Chapter 11: A Push in the Right Direction


Beth was officially on winter break, but she certainly didn’t feel like cheering. She had just left her literature exam, which Beth couldn’t get out the doors of the classroom quick enough. About two months ago, she had raced out of Sacramento, leaving William behind, and her class was now just a painful reminder that she had neither seen nor talked to him since that night. The Satyricon, the book she was reading in her class back then, was one of their topics of conversations their last night together. She could still picture him smiling as he talked about the history behind the book and the metaphors and sarcasm hidden within the text. All the while, his blue eyes watched her every move; his focus totally on her.

God, she missed him. She missed the cool feel of his hand, when for no particular reason, he reached across to touch her, his scarred eyebrow rose when he was teasing her, the slight smile on his face as she told stories of home, and his questions that displayed his interest in all aspects of her life. In fact, she had repeatedly invited him to come to Sunnydale and have Thanksgiving dinner with her and her mom, but he always refused, teasing her that he was British and didn’t celebrate that American holiday. She always ended up laughing at his teasing, but was nevertheless disappointed.

Unfortunately, thinking of that disappointment brought Beth back to why she had left him. At first, she had run away and stayed away because she was been scared during the fight in that alley behind the movie theater by his abnormal strength and her own actions, the spin kick, in the fight in the alley. Then when her belief in her decision started to waver, she had to come up with other rationales for not going back to him, things like he was cold to the touch and couldn’t go out in the sun. In time, she eventually admitted to herself that those reasons were petty and insignificant, and hadn’t really affected their relationship in the least. The truth was she had enjoyed the feel of his cool skin across her own, but that only lead to thoughts of making love with him. His coolness against her heat, inside of her heat. After she put aside those reason, she had one of those dreams of walking with him in some cemetery. However this time when she woke up, she could vaguely remember them fight some other people and she wasn’t scared. On the contrary, she felt like she had fought in a cemetery before. That led her to using all the freaky coincidences that she felt around him and reasons to stay away from him. Recognizing him at that mall even though they had never met, and knowing how to recognize what knife and baseball bat wounds look like. Two more example were that she knew first aid but didn’t remember where or when she had learned it or to do a spin kick. She certainly didn’t remember ever learning how to fight. So as she went through rationales to rationales in her mind, she stayed away. But what she hadn’t her friends doing the same.

*****

To make sure before leaving, Spike made one more once over, making sure he had everything such as the case file, car keys, and cell phone. Just on the off chance that someone would need to get a hold of him, Spike never left the phone behind when he was out of the loft. The phone was never forgotten. Oh, sod it. Why the hell was he lying to himself? Even after two months, he still hoped Beth would call, but he knew that he was betting on the long shot in a horse race, a twenty year old nag against a two year old thoroughbred.

Not surprisingly, he thought about Beth frequently. Spike would stand in front of his window over looking the cemetery, his mind wandering to the time he had with her, thinking about standing in the exact same spot, holding her. But unlike like with his thoughts of Buffy, which were bitter sweet with the accent on the bitter, memories of Beth were sweet. The only bitter memory occurred the night she had run away two months ago. When he closed his eyes, he could still see the look of horror and disgust contorting her beautiful face.

But that was the past, and he luckily had a case to concentrate on that night, the night after Christmas. With everything he needed accounted for, Spike opened the door to head out and ran into Xander. Literally ran into him, sending Spike’s case file flying, papers floating down the stairs.

Xander recovered first. “Oh, sorry, frosty. Didn’t mean to bump into like that.”

As Xander scrambled to pick up the scattered papers, Spike was still getting over his astonishment. “Harris? This is a surprise.” And Spike meant it.

“Bet you’re wondering why I’m here instead of slam dancing somewhere else. See, I came up to Sacramento to pick up some custom finished metal work for a job and thought I’d come by and see if you would show me some of this town’s night life. It’s got to be better than Sunnydale’s.”

While Xander’s mouth was moving, all Spike thought about was that the carpenter was standing on his door step, wanting to hang out with him. “Harris…uh…how are you doing, mate?” What he wanted to ask was, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’

“Great. Did I catch you going out?”

Finally Spike pulled himself out of his stupor and nodded. “Heading out to track a bloke down.”

Handing Spike’s papers back to him, Xander spoke with eagerness evident in his voice. “Sounds way more interesting than a bar. Mind if I tag along?”

“Sure.” Where the bleedin’ hell did that come from? Spike meant to say no, but “sure” came out of his mouth instead. With a sigh, he handed Xander the case file and started down the stairs. “Come on. You keep the folder so you can study, and we can discuss the perp on the way.”

When they exited out into the parking lot, Spike continued. “This bail jumper, who is a pedophile, has already been twice convicted. So he already knows that if he gets caught, he’ll do life this time. And to top that off, inmates in prisons are notoriously brutal to child molesters.”

Xander held up a mug shot. “This is the warped puppy we’re after?”

With a sparkle in his eyes, Spike wiggled his eye brows. “The soon to be inmate’s number is up tonight. Name’s Sebastian Harksky. One glitch in tracking any skip is that he could change his hair, wear a beard, contacts to change his eye color, and so look the picture over close, paying special attention to his eyes, mouth, nose, all of which are hard to change.”

Xander thumbed through the rap sheets. “This…This is…I think I’m going to heave. How can you even stomach reading about this bottom feeder?”

Chuckling, Spike pointed out, “Now you know why these are my favorite kind of tosser to offer a limousine ride to a nice, cozy cell.”

Studying the picture again, Xander nudged Spike in a gesture of conspiracy. “Well, William, if you put it that way, I can understand why you would like this career.”

The vampire shot Xander a wicked smile. “Word is that he’s staying with some other wanker he met off the internet. Probably child molesters.com. Problem is that I couldn’t get the address pinned down, but I do know which area of town he running around. So since the nasty bugger hunts kids, we go after him where the kids are.”

When Spike pulled into a well lit parking lot with kids around everywhere, Xander looked around with a I-can’t-believe-I’m-spending-Saturday-night-here expression. “Uncle Bill’s Indoor Family Entertainment Land.”

Laughing at Xander’s expression, Spike told him, “We’re here, Harris. What did you expect? A sleezy bar that caters to children under twelve?” Spike pulled out a piece of paper from the file and wrote his cell phone number on the back. Then he told Xander to do the same. As they exchanged the numbers, Spike gave some last minute instructions. “Don’t try to catch the bugger on your own. There’s a damn good chance this skip is going to try to run.”

“Got it. Spot him, don’t stop him. Call you. No problem.”

Spike rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but be amused by the carpenter. “Go ahead and take the picture with you, and when you get in there, look for places you would want to view children while not appearing too obvious. We’ll meet back here in half an hour.”

*****

Thirty minutes later, Spike was leaning against his car with his ankles crossed, watching Xander approaching. “Harris, how was your first taste of this profession? See anything?”

“Golly gee whiz, Blonde Batman, I thought my heart was going to burst from all that excitement and intrigue. How can you take all this non-stop action?”

Amused instead of offended, Spike raised an eyebrow. “So you’re saying you don’t like all the kiddies nipping at your ankles with their gushing mums chasing after their darlings?” He smirked, “Now you know why I sent you to that side instead of me, mate.”

“Ah, but you forgot the thrills of seeing all the kids with peach fuzz and A cup bras, making googly eyes at each other and wanting to pop the question, ‘Want to go steady?.’ See that handsome, young man in the green shirt with the pimples. I gave him some finer points of getting to the first base, and if he slides to the base safe, I told him to give me a call so I could advise him on getting to second base. Just call me Dr. Xander. Over one million happy couples.”

“Doctor? They should yank your license.” Spike rolled his eyes as he got into the car. “Harris, did YOU even make it to second base in high school?”

Xander looked like a deer caught in the head lights of a car. “Ah...maybe…No, no, I made it all the way around the bases and back home. Besides, who have you been talking to?”

“Don’t let any of those little buggers undermine your self-esteem.”

Visibly bristling, Xander glared at Spike. “Two words. Fuck. You. I have self-esteem. Self-esteem all over the place. Way much self-esteem. Least I don’t have to dip my head in perioxide to help my self-esteem.”

Not bothering with a reply, Spike just reached over and slapped him on the back of the head.

Xander laughed. “So where to next and will I need my heart pills?”

“The mall.”

“The mall? Have some shopping to do?”

“Do you think there is a pet shop? Could buy you a muzzle, Harris?” Spike watched Xander flip him off, but then they both chuckled. “Think it through. He wasn’t at the miniature golf in this area. So if you were scum that who liked to stalk children, where would you go?”

Xander thought about the logic for a minute and then nodded his head. “A shopping we shall go. If he’s not at Pervs-R-Us, then we’ll look at Lester the Molester’s Boutique.”

Since the mall would be closing in a little over an hour, Spike and Xander spilt up to search. To compound problems in the search, it was Christmas Break and no nights were school nights, there were kids everywhere, many without their parents, which made them perfect targets for Harksky. Spike sent Xander into an arcade while the vampire headed for a pizza parlor geared towards children. He had been hesitant sending Xander into a place that served food because Spike was worried he couldn’t get the eating machine back out.

Inside, Spike found the racket deafening, only to be surpassed by the chaos. He bumped his way through kids running amuck with a parent or two trying to unsuccessfully rein in their children. As he searched through the pandemonium, he often wished for his duster to rap up and protect himself. He would rather take on ten demons at once instead of this wiggling mass of screaming children. Spike finally made it out of the bite-sized torture chamber physically unscathed, but he suspected he was mentally scarred for his unlife, even more so than from riding around with the whelp.

When Spike met Xander out side the arcade, they compared their lack of success. After deciding the food court would be the next likely place, they rode the escalator and walked down to the far end of the mall. Before they actually made it to the food area, they stood on the terrace overlooking an ice rink. Xander found Harksky first. “Look, the fourth bench from the door, at the corner of the rink.” Both noticed that their target was seated on the left side of the rink with a clear escape route to door that led out into the parking lot.

Taking in Harksky and the possible escape route, Spike growled, “Got it. Let’s go.” As the blonde turned sharply around, heading towards the escalator near by, he left Xander still looking down. But the next thing Spike knew, Xander raced pass him.

Xander called over his shoulder. “Come on, Willy. He just stood up, and I think he is following a kid towards the doors.”

When Spike caught up, he looked over at the brunette and sent him a harsh glare. “Willy? You would have to die Harris if we didn’t need to grab Harksky. I owe you a death later.”

Practically running, Spike and Xander weaved through the other people on the escalator. As they neared the bottom, Spike laid out a rough plan. “You get on his left, and I’ll take the right. Wait until he’s outside to grab him, and follow my lead. Most importantly, make sure he doesn’t run.”

Regardless of how fast the pair was now moving, Harksky still made it out the door ahead of them, and even more sickening, they could tell he was undoubtedly trailing a young boy who was on his own. Subsequently Spike hoped that the pervert would stop just outside the door, the vampire was fortunately right. When he and Xander burst through the doors, Harksky had walked over to his prey, talking with the boy and trying to make friends. Instantly taking in the situation, Spike and Xander moved as one. Slowing down from a run, both swiftly walked up and grabbed an arm on each side of Harksky and guided him off the sidewalk and into the parking lot. Once behind a van, the pervert did try to make a brake for it. However, the icing on the cake was when the pissed off vampire quickly caught up with Harksky again, the fool tried to resist. Xander reached them in time to watch Spike take great satisfaction bringing his knee up sharply, slamming it into the guy’s crotch. As Harksky howled, Xander, also holding his own family jewels, couldn’t help but cringe, but quickly warmed up to Spike’s retribution. After helping Spike drag the whimpering man to the car, Xander smirked over at Spike. “May I. Only for good measure, of course.”

“Feel free, mate.” Spike chuckled when Xander’s knee shot up into the guy’s crotch. That sick ticket wouldn’t be using his pecker any time soon, but he would be able to sing soprano in the prison choir. Throwing the groaning man into his back seat, Spike handcuffed the perp to a ring he had welded to the floor. As he started the engine, the guy sputtered in a high pitched, “You two are cold blooded bastards.”

Spike smirked, “You have no idea, but just so you know, mate, you got one part right about me, but I’m no a bastard. But keep talking, I will be more than happy to pull over, and for every child you touched or even thought about touching, I’ll slam your nuts with my knee until they bounce off the roof of your mouth.”

Xander looked smug. “Yeah. What he said. But for the record, I’m not a bastard either, and he really is cold.”

Not doubting that they would make good on his threat, the guy blanched as he sat back against the seat, keeping his mouth firmly shut. The bail jumper was sure that the jail would be safer than ever getting near that bleached blonde and brunette again. Once was enough.

*****

By midnight, the pedophile was sitting in jail, and Spike and Xander were ensconced in a bar, sipping beers. Stretching out in his chair and watching people pass by their table, Spike idly asked Xander, “How’s Anya?”

Startled, Xander was about to ask how William even knew about Anya, since his girlfriend had not come with him to the arts festival. But then he figured out who had told him. It must have been Beth. Good. What a perfect way to bring his miserable friend back in Sunnydale into the conversation with the other half of the couple. Actually, Xander’s mission tonight was to see how William felt about Beth after two months of no contact between the pair. When he had first met William, Xander would have bet a month’s pay check that the blonde radiated his love for Beth. No Geiger counter needed. And Willow had already told him about Beth’s confession of love for William to her. So, Xander put on his meddling cap, and with Willow’s encouragement, he had headed up to Sacramento to see if William’s love had been fleeting or of a more permanent kind. For what he had seen of the couple’s happiness in each others presence, and if they still loved each other, William and Beth should be together. So, Xan the meddling man to the rescue.

With a couple of beers under his belt and using the opening William had just given him, Xander was ready to be the weather vane of love and see how the wind blows. “Did Beth tell you about Anya?” Xander watched William close his eyes for a moment and then open them again before answering with one simple word, “Yes.”

“I don’t know if Beth told you or not, but Anya and I live together now. I’m even considering the “m” word. “Marriage. The big plunge. Shackles and chains. Ugh.” Xander watched Spike who was now more composed. The blonde cocked an eye brow at him, but Xander couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

After a pause, Spike looked back away and changed the subject. “So how’s Willow doing?”

“Doing great. We see more of her now that school is out for winter break. Of course, Beth is out on break also.” Now to tell a little white lie, Xander thought, for a good cause, and Beth’s happiness was a very good cause. “A guy from one of her classes keeps calling, asking her out and “accidentally” running into her different places that she hangs out such as the Magic Box.” Xander watched the blonde’s jaw clench while staring down into his beer. Xander was pretty convinced that William was still hooked on Beth, but he needed to be absolutely sure. “I think she is considering going out with this guy just to get him off her back? Who knows?”

‘That did it.’ Xander tried not to smile when William’s head shot up. His ice blue eyes boring into Xander’s brown ones. ‘William’s eyes might as well been green,’ Xander thought. ‘The same shade of the green eyed monster of jealousy.’ Xander decided the question of William’s affections for Beth were now answered without a doubt. If he didn’t know that his jealous rage was not directed at him personally but towards Beth’s fictitious suitor, William’s ferocious stare would have made Xander want to scoot his chair back. Way back. Willow thought he should ask if William is dating someone new, but not only was he ninety-nine percent sure that William was not dating again, Xander wasn’t sure he could stand another blast of this guy’s anger.

Instead of turning tail and running, Xander decided to change the subject before William exploded. “William, that was really satisfying tonight, putting that low life back in jail. I now know why you do this job now. Would you mind if I come back up some weekend and help you again?”

Spike tried to hide his surprise. “Sure. Just let me know first so I can make sure the skip isn’t a serial killer or something.” Damn, this was a red letter day. The whelp was actually asking to do something with him again. Even with Beth gone, the shocks just keep coming.

Xander leaned forward, telegraphing his interest. “Have you ever been shot or just shot at?”

Now this was a subject that he could sink his fangs into. How Spike loved to brag. “Well, there was this big bloke with a shot gun that…”

*****

Sure that William was hurting as much as Beth, Xander was so anxious to tell Willow the outcome of their plan that he called her on his way back to Sunnydale, which was at two in the morning and woke her up. “Will,…”

“Xander, it is…”

“But Willow…

“2:48 in the MORNING!”

“But you should have seen me helping William on a job. It was so cool. See, we went after this pervert…”

“Xander…Xander. Sounds great, but did you find anything out about how he feels about Beth.”

“Oh, yeah. Investigator Xander was so slick, and William is still so hooked on Beth. You should have seen his face when I mentioned her. Sad actually. Anyway, I’m ready to be Matchmaker Xan-Man.”

“Great.” Willow couldn’t help making a huge yawn. “Super. Fantastic. Xander?”

“Yeah, Willow.”

“I’m going back to bed. I love you, but DON’T call me for another 8 hours.”

After that, Xander was talking to a dial tone, but he just had to boast some more. Using his speed dial, he called the only other person that would listen to his story at three o’clock in the morning. “Anya, let me tell you how my little trip went?

Xander could just see her with her hand on her hip. “Xander, I still don’t understand why I couldn’t go.”

While rolling his eyes, Xander tried to placate her. “Anya, it wasn’t you personally. I needed some information from William, so we would know if we should push Beth back to Spike.”

Anya gave a loud sigh that Xander could hear clearly. “Beth has been so miserable in the last few weeks. I say that instead of pushing her, what she needs is a swift kick in the ass. Then go back to him and have great make-up sex.”

“An, way more information than needed.”

*****

The day before New Years Eve, found Willow, Xander, Anya and Beth sitting at a table in Xander’s favorite restaurant, having a quiet dinner together. The group was planning their New Years Eve party strategy, and everyone was tossing out their own opinions. Whatever party they went to, Xander wanted to make sure to that there was primo food and lots of it. Anya did a great deal of talking, mostly about dancing and if there would be a place she could get Xander alone. Willow stopped Anya before she began to explain in great detail what she wanted to do with him in those alone spots, and then Willow also made mental notes that if she couldn’t find Xander, to NOT go looking for him. Willow just wanted a party that she would feel comfortable and enjoy the night with her friends.

Beth was last but her brain wasn’t at the table. When she looked up at Willow, Xander and Anya, they were all staring at her expectedly. At first she didn’t know what she was suppose to say since her mind was a on hundred plus miles north of the Sunnydale party scene. Then when Xander asked again for her party opinion, she started to tell them that she didn’t really care because the only place she wanted to be was William. Instead, she stayed quiet.

Anya broke the increasingly uncomfortable silence that, to tell the truth, she hadn’t really noticed. “So Beth, what kind of wild parties do you want to get jiggy and drunk at? You and Willow should dress sexy and find a couple of healthy males. You could drag them in a dark corner like I am going to do with Xander and have up-against-the-wall sex. But just don’t use the corner we are in. Find your own.”

Sitting at the table, Willow could see Beth’s profile, but instead of turning red with embarrassment about Anya’s so not needed details, what she saw was her best friend again spaced out in some unhappy place. Beth had a notable absence of smile, and a look in her eyes that led you to believe that her thoughts were far away. Willow would bet her chemistry grade that Beth’s thoughts were with her heart that she had left in Sacramento, but the bright side was that Xander had found out that William’s heart was there in Sunnydale.

Xander could tell, also, that something wasn’t right with Beth, and he also suspected it had to do with the bleach blonde that he had seen three days before. For now, he decided to let Willow handle the preliminary intervention, so Xander started Anya in one of their frequent semi heated debates, which this time was over possible party dips and crackers at the parties. Making her move, Willow leaned across and touched her friend’s hand. “Beth, are you ok?”

“Huh?” Beth started at Willow’s touch. “Did you ask me a question? But I warn you, I didn’t really understand the last question? Kinda feels like my calculus class here.”

“I was asking if you were ok? Well, ya know…it’s like…Beth, you seem to be getting more depressed and withdrawing into yourself for a couple of months now.”

Not able to hold back, Xander jumped into the conversation between his two best friends. “Hold it a sec, Anya.” He looked over at Beth, who was now starting to look uncomfortable. “Beth, I’m with Wills on this one. It does look like you’re draining away before our eyes, and what’s up with the mime act lately? You rarely talk anymore.”

“I’m ok, Wills, Xander. I’m just space-o-girl lately. Nothing’s wrong. See, I’m now happy girl.” She gave them a huge grin that didn’t fool anyone at the table. It came in seventh place in a race between seven people.

“And I’m guessing that this ‘nothing’ happens to be named William.” Beth’s fake grin shifted to a frown and a look of guilt that easily told all at the table that Xander was right on the mark.

Beth took in a deep breadth, which of course was a requirement of any first rate lie. “No, I…” Beth let out her breath. “Ok, I may miss him…a little.”

“Hey, Hey,” Xander was waving his arm wildly. “Missing him a little is like saying an ocean is really a pond.”

Willow beamed at him and thought, ‘Way to go, Xan. Great simile. Maybe all those years of tortuous English classes are paying off.’ Focusing back on her miserable friend,Willow kept pushing. “Beth, why did you leave him?”

“Lots of reasons. Tons. Truck loads. Truck loads of truck loads.”

“Ok, so spill. What are your football stadium full of reasons?”

Beth went through all of her reasons, and everyone listened without saying a word. The only interruptions were made by the wait staff. “So that’s everything. See. William Sacramento. Me Sunnydale. No mixy.”

Willow’s forehead crinkled up with confusion. “I’ve got to tell the truth. I’m not really seeing the whole stadium full picture here.”

“So why aren’t you seeing him anymore?” As Anya guilelessly asked this question, Willow wanted to laugh, suddenly loving her direct, open personality.

However, Xander was clearly exasperated when he looked over at his girlfriend. “Anya, Beth just went through all her reasons.”

Taking exception to Xander’s eye roll, Anya frowned back at him. “I’m not deaf. I just didn’t hear any good reasons why she is staying away from this William guy.”

Willow interceded before Xander and Anya had another one of their spats. “Anya, I think what Beth was trying to say is…uh…no, I have to agree with Anya on this one. I’m also a little confused. Beth, I don’t think any of the reasons are enough for you to make yourself this miserable.”

Staying on her straight line, Anya asked, “Do you love William?”

“What…I…Well it’s like…let me stick with a big huh?” Beth wasn’t sure what to say in the bright light of her friends’ scrutiny.

Knowing that Beth did love William, Willow watched Beth squirm, thinking that it would do her good to do something other than sulk.

While Willow and Xander continued to watch Beth, Anya kept on rolling. “Do. You. Love. Him?”

When Beth finally nodded, Anya blessed Beth with some more of her logic. “Simple. If you love him, go back to him.” Anya smiled as if she had solved the problem of cold fusion.

“I know. It may be a shock, but I agree with Anya on this.” Xander shrugged his shoulders. “Beth, do any of your reasons really make a difference to you being with William? Go talk to him. Love’s too hard to find to waste it over little reasons. Besides, I have a very good feeling that he misses you as much as you miss him.”

Willow nodded while trying to give Beth a smile that conveyed sympathy and but encouragement at the same time. “I think you should drive up to Sacramento and see him. You’re the one that ran away from him; so you need to be the one that goes back. And you might even have to grovel little…maybe a lot? Tons of lot.”

Taking his heartache and anger out on slimy bail jumpers helped somewhat, yet proved to be a superficial bandage at best. More like he was existing day to day better, if that made any sense. After all, he had years of dealing with the pain that came with loving Buffy, and he would deal again. However, this time seemed far worse because this time he had a glimpse of what heaven he could have had, but after Xander’s visit, his temporary bandage came off. With a bitter laugh and a dismissive shrug, he reminded himself that at least he had gotten that glimpse and that when she left him this go around, she was far away in a different town, and not a close temptation to both pleasure and inevitable pain.

As he walked down the stairs from his loft and then outside towards his car, he tried to focus his thoughts off of Beth and onto the bail jumper he was going to pick up that night. A good twenty feet from his car, Spike hit the remote’s button to open the car’s door locks. The remote key was a little modern day luxury that always brought a small smile to his face and made him wonder if such a device could be installed on the DeSoto. But of course, he never locked the DeSoto so he really had no need for an automatic lock, not something he particularly wanted to start doing after all the years he had his baby. He pulled open the door but never got the key into the ignition. Instead, his hand paused when the short hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end, telling him that something that went bump in the night was in the area.

Slowly getting back out of his car, Spike looked for whatever had made the mistake of getting too close to his home. As luck would have at it, the funeral home was hosting a large wake that night, which took up almost all the parking spaces and looked to be lasting for awhile more. Too many cars blocked his view from his parking spot, making it impossible to see whatever was there. So he walked the parking lot, checking every row but still came up with nothing. Eager to take what had become a challenge, Spike chuckled, “If the bugger wants to play hide, I’m happy to play seek.” Checking around one more time to make sure that the parking lot was completely empty of whatever was sending out signals, Spike shifted to his demonic face to heighten his senses and evened up the playing field. Extending his senses, the tingle was a little stronger, but he still wasn’t sure of the distance or location.

Turning in a full circle, scanning again, Spike ran through his head different possible creatures that could be out there. Whatever nasty that was giving him this feeling was undoubtedly supernatural, but Sacramento wasn’t exactly a demon Mecca. In fact, now that he thought about it, he rarely crossed paths with other demons anymore. Certainly not like Sunnydale where you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting one, and since demons usually steered clear of the country’s justice system, it wasn’t like any would be jumping bail so that he would have to chase them down.

As he walked around again, he finally discerned two things about the tingling. The tingling was coming from the cemetery, and it was closer than he originally thought. Taking precautions by sticking to the shadows, Spike avoided the parking lot’s security lights. He made his way around to the side into the grave yard grounds as quickly as possible, letting the grass help muffle his steps and helping his effort to surprise whatever was out there.

Following his instincts, he angled to his left towards the edge of the cemetery, and was awarded when the tingling slightly increased. A row of thick, tall shrubs separated the edge of the cemetery from the street beyond, which was the same road that also passed the funeral home. When he reached the barrier, Spike first paused to listen, but he only heard the usual sounds of the surrounding neighborhood. He let the rush that always came before a fight build before he lunged through the foliage…and nearly ran into a car. Confused at the absence of any demon, he looked up and down the street, but only saw more cars parked along the street. Spike assumed the cars were there because of the wake at the funeral home. As he stepped out into the street to continue the search, he idly wondered if the person who died had owned a car dealership or what? As he moved down the street, the tingling diminished. So he turned around, and as he walked in the other direction, the feeling grew but then lessened again.

Confused, Spike turned around and walked back to the place he entered the street and then further. And the same thing happened; the farther he walked, the feeling diminished. Letting out a frustrated growl, he headed back to the middle where he had originally made with the fangs trying to attack an empty street. One bright spot to his embarrassment was that the feeling was still the strongest in that small area. “Maybe the wanker is parking, snogging with a date.” He scanned the closest cars parked along the curb. “Or the prick could just want to toss off in the privacy of his own car.” Spike started to eagerly anticipate a right good surprise, which he hoped would make the wanker’s joy stick shrivel up so he could never yank on his pecker again. And since he assumed it was a demon, Spike could use his game face again. So bonus, he didn’t get to use his demon face much anymore.

Spike moved silently up to the closest cars, first look into a red Ford truck and then into a black Nissan Protégé, but found both were empty. He passed the point in the shrubs where he had jumped through to look into the car he almost dove into. Spike walked around to the driver’s side of the green Jeep and looked into the window. A blonde beauty was sleeping in the seat, leaving the vampire to kick himself for not recognizing Beth’s Jeep before. But of course, Beth was the last person he expected to find snoozing down the street from his building, and to be honest, she was the last person he thought he would ever see again.

Realizing how soundly she was sleeping, he leaned over even with the window so he could gaze at her beautiful face. He reached out his hand to touch the window, wanting to touch her. Brushing away thoughts of why he shouldn’t get his hopes up from her presence, Spike focused his mind on the fact that he had felt her presence before finding her, as if she were still the slayer. In Sunnydale, they could always sense each other when near. One of the last times they were intimate, she sensed him standing behind a tree in the front yard of her house. But since knowing the slayer as the normal human Beth, that feeling of proximity had disappeared, leaving him to sense her just as any other human. He hadn’t felt her near the first time she had approached him in the music store. In fact, if she hadn’t spoken to him, he might not have noticed her at all as he usually ignored the humans around him. Even the last night he had seen Beth, when they had gone to the movie, while sitting next to her, she didn’t feel any different than any other human in the theatre. But tonight, he had felt her from the parking lot of his building. Not a far distance and not as strong as when she was the slayer, but enough to get his attention and lead him to her. The vampire didn’t know what the bloody hell was going on, but something had changed with her, only leaving with question instead of answers. Why he could feel her here? Why she was there at all? But none of the previous dilemmas which were the result of her past’s life memories surfacing, compared to his shock that followed her first words upon waking up.

Spike tried to decide on the best way to wake Beth up without scaring her half to death, and scaring her half out of her skin was really not good for a possible reunion.

However, Beth turned the table by startling Spike when she suddenly opened her eyes, quickly focusing on a pair of familiar, blue eyes gazing back at her. This jump started her brain enough to register that the blue eyes belonged to a very real, live William instead of him just starring in one of her dreams. Beth gave him a sleepy smile that kept growing into a grin. Swiftly rolling the Jeep’s window down, she reached out her hand to lay on his, which now lay on the edge of the car. “Hi. I could tell you were here.”

Spike loved the feel of her warm hand on his. Actually on any part of his body. He quickly picked her hand up and laced their fingers together, holding on in hopes of keeping the contact as long as possible, wanting to hold her forever and not let Beth leave him again. “Hey yourself, Kitten.”

She wanted to purr hearing the sound of his deep, sexy voice that she had missed so much. “This kitten didn’t plan on catnapping here, but I haven’t been sleeping much. See I’ve missed someone I haven’t seen in far too long. So me coming back, me parking, me sitting, and then me falling asleep.”

With the corners of his mouth starting to tilt up, Spike quirked an eyebrow at her in question. “And you ended up snoozing in your car here because…?”

“Because it looked like the comfy-est spot?” Beth gave a dramatic sigh. “Not buying it, are you? Ok, I parked here while I tried to get up the nerve to ring your door bell, so I could grovel at your feet for running away after that fight with those three jerks. But you know what?” She gave have him a wide, innocent smile. Just now, I woke up because I could feel that you were close by, and the little tingle felt so good.”

Spike already knew the answer to the question he was going to ask since it was the same feeling that led him to her, but he asked anyway just to make sure. “What do you mean by some feeling, love?”

“It’s hard to put into words. I started waking up because I kinda got this prickly feeling, and I just somehow knew it meant that you were close. Do you know what I mean or do I just sound lost in space?”

“I know exactly what you mean because that’s how I found you.” She had explained her feeling so casually like she didn’t realize she shouldn’t have such a “tingle” when he was near at all. Spike was positive that she hadn’t felt it when he had been around her two months ago, and he honestly didn’t have a clue why she did now. However in his opinion at the moment was that the tingles just didn’t matter moment. He would worry about these changes later because Beth came back to him and that was what mattered most. Pulling her hand up to his mouth, Spike kissed the tip of each finger before placing a lingering kiss on her palm.

Then she turned her hand over to grasp his fingers and brought his hand up to place it on the side of her face. Nuzzling into his palm, she closed her eyes, cherishing the feel of his touch on the sensitive skin on her face. When she felt William place his forehead against her own, Beth opened her eyes again. When she spoke, her voice was tentative and shaking with emotion. “I missed you.” She hadn’t been sure what his reaction would be until he pulled back, and Beth saw the joy in his eyes and his smile.

Spike’s world brightened at her words. After looking into her beloved face still cupped in his had, he leaned in through the window and gave Beth a light kiss on the lips. “I missed you, too.”

Keeping contact with his hand, she took a deep breath, dreading what she had to get off her chest. “You can’t believe how sor…”

With a light, chaste kiss, Spike stopped her apology. “No, love, that night I just forgot that you haven’t seen or dealt with such gutter dwellers. So don’t apologize for anything because it’s done and gone. But let me see if I can entice you to my flat.”

Nodding with a saucy grin, she rolled her window back up, opened the door and stepped out. Reaching up she put her hands on both on his shoulders to pull him down to her and pressed her lips to his. When she ran her tongue across his lips, she moaned as his mouth open, allowing her entrance. Their tongues danced as their arms rapped around each other, holding on tight as if the other would disappear. The kiss went on and on, only breaking from time to time for Beth to catch her breath.

When the kiss finally ended, Spike ran his knuckles down the side of her face. “Thank you for coming back, love.” He took her hand, and they starting walking towards his building.

“You wouldn’t believe how much I wanted to come back.” Beth admitted in a small voice.

As much as her words warmed his cold heart, when he felt her discomfort, Spike helped her out by changing the subject. “So I guess Harris told you about his little foray into skip chasing.”

“Huh? With an emphasis on ‘Huh’?”

Spike looked over her in surprise. “Harris didn’t tell you he was here three nights ago?”

Shaking her head, Beth’s voice sounded bewildered. “You mean Xander? My friend, Xander?”

“Yes, pet, the pillock himself. Brown hair, brown eyes, smart ass mouth that when he is not talking, he is eating…Xander Harris.”

“I don’t know what a pillock is, but I do recognize his description. And you’re saying he was here a few nights ago?”

“We’ve already done this bit, love.” Spike leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. “Yes, Xander was here, and yes, this week. He just showed up one night on my door step, saying he was in town on business and thought he would drop by. When I told him that I was going out on a job, he asked to go with me. Surprisingly, he turned out to be a help. Afterwards, we grabbed a couple of beers before he headed back to Sunnyhe…Sunnydale.” Spike luckily caught himself before he called the town his favorite nickname, Sunnyhell.

On the rest of the way to his flat, Beth prodded him for more details about Xander’s visit, especially enjoying the part where Xander had to search the putt-putt golf area. As they discussed that night, Spike was unfortunately reminded of what Xander had told him about another man trying to move in on Beth. Not that he blamed the tosser, but Spike’s jealousy had kicked in and his anger rose and rose as time passed.

Once in the loft, they stopped in the living room, and not being able to get enough of him, Beth turned to kiss William again. When their lips met, she could feel that something was wrong with him. She had no idea what made his attitude change so swiftly, but it did make her very nervous since she wanted to make everything right between them again.

Unsure what to do, she turned and walked further into the flat, wondering if she was rushing him too quickly. After all, she was the one that dropped in out of the blue. Even though she wanted to drag him to the bedroom and stay in bed with him all night, maybe he didn’t. Surely getting something to drink would be more casual, giving him more time to adjust, so Beth headed for the kitchen.

On the far range of her thoughts, Spike followed her and sat on one of the bar stools on the other side of the counter, enjoying just being able to watch her comfortably moving around his home again.

Upon entering, Beth opened one of the cabinets to grab out a mug and a glass and set both on the counter in front of Spike. As she opened the refrigerator, Spike watched smiling as she took stock of what he had to drink, appreciating the view of her ass that she presented him.

Her voice brought him out of his fantasies. “So let me catch you up on everybody in Sunnydale. First off, remember how I told you that Willow was joining a wiccan group at school? Well, she hated that silly group and said it was nothing but a social club. But one good thing came out of it. She did meet this other witch, Tara, and they have been practicing spells together. Willow has been so happy to have another witch to talk witchy stuff with.”

Feeling like he was dreaming, Spike sat at the counter, just enjoying listening to Beth talk about her friends until the nightmare started. He watched as she reached in the refrigerator and took out his pitcher of blood. He could feel his world shattering. Since Spike hadn’t been expecting Beth to show up, he hadn’t bothered moving the blood to the small refrigerator hidden in the library. And Spike had no idea what excuse he was going to give of why he kept blood in his the refrigerator. What was he going say?

Still talking about her friends, Beth casually held Spike’s pitcher of blood. “The gang and I got together yesterday for lunch. Willow had invited Tara, her new witch friend, to come eat with us, but she couldn’t make it. I really wanted to meet her, but once lunch got under way, I was relieved that she couldn’t make it since the food fest turned out to be a little informal meeting so Xander, Willow, and Anya could give me the full court press. Their goal line was to convince me to not walk but run back to you. The extra point was scored when, with short yardage, they told me I was Stupidity Girl for leaving in the first place. Well, duh on my part!”

If she hadn’t been holding his supply of blood, Spike would have enjoyed her words so much more. Running his hand through his hair, Spike didn’t want to take it from her and bring more attention to the pitcher, so he just watched in horror as she poured the blood into the mug. He hated hocus pocus, but what he couldn’t give at that moment to cast a spell, making the whole pitcher and its contents disappear. Beth turned and popped the mug into the microwave and then turned back to look at Spike, still telling her tale. “They knew I was miserable without you so I guess they were determined to give me a swift kick in the ass, with you as the goal posts.” Totally missing the brilliant smile she sent his way, Spike, holding a breath he didn’t need, watched as she put the pitcher back in the refrigerator, pulled out a can of diet coke from the refrigerator and poured that into her glass.

Beth was happy to see the diet cokes because she knew William never drank them, so she smiled thinking that he still kept them for her. “Ok, who else? Giles is doing great with The Magic Box. Who would have thought that so many people in Sunnydale practiced magic? In fact, Giles is doing so well that he hired Anya to work for him.” At that point, the microwave dinged, interrupting her story, Beth pulled out the mug and casually handed it to him with a smile.

With the mug now in his hand, he tried to casually rest his palm over the top, blocking her view into it and most certainly did not take a drink, and he certainly didn’t dare pour the blood down the sink, fearing that the blood would be even more obvious swirling down. And he most certainly did not want to take a drink. Wouldn’t that be great if he ended up with a blood mustache like people get milk mustaches?

Beth leaned her elbows on the counter, preparing to tell him her next news. News that would make Spike glad that the shock over the blood had pretty much receded before this new bomb was dropped on him. “So now for a Beth story, and I warn you, ‘You’re fixing to enter the Twilight Zone.’ One day a couple of weeks ago, for some reason I walked home a different way than usual from the Magic Box. I passed this abandoned house. It was dirty and overall yuky, so I don’t have any idea why I didn’t just keep walking. The freak factor came when I walked inside. Can you believe that I realized that I knew the layout of the first two rooms before I even looked around? I knew there would be a wall to the left, stairs in front, and right, of the entry would open up into another room with a fire place on the far wall. Being drawn into that house was strange enough, but when I started to daydream, the weird meter soared. Since it was daytime when I walked in, I knew that I must have been dreaming because when I looked around the rooms, I could tell that it was nighttime.”

As Beth talked, Spike’s gaze glossed over with his memory of when he and Buffy first made love played in his mind in techno-color. And with Beth retelling that particular night sent chills from head to toe.

“Now this tale gets a little embarrassing. Weird but still incredibly…uh…personal.” Beth stopped and took a big breath. “You were up against the wall, holding me up, and my legs were wrapped around your waist. We were kissing and furiously making love while the house was falling down around us. Then we fell through the floor. I have no idea how we survived that fall, but we continued making love the rest of the night. The next morning, we were sleeping in the rubble. That night felt like one of the best nights of my life, like we had never made love before, and the next morning only got better. There was a hole in the roof, letting the sun shine down on both of us.” Her eyes took on a dreamy look, and her mouth tilted up in a small smile. “It was dazzling. Anyway, I woke up first and just enjoyed looking at you, beautiful in the sunlight, until you woke up. We spent the rest of the day there, making love and just enjoying being together, not leaving until the afternoon when we were starving. I know you can’t go out in the sun or that you have never even been to Sunnydale, but the dream felt so real, so right. But not that I didn’t love this dream, but isn’t that extreme strangeness?”

What in the bloody world does he answer? ‘Yes, pet, the sex there that night had been mind blowing.’ Or ‘That had been one of the best nights of my life, but you shattered that the next morning with your fear and bias.’ Better yet, ‘Take a vampire, add sunlight, and you’ve got yourself a nice bar-b-que.’

Spike tried frantically to get a grip on his swirling thoughts. First, Beth had started to dream not just when she was asleep, but also while awake. Second, the beginning of the dream was accurate. Actually he was surprised that her subconscious picked that particular story to rise up to the surface in her consciousness. Third, despite the accuracy of the night, her mind changed her memory of the next morning. Yes, they had woken up lying in the rubble, and yes, he had wanted her to stay with him. However, she threw in his face her disgust of him and of what they had done together. In return, he was an arrogant ass. Contrarily, in her dream, she had woken up happy and stayed with him, making love all the day. Really, her dream sounded more like it should have been one of his own. In Spike’s opinion, the fourth point was the most bizarre, which was the sunlight streaming down on him. All in all, the night part of her daydream had been true, the morning could have been true if Buffy hadn’t been so afraid of her feelings and her friends’ opinions, but the last part about the sunshine was impossible unless the owner of the house wanted a vampire to be the spark that burned his house down. Even in a dream, Spike had no desire to become a fire ball.

He felt guilty that her memories may be resurfacing because of her contact with him, but his guilt receded when it struck him that in the last two months, she had memories surface without him being there to trigger them. Another plus for him was that she didn’t seem to be consciously aware that she had just served him a nice, warm cup of blood.

Standing up and taking a sip of her drink, Beth continued her one sided dialogue, “Oh, I forgot Xander, but I guess you are caught up on his life since you’ve talked to our brunette cupid this week. So I won’t even go there. But let me say I still can’t believe that he went to such an effort to come here and make sure you were still interested in me.”

At the mention of Xander’s name, Beth watched William’s expression cloud over and could see the tension flow through his body. Really not what she had hoped for their reunion. Her woman’s intuition was screaming now. “What? Did Xander say something he shouldn’t have or offend you in some way? He does have a PhD in ‘putting your foot in your mouth’ techniques.”

Since the whelp’s visit, Spike had been trying to shrug off his jealousy. However when she mentioned Xander again, he was reminded of his biggest worry that had eaten away at his heart, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out about another git in her life. After all, he didn’t kill humans anymore, but such delicious temptations were not needed. “Harris…ah…may have mentioned that you had some other bloke sniffing around, wanting to take you out…and that you were thinking about taking this wanker up on his offer.”

Beth’s jaw dropped, and her wide eyes looked at him like he was speaking to her in a Martian dialect. As she processed that bombshell, she couldn’t yet force any words out of her mouth.

Taking in her reaction, he stepped back from the counter as if burned. Insecurity and paranoia took hold of his thought processes causing Spike to interpret her reaction as one of guilt, one of being caught in something she wanted to keep a secret from him. Then his assumptions were totally thrown off balance when she started…laughing. Considering the twists and turns in Spike’s world since Beth started talking about recent events in Sunnydale, he was understandably wary when she came around the counter, and as she reached out for William, he took another step back.

Taking in his response to her silence and then laughter, Beth quickly put a hand over her mouth and kept it there until she managed to stifle her mirth. When composed, she reached for him again and was relieved when he let her catch his hands in her own. However, Beth didn’t laugh, but she couldn’t help but tease, “William, I think we both fell for Xander’s match making.” Sadly, she could tell he wasn’t buying the Xander Match Maker explanation; in fact, his expression grew even darker.

Beth stepped up closer, wrapping her arms around him before he could move farther away and held her breath until she felt his arms wrapped tightly around her back. After a few moments of body against body, she pulled back but only far enough to see his face. “Ok, William, let’s try to look at this in another way. I have a question for you. Did Xander give you a kiss good bye?”

“Hell no!” He tried to pull away, but she held on to him firmly.

Laughing at the disgusted look on William’s face, Beth shook her head. “I know, eewww, but funny. Lighten up already. I was just teasing. Really, my question is this. During the last two months, did you talk to or meet any single girls? Maybe in a store, at a gas station, in a nightclub, a restaurant, or something like that. Just a girl without a wedding band, no hubby at home.”

“Yeah, but…” Tilting his head, William closely examined her expression, looking for clues but didn’t have any idea where this minx was headed with her question, which made him worry. Still, it couldn’t be all bad since her arms were wrapped around him, and her body was pressed against his. Being a male and naturally suspicious when his girlfriend asks about looking at or talking to other women, Spike was cautious in what he said.

“Did you want or think about going out with them?”

Spike looked horrified. “No! Didn’t even consider any other bint.”

Pleased at his reaction and words, Beth got to her point. “I was the same way. When it comes to other guys, I haven’t been out with anyone, I haven’t considered going out with anyone, and I haven’t even thought of anyone in that kinda of way the whole time I was away from you. Got it?” When he nodded, she kept going. “Xander came here to see if you were still wanted me, and then he and my other friends pushed me to quit being a scaredy cat and come back to you. The only bad part was that I think Xander might have gone a little over board, trying to make you jealous with another guy thingy.”

In an attempt to eliminate his unnecessary worries away, she reached up and tried to rub away the wrinkles between his eyes before saying, “William, it’s only you for me since I first saw you in the music store, and even then, it felt like you were the only one for me before we even met, like I had been waiting for years to be with you.” She rubbed her index finger along one of his eyebrows and then over the other. “Even though I was so stupid to stay away for sixty-four days, and yes, I counted, I’m smart enough to know what I’m talking about now. So know this, every day that I was in my home in Sunnydale, I wanted to be here with you in your home.” Beth let her hand slide down, she cup the side of his face, rubbing her thumb back and forth across his cheek.

As her hand caressed his face, his heart melted and his expression of worry changed to one of wonder and awe. He was touched beyond belief by her words and that she counted the days she had been away from him just as he had counted the days between her death after fighting Glory to when she was resurrected.

Relieved as well as encouragaed by his gaze, Beth slipped her hand behind his head and pulled him down until her lips touched his. They had already shared kisses after he discovered her sleeping in her car, but this kiss was finally free of worries, Spike’s worry of losing her to another man and Beth’s fear that William wouldn’t forgive her.

“As much as I am enjoying this, and believe me, I so missed the kissage with you. But I feel ick ick all over. See, when I finished my lunch with my friends, I walked home, told mom where I was going, packed and got on the road. Then once here, I fell asleep in my car. Sooo, I need some soapy goodness.” She snuggled up closer to William’s cool body. “Want to join me? It’s not the bed, but I am sure we can make it just as fun and save the bed for later.” In all honesty, she wasn’t that dirty, but she thought it was a good time to live out one of her fantasies. William. Wet. Sudsy muscles sliding against her body. Yummm!

“Join you, pet? Don’t even doubt it.” This time, Spike cupped the back of her head, bringing her mouth to his again. As their tongues met, enjoying the pressure of his hand pressing her closer, Beth wondered if she was insane for not telling him to take her right that very second. Actually, the floor would be just fine with her.

When he pulled back away, she was breathless but eager for more. “When you can breathe again, love, why don’t you go get the water hot?” Instead of leading her as he wanted to, he turned her toward the bedroom and sent her on her way with a pat on her sexy ass. Jumping from the unexpected swat, she glanced at him over her shoulder. “Oooh, so you do that while I’m walking away. What? Are you just too scared to do that when I’m walking towards you?”

Spike licked his lips in anticipation. “You’re just asking for it, missy.”

“Duh!” She stuck her tongue out at him and disappeared into the bathroom.

Spike could hear her laughter floating out of the bathroom right before she shut the door, and then heard the water start up.

If he didn’t have an extremely good reason to keep him out of the bathroom, he would be running into that shower with all the speed that his vampiric nature could muster. Where he did rush over to was the refrigerator. Grabbing his supply of blood, he moved it to the library’s hidden refrigerator. Thus done, he still couldn’t go into the bathroom. One word. Mirror. He had to wait for the mirror to fog up. Of course, he could have an refection in some of the chrome trim, but he would take that chance. No way could he resist a shower with that blonde beauty.

With his body and mind equally frustrated, Spike leaned his forehead on the warming door and cooled his heals until he could see steam rolling out from under the door. Just in case, he sincerely hoped that she was already in the shower and not near the mirror. Spike’s cock was rigid before he even entered the bathroom, but was painfully hard when he actually stepped in the room. He completely forgot to check that the mirror was fogged up when, with the shower door open, he saw Beth crooking her finger at him in an invitation to join her. It never ceased to amaze him how Beth, an innocent Buffy, was so open in demonstrating her desire for him.

Spike could have made it into the Guinness Book of Records by how fast he stripped off his clothes and jumped into the shower. His hands were on her as fast as she was immediately all over him. They shared deep, passionate kisses where both could feel the other trying with their hands and lips to make up time lost in the past couple of mouths.

Finally pulling her desire back in check so she could to clear her head enough to continue her fantasy, she reached over and grabbed the soap.

Spike was surprised when she turned him so that his back was to her before she began with the soap. Hearing him sigh when he felt her soapy hands touched his skin, she started at the back of his neck, and then down making random patterns on his back, lightly dragging her finger nails through the suds. Next her hands slid down his legs. Totally seduced by her technique, his eyes rolled up into his head and his body slightly trembled as he felt her start upwards on the front of his body. Spike gave a deep heartfelt groan when as she straightened her legs, she slid her chest along his back, and her warm hands cupped his balls. After massaging for a moment, one hand stayed in place as the other wrapped around his erection. Stroking forward and back, forward and back. Between his groans, Spike heard her husky whisper, “Wouldn’t want to miss any spot on your body, would I?” She continued fondling under his balls again as she continued to stroke his shaft. But his groans quickly turned to whimpers when her hands let go and moved on up to his chest, paying special attention to scrapping her fingernails across his nipples several times. He wanted to beg for more when her hands left his body entirely to get the shower head and wash the soap off his body. He had just thought his erection was painful when he had entered the bathroom. Wrong. He thought he was going to have to go to an emergency room if he didn’t get relief soon.

But two could play at that game. Turning around to face her, Spike kissed hard and intense before grabbing the soap. “You may have taught me a lesson here, but I think I need to practice to make sure I got it right,” he said just before he turned her to face away as she had done him. Following her lead, he started with the back of her neck, along her smooth back to cup the cheeks of her ass, down to her calves, and started back up back up the front. When he reached her sex, he smiled evilly. Payback wasn’t a bitch this time. Payback was a tease. After lathering up her curly hair where her legs met, his hands just brushed the top of the lips of her sex. She moved her legs apart in anticipation and whimpered in a mix of pleasure and frustration as he slid his fingers on the outside of her lip, stroking, before finally sliding one finger between her folds. He slid across her clit but not paying it any special attention and did the same at her entrance to her core. He stroked her a few more times until as her pleasure increased her head fell back on his shoulder, and he smiled a wicked smile when she groaned and then begged. “Please, William. Please.”

Her words pushed him past the point of play. Quickly rinsing her off, he growled in her ear, “You had better brace yourself, love,” and gently but firmly bent her over at the waist.

“Just need you inside of me. Now!” Then she cried out as he thrust inside of her, filling her, stretching her. Spike snarled as Beth shoved back, matching his every thrust. Quickly, too quickly, they felt each others orgasms begin to build, their bodies in sync with both motions and feelings of pleasure. As the walls of her sex contract around his shaft as she came, he pumped his seed deep inside her.

Her orgasm had been hard and heavenly, making her want to keep him inside her as long as possible, but her legs were quivering and weak. She slowly stood up and whimpered as she felt his shaft leave her. Leaning against his chest, Beth sighed when Spike wrapped his arms tight around her, kissing her neck before resting his cheek on top of her shoulder.

******

Two hours later, they lay in his bed sated. For the moment. Beth lay nestled up against Spike’s side with her head resting on his shoulder; their legs were entwined while Spike ran his fingers through her hair and her fingers made random patterns across his chest. He placed a lingering kiss on the top of her head before asking, “Have I already thanked you for coming back to me?”

Since he had already thanked her several times before, when she leaned back to look into his face, she could tell by the twinkle in his eyes that he was just teasing her, but Beth’s reply was serious. “Well, to fess up…I was really scared that you wouldn’t want me back.”

Shifting them so that they were both on their sides, facing each other, Spike tried to dispel her fears. He laid his hand on the side of her face, brushing her cheek with his thumb. “I would always want you to return to me. Always, no matter what.”

As a tear rolled down her face, she rested her hand gently against his cheek. “I had to come back. My heart is here with you.”

Spike rolled her on her back, kissing her deeply, pouring all his feelings into the kiss. When he finally pulled back, Beth could see the glistening in his eyes of unshed tears. His voice was choked, full of feelings. “My heart was there with you in Sunnydale.”

Hugging him tight, she whispered in his ear, “How about I just don’t leave you again? Never ever.”

With her quiet words, Spike could have sworn that with his love for this woman, his dead heart that belonged to her started again, matching her beat for beat.