Blue Horizons
Chapter Twenty-Five
Elizabeth awoke before the sun rose on Christmas morning to one of those very rare occasions where Spike had awakened before her. More specifically, he had awakened before her and was feeling very naughty.
She gasped into consciousness just as he entered her, feeling him slip all the way inside right up to the hilt. His hand pressed flat against her stomach, holding her back against his chest to increase the depths of his thrusts from behind. She practically melted in response, just lying there on her side and letting him turn her entire body to Jell-O. This was how every Christmas should begin…
His lips drifted to her ear, and he began to whisper sweet nothings to her as he licked and nibbled at the sensitive lobe. She reached one hand back to tangle in his platinum hair, holding him close, wanting to touch every bit of him as she…
Her climax was gentle and slow, like the feel of warm ocean waves wrapping around you, surrounding gradually and easily. His name escaped her lips in a prayer of fervent supplication as the tide receded once more, and they fell back to earth together.
She twisted in his arms to face him once he slipped out of her and caught him in a passionate kiss, tasting him for all he was worth. It was quite a while before they pulled apart, gasping for breath, both still high on the pleasure they’d shared. Elizabeth looked up at him from under long eyelashes and smiled. Everything about him was so…she just…he was…
Simply. Breathtaking.
“Santa saw that, you know,” she couldn’t help but tease. “Now he knows what a naughty boy you are.” She flicked the pad of her finger against the tip of his nose. “No presents for you,” she taunted.
His eyes narrowed at he let out a sexy little growl that made her hot for him all over again. “Already got my present,” he countered with a self-satisfied smirk. “Besides,” he leaned in to nibble on her shoulder, “’m not the only one who’s been naughty…”
“Mmm,” she murmured in agreement. “Coal in my stocking, too, then.”
“Was it worth it?” he asked with a little smile.
She pretended to consider this for a moment, not wanting to give that ego of his too much of a boost. “Maybe,” she finally decided with a sly smile, “let me check one more time, just to be sure.”
He rolled willingly with her when she tackled him back onto the mattress, allowing his wrists to be pinned up above his head. The gaze that looked up at her was hungry, usually blue eyes darkened completely to black in his desire for her.
She slid her body sensuously along the length of his, only the thin cotton of the gray T-shirt that she wore separating them. The hardened buds of her nipples pressed into him through the material as her chest flattened against his harder one. If anything, the tortuous separation made their touch seem even more erotic.
“Elizabeth…” he whispered raggedly, eyes never leaving her face.
“William…” she breathed out just as slowly, running the rarely-used syllables of his real name over her tongue like an exotic wine to be savored.
“Luv, please…” He was hard and trembling against her, his entire body shaking with the need to be deep inside her once more.
On other days, she might have teased him a bit more, but they had been separated for almost a week due to her stupid biological cycle and, plus, it was Christmas.
“Merry Christmas, baby,” she soothed, slowly lowering herself down onto him. Her inner walls stretched slowly outward, accommodating the swollen head of his length as it pierced ever closer to her womb.
He hissed and tried to buck up into her, but her thighs held him tightly in place.
“Shh, I’ve got you, luv,” she whispered softly, gently beginning to rock against him, a fire flaring deep in her belly where he struck her sweet spot. “I’ll take such good care of you…” She leaned over him fully to steal a kiss from his parted lips, enjoying the way he whimpered against her tongue. She couldn’t even begin to describe how wonderful this was, knowing that he wanted her this much, that he was all hers…
“’Lizabeth…” The name sounded divine as it slipped past his lips, the heat of his exhalation warming her own lips.
“Spike.” She feasted on his mouth as he came within her, her fingers clutching his hair in an effort to pull him even closer. Her own internal muscles clenched around him, trapping him within her and milking as much pleasure from their coupling as they could.
She collapsed on his chest when their climaxes had finally passed, her body limp, spent, completely satisfied and relaxed.
He held her tight and stroked her hair for a minute before tilting her chin so that she was looking right into his eyes. She felt herself drowning in those deep blue pools, the emotions there more powerful than mere words could express. For a moment, it frightened her in its intensity, and then she remembered that this was Spike and her, and it was all, oh, so right…
“We better go downstairs before Dad comes up here,” he said regretfully. “Never can wait to open his presents.”
Elizabeth smiled at that. “He’s just a big kid, isn’t he?” she joked slightly, ruffling his platinum curls. “Just like his son.”
A wide smile spread across Spike’s face at that. “You tellin’ me you can wait?” he countered.
“Humph,” she mock-pouted. “What happened to ‘I already got my present’?” she demanded.
“You sayin’ you didn’t enjoy yours?” His lower lip jutted out in a way that indicated all too clearly that there was only one way she could answer that question and leave his manhood intact.
“Mmm, Spike…” She nuzzled his throat affectionately. “Exactly what I wanted…”
He wrapped his arms around her in response, holding her close for a minute, just relishing the feel of her body and the scent of her shampoo and the warmth of-
“Will, are you up?” A banging started on the door, accompanied by what sounded like Giles’ voice only…giddy?
“Your Dad sounds…” Elizabeth began.
“’m up!” Spike called out instantly, not wanting the nightmare of his father catching them in bed naked to become a reality. “We’re coming right down!”
“I shall burst right in if you’re not downstairs in five minutes,” Giles threatened before his footsteps could be heard going downstairs.
“…hyper,” Elizabeth finished with a shudder. “I’m about to be scarred for life, amn’t I?”
Spike nodded vigorously, his own eyes wide with mock-horror as he scrambled to get dressed. Elizabeth hastened to follow him since certain of her nightmares centered on Giles storming in on them while naked as well.
They exchanged a conspiratorial smile when they had both slipped into their official ‘sleep clothes’ before racing for the door to see who could get downstairs first…
* * *
“Eee! Thank you!” Dawn squealed, practically choking Elizabeth with the force of her hug.
“It’s just a sweater,” Elizabeth felt obliged to point out, giving Spike a dirty look as he laughed at her.
“Yeah, but it’s actually my size. And not hideous,” Dawn pointed out.
Elizabeth couldn’t help but grimace at that. Ah, the trademark of a Hank Summers gift, indicating all too clearly that he had no clue what his daughters’ tastes were or even roughly what size they were. Elizabeth still shuddered at the memory of the one year he’d come to the rather strange conclusion that she was a size 16.
“So, whose turn is it now?” Dawn asked happily, looking around at the gifts that still lay around them.
“It’s been a while since Rupert’s gone,” Joyce kindly pointed out. Giles had been demonstrating admirably just where Spike had picked up all of his impatient habits.
Giles practically leapt upon a package from Joyce, ripping the wrapping paper to shreds with such violent ferocity that Elizabeth buried herself in Spike’s arms from fright. Well, OK, yes, she actually buried herself in his arms because she wanted to snuggle, but the ferocious Giles’ unwrapping was deemed a viable excuse by all others present.
“You shouldn’t have…” Giles stared at the small stuffed zebra before him in wonder.
“Bet you didn’t think I remembered, huh?” Joyce jabbed him playfully in the side.
Giles caught her up in his arms in response, kissing her breathless.
Spike, Elizabeth, and Dawn all blinked in unison. Dawn cast a curious glance in Spike’s direction.
“I. Have. No. Clue.” Spike articulated in complete and utter bewilderment. “My parents’re freaks. ‘S the only explanation.”
“And starting to get majorly wiggy with the massive PDA,” Elizabeth agreed.
Spike just nodded numbly and turned to look anywhere but where Joyce and Giles were still, er… OK, he couldn’t even think about what his parents were doing without cringing. “Why don’t we just…”
“Yeah…” Elizabeth agreed, turning so that she, Spike, and Dawn now sat in a little circle on the floor, safe from the horrifying sight of grown-ups making out…over a stuffed zebra, of all things.
“You should open one,” Dawn prodded Elizabeth.
Elizabeth looked back and forth between the two remaining presents before her. Obligatory last-minute gift from Dad, or present from Spike. Hmm, do I save the best for last or… To hell with it! Elizabeth snatched up the small box wrapped in solid gold paper, the words ‘From Spike, to Elizabeth’ written in her boyfriend’s graceful penmanship on the card.
Spike’s arm slipped around her waist as she meticulously unwrapped the present, making sure not to rip the paper in the slightest. After almost a minute of this, he began to grow impatient, letting out an annoyed little snort by her ear.
She flashed him an unrepentant grin and unfolded the last corner, exposing the white jewelry box inside. “A box!” she exclaimed in mock-delight. “Oh, honey, it’s what I’ve always wanted!”
“And such a pretty one, too!” Dawn chimed in. “All white and rectangular!”
“Oh, thank you, Spike!” Elizabeth was trying not to break out into hysterics.
Spike banged his forehead against her shoulder several times. “Death. By. Sarcasm,” he said each word between a forehead bonk.
Elizabeth giggled and patted his thigh reassuringly. “Are you all right?” she cooed softly.
“No, ‘m dead,” he insisted, not moving from where his forehead had finally collapsed on her shoulder.
“But then you won’t get to see me open your gift,” she pouted slightly.
He relented with a little smile, pressing a quick peck on her lips before sidling up beside her once more. “Go on, then,” he said somewhat nervously. “Open it.”
She did so with an eagerness that belied her previous meticulous unwrapping. An excited little breath escaped her lips when she finally held the necklace between her fingers, watching the long aquamarine and black beads shimmer in the red and green lights of the Christmas tree.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, tracing each of the dozen strands that flowed together like the eddies of a river.
“The color reminded me of your eyes,” he admitted, cheeks slightly flushed with embarrassment, “when we…” He trailed off, realizing that there was a minor present. “Plus,” he added with a chuckle, “now you can’t complain that you don’t have any jewelry that matches that blue dress ‘f yours.”
“You actually remember which dress doesn’t have an accompanying jewelry set?” Elizabeth blinked back the tears in her eyes.
“Well, yeah,” he scratched the back of his head in bewilderment, “you’ve mentioned it a bunch ‘f times.”
His eyes widened in surprise then when he found his lips suddenly assaulted by her own, her arms holding him in a vise-like grip as she poured her thanks into his mouth. He blinked at the intensity of her reaction before letting his eyelids drift closed, drinking up the emotions she poured into him.
A ghost of a smile curled the edges of Dawn’s lips for a second, along with a mental ‘Aw, isn’t that sweet?’ A minute later ‘sweet’ had turned to ‘boring’, especially since the other couple in the room were still at it on the couch. That realization quickly turned ‘boring’ to ‘gross’, and she cleared her throat several times before the population of the room finally decoupled.
“Oh, that is pretty,” Joyce agreed with Elizabeth’s sentiments, running her fingers over the fine beadwork. “Wherever did you find that, Will?”
“It was in one ‘f Tara’s girly catalogues,” Spike admitted with an embarrassed shrug. “Was flippin’ through it while someone was complainin’ that she didn’t have any jewelry to go with her dress.”
“Have I mentioned lately that you’re the most perfect boyfriend ever?” Elizabeth sighed, holding the necklace out for him so that he could fasten it behind her neck.
He brushed her hair aside with one hand, his fingers’ touches ephemeral on the back of her neck. “You can show me how much you ‘ppreciate it tonight,” he whispered against her ear, fastening the clasp for her. She turned in his arms, and he smiled. “Knew it would match your eyes…”
Dawn made a gagging noise, and Giles and Joyce snickered in response. Spike glowered at his parents, while Elizabeth took it upon herself to give her sister the Look Of Death. Several juvenile gestures were exchanged in response before they all returned to the important matter of opening presents.
“It’s your turn then, Will,” Giles pointed out, playing with the little toy zebra in his lap to the amusement of all the younger people.
“Turn about’s fair play, then?” Spike said with a wry smile, picking up his own gift from Elizabeth.
She gave him an encouraging smile and waited excitedly as he attempted to emulate her obsessive perfection in removing the wrapping paper. Halfway through his patience gave out and he just ripped the red and green print apart, much like his father had.
“Gasp, a…box?!” He couldn’t help but take his moment of revenge.
“Open it, asshole,” Elizabeth said good-humoredly, whapping him lightly on the arm.
He gave her a mock-offended huff but did as she asked, a curious smile quirking his lips at the silver object inside.
“Here,” she slipped her hands around his neck to unfasten the silver chain he always wore there. “I wanted to give you a little reminder of me that you’d always have with you.” She slipped the charm onto the chain before refastening it around his neck. “And, since you never take that thing off, and I do mean NEVER, it seemed like the perfect place.”
Dawn’s face reddened slightly at certain of the ‘nevers’ that popped into mind. She so didn’t need to know that Spike wore jewelry during sex.
Spike fingered the little silver dagger on its chain lovingly. “Sure ’s not some kinda subtle signal you wanna stab me?” he teased.
“Maybe a bit of warning to anyone else who doesn’t realize…” She leaned in to whisper the last word in his ear. “…Mine!”
“Yours,” he whispered into her hair.
“Yes, quite lovely,” Giles tried to sound patient with the young lovers. “So, is it my turn again now?”
Several pillows were thrown in his general direction in response.
* * *
“All right,” Elizabeth jabbed Spike in the side right in that one spot where he was ticklish, “enough with the secrets. Where are we going?”
He let out a sound halfway between a giggle and a snort and brushed her teasing hand away. “You’ll see when we get there,” he insisted.
Elizabeth pouted but slid her arm through his once more as they walked across campus. The two of them had begged off of Christmas lunch at the Giles’ since Spike claimed to have a surprise he wanted to show her. Elizabeth had been mildly curious that the ‘surprise’ in question could be achieved without easy access to his bed and had been running all sorts of scenarios through her head since.
The afternoon was surprisingly warm and sunny - for the winter in upstate New York, that is - and they’d been able to go out with a minimum of outerwear that allowed for a maximum of cuddling. Well, actually, Spike had stuck with that leather duster of his that Elizabeth had hardly ever seen him without…until she’d earned the privilege to see him in nothing at all, that is. It was a privilege she planned to take full advantage of in the near future.
Spike turned them in the direction of the gym, and Elizabeth gave him a curious look when he searched through his pockets.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Lookin’ for the key,” he explained, checking his other pocket before triumphantly removing the ring from his pocket.
“You have the key to the gym?” She raised a skeptical eyebrow in his direction. “Is this legal?”
“’ll have you know that this is important team business,” Spike insisted, a rakish grin on his face, “fully in keepin’ with the trust Wesley gave me.”
“Breaking into the gym on Christmas,” Elizabeth tisked.
“I figured,” Spike countered, opening the door for her and punching in the deactivation code for the alarm, “that given all the tension lately…”
She gave him an apologetic smile at that and patted his back affectionately.
“…that we could both stand to work off some steam,” he finished, winding over to the room that was reserved for martial arts. It was eerily dark at first, the outlines of the dummies sending chills down Elizabeth’s spine. But then Spike flicked the light-switch on, and it was just the normal makeshift dojo once more.
“You’re letting me beat you up for Christmas?” Elizabeth pretended to sniff. “That’s the sweetest thing ever.”
“Oh, I am so kickin’ your ass for that, pet,” Spike retorted in a huff. “Or, actually…” He opened his locker and pulled out a Kendo sword. “…maybe I should whack it instead.”
“Ooh,” Elizabeth snatched the bound bamboo weapon from him greedily, “where’d you get this?”
“Wesley’s into it,” Spike explained, “asked if I was interested. ‘Course I was, so I got myself a sword…”
Elizabeth was practically drooling over the weapon. “Spike?” she asked teasingly. “Can I play with your long, hard stick?”
He gulped and willed certain regions of his anatomy to behave at that. The bemused smile she gave him indicated all too clearly that, yes, she had done it on purpose. He gave her a little scowl and took the sword back from her. “That’s mine,” he insisted.
She gave him a little pout.
He refused to waver as he returned to his locker. “This,” he said, a sly grin spreading across his face, “is yours.”
“You got me a weapon?” Elizabeth let out a little squeal of delight and wrapped her arms around him before snatching the second sword away. She lovingly stroked the pale bamboo branches that formed the long staff of the sword.
“Shoulda known that was the sure way to any woman’s heart,” he teased. “’specially yours.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “Do I get to hit things?” she asked excitedly, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.
“Let’s go murder some dummies,” Spike agreed with a grin, picking up his own sword and guiding her out onto the mats.
A little smile curled the edges of her lips at his not-so-subtle teaching method of standing behind her and wrapping his arms around the sword from behind in order to teach her how to hold it properly. She cuddled back into his arms contentedly and followed his footwork, taking several controlled practice swings before zeroing in on the dummy.
Spike grinned as he watched her advance and thwack repeatedly, occasionally commenting on her form. God, he loved this woman! He’d never met anyone before who attacked things with large blunt objects as gleefully as he did. Not to mention had the snark and sarcasm to match his and even, amazingly, exceed his at times. Plus, she was funny, witty, and delightful to be with. The fact that she’d been taking the initiative in bed more and more lately, literally struggling with him for control over dominance, just made her all the more enticing. She just fit. He already couldn’t imagine what life without her would be like, a palpable jolt of pain passing through his chest at the mere thought. Who ever would’ve guessed that the exasperating little blond would’ve so completely snatched up his heart?
“I follow through with the left hand, right?” Elizabeth worried her lower lip between her teeth, focusing intently on whacking the dummy over the head.
“You center the weight on it, yeah,” Spike agreed, “but you wanna guide with your right.”
Elizabeth nodded and took another swing, her cheeks beginning to flush with her exertions.
As he watched her, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that this was it. Love, pure and simple. That warmth bubbling up inside of him, the way he felt at home in her arms, the way he felt like he was walking on air each time she smiled at him - this was it. She was The One, no questions, no doubts.
“I don’t suppose we can hit each other yet?” she sighed.
“Sorry, luv,” he gave her an apologetic shrug, “need a coach here for that.”
She nodded. “Wanna spar?” she inquired hopefully.
He couldn’t keep the shit-eating grin off of his face at that. “You’re goin’ down this time,” he assured her.
She rolled her eyes and yawned. “Heard that before, mopped the ground with your sorry ass,” she said disinterestedly.
He narrowed his eyes, and they shared a courteous bow before…
The only other time he felt this with her was when they were making love. The way their bodies moved in perfect time with each other, as if they were but two different manifestations of the same being. He kicked, she ducked; she punched, he dodged. They moved in time to a fast, furious beat that only the two of them could hear, dancing around each other until inevitably…
“Ha! Gotcha!” Elizabeth exclaimed in delight as Spike tumbled to the mat. She leapt on him immediately, pressing him down firmly, covering his body with hers. “Too bad there aren’t any spills around ‘cause I’ve got your cute ass here all ready to mop it up,” she teased.
“Might be a spill sooner’n you think if you don’t stop that,” he pointed out, feeling the warmth of her inner thighs trapping him.
“Stop what?” she asked with false innocence, grinding her pelvis down into his growing hardness.
He moaned in response, then whimpered when she pulled away. “Luv?” his voice pleaded raggedly.
“Public place,” she said regretfully. “That means no wet-dream fulfillment.”
He sighed and managed to nod in agreement. “Don’t know if I can walk,” he commented, taking deep breaths and forcing himself to relax.
Beside him, Elizabeth lay back on the mats as well, panting heavily. “That’s a new way to win a match,” she said with a smug smile. “Seduce the opponent into submission.”
“You try that on anyone else an’ I’ll-” he growled.
“You’ll what?” she countered, looking over at him in his helpless state.
“Shag you so hard, you won’t be able to walk,” he settled on happily.
A little thrill ran through her own spine at that. “Mmm,” she murmured softly, sidling up against him. “This reminds me of our first dates, y’know?”
He gave her a curious look that obviously indicated that he didn’t.
“Not our first ‘date dates’,” she corrected. “I mean all those dates where it was kinda just you trying to seduce me and me trying to pretend that I didn’t want you to.”
“I seem to recall tacklin’ you onto this very mat,” he agreed with a fond smile of remembrance.
“Yeah, we’d call each other names and then fight and then find some half-assed excuse to rub up against each other as much as possible and then we’d both have to go back to the dorm unsatisfied,” she sighed.
“Ah, the romance,” he couldn’t help but tease.
She whapped him in the shoulder. “It was sweet!” she insisted.
“I think ‘pig’ was more your sentiment at the time,” he countered.
“Sweet,” she repeated. “What with you being all sexy and tempting with the innuendoes and…and the really big bulge in your jeans.” She licked her lips at where the object of her fascination was just beginning to settle down once more. “Sweet,” she repeated.
He let out a bark of laughter. “If that’s your definition ‘f ‘sweet’, no wonder you’re the perfect woman for me,” he commented.
“Hmm,” she agreed lazily, reaching over to twine her fingers with his. “When did you know?” she asked after a minute of comfortable silence.
“Hmm?” he murmured contentedly.
“When did you stop thinking ‘annoying bitch’ and turn to ‘potential girlfriend’?” she clarified.
“Who said I ever stopped thinkin’ ‘annoyin’ bitch’?” He just couldn’t help it. After all, that one had been practically handed to him on a platter.
She scowled over at him.
He let out a thoughtful sigh as he contemplated the problem. “The instant you opened that sharp mouth ‘f yours,” he finally decided. “Knocked me down a coupla notches in ten seconds flat. Made me wanna do all sorts ‘f naughty things to you…” He nuzzled her throat at that, wrapping his body around her.
“And you think my ideas about romance are weird,” she rolled her eyes.
“Got even better after that,” he reminisced, “what with you brushin’ me off all the time but just givin’ me those li’l hints that you liked it, too. Kept me right in the chase; let me know it’d be worth it in the long run.”
“Do you miss it?” she asked curiously. “The chase?”
He snorted. “Not bloody likely,” he retorted. “’Cause tonight,” he rose over her and trailed several soft kisses down her throat, “neither ‘f us has to go back to our lonely beds, wantin’ and needin’ and dreamin’ of each other.”
“What makes you think I dreamed about you?” she asked with a sly smile.
He raised one eyebrow in response.
“OK, every night,” she admitted with a little blush.
His lips caught hers at that, drawing her into a passionate kiss. By the time he pulled away, she was flushed and breathless, just the way he liked her.
“Spike?” she panted slightly.
“Yeah, pet?”
“Do we have to wait until tonight?”
God, he loved this woman…
“Race you back to the house,” he agreed with a grin.
She was on her feet in an instant, shoving him back to the floor behind her as she made a break for the door.
He loved her so much…if only he could find the right time to tell her…
Disclaimer & Author's Note: The usual.
Blue Horizons
Chapter Twenty-Six
Dawn had been moody all morning. The prospect of leaving the sanctuary of the Giles home and returning to the less than ideal Summers one was naturally something she was not looking forward to. All that morning she’d been alternating between making the most of what little time she had left and being miserable about the approaching deadline of her flight back to LA.
Sitting in the back seat of the car now, her head resting on her sister’s shoulder and Spike’s arm reaching around to hold both of them, she just savored this moment.
“Only two and a half more years, and you’ll be able to go away to college,” Joyce pointed out encouragingly.
“Two and a half years of hell,” Dawn grumbled.
“I went through the hell, too,” Elizabeth reminded her. “You’ll get through it. Go out and win yourself a good scholarship and then thumb your nose at mom and dad.”
Dawn couldn’t help but smile at that. “Are you coming home this summer?” she asked hesitantly.
Elizabeth bit her lip at that. She hadn’t really thought about it too much, but… “God, I hope not!” she finally decided.
An amused smile crossed Spike’s face at that, and he planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head.
“Well, maybe when you figure out what you’re doing, I can visit you?” Dawn suggested. “Just, y’know, for a little while or something. To stave off the insanity.”
A smile quirked on the edges of Elizabeth’s lips. “That’d be fun,” she said, surprised to realize that she actually meant it.
She and Dawn had never really gotten along before, but this vacation had gone amazingly smoothly. It was really the first time she’d gotten to know her half-sister when she wasn’t just an extension of Elizabeth’s step-mom, and Elizabeth was stunned to find herself actually liking the girl.
“Cool,” Dawn agreed. “We can hang out and go shopping and stuff.”
Spike groaned at this. There had been a shopping trip two weeks before, and he had been forced to act as the workhorse for both sisters at once. He still felt the kink in his back from the aftermath of the extensive shoe store purchases.
Elizabeth and Dawn both cast him annoyed looks, and he quickly bit his tongue.
“You’ve got my e-mail, right?” Dawn asked for about the billionth time as they pulled into the airport.
“Saved on my account,” Elizabeth assured her. “And on Spike’s. And in my address book. And in-”
“OK, yeah, I get the point,” Dawn rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics. “But you’ll write me, huh? Tell me all the important…” she cast an approving glance Spike’s direction, “stuff that’s happening?”
“As long as you keep me updated on the Kevin situation,” Elizabeth retorted sternly.
“You’ve got a deal.” Dawn practically hopped out of the car, allowing Elizabeth and Spike to exit the vehicle as well.
“Do you want us to walk you to your gate?” Joyce inquired, standing beside Giles and pretending to help him lift Dawn’s bags out of the trunk.
He gave her a suspicious look when she paused and turned her attention to the young people every time she was about to pick up one of the heavy bags.
Dawn gave her a suspicious look as well. “Mom put you up to this so that I couldn’t jump flights again, didn’t she?” she accused.
Everyone looked anywhere but at her.
Dawn just rolled her eyes. “Sure, knock yourselves out,” she agreed. “It’ll be really exciting what with the terminal and the seats and the Hong Kong businessmen and all…”
Spike chuckled at that and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, guiding her towards the ticketing gate. Not one to be left behind, Elizabeth slipped his other arm around her waist, resting her head against his strong shoulder.
“You can handle those, right honey?” Joyce said with an evil little smile before rushing off after the children.
Giles looked down at the huge bags Dawn had managed to accumulate during her stay and turned his eyes heavenwards. Whatever had he done to deserve this?
“Hmm…” A concerned frown crossed Spike’s face. “Don’t have enough arms to escort all these beautiful women…”
Dawn and Elizabeth blushed and giggled, and Joyce merely rolled her eyes at her son’s flirtation. “I’ve got my Rupert,” she assured him, grudgingly taking up one of Dawn’s bags so that she could walk beside her husband.
“It’s about bloody time,” he commented on his decreased load good-naturedly.
Joyce gave him an evil grin that indicated she had known about his hardship all along.
“So, sweetness,” Spike gave Dawn a playful squeeze, “when you get home and encounter the big bad parents-”
“I’ll be sure to inform them that you and Elizabeth are having kinky monkey sex every night and kept me up the whole vacation,” Dawn teased. Her grin widened when mortified expressions crossed the bleached couple’s faces at the thought that she’d heard them.
“Y-Y-You… I mean…” Elizabeth stammered, embarrassed beyond belief. She tried to bury her face in Spike’s shoulder, only to realize that he’d beaten her to it. “Hey,” she protested, “I’m trying to hide my head in shame here…”
“More shame. Beat you to it,” Spike’s muffled voice sounded from the soft material of her sweater.
“No way,” she insisted. “She’s my sister. I have way more shame than you do!”
“’ve been corruptin’ the innocent,” Spike retorted. “That triples my shame.”
“Your very existence corrupts the innocent,” Elizabeth pointed out.
“Plus, I caught you that one night in the kitchen wearing nothing but boxers,” Dawn pointed out.
“You saw me?!” Spike’s face flushed deep red.
“You own boxers?!” Elizabeth was equally startled.
Dawn’s face scrunched up at the implications of this last statement. “Ew! So didn’t need to know that!”
Elizabeth’s face turned red again. “Now who’s corrupting my sister?” she asked Spike triumphantly.
“He had hickeys all down his back leading straight to his-” Dawn provided.
“Dawn!” Twin voices screamed in horror.
“Just kidding,” Dawn said with an amused smile. “You two are so easy to embarrass. It’s, like, the most fun thing ever.”
“So there weren’t bite marks?” Elizabeth asked hopefully.
“No bite marks, no loud sex,” Dawn assured them.
“Ha!” Spike said triumphantly. “You haven’t warped her in the slightest then. Just me with my late night snackin’.”
“You have a cute butt,” Dawn couldn’t help herself.
Sure enough, the telltale red flush covered his cheeks once more, and his head returned to the shelter of Elizabeth’s shoulder.
“How horrified should we be?” Giles asked Joyce curiously from where they had sat across from the three bickering youngsters.
“Scarred for life,” Joyce decided with a shake of her head.
“Quite,” Giles agreed, trying to bury himself into the dull, superficial magazine he’d picked up as the only means of distraction.
Joyce looked over his shoulder at it, equally desperate not to hear about her son’s various sexual attributes. “Oh, look,” she tried to drum up some enthusiasm, “ ‘who’s hot and who’s not’…”
Together, Joyce and Giles shuddered.
“Stop terrorizing my boyfriend,” Elizabeth scolded Dawn, completely oblivious to the horror she was inflicting upon the poor, innocent parents as she patted Spike’s head reassuringly. “That’s my job.”
Spike let out an angry breath against her throat at that, but all it really managed to do was tickle her.
“So,” Elizabeth began curiously, ignoring Spike’s reaction, “what are you going to tell mom and dad?”
“Willow and Tara are the most hospitable roommates ever,” Dawn answered with a sly grin, obviously enjoying being part of the conspiracy. “And the professors of yours that invited us over for Christmas dinner that once were so nice…”
“Don’t forget ‘rakishly handsome’,” Giles provided, deciding that the other conversation was safe enough to participate in now.
Spike gave his father a skeptical look and then snorted in amusement. “Right…” he rolled his eyes.
Giles merely huffed in annoyance.
“I think your father’s very handsome,” Joyce countered with a mischievous smile. “Why, I see that sexy pout and I just wanna-”
“Mom!” Spike cried out in abject horror.
“Turnabout’s fair play,” she said with a falsely sweet smile, giving him a little pat on the knee.
“Bloody women’ll be the death of me…” Spike groused, hiding in Elizabeth’s arms once more.
“Oh, dear,” Giles was still puffed up with manly pride from Joyce’s defense, “I do hope he’s not broken?”
“I’ll fix him up tonight,” Elizabeth assured him, placing a gentle kiss in those soft, peroxide-blond curls.
Spike murmured at the affectionate touch, and his mortified hiding turned more into contented snuggling.
“You people are all crazy,” Dawn decided with a wistful sigh. “Boy, am I going to miss this place…”
“Oh, there, there, dear,” Joyce gave her a motherly hug. “You can come back to visit soon. And feel free to call whenever you want. I’m pretty much sitting in that house all by myself while William’s in school, and I need something besides grading papers to keep me company.”
“I’ll be sure to call,” Dawn promised, hugging her back. “You’re, like, the greatest teacher ever.”
“And this from someone who’s never even taken a class from me,” Joyce was obviously pleased.
“You are the greatest teacher ever,” Elizabeth provided in response to that.
A delighted flush reddened the older woman’s cheeks. “The talent of my students helps,” she pointed out.
A comfortable silence settled over the group at that as they absentmindedly listened to the flights being announced.
“At least I’ll be back in school so I won’t have to be at home most of the time,” Dawn finally sighed as the deadline for her own departure drew near.
“Burying yourself in schoolwork is an excellent way to ignore obnoxious, pushy parents,” Giles provided. “And once you get to college, they really can’t control your life anymore.”
Elizabeth bit her lip slightly at that, but Spike quickly caught it between his teeth, drawing her into a slow, sensual kiss. Oh yeah, that’s how I’m not letting dad control my life anymore… She remembered with a satisfied sigh.
“Flight 185 for LAX now boarding. Will rows 22 and higher please board at this time? Repeat, rows 22 and higher.” A nasal voice twanged over the loudspeakers.
Dawn sighed and stood up, fidgeting slightly as she waited for her row to be called. “What are the chances mom’s going to kill me for coming here?” she asked Elizabeth nervously.
“At least one good yell,” Elizabeth decided after a moment’s thought, brushing Spike’s lips in the direction of her throat. “But no killing since it all worked out all right. Maybe a bit of a grounding, though.” She considered it some more. “Yup, definitely a grounding.”
Dawn sighed. “Adopt me,” she only half-joked to Joyce as her row was called.
“You’ll be fine,” Joyce assured her, giving her a good-bye hug.
“And if you’re not,” Giles agreed, giving her a quick squeeze as well, “we’ll be right down to inflict some vengeance on those parents of yours.”
“Thanks,” Dawn said, sniffling slightly. She turned to Spike and was amazed when she got a sweet kiss on the forehead. Her face flushed bright red at the feel of the strong, muscular body that held her, and she abruptly remembered just why she’d had that crush on him in the first place.
“Ha!” Spike said triumphantly. “Finally embarrassed her for once.”
Dawn managed an eye roll at that, although she was still grinning idiotically from the kiss. “I’m so going to get you back for that,” she informed him matter-of-factly.
“’ll look forward to it,” Spike agreed with a grin. “Bye, Bit.”
“Bye, gorgeous,” she countered with a sly smile.
Spike’s face flushed once more. “Weren’t s’posed to get me back right now,” he grumbled good-naturedly.
Dawn laughed and turned to her sister. “Y’know, you’re actually pretty cool. Not the stuck-up cheerleader I thought you were,” Dawn admitted reluctantly.
“And you’re not the whiny, tattletale brat,” Elizabeth agreed.
Dawn rolled her eyes at that, and Elizabeth rolled her eyes in response to the eye roll. They shared a giggle and then a quick hug before Dawn snatched up her bags.
“I’ll e-mail you as soon as I get home,” Dawn promised. “Tell you all about what mom does to me.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Elizabeth assured her.
“Bye, Elizabeth! Bye, Spike! Bye, Joyce! Bye, Rupert!” Dawn couldn’t help but tease with that last one. And, with a final wave, she vanished into the aircraft…
* * *
“Got another e-mail from Dawn today,” Elizabeth commented, lying on her stomach across Spike’s large bed and moaning softly at the feel of his hands on her bare back.
“Oh?” he inquired curiously, rubbing the massage oil deep into the knot right below her left shoulder blade. “What’s she up to, then?”
“Mmm…” Elizabeth sighed in appreciation at his hands’ motions before answering. “Back in school. Hates her science teacher. Says she knows more than the teacher does.”
“Yeah, I seem to recall that happenin’ a lot back in high school,” Spike agreed, moving his hands lower so that he now kneaded her lower back.
“She seems pretty cheerful, though,” Elizabeth commented. “Kinda blah about her mom and our dad getting divorced, but otherwise cool. I think she just wants to get out of there fast.”
“Unfortunately, she’s still got half ‘f high school to get through,” Spike pointed out.
Elizabeth sighed. “She says she wants to graduate early. Given the general crappiness of Sunnydale High, she can probably pull it off.”
“Good for her, then,” Spike managed a proud smile for the girl that inspired such affectionate, brotherly feelings in him.
“She wants to come visit this summer,” Elizabeth commented, playing with the sheets idly.
“Does she now?” Spike inquired curiously. “You’re not goin’ back home this summer, then?”
Elizabeth rolled onto her back at that so that she could look at him while they discussed this. He eagerly slipped into her arms, holding her body close.
“Not if I’ve got someplace better to be, no,” she said softly. Absentmindedly, her fingers found the silver chain around his neck and began fiddling with the dagger charm she’d put there.
“But no plans?” he pressed, looking deep into her hazel eyes.
“I hadn’t really thought about it much,” she replied coyly. “Wanna help me make plans?” She fluttered her eyelashes at him.
“Wanna shag non-stop all summer?” he teased right back.
“Mmm, good plan,” she decided, pulling him in for a deep kiss.
Her hands slid up into his hair as she rolled beneath him, letting out contented little murmurs when his strong arms wrapped tightly around her, closing that unbearable distance between them…
“Wanna stay here?” he whispered against her ear after they had back pulled away for breath on some telepathic signal. “Or maybe get an apartment? We could travel, too, I s’pose…”
“Mmm, so much Spike, so little time,” Elizabeth mock-lamented. “And,” she added with a wry grin, “did you just ask me to move in with you?”
He blushed slightly. “Well, er…yeah,” he admitted a bit nervously. “If you want to, I mean. If you’re ready. ‘Cause if you’re not, I-”
She cut him off with a fingertip to his lips. “You, me, cozy one bedroom,” she practically purred. “Sounds wonderful…”
He grinned at that. “Got a one-bedroom back at the dorm,” he pointed out.
“Are you asking me to move in with you now?” she joked lightly.
“Practically do already,” he pointed out. “It’d just save you from havin’ to run down the hall every mornin’ to change for class.”
“And leave Willow all alone in our room?” Elizabeth couldn’t help but tease. “I don’t know…”
“Oh, please,” Spike rolled his eyes. “She and Tara just love havin’ that place to themselves, an’ you know it. Hell, what with all ‘f Tara’s roommates, I don’t know how they managed to do anythin’ together before you and I hooked up.”
Elizabeth relented with a delighted smile. “I’d love to move in with you,” she informed him with a quick kiss. “On one condition.” She held up a finger menacingly.
“Uh-oh.” He tried to decipher the hidden emotion in her eyes, but for once she was unreadable. “All right, I give in, kitten. What is it?”
“You have got to get a bigger bed,” she instructed. “’Cause this,” she stretched out beneath him, savoring the vast space they had for maneuvering, “is nice. And a girl gets spoiled, y’know.”
“Think that can be arranged,” Spike agreed with a chuckle. “Just have to pull a few strings with a certain RA…”
“Who happens to be getting an entire huge room to herself for her own sexcapades,” Elizabeth pointed out.
“Hmm, we should call her tomorrow an’ get everything arranged,” he decided.
“Worry about that tomorrow,” Elizabeth agreed, spreading her thighs so that he slipped in between them. “Right now, I want you to remind me why I’m agreeing to move in with you.”
“My pleasure,” he trilled in a husky voice before his lips crashed down over hers once more.
Her body molded to his instinctively, taking him within the cradle of her hips and arms and holding him tightly. Her lips continued to do battle with his, as their limbs slowly began to move in time together, just rocking at first, getting the feel for one another once more.
One of Spike’s hands slipped in between their bodies, finding a small rounded breast and stroking it gently. He loved the feel of the soft flesh’s weight in his palm. She fit his hands so perfectly, like her body was made just for him, like she was made just for him…
Elizabeth groaned when his mouth enclosed her other milky-white mound. Her hands flew over his body, tracing the strong muscles of his shoulders before rediscovering all the sleek lines of his back. She learned him over and over again, caressing gently all the places that made him quiver.
He flattened his tongue and licked the rough surface over her hardened bud as rapidly as he could, eliciting a quick gasp of his name in response. His thumb attended to her other breast, flicking that nipple in perfect counterpoint to his tongue’s actions, drawing out her pleasure in every way he could.
Elizabeth began thrashing beneath him in response. He had rather trickily managed to capture her legs beneath his so she couldn’t clutch onto him that way, and her hands were running up and down his body frantically in response, trying to give him back just a little bit of the pleasure he was giving her.
His hands moved to still her, however. This one time he just wanted to show her, to give her everything… “Hush, luv,” he soothed. He let out a hot stream of air against the wet skin of her breast.
Gooseflesh rose in response, and she gasped in amazement at the sensation.
“That’s right, pet. Just let me make you feel good,” he whispered in a deep, low timbre. Her body relaxed under his hypnotic tones, and he took the opportunity to trail short, wet kisses down her stomach. His tongue dipped playfully into her navel, and he teased her for a while before exploring the soft outlines of her stomach muscles.
Elizabeth couldn’t decide whether she was in heaven or hell. The things he was doing to her were absolutely amazing, but she wanted so much more, and that seemed to be out of her grasp at the moment. His fervent promise bound her to the bed more powerfully than any chains or ropes could’ve, and she found herself completely at his mercy. It was agony to wait for her sweet release, but she knew her captor was benevolent and wouldn’t make her wait too long…
“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” Spike whispered against her heated skin, his voice husky with desire. “Feels like ‘m on fire, achin’, burnin’. And ‘s never enough. I never grow tired of feelin’ you beneath me, surroundin’ me, your scent… Oh god…”
Overcome by his own words, he ground his hips down into the mattress, desperate to release just a fraction of the pressure there.
“Spike…” she whispered softly, equally overcome by the need to be with him. “C’mere, pet…” She held out a hand to him.
His fingers instantly clasped with hers, and he slid back up her body. Their lips met again with renewed intensity as their fingers intertwined, linked, joined…
“Now, Spike,” she murmured against the heat of his lips, her eyelids heavy with her desire for him. “Now…”
He was inside her almost instantly in response, their bodies melding together into one until neither could tell where one began and the other ended. They moved together to a slow, lazy rhythm, holding on to their union for as long as they could manage.
Fingers ghosted over bare skin, lips tasted delicate flesh, limbs tangled together, stroking, caressing, loving…
“’Lizabeth,” Spike gasped for breath, looking deep into her eyes. “Look at me.”
Lazy sloe eyes fluttered open, widening at the intensity of the emotions they perceived in his own cerulean depths.
“You don’t know what you do to me,” he whispered raggedly in response, never once breaking eye contact as he pushed himself to his physical limits, plunging even deeper within her.
An amazed “oh!” escaped her lips. God, he’d never been so deep. She’d never taken him this far inside before. It had never felt this close, this intimate, this…perfect.
“Never been like this for me before,” he continued to babble sweet nonsense to her. “No one’s ever… Oh god, ‘Lizabeth…”
“Spike…” she moaned in agreement as she felt herself reach the peak of ecstasy.
They hovered there, eyes still locked, bodies moving as one. It seemed as if that moment stretched out for eternity while at the same time the world shrunk down so that it only encompassed the two of them.
And then…
Blinding flashes of light, nerves so sensitive that neither had even realized that they existed before flaring to life with sudden pleasure, heat exploding, bodies falling, air rushing from their lungs, waves crashing, everything, everything…
And yet nothing but the two of them.
And, in that moment, that perfect moment, the time was finally right.
“I love you, Elizabeth,” Spike’s voice seemed a cacophony, echoing through her skull pleasurably as if he were in her mind itself. “God, I love you so much…”
Blue Horizons
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Does the bus ever come on time?” Elizabeth wondered, twirling her root-beer Tootsie Roll Pop between her lips as she sat up on the counter.
Spike gave her a dirty look. There was no doubt in his mind that she was doing all those things with her tongue for the sole purpose of driving him steadily insane.
She gave him an unrepentant grin and a little wink in response before slurping loudly as she reached the chewy center.
“It did when you took it,” Willow pointed out, checking her watch. “My theory - it only comes on time when I’m late.”
“It’s a massive conspiracy,” Tara giggled. “The whole world’s out to get you.”
“And, technically, you’re not paranoid if they are actually out to get you,” Oz added in his usual dry tone.
“Just out of curiosity,” Elizabeth turned to Willow, “when is Xand getting back?”
“Tomorrow afternoon supposedly,” Willow said slightly bitterly, “since someone doesn’t have any classes on Monday this semester…”
“We’ll be forced to tear him limb from limb when he shows up,” Oz commented matter-of-factly.
Tara cast a suspicious look in his direction and leaned over to whisper in Willow’s ear. “He was joking, right?”
Willow frowned and blinked. “Presumably,” she shrugged. It was always hard to tell with Oz.
“Ooh, I see something!” Elizabeth pointed with the white stick of her sucker excitedly. “It looks like…”
Spike leaned out in the street to see further. “That’s it,” he confirmed. “About bloody time.”
Elizabeth held out a hand to him and pulled him into her arms, clasping her hands comfortably in the small of his leather-clad back. “Grumpy,” she accused, giving him a quick peck on the lips.
His mood lightened almost immediately. “Vixen,” he countered.
The bus pulled to a halt at the curb, and they reluctantly turned to it to watch the passengers alight. Elizabeth actually turned her attention more towards Spike since she’d need the recognition in his eyes to identify…
“Cordy!” Willow screeched in delight, practically launching herself at a tall brunette.
“Wills!” Cordelia exclaimed in an equally excited manner, accepting and returning the bear hug offered her.
“How was Rome?” Willow asked enthusiastically, snatching the bag from Cordelia’s shoulder.
“Amazing,” Cordelia exclaimed, taking in the sea of friendly faces that surrounded her. “Hey, Tara,” she said with a wide grin. “You’re treating my Willow right, huh?”
“There was a nasty incident where I ate her entire bag of peanut M&M’s,” Tara admittedly gravely. “It was declared cruel and unusual punishment.”
Cordelia laughed before leaning in and giving Oz a quick kiss on the cheek. “Are the dingoes still eating my baby?” she teased.
“Tonight,” he agreed. “We’re heading out there to dinner.”
“Oh, one more day of freedom from dorm food. Joy,” Cordelia agreed with a roll of her eyes. As a result her eyes landed directly on… “Hello, handsome,” she practically purred at Spike, holding out her hand to him.
He brushed his lips across her knuckles obligingly, his electric blue eyes never leaving her face. “Welcome back, my raven-haired beauty,” he flirted back shamelessly.
Cordelia smiled at that. “You look good,” she commented. “Not so much with the drunken lout.”
He chuckled. “Got myself fixed up while you were away.” His fingers tangled with those of Elizabeth.
Cordelia’s attention turned to the new girl for the first time. “I’m guessing you’re Elizabeth then?” she inquired.
“That’s me,” Elizabeth agreed, slipping her hand from Spike’s and offering it to Cordelia. “And, duh, you’re Cordelia.” She rolled her eyes.
Cordelia laughed at that. “Call me Cordy,” she insisted.
“Cordy, right,” Elizabeth agreed.
Cordelia watched Spike’s arm slip around Elizabeth’s waist with a little smile. “I’ve heard all about you,” she said brightly. “Most of it good, even.”
Elizabeth chuckled at that, sparing a brief smile for Spike. “I can’t imagine who you’ve been talking to, then,” she joked.
“Yeah, well, I’m not stuck living next to Spike here, so hopefully I won’t be able to hear all the racket,” Cordelia couldn’t help but ride the other girl a little.
Elizabeth’s face reddened, but she returned just as teasingly, “That won’t do you much good, I’m afraid. We can be heard all the way down the hall.”
Spike blushed and Cordy grinned. “You’re hopelessly, permanently outnumbered,” she informed the peroxide blond, taking Elizabeth’s free arm as they walked out to the van.
“Just as things should be,” Elizabeth teased, nuzzling Spike’s shoulder affectionately.
He merely sighed, resigned to his not-so-unpleasant fate, and followed the group outside.
“So,” Cordy asked, “Blue Club, I take it?”
“I’m buying,” Willow agreed, “but only if you agree to tell us every last detail about your trip.”
“Deal,” Cordy agreed with a smile…
* * *
“Mmm,” Elizabeth practically purred, burying her face deep in Spike’s chest and swaying slowly to the music.
The club was full tonight as the entire campus celebrated their last night of freedom before classes began tomorrow. As a result, it was a bit difficult to clearly hear any of the music, but they managed to sway to the slow, steady beat just fine. Especially since their dancing looked a lot like making out - something they were both experts at by this point.
“You ever wish that time would just stop?” Spike had been feeling in a rather poetic mood all evening, and the words slipped from his lips with melodic grace.
“All the time,” she agreed, looking up at him. Her nose scrunched up then and she stuck out her tongue. “Especially since I have calculus first thing tomorrow morning.”
An amused chortle of laughter escaped his lips at that. “You ever need a tutor…” he began.
“I’ll go straight to Jonathan,” she teased back.
“Christ, you’re impossible, luv,” he shook his head.
“That’s why you love me,” she agreed with a little smile.
He looked down at her with a shy smile of his own at that. “Yeah…” he agreed, his voice full of emotion.
“Spike…” she whispered, leaning forward to steal a kiss from those soft, sweet lips of his.
It seemed as though time had stopped then. The world around them was still as their lips slowly grew bolder. The kiss was short and neat, but it felt like everything else had frozen during it.
And then Elizabeth heard the applause and realized that the world actually had stopped because the song on stage had come to an end. She blushed a bit at the romantic notions that had been flitting about in her head. Although, admittedly, they were hard to ignore after Spike’s confession of devotion…
He smiled a Cheshire smile at her in response, the glint in his eyes indicating that he knew exactly what she was thinking. One finger tipped with the black nail-polish she so teased him about reached up and brushed a silky lock of her honey-blond hair back from her face. She leaned into the touch, enjoying his ephemeral caresses just as much as his more solid ones.
“Set’s done,” he commented lazily. “We’ll be eatin’ soon.”
She let out a disappointed little pout.
“Now, now, luv,” he chuckled softly, “we’ll need the energy tonight. Not to mention, ‘d hate to see those luscious curves ‘f yours thin out due to starvation…”
She glanced nervously down at herself at that. “You don’t think I need to go on a diet?” she inquired.
He rolled his eyes. “You’re the most gorgeous, desirable woman ‘ve ever laid eyes on,” he replied in a low, husky voice. “There’s nothin’ you could do to make yourself more perfect. Fit against me right like we were made off of the same mold, you do.” His lips brushed her forehead softly. “So beautiful…” he whispered.
“Wow,” she giggled slightly. “You’ve really got the answer to ‘does this outfit make me look fat?’ down pat, don’t you?”
“’m just tellin’ the truth,” he replied with a seductive smile. “You make it easy, luv.”
“Mmm…” She pulled him in by the lapels of his black leather duster and proceeded to kiss him breathless. “Have I mentioned lately how wonderful you are?” she asked with a coquettish smile.
“Not recently enough,” he leaned into her expectantly.
“Oh,” she said in mock-apology. “It’s tough to be you then.” With a mischievous wink, she released him and sashayed away, looking back over her shoulder at him playfully.
Evil little minx… He sighed and followed after her. God, he loved this woman!
“Hey, Spike,” Cordy said cheerfully when he finally sat down at their table, completing the group. “You’re trying out for the spring musical, right?”
Spike practically choked on his water at the outrageous suggestion. “I bloody well am not!” he insisted fiercely.
Elizabeth chuckled and patted him on the thigh. “Oh, c’mon, it’d be great. I can just see you up there on stage, singing and dancing.”
He make annoyed gurgling noises into his straw.
“And, just think!” she continued, on a role now. “You can even wear tights!”
“In front of the whole school,” Tara agreed, giggling at the image in her head.
Spike turned to Oz. “Help,” he said simply.
“I’m already in a band. Hence, I’m in the clear. Sorry, man.”
Spike groaned and rolled his eyes heavenwards. “Help?” he inquired hopefully.
Everyone laughed at his joke.
“You should try out,” Cordy suggested to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth gulped in response. “Talking in front of many people - not my thing,” she insisted.
Cordy pouted in response. “You do realize that I haven’t gotten a single person in our house in a play yet? It’s doing terrible things to my reputation!”
“And I can’t be guilted into things, either,” Elizabeth countered. “Nice try, though.”
“You people are all too damn stubborn,” Cordy let out a sigh. “So,” she turned to her other favorite topic - gossip - with lightning-quick speed, “how long have you and Spike been…y’know…” She winked.
Elizabeth paused to consider her answer for a minute. “ ‘Y’know’,” she quoted, repeating the wink and everything, “for almost three months now. But, before that…”
“You should have seen it,” Tara said with a wistful smile. “They got into shouting matches almost every day.”
“It was so romantic…” Willow giggled in agreement.
Spike cast her an annoyed look. “Worked, dinnit?” he retorted.
“It was romantic,” Elizabeth insisted, stepping up to her boyfriend’s defense. She slipped her arm through his appreciatively. “He even let me beat him up for Christmas. It was so sweet…”
Cordy blinked in confusion.
“Tae Kwon-Do,” Elizabeth explained off of the odd look.
“She completely kicks my ass every time,” Spike agreed dreamily.
“Oh. My. God.” Cordy’s eyes widened. “There’s two of them! They’re both crazy, beating people up for fun. It’s like a match made in hell by some deluded little troll who’s watched way too many martial arts movies.”
“ ‘Deluded little troll’?” Elizabeth repeated in disbelief.
“And I missed it?” Cordy broke out into sudden lamentation. “Dammit, Wills! You promised me nothing entertaining would happen while I was abroad!”
“And you still are,” Tara giggled.
Willow giggled as well.
Everyone else looked at them like they were crazy.
“A broad,” Tara clarified. “Get it? A woman’s a broad…”
Three groans of agony and a slight shudder from Oz followed the realization.
“So, are you two as sickeningly perfect for each other as these two are?” Cordy gestured back to Willow and Tara who were both still incredibly amused with Tara’s joke.
“Someone’s bitter,” Spike sing-songed in response.
“Oh, puh-lease,” Cordy batted one hand in the air sarcastically. “I just thought I’d warn you since, y’know, Hell Semester coming up and all.”
“ ‘Hell Semester’?” Elizabeth repeated curiously.
“You mean you guys haven’t told her yet?” Cordy looked around at the other upperclassmen in amazement.
“Well, we were kinda trying to dispel that rumor…” Willow began.
“Rumor?” Cordy batted one hand in the air dismissively. “It’s the undeniable truth.”
“What is?” Elizabeth was getting curious now. She nudged Spike in the side, trying to get an answer.
Cordy merely rolled her eyes at her dorm-mates. “Hell Semester,” she explained, “is the period between Christmas vacation and Spring Break. It is so called,” she adopted a pompous, professorial imitation that had Elizabeth smiling, “because everyone goes steadily more crazy throughout it. What with the gloomy winter weather and everyone being cramped together…” She trailed off before adopting a hushed, conspiratorial tone like one would while telling ghost stories to little kids. “Things start to get edgy. It starts off small. The occasional argument here and there. But then it escalates until… Bam!” Her hands clapped right in front of Elizabeth’s face, startling her. “Internal house combustion,” she said with an amused smile. “Expect all-out bathroom wars, loud arguments, and plenty of broken hearts.”
Elizabeth chuckled slightly. It was a good thing Cordy was into theater because she definitely had a sense of the dramatic. “Very funny. You almost had me going there for a second.”
“It’s true,” Cordy insisted. “Everyone gets all hyper stressed out because Spring Break is so short and then we’ve got a whole other two months after that. Depression, anxiety, and disaster follow.”
Elizabeth glanced around the table for confirmation.
“It gets intense sometimes,” Willow finally conceded, “but not always. Cordy’s exaggerating. As usual.”
“Exaggerating?” Cordelia teased. “Why, at this very moment, the forces of the universe itself are working against us, manufacturing disaster so great and profound that we will be helpless to stop it. It will come for you, in the moments when you least expect it and-Snap!” Her fingers snapped right in front of Spike’s face.
He snorted and rolled his eyes at her.
Cordy pouted. “You’re no fun,” she said with a dramatic sigh.
Elizabeth was highly entertained, however. “Evil forces working against us, huh?” she grinned. “Do they slip right out of the woodwork?”
“Oh yeah,” Cordelia agreed. “You never see them coming. They work in strange and mysterious ways.”
“Right now?” Elizabeth cast a playful furtive glance around.
“Right now,” Cordy chuckled.
As if on cue, a thin waif-like girl with short dirty blond hair and eyes heavily ringed with make-up approached the table. “Oz,” she said with a coy swing of her hips.
“Hey,” Oz nodded in response. “You playing tonight?”
“Nope, just hanging,” she answered with a mysterious smile.
“Guys,” Oz introduced, “this is Veruca. She’s the lead singer of Shy.” He turned back to the young woman. “These are my friends from the dorm.”
Veruca nodded absentmindedly, her gaze passing over them disinterestedly before returning to Oz. “Is Devon here?” she inquired. “’Cause Silent Scream’s having difficulty setting up their amps backstage.”
“Devon’s not back from break yet,” Oz provided. “Dean stood in for him today.”
Veruca bit her lip. “Wanna come help then?” she requested. “Between the two of us…”
“Yeah, sure,” Oz agreed, getting up. “Duty calls,” he told the Westing House group with a straight face before vanishing into the crowd.
Those at the table brushed off the incident as insignificant.
“So, disaster’s lurking in the rafters?” Elizabeth returned to joking with Cordy.
“You don’t even see it coming,” the other girl giggled…
* * *
“Where’s Jonathan?” Elizabeth moaned in complaint. “This has to be some higher form of mathematics that he can solve…”
Spike grimaced as well and their predicament. “What if we moved the desk out into the hallway first?” he asked thoughtfully.
“Do you have any idea how heavy that thing is?” Elizabeth complained.
“If we took all ‘f the books outta the shelves first and put ‘em over on the bed…” he trailed off, still contemplating the problem.
“Are you two done moving furniture yet?” Anya’s head popped out of her door at the extended quiet interval. “I’m trying to finish my econ problem set.”
Elizabeth’s brow furrowed. “How can you already have a problem set?” she wondered. “Classes haven’t even started yet.”
“The professor foolishly posted all the problem sets up on the web,” Anya explained, frowning at the table, chairs, and mattress that still cluttered up the hallway. “Now I can finish next week’s a week early so that Xander and I have optimal time for orgasms next weekend.” Cheerfully, she bounced over to where Spike was gravely examining the dilemma.
“You’re way too cheerful, Anyanka,” he felt obliged to make some sort of comment.
“Xander’s coming back tomorrow,” Anya responded, too excited to even bother to pointlessly correct the name. “I haven’t seen him for far, far too long.”
“You two kept in touch over break?” Elizabeth inquired, sitting herself down on the table while Spike pretended to solve their little problem.
“We called each other every night,” Anya agreed with a happy grin, playing with one of her blond curls in a way that looked decidedly impish.
“You make the phone sex comment an’ I’ll rip out your spleen,” Spike threatened jokingly.
Anya rolled her eyes and leaned in close to Elizabeth. “Have you ever tried it?” she whispered.
Elizabeth shook her head.
“You should,” Anya informed her with a wink. “Especially given Spike’s sexy accent…”
A conspiratorial smile slipped across Elizabeth’s lips as well. “Thanks for the tip,” she agreed with a giggle.
“I know you’re talkin’ ‘bout sex over there,” Spike cut them off with a nasty scowl.
Elizabeth sighed and walked over to him. “Any solutions?” she inquired.
“We could always live on the ceiling,” he half-teased.
Anya rolled her eyes and peered into the cluttered dorm room. “Just back the dresser and the desk against the beds,” she suggested. “That way you increase the limited amount of wall space. You divide the room up into two smaller sections, true, but it has the added benefit of making the bed not visible from the door so if anyone barges in they won’t catch you naked.”
Elizabeth and Spike’s jaws both dropped and they looked at Anya like she was a godsend.
“That’s…brilliant!” Spike exclaimed, eyes wide.
“That works, doesn’t it?” Elizabeth blinked. “That actually works!”
“Quick, help me move the dresser,” Spike requested, setting Anya’s plan in motion.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Anya held her hands up in front of herself defensively. “I come up with the brilliant plan, you move the furniture.”
“Fair enough,” Elizabeth agreed, rushing over to help Spike.
Together they got the dresser turned so that it faced the door. After that, the second bed-frame slipped easily into place. Anya watched in satisfaction as the desk moved to block the view of the two beds on the far side of the room.
“See? I told you it would work,” Anya said triumphantly.
Elizabeth and Spike stepped back to study the effect.
“Brilliant…” Spike repeated, still in awe.
“Nice,” Elizabeth agreed.
“You can thank me by moving the rest of furniture back inside so I can actually do my problem set,” Anya said with an amused smile on her face before stalking back to her room.
Spike and Elizabeth hurried to move the table and chairs back in before carrying the second mattress into the room together. It fell into place with a final ‘thwump’.
“Whattaya think, luv?” he inquired, studying the two beds that now lay side by side. “Big enough for you?”
“Mmm, it’ll do,” she agreed. “Think we should latch them together just in case?”
“Given the exuberance of our nightly activities ‘m thinkin’ that’s a good idea,” he agreed with a little chuckle.
“Here,” she said, taking one of the cords they’d acquired for this purpose, “I’ll fasten the side by the window. You take this one.”
They worked in silence for a while, only interrupted by the occasional swearword. However, Elizabeth’s final test of bouncing up and down a couple of times where the two beds were tied together succeeded admirably, and she fell back down onto their new double-sized bed happily.
“How’s it feel?” Spike asked curiously, crawling up beside her.
“Mmm…nice…” she murmured contentedly, rolling over so that she was in his arms once more. “Kinda crowds the rest of the room, though,” she pointed out. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”
He chuckled. “’d rather spend all my time here, anyway,” he countered reasonably enough. He bent down to kiss her, and things quickly progressed the way that they always did.
“Mmf, Spike!” She batted him aside when he rolled atop her. “You closed the door, right?”
He groaned in irritation. “Whasit matter?” he retorted petulantly. “No one can see us anyway.” He gestured to the high back of the dresser and desk that now stood between them and the door. “’S a bloody brilliant plan,” he repeated once more before bending over to kiss her again.
She pulled back reluctantly after a few more ardent kisses. “Brilliant, yes,” she agreed. “But there’s no way I’m having sex with you while the door’s wide open.”
With a resigned sigh, Spike left their new makeshift bedroom to properly close the door. “Can’t see a soddin’ thing,” he confirmed.
“Good to know,” Elizabeth agreed, smiling when he once again returned to her. “Now…come to bed…”