Spike finally woke up. She’d been curled next to him, her arms wrapped tightly around him while they slept. He’d held her close for the short time they actually managed to sleep, having been completely involved in much more important activities for several hours.

She’d noticed that the effects of the demon’s blood had worn off over the afternoon and in a way, she was almost sorry to have it dissipate this time. Sorry to not hear the way Spike thought of her constantly.

They dressed and straightened up the bed, then Buffy knew she had to get home before a search party was sent out for her.

At the door of the crypt, Buffy caught Spike’s hand.

“Walk me home?”

Surprised, the vampire recovered quickly. It had been an afternoon of surprises. “Sure, love. Can’t have anyone messin’ with my girl, now can I?”

He fully expected her to deny his verbal claim of her.

“Nope. Between both of us, they’d be lucky to crawl away. Ready?”

They walked in companionable silence on the way to her house, holding hands. As they came within sight of the Summers’ home, Spike attempted to pull his hand away. He knew she would be upset if her friends noticed. But this time, Buffy retained her grasp on Spike’s hand, stepping up to the porch, then the few steps to the door.

“I know it bothers you that no one else knows about us. Maybe it’s time for them to understand that things are different now. Maybe I’m different now too.”

Without giving Spike an opportunity to comment on her remarks, Buffy opened the door. She caught a glimpse of Dawn and Willow in the living room, before she turned her back to the open doorway, to face Spike once more.

“See you later, Spike?”

“Yeah, if you want to, Buffy.”

“I want.” She rose up, curling an arm around his neck, as she pulled him into a kiss.

It was several long moments before she finally released him.

“G’night, Spike”

“G’night, love.” Spike walked off the porch and down the street, dazed. Buffy had kissed him goodnight. In public. In front of the open door to her house, while her sister and the witch stood, mouth open and gawking.

Unlife was good.

Spike hummed softly as he headed down the street.

                                                            ~*~

‘I wanna crawl under your skin

I wanna know how I feel in you’

Spike reached across the bar, gently holding the collar of the weasely little bartender.

“Willy… I need you to get something for me.”

“S-sure, Spike. Anything you say.”

“Good. There’s a particular demon… I want a small quantity of its blood. Doesn’t take much, I hear. And the antidote, of course… Enough for two people…”