***

Willow was jerked awake by a loud bang accompanied by the sound of plaster and stone shattering and falling to the floor.  She groaned and rolled onto her stomach,
her hand reaching across the empty bed.  He was doing it again, knocking out a wall somewhere in the mansion.  It was nearing sunset and Willow had spent the night
and day, yet again. But this time she was planning on spending the whole weekend, having told Buffy she was going to her parents house for the weekend to air it out
before their eminent return in a few days...which would also explain her absence from the dorm for a while should she decide to stay with Spike at the mansion.  She
really didn't know if she wanted to.  He had scared her that night, four days back, and his behaviour had been directly involved with the mansion.  However, he'd
seemed to settle down after that...if you could call wandering around with a sledgehammer and knocking out walls willy nilly settling down.  Still he was more at ease
with himself, with the mansion and happily devoted to her.

The sound of another wall being demolished downstairs drew Willow's attention.  Sighing she reluctantly pushed herself off the bed and grabbed one of Spike's t-shirts
to put on as she made her way out of the bedroom.  She smiled as she sat half way down the stairs to watch as Spike struck out at the wall, sending plaster and brick
flying through the air, a determined look on his face.  Willow wrapped her arms about her naked legs, her chin resting on her knees as she continued to watch him.
The sledgehammer swung out, colliding with the wall, shattering it.  The muscles in his chest flexed and rippled as he pulled back to swing forward, the muscles in his
back bunching when the hammer collided with the wall again.  He was covered in a fine layer of dust, a single lock of hair curled forward onto his forehead and his jaw
clenched with every blow he made.  Willow sighed, now she understood why Anya enjoyed watching Xander dig so much.  Unfortunately the sigh distracted Spike and
he glanced up at her, smiling broadly.

"Did I wake you, love?" he asked throwing the sledgehammer aside.

"No, it was the wall shattering into pieces that woke me," she said laughingly, stretching her hands out as he walked up the stairs towards her.  He sat down in front of
her, squirming his way between her legs, wrapping his arms about them and started talking about what he was doing.  Knocking down walls, opening up the front part
of the house so it was a huge room.  Willow wrapped one of her arms about his neck, her free hand combed through his hair while she listened with no particular
interest to his redecorating ideas.

Spike had started his demolition derby on the mansion the morning after he'd found Willow sleeping in the bed.  After he walked her back to the dorm early in the
morning he'd gone to Giles to collect the Desoto and a sledgehammer.  The first room to be changed was the master bedroom.  He'd knocked out the two walls
leading into the rooms on either side of the master room, opening it up.  Through either intelligence or sheer luck he hadn't taken out any of the support beams or
wiring.  By the afternoon when Willow had returned he'd totally changed the room and reorganised the furniture.  A study retreat area was set up off one side of the
bedroom ~ he'd called it Willow's study, so he could watch her while she did her work. The other room had been changed into a sitting room.  When the sun went
down they went out together to buy various bits and pieces with Spike insisting on a state of the art entertainment system.  Apparently the night before, in a fit of rage,
he had taken out some demon with a gold AMEX card...so he celebrated with a massive shopping spree that included getting the electricity connected, buying furniture
and organising for the various broken windows to be fixed and a new front door.  It also included bed linen, he'd forgotten how cold it could be in the mansion at night,
especially for Willow sleeping next to him.  So they had bought quilts and sheets, new pillows and an extravagant lambswool underlay.  Anything and everything that
took their fancy they bought and Spike had thought it was worth every charge dollar of the demons AMEX.  There is nothing like retail therapy to soothe even the most
savage beasts...especially when it includes a play station.

Spike finished up his explanations of what he and the sledgehammer were planning with a soft kiss on Willow's hand.

"Hmm..." Willow agreed offhandedly, her fingers dragging through the light film of dust on his skin.  "I should get going soon."

"Why?" Spike twisted around to look up at her, frowning.  "It's Saturday afternoon, where do you have to go?"

"I told you, Giles needs some help researching those demons Buffy saw on Thursday night," she smiled down at him, her fingers trying to erase the scold lines on his
face.  "I told Giles I'd be there by seven..."

"Love, why?  They don't need you..." he turned away and leaned back against her while his fingers drew circles on the bare skin of her legs.  Then he smirked.
"Anyway I've got better plans and they don't involve us going over to the bloody watchers place."

Willow smiled and rested her chin against his hair, she had no doubt that he did.  "I promised Giles.  You don't have to come."

Spike snorted in disgust, his fingers creeping up her legs. "And how would you get there?"

"I can walk."

"Over my dead body..." Spike turned again to shoot her a scolding look and caught the start of her 'isn't that a paradox?' face.  He shrugged and smirked.  "Well all
right dust then."

Willow shook her head and laughed lightly.  This was one thing he insisted on, he didn't want her going out by herself after dark.  It seemed strange to her, after years
of living on the Hellmouth, to have someone actually worry about her wandering around after dark.

"I'll be fine...I have the mobile if I need to call you," she stated calmly, knowing that he wouldn't listen to any sort of argument. The mobile was another thing that
Spike had insisted on getting for her and was paid for by the Gold AMEX.

"Piffle..." Spike muttered, his hands coming to rest on her knees.  "S'pose we should have a bath then."

"Well we can...if you haven't thrown out all my stuff again," Willow grimaced.  She couldn't understand him at times.  Although she wasn't a great one for perfumes or
other little extravaganza's she did enjoy the luxury of bath gels and he had thrown out two of her favourites without an explanation.  Needless to say she had gone and
bought them again, vanilla and hazelnut and vanilla and gardenia, threatening him with an impotence curse should he throw them out again.  So he didn't toss them,
he hid them instead. They'd had a silly fight about it and he still hadn't told her the real reason why.  She would have laughed at him had he actually told her the smell
of vanilla reminded him of the slayer.  It irked him, he loved the way she smelt after her baths, all soft and sweet but he hated the idea that somewhere across town
the slayer also smelt of vanilla.  Alright it wasn't the same soft natural sweet smell of Willow, the products were different and the slayer smelt of a more chemically
construed vanilla, but it was still vanilla.  Still, he had a plan so that the slayer would never want to use it again.

Spike stood up and smirked.  He swooped down and picked her up off the step, causing her to squeal and throw her arms about his neck.  "We have the raspberry
one..."

"I think I still smell of raspberries from this morning," blushed Willow, burying her face in his neck.  One of her bath gels and body lotions was based on raspberries
and had driven him into a state of bliss.  It reminded him of when he was a child. He and his mates would go out to the country on lazy warm days and eat raspberries
from the bush and steal buttermilk from the streams where it was kept cold.  They were happy memories of lost youth, warm days spent with his mates, chasing each
other and capturing butterflies.  Willow had gone "aw" at the mention of butterflies and Spike had grimaced, he didn't elaborate that once the butterflies were caught
he and his mates would pull off their wings and legs and watch them die of shock...he thought that might ruin the ambience of the whole memory.  Wanting to share
the experience of raspberries and buttermilk he'd bought some and this morning had woken her, running the plump berries over her body, marking her pale flesh with
the scarlet juice and then licking her clean.  He'd kissed her with his mouth full of the bittersweet berries, juice and flesh moving into her mouth, the juice staining both
their lips.  Then he'd declared that the berries weren't sweet enough for him so he'd worked his way down her body and painstakingly slowly pushed the berries into
her, his tongue teasing her clit while his fingers manipulated the berries.  As she climaxed her muscles had clamped down, squashing the berries in her body. Spike
had declared she was a raspberry smoothie, his favourite, and proceeded to lick and suck with fervour, making sure she was well and truly cleaned of the fruit, leaving
Willow in a sweaty heaving sated heap.  "But I do need a bath."

"A quick bath and then we'll go to the stuffy old watchers..." Spike muttered, carrying her up the stairs, hoping that if he distracted her enough in the bathtub then they
wouldn't have to spend the evening anywhere but in bed.

It wasn't enough of a distraction to keep them away from Giles, just make them an hour late.

"Hi," greeted Willow as she walked through the door.  Giles twisted on the couch, glancing up at her, relieved that she'd come.

"Willow, I thought you might have forgotten. I tried calling the dorm..." he stopped as Spike strolled in behind her.  "Spike..."

"Why is Spike here?" asked Xander, dropping his slice of pizza into the book he was reading, warping the text with grease.  "I'd thought you'd moved out?  Left.  No
longer concerned...that sort of thing."

"Well Red here said you were having a party," Spike lied, dropping down in a chair and putting his feet up on the coffee table and staring at the dumbfounded people
surrounding him.  "And who am I to miss out on a party?"

"It's a research party, Spike," spat Buffy silently wishing that Giles would do an uninvite spell.  "And since you have so vehemently declared your utter abhorrence to
helping us I don't see why you are here."

"Aw what's wrong slayer?  Some demon beat your boyfriend up?" Spike grinned at her, knowing that was exactly what had happened.  Personally he was hoping that
he could get to the demons before she did ~ maybe they all had Gold AMEX cards.  "He's all bruised and battered and not up to servicing you?"

Buffy stared stakes at him.  Before she could get in a comeback Giles interrupted them.

"Yes, well I am sure that we will appreciate your assistance Spike," Giles stated standing up and turning to Willow.  "May I have a quick word with you about..." he
glanced down at the scowling Spike and Buffy, wondering if it was safe to leave them alone together.  "Computers...in the kitchen for a moment."

"Umm...okay," frowned Willow following him out to the kitchen, quite sure that computers were the last thing Giles wanted to discuss with her.

Spike glowered as he watched the two engage in discussion in the small kitchen.  He was sure the old fart was sticking his nose into their business, where it wasn't
welcome.  Personally Spike was quite happy to keep their relationship just between them, he didn't want the hassle of all her friends, still he wondered what Giles and
Willow could be talking about, he couldn't very well wander into the kitchen to find out.  Buffy, Xander and Anya chatting didn't allow him to eaves drop, so he had to
concentrate on Willow's expression, trying to work out what was going on.  Well at least until Buffy stood in front of him holding out a book.

"Bloody hell, what?" he asked.  Buffy raised her eyebrows and waved the book in front of him before dropping it down onto his lap and returning to her seat.  He
snarled at the book, turning it upside down and opening it up randomly.  Leaning toward Buffy he sniffed loudly.

"What?" asked Buffy, trying to remember if she'd put on her deodorant.

"Nothing," shrugged Spike and went back to perusing through the upside down book before sniffing loudly at Buffy.  Frowning he sniffed again. "Oh that's it."

"WHAT?" screamed Buffy frustrated by the blonde and his apparent sniffing fetish.

"You," he stated calmly, leaning back into the chair and flipping the pages of the book.  Buffy rolled her eyes and glared at him.

"What about me?"

"You smell like vanilla. Reminds me of this whorehouse in Paris that Angel was so fond of visiting.  Actually just one whore in particular.  Blonde old hag, had no
teeth...that really was a bonus," he stated, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at Buffy.  "All that suction and nothing to get caught on.  Angel just loved that slag,
every time he smelt vanilla he'd get all happy and hard..."

"Why would no teeth be good..." asked Xander, frowning before his whole face lit up with a goofy look.  "Oh...I see..."

"Xander!" hissed Anya, hitting his leg and scolding him. Xander gave her a half smile and mouthed 'sorry' at her.

Spike watched Buffy carefully, her face falling in horror as she turned away from him to frown at the book in her lap.

"Angel always said that vanilla reminded him...of me..." Buffy stammered turning bright red.  "I...I...French whore?"

Spike let a wistful smile grace his face as he crossed his hands behind his head and put his feet back up on the coffee table.  "With no teeth..."

"Oh god..." Buffy stood up, the book falling unnoticed to the floor.  She turned in a circle once, glanced at Spike and smoothed down her hair.  "Giles, I'm going to do a
patrol."

Spike smirked as she slammed the door on her way out and turned his attention to the redhead still talking to Giles in the kitchen.

"Vanilla and raspberries...starting to become my favourite fragrances," he muttered to himself, grinning broadly, knowing that Buffy would never again use any vanilla
scented products with out thinking of Angel's love of a French whore.
 

Next