Chapter 4.08

Even though he took the "scenic" route, Spike felt as if their trip to the ice-rink was far too short. Wes’s Harley handled like a dream and Buffy’s arms anchored her firmly against his back. If he gave way to impulse, he would just make for the coast road and open her up, never stopping until they ran out of gas or had to look for a bed for the day or night. With the orbs still in his coat pocket, not even daylight could stop him, but Spike wasn’t one to welch on a debt and Buffy reckoned he owed her ice-skating. So, he pulled the Harley over into the rink’s parking lot, pulling up next to the car that was the lot’s only other occupant.

Buffy wasted no time taking off her helmet, but then she looked at the car and the light that was on over the side door.

"Somebody’s here. Maybe we should just go."

"Fat lot of point me rentin’ the place if you’re goin’ to chicken out on me now."

"You mean we’re not breaking in?"

"Tut, tut. Would have thought that broke all the Buffy commandments. I think you’re trying to corrupt me."

Buffy almost choked, she laughed so hard. "Me… corrupt William the Bloody? As if!" She looked up at the vampire’s laughing face. "You really did rent the place, didn’t you? Not just get one of your poker buddies to break in before we got here?"

"Oh ye of little faith. How well you know me, but, no, I didn’t think of that one. I’ll remember for next time though. Come on. Get your arse in gear. I’m payin’ for this by the hour whether we’re in there or not."

"So, how did you manage this? I didn’t know you could hire this place out."

"You just have to know the right people, pet."

Spike held the side door open for Buffy, letting her enter first. "If we follow this round to the right we’re supposed to get to the manager’s office," Spike supplied as Buffy looked either way along a deserted corridor. Shrugging, Buffy headed to the right. Sure enough, they soon came to a door marked with the legend, "Manager’s Office." Spike barged in without knocking, greeting the man inside as if he was an old acquaintance.

"Everything all set?" he asked as the pair shook hands, but not a formal handshake, one of those "boy’s club" special handshakes with all the stops and whistles.

"I’ll just stick the lights on for you now. Boots are in the crate there. Yours should be near the top." Spike pulled a thick envelope from the inside pocket of his coat and tossed it onto the desk. As the man moved to a control panel and flicked all the light switches, Buffy realised they were in a glass-fronted booth that overlooked the rink itself. The rink came to life as she watched, almost like magic. A vast net was suspended among the lights over the ice, filled with red and black balloons.

"Are we expecting some sort of party?"

"Local hockey team," the manager supplied. "Big match at the weekend or something."

Spike managed to pick up the topmost pair of boots and check their size before, Buffy pulled him away in search of a path to the ice. "See you later, Stu," Spike shouted as he was dragged off.

"Just follow the corridor on round. It’ll bring you out opposite the stairs down to the ice," the man called, as he watched the vampire being dragged off by a girl about half his size. Ripping open the envelope, he pocketed the money inside and pulled out a couple of audio tapes. Taking the one that had a large "1" on the label he slotted it into one of the PA system’s decks and waited for the girl to make her way on the ice before he set it in motion.

Buffy figured it must be the amount of practice Spike had at getting in and out of Doc Marten’s that let him get his boots on first. Leaving his precious duster draped over the front row of bleachers, he had completed a half circuit of the ice before she was ready. She should have known Spike’s skating style would owe more to hockey than figure skating, but as he approached his starting point again he relaxed into a more upright stance and glided to a halt before her, one hand outstretched.

"Care to dance, slayer?"

"Are you sure dancing’s what you’re planning? You looked more like you were short a puck and a stick before."

"Trust me."

Buffy took his hand and let him draw her onto the ice. As soon as she stepped out to the ice atmospheric chords welled up to fill the silence accompanied by a crystal clear voice. Buffy couldn’t understand a single word, but she couldn’t help but appreciate the music’s beauty.

Spike drew her into his arms and together they took the first steps of a very long dance that neither of them wanted to end. Just as when they fought, they moved intuitively together. Buffy felt like every fairy tale princess she’d ever seen in all those years of icecapades. Okay, maybe more inclined toward Beauty than any of the others. Then and there, she wouldn’t have changed her "Beast" for all the princes in the fairy tale world. One track blended seamlessly into the next and time flew by unnoticed by either of the pair, until the tannoy crackled into life.

"Well, check out Brian Boitano…"

Buffy looked over to the booth, surprised to see her sister, her two best friends, their partners and Wesley watching them along with Lori, Clem and all his family. Spike took advantage of her distraction to give Xander a two-fingered salute. His experience of Brian Boitano was limited to having seen the South Park movie, but he knew an insult when he heard one, mostly whenever Xander opened his mouth in his direction.

"We’re havin’ a party?" Buffy asked.

"Well, it seemed kind of selfish keepin’ this whole place to ourselves for much more than an hour."

On cue the music changed to Pink. "I’m comin’ up, so you better get this party started." And then there was a loud bang and the air around the couple was filled with swirls of red and black. Balloons floated down along with streamers and glitter. Spike looked round in surprise.

"I think somebody leaned on the wrong button."

"This is all sort of surreal. Any minute now Snoopy is going to pop out from between the bleachers and start doing his happy dance or someone’s going to offer me cheese."

"Nah, not if Harris sees them first. There’d be none left."

The group started to file out of the office. "How long did it take to get from his office to here?" Buffy asked.

"’Bout half a minute. Why? You planning on givin’ ‘em a game of hide and seek?" Spike’s gaze flicked from Buffy’s eyes to her lips and back again.

"Nope. Just wanted to know how long I could spend on the first instalment of showing you how grateful I am."

"So how grateful are you?"

Buffy closed the distance between them, sliding her arms around his waist so that their position was as stable as possible. She tilted her head back so that her lips almost touched his as she answered. "Very."

The chill of his lips as they met hers surprised her at first, and she briefly pulled away.

Her eyes sparkled with laughter as she teased him. "Say, you’ve never actually been so cold that you’ve stuck to anyone, have you? I wouldn’t want to be left-."

Any further words she might have said were lost as Spike provided evidence that he wasn’t about to stick to her, or at least not any more than usual. The embrace was short-lived, however, the squeak of the door between the private and public sections of the rink betraying the imminent arrival of their friends.

Wes was first to reach the barrier. He held up Spike’s bike keys. "I believe you have something of mine."

Spike gestured with his chin toward the bench where his coat lay. "Right pocket."

"I think under the circumstances I’ll wait till tomorrow to reclaim them. That way you’ll have a chance to fill it up. Besides it wouldn’t do to make Buffy ride home from your engagement party on that thing."

"Engagement party?" Spike asked. "It was just meant to be a chance for Bit an’ the Bite Size an’ all to have a bit of a laugh."

"Stop complaining. Engagement party means presents. Right?" Buffy accompanied her words with a sharp elbow in the ribs. The Scooby girls all gathered around Xander as he tried to make his way down the steps to the level of the rink, carrying a gift-wrapped box so big he couldn’t see his feet. He almost slipped as Rosa ducked beneath his arms as she ran down the steps.

"Unker Will, Unker Will. The man let me press the button to let out all the balloons." Spike scooped the girl up in his arms before she could slip on the ice.

"So that was you, was it? I thought Xander had sat on the button by mistake."

"That’s silly." The little girl was all tripped out in her party best. Her hair hung loose about her face and Buffy’s heart ached as she watched them both together, knowing that he would have made such a good father, if fate had been kinder. But then, slayers didn’t exactly make for the ideal mother award either, so perhaps it was just as well. Some things just weren’t meant to be. Buffy would take Spike and their rather strange extended family over the suburban dream any day.

Chapter 4.09

"Penny for them?" Willow asked, seeing her friend’s wistful expression.

"Just thinking, even with everything we can’t have, I still wouldn’t change what we’ve got."

"That’s good, ‘cause if we try returning any more unwanted gifts, the stores are going to start banning us."

"No," Buffy confirmed, watching as Rosa giggled in Spike’s arms, as he spun round and round for her. "This one’s a keeper."

"Well, in that case, you better open it, hadn’t you?"

Buffy’s gaze lingered longingly on Spike as her thoughts turned to unwrapping until Willow pulled her away to where Xander had deposited his burden on the bleachers. Buffy looked at the huge gift-wrapped box, her fingers itching to tear off the paper. All the Scoobies gathered round to observe the grand opening.

"Spike! Pressies!"

Spike stopped his games with his youngest fan and skated back to the edge of the ice to pass her over to her waiting mother. He placed a kiss on Marie’s cheek. "Thanks for lookin’ after Bit, while…"

"Not a problem. Now go open your present before Buffy explodes from the suspense. You can get ours later."

"Spike?" Buffy called again.

"’M here, pet. No need to bust an eardrum." Spike’s arms slid around her waist from behind and his cheek rested against hers. "Feel free to unveil your toy surprise."

"It was Xander’s idea," Anya told them. "He said you’d need one for the basement, so I said we should all put together and give you one, in case Spike took the one from the flat and then I wouldn’t get my security deposit back, so… Dawn picked the colour. She said it would match the rest of your things."

All the while Anya was talking, Buffy was tearing into the wrapping around the gift, pulling the paper back in strips until the picture on the side of the box was revealed.

"It’s a microwave," Buffy tried to sound enthusiastic as she wondered why they needed a third one in addition to the one in the kitchen and the one from Spike's crypt. Then she noticed the little colour sticker on the corner of the box. "It’s a silver microwave," she managed with slightly less apathy.

"Hot. Chocolate. Fudge," Spike whispered into Buffy’s ear, the very tip of his tongue licking the whorls of her ear ever so briefly as he did so.

A small smile settled on Buffy’s face at that idea and Spike could hear and feel the increase in her heartrate. "Thanks, you guys."

"And there’s a little extra something, just from me, in case you ever change your mind." Xander pulled a much smaller parcel, tied with a bow from his jacket pocket.

Buffy turned to Spike as if to see if he wanted to take his turn opening things. "Don’t look at me, love. There’s only your name on the tag."

"It’s kinda tongue-in-cheek, so don’t take it the wrong way," Xander started placating the slayer even as the feel of the parcel gave her a hint as to its content.

"Xander…" She started peeling back the layers of paper. "If this is what I think it is…"

"I told him it wasn’t funny. But he was all, ‘you just don’t get it, Ahn. Buffy’ll think it’s a hoot.’"

Sure enough, Buffy found what she had suspected was within parcel. One hand-crafted and extremely sharp wooden stake with fingergrips, shaped to fit perfectly in her hand. Buffy turned the fine piece of craftsmanship over, to check what her fingers already told her was there. Sure enough Spike’s name was carved into the wood in an intricate script.

Buffy stood holding the gift in her hand, deeply ambivalent about both it and its giver. As a piece of craftsmanship it was unsurpassed. The time and effort that had gone into its making were undeniable. As a joke, it was crass beyond belief. How could her friend think she would be amused? Was he even her friend if that was what he was thinking?

Spike’s defence mechanism set itself in motion, this time covering for Buffy’s confusion. "All that work and you still couldn’t manage to spell ‘stake’ right, but I reckon three out of five letters right must be better than average for you."

"No, you-." Xander’s attempt to explain the joke was cut short by his wife elbowing him in the ribs, while Willow and Tara just looked embarrassed.

"Off topic, Xander," she told him.

"So, isn’t it about time you all got some skates on and joined us out there?" Buffy asked, dropping the stake onto the nearest bench.

"Wait. You haven’t opened my present, yet." Dawn interrupted. The teenager rummaged in her backpack before she pulled out yet another parcel. "It’s not much, but I figured if Spike keeps finding things to apologise for, you might need it."

Buffy gave her sister a curious glance as she started unwrapping the parcel. "I dread to think."

But when she opened up the box to reveal a cut glass vase, her mouth formed into the first genuine smile at any of the gifts. "I don’t think it’ll stay empty for long."

"Thanks, Bit," Spike added.

"So does this mean you two guys are back to normal again?" Buffy asked.

"Normal? The Addams Family’s more normal than us." Dawn joked. "But if you mean are we good, then yeah. We’re good."

"Glad to hear it," Buffy told them. "Now hug."

Teenager and vamp each gave her identical ‘Do we hafta?’ looks. What happened in the privacy of the back porch was one thing. Getting hug-happy with your future in-laws in public was quite another. Nevertheless, they both knew their fate was sealed. Spike held out his arms and Dawn walked into them.

As Spike’s arms closed around Dawn’s shoulders he whispered in her ear. "You think she’s embarrassed us enough yet?"

"Just smile and thank your lucky stars she hasn’t got a camera."

The pair pulled apart though Spike kept one arm around Dawn, his other slipping round Buffy’s waist. "I think you’ve got one last gift to open, pet."

"Ooh, champagne." Buffy’s attention was caught by the bottle in Clem’s hand.

"Bit lower, pet," the vampire indicated at the same time as Buffy felt a tug on her hand. Looking down, she noticed Rosa clasping another box tightly against her chest. "It’s for you and Unker Will. Mommy says to be real careful and not fall in case it breaks."

Buffy crouched down to take the parcel from the girl.

"Thank you."

"When you marry Unker Will, will you be my Auntie? Mommy says not to call you Auntie Buffy ‘less you say it’s okay, but if you marry Unker Will then you’d have to be my Auntie."

"Sweetie, you can call me Auntie Buffy any time you want, okay?"

Spike relinquished his arm around Dawn. "Come on, Rosebud, an’ I’ll pick you up so you can see."

Buffy carefully opened up the package while Spike, Dawn, Clem and all his family looked on. She stared into the top of the box after pulling out the first chunk of polystyrene. "Spike?" She held the box in front of him for him to have a look.

Spike’s face twisted into a frown. "Marie, we can’t take that. Those things cost a bloody fortune."

"Not the little ones, they don’t. And that was one of the smallest ones they had and it’s from all of us, so you’re keeping it."

It was then that Spike caught the look of awe on Buffy’s face and knew the lamp with its stained glass shade was staying.

"Is it really expensive?" she asked, though he could tell she’d already fallen in love with the design of bluebells against a green background.

Spike sighed. "Let’s just say, that one Rupert had with the dragonflies would set you back getting on for a couple of hundred quid in England. I’m not so sure what they go for over here."

"It looks prettier when it’s on," Rosa told Buffy. If there had been any doubt in the matter, Spike knew it was settled now.

"Okay, I give up. I’m not going to try arguin’ with three of you at the same time. Thank you all." The vampire conceded the battle with as much grace as he could muster.

"Ignore him. What he means to say is it’s gorgeous and it’ll make a perfect bedside lamp when we get the basement sorted out." Buffy hugged and thanked all Clem’s family individually ending by placing a kiss on the end of Rosa’s nose. Then, Spike gave her back to Marie to put the girl’s skates on while he escorted Buffy back onto the ice.

Xander looked over as Buffy embraced Marie and Rosa.

"So who’s the babe with the kid? An’ how come if Spike’s got proper friends we’ve never met them before? No, silly me. If she knew Spike she’d never let him hold the kid," he questioned his wife.

"You’ve never met them because quote spending the evening with the demon hordes, not your idea of fun unquote."

"Ah, so what is she? Vamp? No, no kids. Unless she was vamped after she had the kid… So technically possible, but unlikely. Vengeance demon? Wig-lady thing or what?"

"Gee, Xander. It’s so great when you let people see your sensitive side…" Had they not been sitting some distance from everyone else Anya’s caustic tone would probably have drawn everyone’s attention. "Marie’s human. She just happened to be as good as married to Clem’s brother."

"So the kid is…"

"Clem’s niece. You know. The hellspawn you were so afraid of catching demon cooties from."

"But she looks so…"

"What, Xander? Human?"

"I was going to go with cute, but, yeah, human’ll do. Not like Clem."

"Well, if you really have to, take another look and this time have a look below the hair at her ears, and I guess you’ll find what you’re looking for. But once you’re done, take a look at yourself and ask yourself why such a little thing makes such a big difference to you. Ask why it matters what her father was or what her mother is."

"I’m not. It doesn’t. I don’t know. You’re putting words in my mouth."

"Well, maybe if I try real hard I’ll eventually manage to put thoughts in your head." Anya tied the last knot in her laces with rather more vigour than was necessary and stomped off toward the ice. As soon as she reached the frozen surface she glided effortlessly away from the edge. Xander followed but given his total lack of practice he resorted to holding onto the barrier and calling after her. "Ahn, hon, come back. I didn’t mean it like that, honest."

Spike noticed the carpenter fumbling around. "Maybe I best give Harris back his balls before he breaks something."

"But… What if he fell on his butt and smashed them?" Buffy asked. "Best play safe."

"Oops. I see what you mean. Invulnerable body. Ice. Orb sandwich. You’re quite right. Recipe for disaster," the vampire commented with a lopsided grin as Xander landed flat on his back.

"So, what brings you up to Sunnydale?" Lori asked Wes as they both laced up their borrowed skates. "I thought you were one of the LA crowd."

"I was, for a time. Now I’m between jobs, and I’m trying to decide whether I should move back here."

"The big city’s loss is our gain. And it’s only fair if you stay," she told him with a mischievous grin as she took to the ice with a grace owed to years of weekend rollerblading.

"Really. And why’s that?" Wes asked as he followed more cautiously.

"Well, Sunnydale’s resident charming, devilishly handsome Brit’s just gone off the market. We need a replacement."

Chapter 4.10

He didn’t want to do it, but Sunnydale wasn’t some fairy tale land where his princess got to live happily ever after. His princess was a slayer and a few hours brief respite was all either of them could afford.

"Love?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I’ve got a confession to make," the vampire did his best to soften the blow.

"Ah-huh. No confessions. Not tonight. Tonight’s about dreams and romance and perfect presents from your friends and ignoring Xander presents. How come your friends are better at the gifts thing than mine?"

‘Way to go, Spike. Had to cut things short when she was enjoying herself. Screwed things up for her again, haven’t you?’

"Could be that my friends actually like you?" Spike suggested.

"Well, a microwave for downstairs is more of a present for you than for me."

"Or from a Harris point of view, it could be a way to keep me in the basement as much as possible, away from the rest of you."

"Or it could just mean that he’s over the whole eating Spaghetti O’s from the dryer phase and wants actual food like popcorn when he comes to visit."

"And the rate he’s eating lately, he thinks we need three microwaves to keep him going."

"Beast. Besides he hasn’t been so bad since the wedding. I think it was nerves and then thinking he’d lost her." Buffy made excuses for her friend, but then it was true that whenever Spike had bought pizza, Xander hadn’t eaten any. Okay, so last time he had just finished bringing up his lunch, but he hadn’t had any the previous time either.

"I don’t know about losing demon bint, but if he’d kept going the way he was, he could say goodbye to Little Xander, ‘cause he wasn’t going to be seeing anything below his waist."

"You are so mean."

"Evil. Remember?"

"My antihero." Buffy fake swooned, hand to her forehead like the heroine in a Victorian melodrama, knowing that Spike would catch her before she could fall.

Spike scooped her into his arms and pressed his lips to hers, letting them glide slowly to a stop as he did so. "Hapless sidekick, more like," was his rebuttal when he finally raised his head.

"Partner. Hapless partner." Buffy smirked as she teased him, but her eyes declared that she meant what she said.

Spike set her back on her blades and traced the lines of her cheek with the back of one finger. "Seriously, love, there’s some bits I have to tell you."

The troubled, guilty look on his face made Buffy sigh. "Tell me the worst."

"Okay, worst, I kinda arranged for everybody to meet at Lily’s after this place closes up, for a council of war away from prying eyes and ears. At least, by now Red and Glinda should have warned the Harrises. I didn’t think it was safe to tell them over the phone."

Buffy sighed again. "We don’t get a happy ending, do we? We never really get to just be."

"I’m sorry, love. If I’d known how this was going to go, I’d have made sure you had tonight. I just mucked up, as usual."

"Spike, look at me. Today has gone from the literally sublime to the ridiculous and back again. All the good parts are down to you being you, you making me feel good, you making me love being alive, being with you. So, if we’ve got to fit ‘us’ in round about all the slayer stuff and Dawn’s stuff, it’s just the way it is. All we can do is make the most of the times we have for ourselves, and today’s been filled with great times.

Thank you." Her last two words came out as barely a whisper.

One of her hands slipped around his neck, her fingers running through the hair at his nape, where it had been trimmed too short to curl. Her other arm wrapped around his waist, holding him close and her cheek rested against his shoulder, so that every breath she took bore the faint scent of his cologne. Spike’s arms enfolded her like a child’s security blanket. For a long precious moment, both of them were content to just be.

However, Spike had another confession to make. "Love, there's one more thing."

"Mm-hmm." Buffy nuzzled in against him as she waited, trying if possible to get even closer.

"I told the munchkin, if it was okay with you, that we'd sneak away before the end so we could help put her to bed."

"We get to tuck her in and I get to listen to you read to her?"

"Uh-huh," the vampire confirmed.

"Sounds perfect. Count me in. What about the presents?"

"Dare say Marie would swing by my place on the way so we can drop them off, if we ask. 'S not far out of her way. Assuming you've got your keys. We can leave Wes's bike as well. Take the car back to yours."

"What about Clem and Lily. Are they leaving, too?"

"My guess, Lori'll drop them off later."

"Okay. You sort out the presents and I'll sort out the orbs and make our excuses and stuff."

"Meet you outside. An', pet, don't tell them where we're goin', will you? My rep's bad enough in this town as it is."

"Tell you what. You give me a kiss to keep me going, and if it's convincing enough, they'll all think we're off for a quickie."

"Convincing as that, and keep it decent enough for Bit and snack-size. Good job I'm a miracle worker, isn't it?"

Spike brought a hand up to each side of her face, his thumbs brushed a gentle trail over each cheekbone. His head bent so slowly to hers that she just had to close her eyes. The intensity of his gaze was too much. His lips brushed hers so softly at first it felt almost like a cool summer breeze, but as her lips fell open in a soft gasp, his returned, this time pressing against hers more firmly than before. Still there was an exquisite tenderness in his touch and even though they were now kissing open-mouthed, there was no attempt on either part to deepen their contact. Buffy's world narrowed to the feel of cool fingers on her face, cool lips that tasted of mint on hers and the combination of scents that had come to mean Spike. Against her expectations she felt her desire rising, her blood pumping more rapidly through her system, bringing a flush to her cheeks, the muscles of her stomach tightening in anticipation. Then the gentle pressure of his lips was gone. Her eyelids flickered open, her gaze locking instantly with his own at a distance of mere inches.

"Believe me, my love. When we get the opportunity, it's going to be no quickie."

"So who's idea was this?" Xander asked, clearly uncomfortable about something.

"I guess it was Spike's, but I don't see what difference that makes. It makes sense. As far as anybody watching or eavesdropping knows, we're still here. And besides, there's things that have happened you need to know about."

"I'm just not happy bringing in all these friends of Spike's. I mean, what's their agenda? Why do they care one way or another if we're being spied on? I just don't see how we're meant to trust them," the man protested in as hushed a tone as he could manage.

Buffy rolled her eyes and looked to his wife. "Anya, what do you say?"

"I say Clem and Lily are no friends of the Initiative, and if they trust this Lori, then she's fine by me."

Buffy raised an eyebrow in Xander's direction.

"Look, how about I drop off Anya and the others. Anya can tell me what happens, but I've got to make an early start in the morning."

"Shit, you didn't mention that before. Does that mean you won't be able to pick Dawn up like usual?" Buffy asked. "I'm not keen on her going on that bike until she gets all the right gear."

"No, it's okay I'll swing by, usual time," Xander assured her before he realised his mistake. "I just... have to drop by the builder's merchant's first... for some bits that were out of stock... some really important bits." The carpenter was clearly improvising on the spot.

Buffy's look turned cooler. "Whatever, Xander. But it seems like we're going to be seeing more of Clem and his family. If you've got some sort of issue with him I don't know about, then sooner or later something's going to have to be sorted out."

"Look, Buffy. I got involved in this for one reason, to help make this town safe for the people who live here. The people, Buffy."

Anya shook her head slightly. "It's pointless arguing with him. He was the same way about Hallie. Left the house as soon as she arrived and didn't come back till he knew she was gone. At least it sure seems that way to me. I'll be there, though."

Buffy couldn't believe it, and yet as she thought about it, she came to a realisation. Clem might have been invited to Xander's wedding, but she had never seen Xander address a single word to him. All the time they'd been locked in the house, Xander had only occasionally been in the same room as the demon and in all that time he'd never spoken to him at all, except maybe to say fold or to bid when they were playing poker. It could just be that any friend of Spike's automatically qualified as a social leper in Xander's book, but Buffy had a feeling it had to do with something else. A word she really didn't want to associate with anyone she called friend. But isn't it just as bad to treat someone differently because their skin is wrinkly, or green or blue, or cold as it would be if their skin were brown or yellow or any of the other colours of the human rainbow?

"Okay. I guess that'll have to do." Buffy pressed the orbs into Anya's hands. "You best keep these. If Xander falls on them, they might break. I'll see you later, Anya."

"Promise you'll pick a story with a happy ending to read." Buffy told Spike when she caught up with him next to Wes's bike outside. "Promise me a story about life the way it should be. Promise me heroes that are good and pure, not cynical or bitter." Buffy needed to lose herself. To pretend she couldn't see the chasm that was growing between her and Xander. She needed to pretend that his view wasn't one she'd gradually come to despise in herself and had made a concious effort to turn away from. How could she criticise her friend for a flaw that until so very recently had been part of her own make up? "Promise me a world I'd want to live in," she asked.

"As you wish, love. As you wish."

Chapter 4.11

Buffy almost despaired of Marie's chances of getting Rosa to sleep. The little girl was so excited to have not only her Uncle Will, but also her "new" auntie to help her mother put her to bed. She was bouncing up and down on the bed with excitement when the couple arrived, having taken the presents up to Spike's apartment and then taken Wes's bike to a nearby filling station before switching to the DeSoto.

Apparently, for Marie and Spike this hyperactivity was simply accepted as the norm. "Come on, mite. You know the drill. No stories till you're under the covers," the vampire chided.

"And no getting under the covers until you've said your prayers." Her mother added her own instructions.

The little girl quickly scrambled off the bed to kneel by its side. Her childish voice intoning a popular children's prayer before she clambered under the covers.

"Okay, missy, what's it to be?" Spike took off his coat and draped it over the back of an armchair positioned in the corner of the room where the lamp next to it wouldn't cast its light directly on the bed.

"Mommy was reading this one to me." The girl picked up a well-worn paperback from her nightstand. Buffy recognised it by the cover illustration as a favourite from her own childhood. A bookmark showed where Marie had paused the night before.

"Okay, I guess we better see what Bilbo's up to then. That okay with you, pet?" Spike asked Buffy.

"Just what the doctor ordered."

Marie moved to tuck the covers in around the girl as Spike settled into the armchair. She gently kissed the girl's forehead as Spike pulled Buffy down to sit across his lap while he read, her legs hanging over one arm of the chair while the other supported her back.

"With or without?" Marie asked Spike with a nod in Buffy's direction.

"With," the vampire responded before he continued the tale of the hobbit that gave the book its title and his dwarven friends.

After twenty minutes the young girl was clearly straining to stay awake to hear more of the story but when he reached the chapter's end the vampire replaced the bookmark between the pages and Buffy stood so he could return the book to its place by Rosa's bedside. A cool hand stroked non-existent stray hairs from her brow before he bent to press his lips against her cheek. His eyes flicked to the baby-monitor next to the book to check it was switched on before he stepped back, gesturing with one hand for Buffy to take her turn. Buffy pressed a kiss to her brow. When she straightened back up Spike's arms wrapped around her waist from behind. His cheek brushed against Buffy's as he bid the girl goodnight.

"Now you go to sleep like a good girl because we'll be listening, and if you don't your mum'll say I make you too excited and I won't be able to read to you any more."

"I'll be good," a sleepy voice informed him.

The vampire picked up his coat and ushered Buffy to the door before he clicked out the lamp.

"Night, night, ladybug," he whispered as he left the room, pulling the door closed behind him.

Somehow Buffy wasn't surprised to find Marie making her way into the flat's living room at the same time as she and Spike did. A tray with three steaming cups and a bowl stacked with sugar cubes indicated she'd just come from the kitchen.

"There's some sugar already in, but I didn't know whether you might like it sweeter." The brunette set the tray on a small, black lacquer coffee table in the centre of the pale green room before she passed one of the mugs to Spike.

"Just the same as Spike's is fine," Buffy replied, accepting a mug of marshmallow-topped hot chocolate. "I should have known he had an ulterior motive."

"You didn't think I would be going round reading bedtime stories out of the evilness of my heart, did you? Course I'm getting paid." He sipped deeply at his own mug before settling on the cream leather sofa. His right arm rested along the back of the couch, an open invitation that Buffy gladly accepted. Marie took her place in an armchair at right angles, sinking back into it with the look of someone who has reached the end of a long day.

Buffy's eyes roamed the room with its pale green walls, hung with a selection of watercolours in clip frames. An aquarium with small brightly coloured fish burbled softly to one side of the chimneybreast and on the other a bookcase was filled with books of all shapes and sizes. A small gate-leg table stood by the window with a laptop and the receiver for the baby monitor resting on it, but other than that the room was free of the sort of clutter Buffy expected from a family room. It had an air of tranquillity that Buffy envied.

"In little girl's kisses and hot-chocolate?" Marie teased the vampire.

"What can I say?" he rejoined. "I'm just easily pleased."

Buffy spoke before she really considered what she was saying. "Marie, would it be okay with you if we asked Rosa to be a flower girl at the wedding?"

"Pet?" Spike's question showed his surprise. Marie's eyes flicked back and forth between the pair as she waited for them to settle things between them.

"What?"

"I thought you were all sorted with Bit and Red."

"They're bridesmaids, not flower girls and if I'd known earlier that you had another of your girls hidden away over here I'd have asked before now."

"You're sure, pet?"

"She's special to you. That'd earn her a posh frock, even if I wasn't already half way wound round that little finger with you. That is so long as her mom approves?"

"If you're sure there won't be a problem with the padre over it. It'd break her heart if you asked her and then it fell through." Marie replied with a wistful tone that Buffy was at a loss to understand.

"I can double-check if you want. I'm seeing him day after tomorrow. We can leave it till after that to ask her if you want, but if he's okay on the vampire issue I can't see it being a problem."

"It'll be fine, luv." Spike reassured the older woman. "You just happened to get stuck with a right wanker. They're not all the same."

"In that case, I'm sure she'll be thrilled, but I think maybe it would be best to wait to tell her, just in case."

"You mean to say that Riley had the house bugged even back when you were dating?" Anya asked.

"There are other possibilities. I mean, maybe when Sam went to the toilet the last time she was here, she could have hidden it then. Or maybe, Forrest or Maggie Walsh or someone could have tampered with it when it was in Riley's room, say if they knew he'd bought it to give to me. It doesn't necessarily mean he knew about it or that it's always been there. It could even have been Warren. There could be-."

"Don't they teach Occam's Razor in schools these days?" Spike asked, obviously irritated by Buffy's attempt at Devil's advocate.

"What's shaving got to do with it?" Buffy asked, before she realised that in Xander's absence she seemed to be the only one who failed to understand Spike's question. "And I guess from the look on everyone else's faces the answer is yes, but I was obviously too busy killing something that day, so colour me Rainman."

Wesley explained in his understated way. "Occam's Razor is just a name given to a theorem which says the simplest explanation is the most likely one, or vice versa. It cuts both ways, you see, hence the name." He gave Buffy an apologetic glance before he continued, "and based on the evidence alone, without knowing the young man in question I'd have to agree with Spike."

"The young man in question is a trained liar. We already know for a fact that he was prepared to lie to Buffy by omission, if nothing else. He's also a hypocrite, a racist, a bully, a sexist, a cheat and an insecure manipulative bastard, and those are his better points," Spike informed the other Englishman.

"Woo, someone obviously touched a nerve," Lori commented.

Willow stepped in when she saw Buffy struggling for words.

"Riley seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Maybe misguided at times and kinda gung ho, but at the time we all thought his heart was in the right place. Then things with Buffy ended kinda badly and its only in hindsight that anybody other than Spike started to wonder how much of what we thought we knew was just for show."

"Aw, puh-lease," the vampire protested. "Nobody's been that "Aw shucks, ma'am," since the days of Tom Sawyer, and I'm highly doubtful anyone with an IQ in double figures ever was, even back then."

"This Doctor?" Lily asked. "Is possible it was Holliday? If he mean to buy Axis, he need money."

"Bloody hell, Lil. It never even crossed my mind." The vampire cursed himself for not connecting the old man's nickname to the dealer before now.

Buffy looked over at Wes. "I guess that makes going through the old guy's stuff a bit more of a priority. If he was making substantial deposits round about February time, then we have our real Doctor. Otherwise it's back to the Sam hypothesis."

"I can look for bank statements when I go to LA if you want," Anya offered.

"That'd be good. Thanks," somehow Buffy felt as if she'd viewed Anya as an adjunct to Xander for so long that she'd never really appreciated the other girl's efforts. The fact that she was here now while Xander was AWOL had made the slayer reconsider her attitude to the former demon.

"Look, this is all well and good, but are we any further with finding any bugs or stuff? 'Cause I don't really want to replace every ornament and bit of furniture in the house. We need to know where they are, and if there's anywhere in the house that's actually safe for us to talk openly."

"There are some spells in some of the books we got from LA that might help, " Tara said. "But we haven't had much chance to research since we got back, and we're kinda figuring on having to use the public library, what with not knowing where they might have cameras and stuff in the house and on campus and at the shop."

"Okay, so we're still working on that one. What about working out whether we're talking about Riley on his own or Riley and Sam, or the whole Initiative, or what? We don't even know who we're up against. Or who if any of them are here in Sunnydale."

Spike gave a menacing smile. "But we know who to ask."

Dawn snorted. "And Riley's just going to fly back from Nepal, wearing a big sign that says 'Spike, beat me till your chip goes off so bad that your ears bleed'?"

"He will if we send him the right invitation. It's what used to be called throwing down the gauntlet."

Buffy looked at her fiancé warily. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I've got a hankering for a good old fashioned bachelor party..."

Chapter 4.12

"Spike, you cannot be serious. For one thing Riley isn't going to come anywhere on your say so," Buffy argued.

"Not a problem. I'm not going to be the one doing the asking."

"What do you mean?" the slayer stood so that Spike's pacing was interrupted when the two of them ended up nose to nose.

"I mean, pet, that if Anya here's willing to play along, then Harris will do the asking. And he's going to be real convincing."

"I don't follow."

"Neither do I... yet. But I'm sure that between all the brains we've got here we can come up with some story that'll bring Soldier Boy a runnin'. Somethin' along the whole thrall line. The sort of thing that the pair of them are all too ready to believe in the first place." Neither one of the couple would back down and their voices were getting louder with every round the argument went through, despite the fact that their faces if anything were getting closer.

"You're talking about using one of my friends, and you might as well just paint a bullseye over your heart. It's stupid. You're stupid. If we have to put up with cameras and listeny things from now to doomsday, then we do, because that plan is so not leaving this room... Not to mention the fact that say you did convince Xander, then he would just come after you himself."

Spike glowered at the love of his life. "Thanks for the vote of no confidence, precious. You really think, chip or no chip, that the carpenter could get the job done?"

"I really think that one way or the other someone I care about would get hurt."

"For crying out loud. He couldn't lay a finger on me that I didn't let him. We could dance from now till next year and I could stay out his bloody way, and if he didn't fetch the bloody orbs before he came looking for me, then he'd be even stupider than I give him credit for."

"We're not doing it."

"Why? Because the almighty slayer says so? I don't see anybody else throwing out any better ideas on what to do about Big, Scarred and Stupid."

"Maybe if you would shut your mouth for two seconds, then they might have a chance."

Spike held up his hand index finger raised. It was so far in Buffy's face that if she'd actually tried to focus on it she would have gone cross-eyed. After a second, his middle finger was raised to join it, completing that old British gesture that dates back to when William the Conqueror vowed to cut off the bow fingers of every Saxon archer he captured. "I don't hear a rousing chorus of responses, slayer."

"Guys?" Clem tried to intervene. "You're going to wake up Rosa. And nobody would get hurt if you were like Spike's bodyguard. I mean like you guys seem to be more or less inseparable anyway and neither Xander nor this Riley guy would hurt you to get at Spike, least that's how it seems."

"And I still say no," Buffy stood firm, pushing Spike's hand out of her way with her arm, reluctant to initiate any flesh to flesh contact when their emotions were running so high in public.

"And I say hell no," Spike refused to be nursemaided.

"Good, well, that's settled then. Until we come up with a better plan or we get a decent lead with the research, then we might as well pack in for now."

"The only thing that's settled is that I'm not going to be bloody babysat like some soddin' three-year-old."

"Then stop acting like one."

"Me? A year ago, you wouldn't have even blinked at the idea of using me for bait. Hell, a month ago, even. How am I supposed to keep that promise I made you last year, if you're too busy trying to wrap me in cotton wool?"

"I'm not. I just don't see that what we'd gain is worth it compared to what we could lose."

"What we gain is our lives back. Don't you think your sister and your friends have got a right to a vote in this? Do you really think Anya likes the thought that Finn and whoever he's with know how often her and Harris have sex, or Red and Glinda for that matter? Do you think Bit's thrilled by the fact that she can never actually know for sure that any phone conversation she has is private, that there could be someone taping every bitch and moan she made to lover boy this morning? Or that they know when she's on the rag?"

"Enough, Spike. There's no need for that."

Buffy could see her sister's mortified face.

"No, you wouldn't want to think about the truth, would you? Strangers can know all our most intimate secrets, but we have to pretend ignorance. You can't make this decision for everybody, Buffy. I swore to protect your sister with my life. You took that promise. That doesn't just mean standing in the way if someone's trying to kill her. That means not letting some bastard make her life so it's not worth living.

I've already been in one of their cages, and I'm not going to lie back and let them treat our lives like some soddin' fifth grade ant farm that they can sit back and observe and poke a bloody stick in when they feel like it."

"Stop being such a drama queen. For all we know, that pile of rubbish that's in the bin might have been the only bug they had in the whole house."

"Even you don't really believe that, Goldilocks. They. Knew. Even though you never let me in your room. Even though that thing was shut away in your dresser drawer. They. Knew. Your sister might not have known. Your so-called best friends didn't know, but. They. Did."

Anya stood up walking over to stand to one side of the glaring couple. "What exactly is it that you want me to do, Spike?"

"All I'm asking is that you don't mention this bit of the conversation to Harris. You don't have to lie to him, and we're not asking you to do the setting up. If you want, we can time it so that you're up in LA. Just let him follow his natural inclination when it comes to looking for an explanation for things. That's it."

"Okay," the former demon seemed to consider this. "But why do you want to involve him in the first place? I mean why not just cook up something for the cameras and the listening devices?"

"Truth? We don't know how much of what's going on they do see and hear. It's going to look kind of forced if we play out the same scene half a dozen times in case they didn't pick up on it. And I don't kid myself that I can lie well enough to fool them all the time. But I can make Harris believe I'm just using Buffy, because when all's said and done that's what he wants to believe. So, all it'll take is a little nudge and everything's back to conforming with his view of the world. And he can talk to Finn till he's blue in the face and Soldier Boy won't catch him in a lie, because as far as he's concerned he's telling the truth."

"I still don't like it," Buffy said, her voice lowered once more to a conversational level.

"Look, I can see where you're both coming from," Dawn mediated. "But for now, my vote would be to wait. At least until we see what Tara and Willow come up with on the magic front. If we have to, then we go with it, but I think it should be a last resort. And I think the extra time might give us a chance to iron the kinks out."

"I'd go along with that," Willow offered.

Tara nodded her agreement. Buffy's gaze turned to Anya. The blonde hesitated but then nodded. "Maybe if it comes to that, it'll make him think twice before he makes the same mistake again."

"Well, I guess we're both outvoted, pet..." Spike's eyes searched Buffy's face for a cue to her mood.

"Fine," Buffy almost spat. She wasn't used to living in a democracy, not on a small scale anyway and the change wasn't one to which she was adapting well.

"It's kinda early for a bachelor party, anyway." Clem added scratching at an ear with his hand. "And I'm not really sure who we would invite."

"I was thinkin' about every demon from here to LA with a grudge against the Initiative. After all we don't know how many guys Finn might decide to bring with him."

"That sounds like you're ready to start a war, mi amigo. And in wars people get hurt." Marie looked at the vampire appraisingly.

"Marie, no one says you have to be any part of this. You've got the munchkin to look out for and she's already short one parent. But I didn't start this war. I didn't even revive it. Finn could have been in and out with enough troops to do what he theoretically wanted to do, and none of us would have been any the wiser. He chose to interfere in our lives. Now it's time to pay the consequences."

"Spike, you can't kill him." Buffy suddenly realised just how high the stakes had risen in this game.

"C'mon, pet. You know I can't even touch him." Spike's features twisted into a bitter grimace.

"I'm not just talking about you personally. You put troops in the same room as a bunch of demons with grudges and there's going to be bloodshed."

"And that idea's meant to upset me. Vampire. Remember? Pardon me if I don't sing a chorus of 'Don't Cry for Me, Argentina' over a bloke that stuck a stake through my heart."

Spike's hand rummaged in his coat pocket for a second or two before he threw his car keys to Anya. "Take it back to your place when you've dropped the others off. I'll swing by the shop sometime and pick the keys up."

"Where're you going?" Dawn asked.

"Wherever my feet take me," the vampire replied as he swept from the room.

Hiya Sam (if that is actually your name),

Hope you and Riley are well (again, if there really is a you and Riley). Things have been interesting here on the Hellmouth. I'm sure you already know that S and B are engaged, that X left A but then convinced her to run off for a Vegas wedding and that T and I are back together.

You see, when we had a chance to look at the evidence after the fact, we realised that all or some of us had to have been under surveillance for some time, and that Riley had obviously had access to that surveillance. So, I want you to pass on this message to him. Stop the surveillance now. If you don't, we will assume that your intentions are hostile. I think we've proved often enough over the years that we can deal with things for ourselves without outside interference, and unless you continue to provoke us we don't constitute a threat. I also think given our achievements last summer, if you think about it you'll realise that we're not the sort of people you want to piss off.

If either of you ever set foot in S again, this will also be construed as a hostile act. I don't think even B could stop S rounding up every demon in a two hundred-mile radius that has a grudge against the Initiative. To be honest, I'm not entirely convinced that he wouldn't be justified. You tried to play mind games with us all, but especially with B and him. You tried to destroy what little happiness she had found. Be aware that S is no longer viewed as a nuisance to be tolerated. He is one of us. If you act against him, you act against us all.

I think it would be for the best if this were the last communication between us. Believe me when I say that I wish you both well so long as you stay away from us and ours.

W.

Willow bounced the e-mail around some so that no one could prove where it had originated. Sam and Riley would know and that was enough. What they might choose to do about it was a different matter, but hopefully Riley would realise that discretion was the better part of valour in this instance. Willow didn't know anything else she could do to prevent this ending in a bloodbath.

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