Buffy glided across the ice deep in thought.
'How could he do that to me, he took my virginity and laughed in my face.' She could feel tears starting to cloud her vision. 'No I won't give him the satisfaction of thinking he's won. I'm the slayer!'
She went to do a triple twirl and slammed on the ice hard. She didn't move.
'Maybe if I just lay here it'll all go away?' She prayed for once she was right.
"Come on cutie! You skate better than that." She knew that accent anywhere.
She slowly stood up on wobbly legs and looked over where she heard his voice. She couldn't believe what she saw… Spike in a wheelchair!
"Yeah love, stop your starin'. You put me in this bloody thing." He mumbled and rolled over to the entrance of the rink.
"I…put …you...in…." She couldn't believe it when she suddenly thought back to that night. "The organ" she breathed.
"Yep bloody heavy too. Crushed my spine, can't feel my legs, not even a tingle." He said sadly. "Been stuck on bagged blood for weeks."
"Well if you can't hunt, you can't kill me. So why are you here?" she inquired, awkwardly shifting her balance.
"Don't know really. Went out for a roll, smelled you and followed the scent. An now I'm here" He said smirking.
"Well… where's your girlfriend, surely she misses you. I mean you went to all that trouble to save her." She said sullenly. 'If only I could find someone to go to all that trouble for me. Yeah right' she scoffed mentally.
"She's shaggin with your old hun bun so we aren't exactly together right now." He said angrily.
"Please don't call him that." She pleaded quietly. She didn't want to remember those cold eyes and harsh words.
"Why not? You went to great lengths to save him. That must mean something." He stated sarcastically.
"Yeah and look how great that turned out! Damn it! I never should have stopped that ritual that night. I should've let you kill him and let you leave. Save myself all that heart ache." She sobbed nearly falling apart.
"Tell me more, slayer." He said. He genuinely sounded like he cared.
"That's just it. That's all I'll ever be! Slayer this, slayer that! Slay slay slay! Apocalypse after apocalypse! What am I some kind of mindless killing machine. They just expect me to do my duty! No love, no romance, no compassion. Sometimes I don't even feel like I'm human anymore! But maybe I'm not!" She was ranting now.
"Yep that's it. I'm not human. Any normal girl would have committed suicide or worse after seeing the things I see day in and day out. Other people have someone they can turn to, to chase the nightmares away.
I tried to have that, but he crushed my heart. I can't tell my mom because I'm keeping her safe. She already thinks I'm a burden. I already drove my father away. I won't let her get hurt. *laugh* I guess I really have no one." She couldn't contain the sobs that shook her.
"That's not true love. Come over here, let's talk." He motioned over to the picnic tables outside the rink.
She quietly followed him, her mortal enemy to have girl talk on a picnic table.
'Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll kill me. That's better than living forever alone.'
She gave a sigh as she took off her skates and put on her boots. Spike noticed how gently she eased herself.
"Something get a bite out of you eh, cutie?" He asked, slightly worried.
'Just how badly had angelus beaten this girl?' He thought sadly.
"Just the usual, it's nothing I can't handle." She muttered sadly.
"You mean where you get seriously hurt and don't tell anyone because you don't want them to worry." He said leaning back in his chair.
"Yeah… forever alone. Just like I like it." She muttered sarcastically leaning back, mirroring his posture.
"I know what it's like to feel left out… like no one sees you." He told her gently.
"Oh yeah like big bad William the Bloody knows what it's like to be a slayer." She said sarcastically.
"Not a slayer, but when I was human I wrote… poetry, not good poetry, mind you. I was a scrawny thing, a total mummy's boy. I even fell for a woman way above me and she crushed my heart everyone laughed in my face. I was so distraught, I found myself in an ally. That's where I met Dru, and where she turned me." He finished his tale, buffy reached her hand out and placed it over his. He looked up at her astonished.
"Wow, I never thought… I can see you writing poetry. You're compassion for Drusilla and your protectiveness would make for amazing sonnets." She giggled when he looked at her as if she'd grown two heads.
"What I love poetry, not that I could publish anything decent, but I love it none the less. Just out of curiosity, where do the railroad spikes fit in at?" She inquired as she laced her fingers with his.
"Ah, after I was turned I wanted revenge… I went after those who judged me… they always said they'd rather shove railroad spikes through their heads then listen to my poetry, so I made that statement true. When you're newly turned, you just feel energized, like nothing stands in your way…" He looked over at her to see if he was scaring her, but found her looking at him in wonder.
"And now? What do you feel?" she always wondered what went through a vampire's mind.
"Now it's just an everyday thing. After everyone I knew died, I just traveled, had fun. But You cant make any friends because they die and you stay the same." He said sadly. Then it dawned on them both, they wanted the same thing.
"So, you want the same thing I do. Someone to heat your blood and keep you company during the centuries to come, interesting." She laughed. He shifted in his chair and it brought a question to mind.
"How long will you be like this?" She seemed scared of the answer.
"Less than a month, with bagged human blood I 'spose. Vampire healing's great an all but bones take time to heal." He sighed sadly. She did the same. A caged demon, can't hunt, can't kill, and can't be free.
"Do me a favor, please?" she asked, turning her body to face him and he did the same. He gave her a quizzical expression.
"Show me your demon." She said it so softly that he thought he heard her wrong. He gave her a disbelieving look but he saw her serious expression, so he complied and changed into his 'game face'.
She gasped and stood frozen, sure she had seen vampires up close when she fought them, but she never got up close and personal to one who wasn't going to kill her.
She hesitantly reached a hand out and ran her finger tip over one of his brows.
"It feels like cartilage, does it hurt when you change?" She asked absently tracing her fingertips over his face.
"Not really, I hardly feel it at all." Why was she being so open with him?
"You once told me that slayer's blood had powers; do those include healing vamps in wheelchairs?" He couldn't believe she just asked that.
"Are you really offering-"
"Take it as a gift then, for not killing me and for I don't know… just listening I guess" she's never had someone just sit and talk to her like this.
"I can't do that, if Angelus found you after, he's bloody eviscerate you." He hated turning her down, but he knew it'd be better later on.
"I have a proposition then, Take all of my blood. Angelus can't kill me then, you get your legs and your third slayer." If his heart were beating it would have stopped.
"No, what the bloody hell would you get out of making a deal like that?" He nearly yelled at her.
"Peace." She muttered. "I wouldn't have to worry about evil or death, because I'm welcoming it. You promised me you'd make it quick and painless; well I'm going to take you up on it. I'm through with people dying and getting hurt because of me." She had tears forming now.
He had changed back to his human face now. He gently pulled her up in his lap and looked her in the eyes.
"You don't want that. You want to live and kill all the baddies of the world and frolic in the sunshine, you may be broken but you can be fixed." He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
"How can I? Who would want to fix me?" She muttered brokenly. 'Drusilla's lucky she had spike loving her for over a century'
Spike's demon howled for the broken slayer.
"If I can't make myself better, then at least you can kill Angelus for me, so take it, please." She pushed his mouth to her neck and he placed a small kiss there before an idea struck him.
"What if I turn you pet? You'd be ten times stronger and we could kill Angelus together, I can teach you everything and you won't be alone ever again." He mentally pleaded to any god that she'd say yes.
"I don't just want someone there, spike. I want someone to love, but that will never be possible so who am I kidding." She dropped her eyes and moved to get off his lap, but he held firm.
"Who says I won't love you? Who wouldn't love you, you're sexy as hell, especially when you fight, I could have taken you when we first met if my mind wasn't so straight on killing you." He tilted her head up and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
"We'd be amazing together love, don't you see?" His words swayed her mind but one person came to mind.
"What about Drusilla? You're n love with her aren't you? I can't fall for a guy who wont love me completely." She shivered at the thought.
"Consider her dust love, she only sees me as a toy and only saves her love for her precious daddy." He held her hand up to his face and kissed her palm.
"I think you and I should go find ourselves a more remote place to continue our rendezvous, eh goldilocks?" she could only nod as he rolled them out the rink into the night.
*IN A CRYPT IN THE CEMETERY*
Buffy And spike were sitting on the bed in spike's crypt, the silence thickening.
"What's on your mind, kitten?" His voice jarred her from her mental battles.
"Just about how comfortable I am around you even though were supposed to hate each other. Now I'm confiding in you and you're giving me pet names." She giggled at the thought of calling him 'spikey.'
"Why so giggly? Where's that sobbing girl I saw a few moments ago?" His mocking accent seemed to put buffy in an even better mood.
"She found someone to make her feel loved," She took a deep breath before "And she wants to be with him for all eternity, preferably as his mate?" She ventured. She kept her eyes from his, worried she'd see rejection. He gently grabbed her chin and tilted her head to look at him.
"I'd be honored, but I just want you to know that I'll never leave you, not for anything. After this, it's you and me for all eternity, the claim is permanent as well. You die, I die." She could just imagine it, nocturnal picnics, black roses, immortality. She knew what to choose.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." She went to brush her hair away from her neck, when he grabbed her hand.
"No we're doing this my way." He reached down and pulled a blood red gown out underneath the bed.
"It was meant for Dru, but she never appreciated anything like this." She took his hand and kissed his palm. "Thank you" she murmured. As she went to change, spike wheeled his chair around the room, trying to make it more welcoming for her, lighting a few candles he heard a gasp behind him. He turned and nearly gasped himself.
"It's so beautiful here." She said as she moved around the room.
He sat back and smiled as she surveyed everything in the room. The dress fit perfectly. It hugged every curve she had to offer, Dru could never compare. It was lace with a sweet heart neckline, and a long train in the back.
"I know something more beautiful." He murmured, she blushed and sashayed over to him.
"So, where do you want me?" She asked, as she cupped his face in her hands.
"You're playin' with fire kitten, come up here." She giggled as he hauled her up in his arms and showered her face with kisses.
"I love you." She whispered huskily in his ear and his arms tightened around her.
"I'll love you for all eternity, my goddess." He gently lent her back and showered her neck with kisses. She writhed and twisted her fingers in his soft curls.
"Spike, please, don't tease me, Make me yours forever." Those words brought forth his demon and he pierced her flesh with his fangs, with each mouthful of blood he took, she wrapped her arms tighter around him, wanting to mold herself to him.
He felt only a few mouthfuls left and pulled away and kissed his mark, Making her shiver, then he lent back and was about to bite his wrist when she stopped him.
Before he could speak, she had her teeth clamped around his jugular and was frantically drinking mouthfuls of his blood down. Soon enough she passed out and he simply held her, the slayer blood already mending all his wounds, his bruises cleared and he could feel his bones coming together again. He hesitantly stood up and carried her bridal style to the bed.
It was morning before she awoke and the first thing she saw was spike.
"Hello my love." She smiled a fangy smile that he returned and leaned up and connected his lips with hers. Their fangs nipped each others lips and their blood combined. They could feel the world coming to a stop, as if they were the only ones in the world.
They both muttered at the same time "Mate"
Meanwhile at Willow's house
Willow's chanting over a sacred orb, "Goddess of love! Hear my pleas, let buffy summers find her one true love and let them both come together as one for all eternity. Never shall their union be broken! This is my wish, let it be done!"
A red flash of light flew out and willow sighed, knowing the spell worked properly.
"Happy valentine's day buffy."