Chapter 8



Buffy landed with a loud groan and a splash, then she felt herself slipping into cold sticky, slimy mud.

Spike landed with a thud on hard ground.

“Urrgh! Bu-Buffy!”

He heard a gargling noise and Buffy desperately trying to breathe – she was choking and had begun to thrash and Spike managed to grab her hand and haul her towards him. The suction of the slimy wet mud had on her was almost too much, and as soon as he stopped pulling her, she soon began to slip back

“Baby – don’t thrash – let me…pull – UUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!” He panted hard, and pulled again, he was almost at his limit with sheer exhaustion, and then at last there was a sickening squelch, as finally the mud relinquished its hold on her and released her - she was free, and panting next to him

“What happened? - Babe…Buffy, love – Buffy – speak to me”

Spike frantically tried to feel for the torch, then his lighter, he flicked it open and lit it, holding it up in the air…

“Buffy?”

She was obviously out cold – cold being the operative word – this hole had never seen the sun – and suddenly a familiar odour reached his nostrils. Blood. Buffy’s blood.

“Oh Christ no, did it get you? Come on babe, let me look, where are you…oh FUCK!”

Spike, feeling up her leg, felt the entry wound – gingerly cupping his hand around the back of her thigh, he felt the exit wound too – the bullet had gone clean through her leg!

Seeing a small pool of water, Spike went over to it, turning game-face, he could see in the dark with his preternatural sight that it looked clean. He picked up his wife and gently laid her next to it, and began to wash the wound.

Buffy came to with a groan

“H-hurts – oh god Spike!”

“Shush, s’okay baby, I got you – ow!”

“What – “ Buffy reached for her torch and switched it on, then seeing it was covered in mud, she wiped it and trained the beam on her leg.

“Can you move it, pet?”

“OW - GODS that hurts!”

“Should think it does pet, went clean through your leg!”

“Well who’d leave a booby-trap like that?”

“Don’t know sweetheart…locals most probably – to catch that beastie – there………can you sit up, it might help stop the bleeding – besides, it’s crawling in here!”

Buffy managed to leaver herself up on her elbow and lean against the earth wall, bending her bad leg best she could.

“Oh god Spike…look at your hand!”

Spike’s hand where the snake had bitten him had swollen up, indeed, he could barely bend his fingers, and the flesh on is hand was going black………

“Spike – you really have to get the poison out!”

“All in good time babe, I want to see to you first!”

“I’ll be okay – my healing will kick in…let me suck the poison out of-“ Spike pulled his hand out of her grasp sharply and Buffy looked up slightly shocked

“NO! Babe, I know you’re only trying to help, but you can’t – you have split your lip, you can’t risk getting any of this venom in your bloodstream – it’d kill you”

Buffy patted her chest, and said

“Oh hell, the locator’s come off my top………the radio – oh Spike look – the radio it’s…”

“Kaput, yeah” Spike held up the radio cover with a few wires trailing from it – that’s all he could find.

“Has the weapon gone too?”

“I had to let go of it to try and scrabble out of the quagmire – oh boy, they’re gonna love me for loosing it!”

“Never mind that pet, you get some rest…you’ll heal quicker”

Spike lay down beside her, exhausted – he was starving hungry but couldn’t feed.

Buffy was cradled in his arms and closed her eyes, then she suddenly opened them in alarm and said,

“They won’t know where we are!”

“Don’t worry pet – we can get going soon, just rest a while hmm?”

She relaxed against him, and fell asleep, every part of her ached, and her leg hurt like no injury she’d had before – but she was comforted that Spike was next to her.


A few hours later Buffy woke – she was being dripped on, she realised that there must have been a rainstorm and the water was dripping off the large ferns that were still partially covering the whole above them.

She tried to straighten her leg, but it felt like she was being stabbed with red-hot knives, the pain was excruciating.

When her eyes got used to the dark, she located the torch and switched on.
Spike had his bad hand lying on his stomach, the flesh was turning black and his whole hand was swollen to about four times it’s usual size.

“Spike…Spike, babe, come on wake up….”

Eventually she got him to stir – she could tell in an instant something was wrong, he was very weak.

“Baby, when did you last feed hmm?”

“Huh? – um…blood-wise…day before yesterday”

“Spike! No wonder you’re weak, come on, here, I insist!”

She held her wrist up to his mouth, but Spike immediately turned away

“Can’t!”

“Yes you can – I’m already feeling a lot stronger – I didn’t loose that much blood”

“No Buffy, I CAN’T!”

“Spike, do I have to punch your demon out, coz –“

“Babe…listen to me – if I feed, it’ll re-animate my heart, it’ll send my circulation round, and then the snake venom will reach my heart – and kill me like it would kill you – paralysing all the muscles – I wouldn’t be able to feed – I’d just turn to dust in a few days”

“WHAT! Why didn’t you tell me this before! We’ve gotta get out of here!”

“That would be the plan, yeah – but I can’t do it kitten…I’m too weak and I’d only slow you down – you go…save yourself”

“What do you mean? Do you honestly think I’m leaving here without you?”

Spike’s voice got weaker

“You have to babe…look, remember one thing, I’ll always love you”

“Spike – shush! We’re going to get out of this”

Spike nodded slowly, and closed his eyes, he was totally exhausted

Buffy shifted herself to cradle his head against her chest and she kept kissing and stroking his hair as tears dripped down her face, she whispered,

“I won’t leave you, Spike – I won’t, I love you”

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

Cordelia laughed at the soldier’s little joke and placed her lunch, a bowl of soup in front of her.

Angel sat moodily drinking coffee, he didn’t like the way this soldier was ogling Cordelia…

Gunn was reading a newspaper, eating a sandwich.

“Could you pass me the – oh - OH – OH GOD Ahh!” Cordelia half stood, one hand went to her forehead, she had reached her arm out for the basket containing the bread rolls, but she suddenly had to grab the table to steady herself as a ‘vision’ came over her – it was blurry and it happened so fast, but she saw a close up of a snake, then there was a loud noise – falling…falling…a scream –

“CORDY!” Cordy swayed and her eyes rolled

Gunn dropped his paper and raced around the dining table to his colleague and friend.

Gently holding her shoulders Gunn managed to sit her down before she fell

“What is it, what’s wrong?” Riley asked concerned.

“Hold on, she’ll tell us when she’s ready…Cordy, you okay - would somebody get me some water please…come on love…” Gunn fanned her with a napkin

“Is it Buffy has something happened?” Riley looked worried

“I suggest you give her some air, let her breathe, she’ll soon tell us…here you go Cordy, take a sip of this………there” he put the glass of water on the table after holding it while she took a few mouthfuls.

Cordelia leant forward, elbow on her thigh, rubbing her forehead.

“Snake – a small one – poisonous then there was a loud noise”

“Noise? What kind of noise – could it be the beast do you think?” Riley asked, hovering over her

“Will you quit with the questions – man !” Gunn glared at Riley, then turned back to her

“Here you go, Cordy, have some more water…now when you’re ready”

“Falling…falling and falling the noise, screaming – I - I don’t…Buffy’s in trouble, serious trouble – they both are”

“Okay, but this noise – could it be another beast do you think?”

Gunn whirled around and glared at Riley again and said,

“What did I just tell you – she’ll tell us when she’s ready – can’t you see how much these visions take out of her, it’s not like watching a video you know!”

“I’m sorry, look, I’ll get onto base-camp right away” Riley went to lave the room, but was met by a soldier entering the dining room

“Sir!” the soldier snapped a smart salute, and then leant in and whispered conspiratorially to Riley

“Right, thankyou, I’ll be there directly”

“Everybody…can I have you attention please – (everybody looked expectantly at Riley, who continued) base-camp have just informed us that they have lost all contact with Buffy and Spike, no contact has been made for the last hour by either the radio or the satellite navigation system”

“So what happens now?” Angel asked

“Good question – we try and re-establish contact”

“And if you can’t?”

“Then I’ll have to get further orders from my superiors” Riley said

“Wrong answer soldier boy, we go look for them, that’s what!” Angel said incredulously

“I’ll have to see what – Angel, let go, roughing me up isn’t going to help!” Angel had grabbed Riley by the lapels of his combat jacket and hissed

“No, but it’ll make me feel a whole lot better – now you get and contact whoever it is you’ve got to contact – the rest of us – I suggest we get packed and ready to head on out” Angel said

“Where will you go?” Riley asked

“Base-camp 1 – where do you think?”

Chapter 9:

Chapter 9


Angel left, with Riley right on his heels – he banged open the fire doors, and checked to see it was dark enough for him to go outside.

“I don’t see what you think you can do by going out to the base-camp”

“At least I’ll be doing something” Angel said pointedly

Outside, three soldiers were taking their break, talking, standing next to a jeep.

Angel whistled, and the soldiers looked up at him.

“I want one of you to take me to the base-camp” none of the soldiers moved, but they looked towards the Captain for guidance.

“You could even hinder the proceedings!” Riley insisted. Angel faced Riley and said,

“What ‘proceedings? Look, captain, I suggest you get onto who ever it is you have to get on to, and get a search party organised. Meanwhile, I’M going to base-camp 1, comprendez?”

Riley and Angel glared at each other for a few seconds

Looking beyond Angel’s shoulder, Riley sighed, blew out his cheeks and nodded to the soldier whom he knew was the driver.

The soldier jumped into the jeep, and Angel opened the door and left without another word.

Riley turned to see a soldier coming towards him down the corridor, he stopped, snapped a smart salute and said,

“I have the colonel-in-chief on the phone for you in your office, sir”

“Thankyou – I shall come directly”

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


“Where is he, has Angel gone? – I should have gone with him, I might be able to see more if I’m in the jungle – or at least nearer to them, I could be of some use!” Cordelia said to Gunn and Wesley, who were looking at each other.


********

“……………………Yes sir, at eleven hundred hours this morning, they confirmed to me that the beast was dead………no sir, no problems at all, not that I’m aware of – the weapon worked fine……………just after lunch – base-camp radioed to say that they’d lost contact……………well sir, I want permission to set up a search party…………………but sir, they are civilians and - ……………………………………………………yes sir, I understand…………can I at least give them another four hours before we pull out sir? ……………………Um, four soldiers at the base-camp sir, and two colleagues of the two that have gone missing, the other three are here…………………yes sir, of course they were all given security clearance sir, they are classified themselves – the girl is the slayer……………………yes one was a woman, I thought that you were aware of………………yes sir, right away sir, good (click) bye, SIR - and three bloody bags full” Riley hung the phone up and pressed the buzzer on his desk.


A soldier came in and smartly saluted

“Sir?”

“Get those people together and we go to base-camp now, - and soldier”

“Sir?”

“If the colonel rings again, everybody has gone home as far as you know, okay?”

“Sir?” the soldier looked puzzled

“Look, the C-I-C has stated we are not to go searching for the lost civilians, and well………I’ve got to give them a few more hours, even if it IS going against his orders – they did us a great favour killing that beast, I think it’s the least we can do is to extend the search time by a few more hours”

“Sir, yes sir!”


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






“Spike…baby – you awake – Spike”

“Hmm?”

“Come on baby, can you stand – we really, REALLY need to get out of here”

With strength he didn’t know he possessed, Spike managed to get on all fours, then push up to standing position, swaying. Buffy leant him against the earth wall

“Right, can you try and lever me up with your good hand… and I’ll try to climb……………”


After a dozen exhaustive attempts, the roots that Buffy was pulling at to haul herself up the 20 foot drop just kept coming away in her hands, she couldn’t get a foothold on the earth wall, it just scraped off when she tried to get purchase on it with her foot.

Spike collapsed in a heap, he was totally wiped out and exhausted, he hadn’t got the strength to stand up anymore, let alone try and give Buffy a step and boost push up the wall so she could climb out. Buffy slid down the wall sobbing

“Spike! Baby I’m sorry…don’t leave me…I love you”

She felt his good hand give hers a slight squeeze

“Love you, kitten. Try and save yourself baby…I’m sorry I’m bloody useless to you”

“You’re NOT bloody useless – and I’m not going anywhere without you, do you hear me – we got into this together, we’ll get out of this together” **Or not** Buffy thought, but didn’t voice. She cradled Spikes head to her chest, kissing his soft damp hair.


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


“Well, I’M telling you to try AGAIN!”

“But it’s no good! I’ve been trying for the last five hours, and all I’m getting is this – static – they don’t reply!” the soldier said with exasperation to Angel, turning up the volume control on the radio – all that could be heard was static.

Angel walked away disgusted and noticed headlights coming towards them at the base-camp.

“Well thank goodness, here comes the cavalry – NOW something can get done, finally!” Angel said with as much sarcasm as he could muster. When he saw the ‘cavalry’ consisted of Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn and Riley, he frowned

“Where’s the rescue team?” Riley ignored Angel and went straight up to the radio operator, who was sitting in front of the radio transmitter with headphones on to try and catch the minutest of signals

“Anything?” the soldier looked ruefully up at his captain and just shook his head

Catching hold of Riley’s arm, Angel said firmly,

“I said, where’s the rescue team?”

Riley stopped, turned and said out loud,

“Okay people, listen up………” Everybody stopped what they were doing, and listened

Riley looked at his hands for a few seconds and said,

“I’ve been onto the colonel-in-chief…and I’m afraid you’re not going to like this, but he said……………he said, we can’t waste any more man-hours looking for them, when they are obviously dead, so I’m afraid we’ve got to pull out – I’m willing to give it a couple more hours, which could get me a court marshal if I’m found out, but-“

“Afraid we’re not going to like this? You bet your bottom dollar we don’t bloody well like this! There are two people out there – well one person and a – a nevermind – and as much as I don’t like Spike – he went with his – with Buffy, and you OWE THEM- do you hear me, YOU OWE THEM!” Angel strode forward towards Riley angrily until two soldiers drew their pistols and aimed at Angel

“Okay now sir, that’s far enough – we know you’re upset for your friends, but the Colonel knows what he is talking about”

Angel glared at the soldier, while Riley physically lowered the soldier’s guns trained on Angel, saying quietly to them,

“Believe me, it wouldn’t do any good. Angel – I know how you feel – I feel just as bad, REALLY I do, but it’s out of my hands now – and if the C-in-C found out I was here, well that would be my career up the-“

“You THINK, for one minute, that I, or any of us here give a TOSS about you stupid career, hmm, that we care at all, huh? – I CARE about Buffy, I CARE now that’s she done the dirty work for you, you are abandoning her and Spike – without so much as a backwards glance, a so long, or even a farewell, you’ve served your purpose – we don’t give as fuck what’s happened to-“

“ARRRGGGG!” All eyes turned to Cordelia, who was holding her forehead

“Cordy?” Wesley and Gunn both had an arm around her

“Time is running out…so…so weak I …………can’t try anymore………leg – ow, oh …………gods that hurts – wound, leg - ”

“Who hurts, Cordy – can you tell us?”

“It’s…um…I can’t – “ Suddenly in her vision, Cordelia saw a bush, a smoking gun, Buffy’s agonised face as she fell, clutching her thigh.

“It’s Buffy, she was shot in the leg”

“Who in the hell would do something like that? – Are there any locals out there?” Angel asked angrily

“No! Look, they don’t go in that part of the forest – ‘There be dragons’ is what they say – well, what it translates to” Riley stated

“So look, say if she was shot practically straight after they killed the beast, that was…(Giles checked his watch) – nearly nine hours ago now…her healing would have barely had a chance to kick in with a bullet wound”

“Who says it was a bullet wound? – It might have been Spike” Angel said

Giles and Wesley frowned

“What do you mean, it might have been Spike?”

“It might have been Spike, with that bloody laser gun!”

“Don’t be so stupid – you have to switch the thing on first, then you have to press a button and hold down a trigger too, you couldn’t do that by accident!”

“I bet Spike could…just a thought anyway” Angel said

“Man…I thought just for once he was on Spike’s side!” Gunn said quietly to Wesley

“Oh my god!”

“Cordy?” She was staring into nothing – still seemingly having visions

“Spike – his – Ew, his hand, it’s grotesque - it’s about this big and it’s a funny colour – it must have been him bitten by the snake!”

“Snake?”

“Yes! Snake, earlier on, my vision in the dining room – snake!”

“Well a snake bite shouldn’t bother him” Giles said

“Sir, there are many, MANY deadly poisonous snakes in the rainforest, if Spike’s been bitten, then I’m afraid he could be well dead by now!” One of the soldiers said

“No, you don’t understand, Spike’s already –“ Giles went to say ‘dead’ – until Wesley jumped in and said,

“Spike is already been given anti-venom – before he left, w-wasn’t he?”

Suddenly realising it would be for the best that these soldiers didn’t know they’d been working with a vampire – or a hostile 17 as they called them – Giles pretended to have ‘forgotten’ that information

“Course! Silly me! Now – what are we going to do – sit and wait it out?”

“Wait what out? – Sir, I know it’s hard, but it looks like our C in C is right, they are probably both dead – if Buffy was shot, then she most likely has died from blood loss”

Angel rounded on the soldier and said,

“Look, there are things you don’t know and couldn’t be expected to understand – but right at this minute, I know…I KNOW they are both alive”

“How, how can you possibly be sure?”

“I’d know…” Angel said, looking towards the dense undergrowth of the forest.

Riley’s radio beeped, he unclipped it and answered, walking off out of everybody’s earshot.

“Is he – I see, no, don’t worry, we’ll be there directly, over and out”

Riley walked back and said

“The colonel in chief is on his way to our head quarters, we have to go.” Angel went to say something, but Riley held his hand up and continued,

“I know nothing I’m going to say is going to convince you otherwise, so I shall leave you the basic equipment, one of the radios, and leave you to it, when he’s gone, I shall send the jeeps for you – most probably tomorrow evening. That’s the best I can do”

“That’s it, go then, scurry away with your tail between your legs – bloody coward!” Angel sneered.

“Look Angel, I’ve had about as much as I’m going to take from you, I’ve already put my career on the line just by being here, tell me, are YOU going to give me a job if this army career of mine goes down the pan, huh – no, thought not?”

Angel turned his head away, it was all he could do to look at the guy a second longer than he had to, let alone employ him!

Five minutes later, all the soldiers had left, leaving Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Giles and angel wondering what the in hell to do next………
 

Chapter 10:

Chapter 10


Buffy reached and caught the strap of her rucksack and pulled it towards her. She unzipped one of the side pockets, rootling around inside………it was in here somewhere………ah-ha! Her fingers closed around a small square of foil-covered chocolate. She took it out, peeled and began to eat – the sugar would give her some much-needed energy.

She closed her eyes and rested her head back, trying to get some semblance of order to her jumbled thoughts – she glanced at Spike, he didn’t look any different, hell, she could hardly see him, but she knew he wasn’t in good shape, she stroked his face gently.

Screwing the wrapper up she threw it down, and opened the main body of the bag, drew out the groundsheet and draped it over them, she then felt for the mini-medi-kit. She found the hypodermic needle and syringe in it’s sterile pack – she swallowed and ripped it open with her teeth, she took three deep breaths, she HATED needles, funny that, the slayer, not frightened by the ‘Godzilla’ like creature she slayed earlier, but show her a creepy-crawly or a needle and she was jellified!

She practically threw the needle like a dart into her wounded leg and depressed the plunger, sending the painkiller deep into her thigh muscle. She pulled it out and threw that across the space, where she heard it plop into the water.

Bending to kiss Spike’s forehead, she stroked his face gently again

“Soon be out of here baby” Spike didn’t reply She tried to squint to see his hand, she could see it was very swollen and tears came to her eyes – she didn’t know how long he’d got left – she was feeling guilty, Spike should have fed, but he put it off so he could do something for her, then they decided to press on – if he’d have fed, he’d have been stronger now………still, no use beating herself up over what might have beens, what’s done is done, can’t go back and change things now – if only he could feed without the poison in his hand moving Buffy thought, resting her head a while, while the painkiller kicked in…………………………


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


“Bastards, BASTARD!” Angel shouted, shaking his fist at the retreating Jeep with all the soldiers and Riley in it, as they headed for HQ.

“Calm down Angel, you loosing it isn’t going to help” Wesley said quietly

“Besides which, he said once the colonel has gone, he’ll-“ Gunn began

“I KNOW what he said, more than likely be too bloody late by then”

Giles looked ashen, he dropped down by a tree, head in his hands.

“It’s all my fault, I said she should do the job”

“Look, please, will everybody stop beating themselves up over who said what and did what and such, Buffy did the job, she knew what she was getting herself into – so did Spike – we should concentrate on how to get them out, that’s the most important thing” Everybody looked at Cordelia and nodded.

“Right then, can we first establish how long they’ve been missing”

“Nearly twelve hours since they slayed the beast and lost contact – it’ll be twelve hours in twenty minutes time” Giles said

“Okay, and how long do you think, would it be before Buffy’s healing thingy kicks in, hmm?” Cordelia asked

Giles shrugged and said,

“Well um, er – I always assumed that it began straight away. A cut that would last a week with us would be gone in an hour or so with Buffy”

“So what about a gunshot wound do you think?” Cordelia persisted

“Well, depends I suppose – what sort of shot, if the bullet was lodged in the wound in some way – it might have even shattered her bone – it could easily get infected, all that would hamper the healing process – something like that could take a couple of days easily. Then there’s the blood loss of course – if she was knocked out and Spike could get to her………”

“He’s injured too, don’t forget – you said something about his hand, Cordy?”

Cordelia pulled a face

“Hmm, looked awful the few seconds I visioned it…so that would slow down any rescue attempts on his part too”

“The stupid bastard idiot!” Angel spat out

Everybody looked at him

“What?” Angel asked frowning

“Who’s a stupid bastard idiot?”

“Bloody Spike of course, that’s who – I mean, I ask you – a stupid snake bite, what’s the big deal, not as like it could kill him! Angel said with disgust

“Now hold on Angel, we don’t know the circumstances, he might have been saving Buffy from getting bitten” Gunn said

“Yes, AND? – Poison isn’t going to kill him, is it – he’s already dead!” Angel reasoned

“There is a way it could, well, ‘kill him,’ if he fed after the bite – it would reanimate his heart, sending the poison round in his circulation – once it hit the heart muscles – that would be it! It would kill him like it would kill a human, except he wouldn’t be able to feed so he’d starve to death rather than a heart attack – but he’d still cease to exist” Wesley said

“And he obviously knows that, so if he HASN’T fed, he could be very weak – I bet that’s it – coupled with Buffy’s injury – that’s why they’re taking so long” Giles said panic-stricken.

“Giles, calm down, So, this is what we’ve got to go on, worst-case scenario:

Buffy with a serious gunshot wound, and Spike very weak from lack of feeding, which he can’t do because of the snake venom…” Cordelia sighed, things wasn’t looking good at all………

“Do you understand these at all – they’re the Global satellite pictures
they’re not a map as such, but the deeper the green colour, the deeper the depth of the rainforest”

Gunn unrolled three large sheets of paper, that were completely green in colour, varying from pale lime, to the deepest almost black

Wesley fixed the arc lamp over them so they could see better

“See, this is where those soldiers went missing…now there are some fairly mid-green area’s around there, that would mean you could see the sky if you looked up to the canopy of the forest…but see here and then again, over here, there are some almost black areas, that means the forest is virtually impenetrable by sunlight it goes so deep, a ravine…I’m worried that they may have stumbled on, and down one of those areas – in which case, it would be impossible to get them out” Wesley said

“So the colonel was right” Giles said softly

“Hey, none of that old man – come on, where’s your fighting spirit?” Gunn put his arm around Giles’ shoulders.

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

Buffy opened her eyes, and looked at her leg, the bullet-wound looked like a black hole, it was swollen still, but when she scratched the flesh with her finger, she couldn’t feel it! Good- that’s the exact thing she wanted. Reaching for the med-kit again, she began to rip open the four packs of bandages, she used three on her leg, and the other one she began to wind very tightly around Spike’s left wrist.

“Hmm…ba-babe…what are you doing?”

“Tourniquet – old fashioned remedy to stop bleeding – they don’t like to use it in this day and age, can cause damage to surrounding tissues – but I figure if you can feed just enough to get a little energy, without sending the poison around your – please Spike, please let me try!” Spike had taken his hand out of hers so she couldn’t wind the bandage.

“So that’s it is it, we just sit here and wait to die?” Buffy asked quietly

“Save yourself, kitten”

“I’ve TOLD you!” Buffy said angrily wiping her tears

Spike too got angry, and summoning up strength he didn’t know he had, he crawled slowly and reached for the machete, he wielded it above his head, and Buffy thought that he was going to kill her – to put a quick end to their misery. She didn’t flinch, she didn’t move a muscle she just closed her eyes and whispered ‘I love you’ – Spike bought the machete down and with clean accuracy, totally cleaved off his left hand

Buffy’s eyes, when she opened them nearly popped and she covered her mouth

Spike dropped the machete in stared at the bloody stump, swaying, before he fell in a crumpled heap.

Buffy quickly grabbed his arm and covered the stump with a dressing – it wasn’t bleeding, he had no circulation, but if she could get him to eat and stop him leaking out too much blood, they had a chance!
 

Chapter 11


“Babe, are you okay?” Spike asked

“ME? – Am *I* okay? I’m not the one whose just cut off my hand!” Buffy said incredulously

“S’only way Pet…now, can you pass me my rucksack, I’ve got a pack of blood in there”

“Here…any idea where my machete went?”

“Um…Yeah, it’s over there, look, the other side of that puddle – be careful though pet, it looks very boggy over there”

Spike turned game face, pierced the blood-bag with his fangs, then threw it against the wall, wretching

“Ew, EW! It’s congealed, yuck! Spike spat out what he could,

Without a second thought, Buffy exposed her neck

“Come on baby, take a drop or too, you need the strength – I’ve more than made up what I lost by now, it’s been over twelve hours”

“Are you sure?!”

“Course! Besides which, if we don’t make it back to base-camp within 3 hours, I reckon you might have to carry me – so do as you’re told, feed!”

“I love it when you’re all dominant!”

“Pervert!”

“Babe…”

“Spike, I love you, trust you – you’re my husband”


Spike felt his stomach back flip and he homed in, not on her neck, but her mouth…

“Baby…we’re wasting time!”

“Sorry, couldn’t resist. Yes – okay I won’t hurt you, princess”

“I know” She reached and cupped his cheek, leaning her head again so he could bite with ease

As soon as Spike tasted her ambrosial fluid coursing through his veins, he felt the renewed vigour flow through him – tired limbs become rejuvenated. He was careful to stop at a pint – he wouldn’t take anymore, even though he knew she was fit enough for him to take double that amount – he would only take what he thought of as sufficient – if need be in a few hours he could take a nip more if necessary.

“Sure you’ve…”

Spike kissed the wound after licking them, giving her a squeeze and a hug.

“I can have a nip more if need be later, kitten…now how do we get out?”

“Well, first, we do this!” Buffy ripped the groundsheet into five just over a foot wide strips, then she knotted them together, leaving her with a ‘rope’ (taking into consideration how much the knots took up) just about twenty feet long.

“Then, I get the machete’s, and do this!”

She stabbed one of the knives into the earth, creating a foothold, with the other knife, she stabbed about chest height, limbered herself up and used it too, as a foot-hold for the other foot, before reaching and pulling out the first knife, and stabbing that into the earth above her.

She was soon over half way up the earth wall, there was some liana’s draping down, and she used them to leaver herself up.

Spike cradled his stump towards his chest, and tied, with a little difficulty, a triangular bandage creating a sling. He picked up the swollen hand and shoved it un-ceremoniously into his rucksack, put it over his shoulder and waited until Buffy was up and out of the hole.

Buffy allowed herself two seconds on her back, panting and grinning that she was free, before she quickly stood, unfurled the homemade rope and let it down for Spike.

Spike’s feet barely touched the wall as Buffy hauled him up and out of the hole

Spike switched his torch on, pleased to see it was working.

“Come on babe – lets see if we can see the trail we made when we came in here…”

“Spike, be careful…don’t you think we should hole up for a few hours?” Buffy straightened and tidied his triangular bandage sling for him.

“Nope- I’ve got the smell of safety in my nostrils…I want out, ready?” Buffy grinned took the torch off him, held onto his empty sleeve and told him she was right with him!


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


“All I’m saying is, it won’t do any good any of us tearing off into the pitch black, that’s all, they’ve got themselves into difficulty during the hours of daylight, imagine what it would be if you couldn’t see a hand in front of your face!” Wesley tried to reason with Angel, who, wanted to trek off in search.

“He’s right Angel - there’s all sorts of ravines, traps, booby traps and all sorts - better to wait until we can see what we are up against first” Gunn said.

“But…well, it’s another 6 hours before it officially gets light – to me, that’s six hours wasted!”

“Angel…we don’t want to have to send a search party out for you too – going out there now would be a suicide mission, trust me”

Angel ran a hand over his face, rubbing, before nodding his head

“Yeah…yes I suppose you’re right – but look, I suggest we build the biggest fire we can, it might give them a beacon if they can over-come their troubles”

“That’s the spirit, big fire we can do!” Gunn slapped Angel on the back calling him to collect as much dry wood as he could for kindling to start the fire.


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


“Hmm, not much, is it?” Gunn frowned forlornly at the meagre pile of ‘dry kindling’ with which to build the ‘beacon-mega-fire’

“Well YOU try then – hello, it’s a RAIN forest – everything is wet!

“Look, go and…go and see if the radio’s working yet or something” Wesley said, just to get Angel out of the way.

“Who wants what, or shall I just whack it all in together?” Giles asked, looking at the packets of dried food.

“Mix it all up – what is there?” Cordelia asked

“Chili-con-carne…beef curry, and um…lamb casserole – all served with long grain rice”

“Yeah mix it, it’ll be curried lamb and beef with red kidney beans…different!” Cordelia said

Angel dropped another dry branch next to where Gunn was kneeling, building the fire.

“Wish that bloody – what is it Spike calls him? The ‘over-grown hall monitor’ was here, I’d put him on the bonfire” Angel grouched

Gunn rolled his eyes, and continued to layer kindling sticks.

“Hey, look what I’ve found, the trash from the soldiers stay here, it’s dry and should burn okay” Wesley pushed a metal container towards Gunn – Angel saw this and went to help. There was a fair amount of burnable rubbish

“Great, anything papery, put underneath, in the middle – these cardboard tubes should burn like sticks as they are thick…what was on them?”

“This thin orange rope stuff holding up the tarpaulins”

“Well stack then round the edge…okay, I’m going to light it now………”

The smell of food wafted from the small camping stoves, and there was a nice fire going, Wesley got water and they made tea – things didn’t seem so bad – except Angel, who didn’t eat and wouldn’t drink tea, stood off staring at the jungle, every so often he turned game-face to see if his enhanced hearing could detect anything, but it was nigh-on impossible with all the night jungle sounds.


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



Buffy’s arm ached a little where she had to slash away at the vines, and Spike volunteered to take over.

“But, you need to hold the torch too, it’s okay, I’ll carry on”

“Tell you what…give me the torch…” Buffy passed it across to Spike, who ripped some of the ground-sheet rope they’d made earlier and tied the torch to his head.

“There you go, problem solved!” Buffy smiled, took hold of his sleeve again and this time, Spike lead the way.

After another ten minutes, Spike slashed and said,

“Buffy, babe, look!”

“What? – What is it?”

“THIS looks like that clearing we crawled to, when you had that encounter with Mr Anaconda, I’m pretty sure it is………”

Buffy peered into the darkness, then she grinned

“YES LOOK! – Over there! There’s our trail across the way – see all those slashed vines and flattened earth – Oh Spike! We’re on the right track!”

Spike grinned at his wife, gave her a smacking kiss, bumping her forehead with the torch that set them both giggling!

This little victory gladdened their hearts and their weary steps took on a newfound spring as they both strode over to their old trail.

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


Gunn scraped the last bit of sauce up with the last spoonful of rice and sat back

“Well, that was different!”

“Tasty enough………I wonder how they are?” Cordelia was staring into the flames, her dish of food still only half eaten.

“Who, Buffy and Spike? – Don’t know…Angel seems to feel that they are both still alive – well he did. What’s that all about, blind faith or is it some vampire thing, do you think?”

Cordelia shrugged and said

“I don’t know”

The radio crackled into life

“Base-camp one, this is HQ, come in please”

Giles stood and went to the radio, pressed the call button and spoke
“We’re here, what do you want? Um – over?”

“How are things, any sign of them? Captain Finn asked me to call – he’s still in with the colonel – he thinks you’ve gone home, over”

“What does he want?” Angel asked glaring at Giles

“Angel shush, just them wanting to know if there’s any sign of them, that’s all”

“Tell them to…to get lost!” Angel sauntered back to where he’d been standing and brooding

“HQ We’ll let you know the minute we know anything okay – over”

“Okay base-camp – try and build as big a fire as you can, you’ll find some trash that’s covered you can burn, and –“

“We found it, we don’t NEED your help!” Angel shouted

Giles rolled his eyes and continued to listen

“There is some dry wood under the groundsheets, over”

“Right, well thanks, we’ll let you know if there’s any development, over”

“Night then base-camp, over”

“Yeah, night HQ” Giles put the radio down and said to Gunn

“They told me that there was dry wood under the groundsheets” Gunn followed Giles to the tarpaulin covered area, pulled back the groundsheets and found a nice big pile.

“Great, I can really build it up, it’ll last well into the morning now”


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


Spike stopped walking, Buffy looked at him, they could both hear a grunting, rutting noise

“What is that?”

“Probably just some sort of wild pig…hold on to this for me” Spike passed her his machete while he bent down and scrabbled in the undergrowth for something to throw at the creature to frighten it away. His fingers closed around something the size of an apple – probably a seedpod of some kind.

He took aim towards the noise, threw the missile and shouted,

“WHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Whatever it was took off, and grinning Spike held his hand out for the machete, which Buffy passed to him. He looked up towards the canopy

“It’s getting lighter and……………(he turned game face) can you smell that?”

Buffy took a deep sniff, and said,

“Smell what?”

With a grin Spike morphed back to his human guise and said,

“Wood smoke…I can smell wood smoke, come on pet, with any luck, we should make it back to base camp before dawn!”

Chapter 12


Buffy’s leg was aching, and Spike was beginning to flag, his steps weary, but all of a sudden Buffy said,

“I can smell the smoke!”

Spike turned and smiled at her

“Nearly there pet!”

Two minutes later the smell of smoke was really strong, and Spike yelled out,

“HELL-OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Buffy did the same, and Angel woke with a start, scrambling out of his hammock, everybody else was sound asleep.

“HELLO?” Angel yelled back

Spike grinned and said to Buffy,

“Never thought I’d be so pleased to hear Peaches in all my existence!”

“Everybody, quick, there here – there back, Gunn, wake up – Giles, GILES!”

“Huh, wha- oh!” Giles woke and groggily swung his legs over the side of the hammock

“HELLO – HELLO?” Angel called again, peering into the half-light, and he saw the vines shake and Buffy and Spike stepped through

“BUFFY! Oh gods, Buffy – I’ve been SO worried about you!” Buffy found herself squashed to Angel’s chest in a bear-hug. Angel looked down, and saw the fresh bite-mark on her neck, suddenly held her away from him by the shoulders and then marched up to Spike

“You BLOODY ANIMAL! I can’t believe – my god – there’ just no words to describe you! – I ought to, in fact I think I WILL knock your block off - how COULD you bite her when she has a gunshot wound and had already lost pints of blood!

“Hey, HEY!” Spike held his arms up to cover his face from the blows that rained down, then Angel suddenly saw Spike’s stump instead of his hand.

“ANGEL!” Angel was suddenly aware that he was, 1. On the ground, 2. Had a pain in his jaw, and 3. Was in actual fact, seeing stars, with Buffy glaring daggers at him

“How DARE you! When you don’t even know the circumstances! And, and what gives you the right to – to say what goes on between a husband and wife, hmm?”

Gunn sauntered over, offered a hand to Angel, but he stood without help, and rubbed his jaw, looking rueful.

“You know mate, Buffy has a point! You can’t leave well alone, can you?”

He watched as Giles hesitantly stood in front of Buffy, wondering whether to hug her or not, as it happened, she solved the problem and gently pressed her cheek to Giles’ own for a few seconds.


“Buffy it’s so good to…I wish I’d never…I’m SO sorry that I…will you ever forgive me?”

Giles took off his glasses and began a swift agitated polish of the lenses.

Wesley came over to Spike, and looked at his stump

“Buffy was shot, and you, snakebite, right? – And you couldn’t feed?” Spike just nodded

“As we thought, well that’s how Cordelia saw it; so you just lopped it off? Well, well no worries old man, Fred will sort you out when we get back to LA, you’ll be as right as nine-pence in no time”

“Fred, who’s he?”

“Fred isn’t a he, she’s a she, and a very nice she too, she’s our science girl – you DID bring the hand with you?”

“Course I did, it’s in my rucksack”

“Good…well, like I say, don’t worry, she’ll sort it all out for you!”

“Thanks” Spike mumbled walking over to his wife.

“That leg of yours pet, needs seeing to, it could be infected”

“Yes I know, Giles said as soon as we get back to HQ, he’ll get the doc to have a look at it for me”

“Spike, how are you?”

“I’m okay, tired, starving, but I’ll last!”

Giles nodded, noticing his stump

“Oh god, you cut it off?”

“Had to, to feed, I needed the energy – no other alternative. Buffy was going to try a tourniquet, but there was a chance that some of the venom, you know, could have got in my bloodstream!” Giles nodded

“Hello, hello, anybody there, hello – somebody answer me”

Everybody looked over to Cordelia, who was trying to get the radio to work

“Press the button in on the side…yeah, that’s it” Giles said

“Hello, it’s us, somebody speak to me – hello”

“HQ to base-camp 1 receiving you, what can we do for you, over?”

“You can come and get us, ALL of us, they’re back – and we’ll need a medical team”

She released the button to hear what was said, but nobody replied

“Hello – did you hear me?”

“Loud and clear base-camp, was waiting for you to say over, over”

“Over, over? Oh I see sorry, over”

“There will be somebody with you within the hour, over”

“Tell them to be quick about it, coz it’s raining AGAIN!” Gunn yelled.

Cordelia put the radio down, and the camp suddenly became a hive of activity, Buffy and Spike sat on a groundsheet under a tarpaulin to save getting wet while the others packed up the things.


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


They reached HQ and both the hero’s were taken to the medical ward, where Spike had his stump washed and dressed, and Buffy got her wound cleaned and had an anti-biotic shot to be on the safe-side. Twenty minutes later, they were in Riley’s office, he was sitting behind his desk listening to Spike rant…………

“Typical!” he paced the floor, while Buffy sat.

“Bloody typical of you double-crossing, yellow-bellied, poor excuse of an out fit you really are- not even sending a search party!”

“Like I told the others, it was out of my hands, the colonel said –“

“The colonel said, the colonel said! Well I’ll tell you what you can tell your bloody colonel when you see him again, you can tell him next time he wants any bloody dirty work doing, to look else where, coz neither the slayer or me will be willing to risk anything like this again, that’s what you can tell him!”

“He thought you were dead!” Was Riley’s feeble excuse

“I was dead, I AM dead! That’s not the point! He obviously doesn’t know what the special circumstances are with us, why has nobody told him?”

“It wouldn’t have made any difference…he’d have only then said, well, if two ‘super-beings’ like that are lost – then what chance does anybody else stand, and he STILL wouldn’t have sanctioned a search party – so you see-“

“NO! – YOU see! This is the last time Finn! I MEAN it! No more calling on Buffy because you know her powers or you think she owes you something, I won’t have my wife put in any more danger by you or any other bunch of prats who do nothing more than sit behind poncey desks making life or death decisions about everybody else – do you understand me?”

“Well, yes, but knowing Buffy as I do, I know that she’s her own woman, and I imagine that she doesn’t appreciate you dictating to me what she will or will not do in the future”

Spike looked at Buffy, who was looking at her bandaged leg, she held her hand out to Spike, stood and said,

“Riley, you like to THINK you know me, but you don’t know me at all – EVERYTHING that Spike just said, I agree with 100% - find yourself some other suckers, coz these two have had MORE than enough – shall we go babe?”

Spike grinned and held open the door for his wife and they both left. Riley dropped his pen on his jotter thinking just how much Buffy had changed…

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



Following day, back in LA, Wolfram and Hart


Spike was sitting on a medical trolley, Buffy next to him. On a large medical tray, Fred had Spike’s hand hooked up to all sorts of tubes and wires, it was back to the right colour and size, ready for reattaching.

“I got what venom out I could just by squeezing at first, then I used a special vacuum-pump, then I’ve run two lines of anti-venom through, that’s when the colour came back and the swelling went down, and just to be safe, I’ve run two pints of blood through it and flushed it away, now, I’ll give you a shot of anti-venom, and then I can start to reattach it, okay?”

Fred smiled at them, and they both beamed back at her.

“So pet, what’s a nice girl like you doing working for a wanker like Angel?”

Fred giggled and told them all about Lorne and his home-planet Pylea, and the ‘hot-spot’ vortex they came through and brought her back.

“This is going to take a while, are you sure you don’t want to be knocked out – it’s seems strange having the patient awake!”

“I’m fine – fascinated in fact!”

“Baby, mind if I go to talk to Cordelia, I’ll come back later”

“Sure babe, you go” Buffy gave Spike a kiss and left.

“So, gonna tell me who floats your boat here? – I know Wesley spoke of you in glowing terms yesterday” Spike teased

Fred went all shades of red and giggled

“Wes – no! He’s…he’s just a friend!”

“That’s how the best relationships start pet – being friends!”

“Now sit still…this bit is delicate, I’m sewing together nerve endings…”

Fred studied what she was doing under the big electro-microscope that magnified everything X 50 so she could see easily.

“Nice clean cut, anyway”

“Yeah, I used a machete – just wham there it was on the end of my arm – then it wasn’t”

“You were brave!”

“Well it was either that, or not existing anymore, AND leaving Buffy to the mercy of the rain-forest too – I couldn’t have my girl perish, not for a bunch of ingrates like the Initiative”

“I couldn’t believe it when Cordy told me they wouldn’t send a search party out for you………”

Two hours later


“There – embroidery was never my forte, but I think that looks neat, even if I do say so myself!” Fred dropped the suture needle into the kidney bowl and put it on the trolley

“Now, it’ll need a pressure bandage to stop swelling but as you don’t have a permanent circulation, I don’t envisage any problems. You can take it off tomorrow – and you can feed as normal – so, how does it feel?”

“Little numb – but great – you’re one terrific lady, do you know that?”

Buffy knocked and entered the medical room to see Fred blushing

She came and stood by Spike automatically holding his hand.

“I was just telling Fred here what a terrific lady she is!”

“Oh yes, all done then I see?” Buffy said smiling

Spike held up his bandaged arm

“Good as new”

“Thankyou Fred” Buffy said

“You’re very welcome!”

Giles knocked and waited for the ‘come in’

“All done then Spike?”

“Yup – we can go as soon as you like”

“What about the stitches Fred, when will they have to come out?”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ve used special melting ones”

“Great – well, thanks again love!” Spike leaned over and kissed her cheek, Fred went red, and Spike teased

“And don’t worry, you’re secret desires are safe with me!”

Fred blushed beet red and Buffy laughed, shook her head and popped Spike gently on his bicep

“Stop teasing her…” When they’d got out of ear/eye shot of the medical lab, Buffy said,

“Well, come on then, who gives her the hots?”

“Can’t tell you, I promised to keep it a secret!”



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


Standing in the foyer everyone said goodbye

Angel was standing with his arms crossed, brooding. He had a big bluish bruise on his cheek from the previous day when Buffy had hit him, and he hadn’t spoken to Buffy since then. He’d tried to say something to her at dinner, but Buffy just turned her head away and started to talk to Gunn instead.

“Buffy…please don’t go like this”

“Like what?”

“This…us not speaking, I realise now that I reacted badly to a situation that I saw was wrong”

“And?”

“And? – And what?”

“Well if this is an apology, I haven’t heard the word yet”

Angel took a deep breath and said,

“I reacted badly to a situation I couldn’t and didn’t fully comprehend at the time – and I don’t want you to leave with us not being friends”

“Say sorry” Cordelia hissed at him, but Angel chose to ignore her.

“Bye all” Buffy turned and Angel said

“Wait!”

With a sigh, Buffy turned and said,

“Angel…it’s Spike you have to apologise to, not me”

Angel spluttered and uncrossed his arms, jabbing the air

“The day I apologise to HIM – is the day I’ll-“

“Is the day I’ll deign to speak to you, and until then... May I remind you, many MANY moons ago, I allowed you to feed from me to cure you? And I did the same for Spike, different circumstances, granted, but same outcome, it spared his existence.

Now when we first came here, I seem to remember you going ape-shit at Spike for the predicament you found yourself in, eg; being caught dressed up in female attire, and for some unknown reason, you thought it was down to Spike, and Spike said to you, it’s about time you started to take responsibility for your own actions, it’s never YOUR fault is it, it’s always somebody else’s, well not this time Angel, we’ve both had more than enough”

Buffy left behind everybody else, without so much as a backwards glance, Spike didn’t know how he kept the smirk off his face!

Cordelia looked at Angel and said sadly

“All you had to do, was to say sorry – that was all – one little word to Spike, but no, you’d rather blow your friendship with her because of this vendetta you have with Spike – you REALLY ought to learn to grow up Angel” Cordy ran up the stairs, leaving Angel feeling a prize prat…
 

Chapter 13:

Buffy almost collapsed through the front door, threw herself onto the sofa. Spike closed the door quietly and looked up the stairs and then into the lounge – they were sights he thought he wouldn’t see again at one point in the jungle.

“You okay Kitten, want some tea or something?”

“No thanks, what I want, is a hot bath, and our bed, and you”

“Sounds good to me kitten!”

“Spike”

“Yes pet?”

“It’s good to be home, isn’t it!”

“Sure is babe”

Spike sat down carefully and looked at Buffy. She had her head back, eyes closed. Spike licked his lips, looked at his bandage hand, took a deep breath, and taking his courage into both hands he said,

“Um, babe”

Without opening her eyes, Buffy just said, ‘Hmm?’

“I’ve um…I got a confession to make – well sort of – well it IS a confession. I want to come clean about something”

Buffy cracked one eye open, and Spike’s stomach back-flipped – he knew that look – well half look as it was only one eye, but all the same…

“Go on” Buffy said in an even tone

“It’s…it’s about Angel, and him being dressed up, and that video”

“Go on” Buffy repeated

“I DID have something to do with it – well not physically, I didn’t dress him up, but-“

“But it was your idea?” Buffy said, she was wide-awake now, and sitting up.

Spike looked at her, like a little boy lost, all big eyes and remorse, he just nodded and looked down at his hand again

Buffy grinned

“I know”

Spike looked up sharply

“You know? How do you know – when did you…” Spike stopped waffling and began to smile

“Well, for one, you were FAR too careful the way you worded what you said to me………

“Uh?”

“Well, when you said to me, ‘ I swear to you, I had nothing to do with him being dressed like that’ meant just that – you were innocent of putting the clothes on him – I know when your lying – and I knew you were telling the truth. Just because you didn’t actually physically dress him up didn’t mean it wasn’t your idea. I take it, it was at Willy’s bar?”

“Yeah, yes it was – when I went to investigate what was making everybody drunk – I saw something a the back of the place, by the empty bottle store two people in white anti-contamination suits combing ‘cousin it’ – the Inebris…when I went to question Willy I could hear strippers music – he’d got a gig on in the function room”

“I see – and you told him, what?”

“I suggested that I’d got this acquaintance, Angel, and he was shy – and how he’d love to be a part of the show…if only he could over-come his nerves…I then suggested to Willy that Angel could be made to over-come his nerves with the help of the Inebris…then, maybe he would like to, you know, perhaps be dressed up – the full works…make-up the lot…and then I suggested that he’d like to have a video taken of the event…”

“And I presume you ‘suggested’ this to Willy under certain duress?”

“The usual, uh huh, got him by the shirt front, threatened his manhood and his bar, you know the routine with Willy” Buffy nodded and stood.

Spike still sat, and guiltily said,

“Are you mad at me?”

“Mad at you, am I mad at you?” Buffy had her ‘angry’ look, which instantly melted when Spike looked up forlornly at her

“I only wish you could have got Riley in on the act too! – Come here you silly old thing!”

Relieved beyond belief, Spike was in her arms in a trice, cuddling her up.

Buffy leaned out of the embrace a little and held Spike’s face gently

“You forgive me then?” Spike asked hopefully, and Buffy giggled, replying,

“There’s nothing to forgive – it was about time you got one over on him – pompous dickhead he is! – So…what made you ‘fess up now?”

“Didn’t want to be any secrets between us” Spike said simply, and Buffy smiled and gave him a big kiss and then whispered,

“Let’s go and have that bath, hmm?”

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



Buffy groaned with delight as Spike (who was sitting behind her) squeezed out the contents of the soapy sponge down over her shoulders and back, then made gentle circular movements with it over her skin.

“Oh that’s good…I was wondering if we’d ever do this again” Buffy said, leaning back into Spike’s chest.

Spike dropped a light kiss on her soapy wet shoulder and whispered, ‘me too’.

“How’s the leg?”

“Well, the bullet-hole is just a slightly pink mark, ‘bout the size of a dollar, look” She raised her leg out of the bath

“Good”

“How’s the hand?”

“See for yourself – the stitches have melted, I have full movement…see!” Spike cheekily slipped his hand around her and cupped her breast, making Buffy wide eyed with delight

“Oh!”

“How about if we………”

“You read my mind, kitten!”

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


“Oh yes, oh god, don’t stop – don’t stop – ah – aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! – SPIKE” she felt him swell and flood her with his cool essence

Spike collapsed grinning, and carefully rolled off her.

Buffy lay panting.

“Oh god, I’ve missed that so much!”

Spike turned on his side and propped his head up on his hand.

“I thought, we could spend all day in bed”

“Did you now?”

“Uh huh, then, we could send out for pizza and ice-cream, watch a couple of DVD’s, then have an early night! – How does that sound?”

“Absolutely perfect, except for one thing”

“What’s that kitten?”

“Patrol”

“All taken care of”

“Really?” Buffy too turned on her side and faced her hubby

“Yup – I said to Giles, after what we’ve been through we could do with a day/night off, and he agreed”

“You didn’t have him by the shirt-front, did you – you know, a la Willy?”

Spike smiled

“No, nothing like that pet, scouts honour!”

“YOU a boy scout – do me a favour!” Buffy began to giggle as Spike began to tickle her

“And what’s wrong with me once being a boy-scout? – I could have ‘dib-dib-dibbed’ with the best of them – and I’d have kept my woggle clean!”

“THAT sounds disgusting!” Buffy said wide-eyed and still laughing

“Ha, well shows you what YOU know! A woggle is what a scout fastens his tie with round his neck!”

Buffy pushed him onto his back, slid her hand down over his hard lean stomach and gently cupped his balls, rolling them before moving her hand up to hold his rapidly hardening cock.

Spike instantly forgot all coherent thought

“Well…at girl-guides………they always taught us…(she slipped down, under the covers) to ‘Be Prepared’

Spike’s neck arched as her soft warm lips closed over and slid down his monster sized erection, his hand went to her hair as Buffy pumped and sucked him to a shuddering climax – a few second’s recovery time for him then Buffy found herself on her back, with Spike’s head between her thighs, teasing, growling and lightly nipping her until she begged him to touch her properly.

Obliging his lady wife, Spike had her crying out with a tooth-rattling orgasm within minutes, and bringing her close to the edge of another, before he lithely slid up her body and entered her hot depths, expertly bringing them both to a tremendous simultaneous orgasm that left them both exhausted. They snuggled down, and fell into a dreamless sleep, safe in the knowledge that, for now at least, nothing could touch them.

The End