Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, own none of the following characters. Well, the recognisable ones anyway. Joss and ME own all. Joss is God. Please don't sue me!
A/N: Ok, so I had this idea for a story. It was going to be fun and full of adventure and daring and, of course, plenty of Spuffy. I had names, locations, everything picked out, but when I actually sat down to write, the characters wouldn't behave themselves and ended up doing what they wanted. So now I have no idea where this is going. All I ask is that you try it. If you hate it, you don't have to read anymore, if you love it, review and encourage me to keep going - this is the first time I've written a multi-chapter story, so it will probably take a lot of encouragement, at least at first. Oh, also, if you have any ideas, feel free to share them, help is always welcome!
And now, enjoy. Or not…
Launching herself off a pile of the wooden boxes that always seem to litter these dark alleyways, Buffy landed a kick to the throat of the latest vampire to think he had what it takes to kill the Slayer. Landing lightly on her feet, she spun around just in time to catch to catch his fist as it swung rapidly towards her face. Using his momentum against him, Buffy threw him against the wall at the back of the alley where he, quite handily, impaled himself on a piece of one of the broken boxes.
Watching the dust settle distractedly Buffy failed to notice that the second vamp was stirring from his Slayer-induced nap. Heaving a sigh, the Slayer turned to leave the alley just as the second vamp, a fledgling by the looks of him, launched himself at her throat. Before she could prepare herself for the inevitable blow, Buffy heard a roar to her right and the vampire was knocked off his feet by a blur of black and platinum blonde. A very familiar blur of black and platinum blonde, at that.
"Spike?" Buffy was incredulous.
The blonde vampire toyed with the fledgling for a minute or so before dusting him, then crossed the alley to where Buffy was standing, hands on hips, clearly surprised to see him. "Miss me, Pet?"
"Spike, what are you doing here? I thought we'd agreed you were going to patrol across town?" Drawing herself up to her full, not very considerable, height, Buffy glared at Spike, waiting for his explanation.
"Got bored," Spike was dismissive, clearly not too worried about facing up to a seemingly pissed off Slayer. "Thought I'd come see how my girl was doing. Didn't figure on you needing to be rescued, mind," he added, with his trademark smirk. "Anyway, you never answered my question."
Buffy was outraged, "I did not need to be rescued," she retorted, through gritted teeth, "I was doing just fine by myself thank you very much," and turning on her heel, she strode away towards the street.
Spike grinned to himself; she was so easy to wind up, his Slayer. Too easy sometimes. He'd pay for it later, but it was so worth it. If only because he got to watch her cute little arse as she stormed away from him.
Pausing in the mouth of the alley, Buffy turned back to Spike, "What question?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
Spike walked towards her with panther-like grace, smirk still firmly in place, leather duster billowing out behind him. "Did. You. Miss. Me?" he murmured, sapphire meeting emerald as their gazes locked.
Buffy's face softened. She brought her hands up to rest lightly on his chest, and looking up at him, relaxed into his embrace. "Always," she breathed.
The front door of their apartment slammed behind them, and Buffy winced, hoping they hadn't woken Dawn. She had no need to worry, however, as when she walked into the living room she was confronted by the sight of her sister in front of the tv, flicking through the channels so fast Buffy was sure she couldn't possibly be able to tell what was on each.
"Where the hell have you been?" Dawn demanded as they entered the room, "I've been waiting up for you for hours!"
"We were out patrolling Dawnie, and since when do you wait…" Buffy paused as she remembered, "Oh God, your date. I'm so sorry, I completely forgot. Forgive me?"
Arms folded across her chest, Dawn glared at her older sister for a few seconds before relenting and agreeing to forgive her.
"Great," Buffy settled herself on the couch next to Dawn, "Now dish!"
While the sisters settled into their gossip session, Spike busied himself in the kitchen musing on what had passed in the six months since Buffy had discovered he was alive. It had all happened so fast. One minute Buffy had been shouting at him for not telling her he was back, for subjecting her to a year of torture and constant agonising over his death, and the next he had been holding her in his arms, promising to love her forever. Before he knew it, they had found a place to live and Dawn had arrived from Rome to complete their happy family.
Placing a mug of blood in the microwave the blonde vampire dwelled on that last thought. A happy family. His happy family. He liked that. Ok, they weren't exactly your conventional, 2.4 children happy family, but they had each other and that was enough for him.
Smiling to himself, Spike made his way back in to the living room and settled himself into his favourite chair to watch his two girls indulge in their favourite pastime, well, after shopping that is.
"So then Nibblet, he's a nice guy, yeah?"
"Oh Spike," Dawn gushed, "He's amazing! He's so thoughtful and funny and sweet and nice and – "
"Ok, ok, I get the picture!" Spike laughed, before turning serious, "You just remember bit, he lays one finger on you…" He growled.
"Spike!" the youngest Summers girl squealed in response, "Josh wouldn't hurt me, he's a total gentleman, and anyway–" Dawn's protest was cut off by the telephone.
Rolling her eyes at Spikes over protectiveness of her younger sister, Buffy got up to answer the phone.
"Giles! Oh my God, we haven't heard from you in ages!" Buffy squealed in excitement, "Wait, what's wrong? Is something going – No, of course you don't need an apocalypse to call…. Really? That's great, ok, yeah, night."
"Well," Buffy turned to her sister and Spike, "Looks like we're going to have a visitor for a few days."