Dark shadows played along the grainy surfaces of stone angels and engraved stones. A petite young woman in faded low rise jeans and a ribbed tank top wandered among the silent monuments with a heavy battle scarred ax in her right hand. Her long blond hair was pulled up in a pony tail and her movements were fluid and graceful. A hot wind blew through the trees around her, rustling leaves. The girl glanced around the empty graveyard and she sighed. Then the barely perceptible sound of crunching grass filtered to her ears and she flipped around her nose practically hitting a black tee-shirt clad chest and the lapels of a leather coat. The girl let out a small yelp and jumped backwards. The back of her knees hit the top edge of a small tombstone and she fell backwards over it. The girl scowled and brushed a strand of blond hair out of her eyes.
"God damn it, spike!" she exclaimed looking up at the person she nearly ran into. A rather short man with hair bleached so blond it was nearly white grinned infuriatingly at her and cocked his scarred left eyebrow. Amused blue eyes looked down at her and the mans arms were crossed over his chest.
"Sorry Buffy." He said, his rough British accented voice not sounding sorry at all. Buffy sighed and propped herself up on her elbows still laying on the ground with her knees bent.
"Spike, bell, neck, look into it." She said sarcastically. The man, spike, moved around the tombstone and sat down on the ground next to her.
"Hey its not my fault that you weren't paying attention. Your the slayer, you should know when there is someone behind you." The man told her, unrepentant.
The girl was 21 year old Buffy summers, small, reaching maybe five two, pretty, at first glance there wasn't anything incredibly special about her, but the special thing about Buffy was that she was a slayer. In every generation there is one girl in all the world, chosen to fight the vampires, demons and forces of darkness, she is the slayer. Buffy was one of the longest lasting slayers in history. In a life where not many lived past eighteen Buffy was already twenty-one. And she had died twice. The first time she was fighting an ageless vampire called simply the master and she was drowned. Her friend Xander Harris brought her back to life by CPR. And the second time she had jumped into a portal to save the world, and more specifically her little sister dawn. That time she had been brought back from the dead almost three months after by her friend and a powerful witch called willow Rosenburg. The man was spike or William the bloody, a vampire, almost two hundred years old. Spike was also small, maybe five ten with bleached hair and dark blue eyes. Spike had been one of the most feared master vampires in the world until a government organization called the initiative captured him and planted a computer chip in his brain that neutered him so he could not hurt any living human. Because of his handicap spike had joined forces with the slayer and had subsequently fallen in love with her. After Buffy died the second time spike had stayed in Sunnydale California, the place where Buffy and her friends lived and also home to the hell mouth, a center for evil on earth. Spike took care of Buffy's little sister dawn and looked after her friends until Buffy came back from the dead.
Buffy scooted her body into a sitting position, folding her legs tailor style facing the leather clad vampire.
"I guess I'm just so used to having you around that I don't really notice it anymore." She said thoughtfully. Spike grinned.
"So you like having me around then?" he asked, his voice low and teasing. Buffy's eyes widened.
"I never said that." She quickly backtracked. "I am just so used to you annoying the hell out of me that I don't notice anymore." She amended. Spike quirked his eyebrow and smirked at her blustering. Buffy mentally kicked herself. This is spike, SPIKE, you do not have any feeling towards him other than irritation, god he has pretty eyes, stop it! Buffy kicked her self mentally again while spike just stared at her like he knew exactly what she was thinking. Buffy cleared her throat loudly and turned her eyes to the ground.
"So what brings you to my neck of the cemetery?" she asked, studiously avoiding his penetrating gaze. Spike shrugged.
"Just bored, looking for a fight, 'stead I found a blond with a walking impairment." He said snidely. Buffy scowled.
"If you don't shut up ill give you a walking impairment. Ill shove my stake so far up your ass you'll get splinters in your eyelids." She snapped and stood up. Spike followed suit with a frown on his face.
"Buffy, what's wrong?" he asked his voice losing its playful tone and becoming concerned. Buffy sighed and smiled wanly at him.
"I'm sorry, I just, I had a bad day. Dawn was late for school, I got coffee on my favorite shirt. It was just bad." She apologized. Spike nodded.
"Sorry, you had a bad day you probably don't need me around pissing you of further." Spike said contritely and turned to walk away. Buffy had to restrain her self from grabbing at his coat to keep his from walking farther from her.
"No spike, its OK, you can patrol with me if you want. I didn't mean to take it out on you." She apologized again. Spike turned back around with a dazzling smile on his face and Buffy became suddenly short of breath. She turned away and began walking again to cover her reaction. Spike sauntered along beside her. They walked for a while in companionable silence. After almost ten minutes Buffy groaned in frustration.
"God! Did all the demons take a holiday and forget to send me a memo cuz its been like this for almost two weeks. If I don't get in some sort of slaying I'm going to go completely off my rocker." Buffy complained. Spike nodded.
"Yeah it has been kind of dead around here lately. No joke intended." He agreed. Buffy sighed and turned around.
"Well screw this, I'm going home. No need to walk around aimlessly if there is nothing to aim at." She began walking spike wandered behind her looking rather disappointed. Then suddenly he was on the ground with a large hairy demon pinning him to the ground. Buffy spun around and tackled the demon off of spike's chest and sunk her ax into the creatures ribcage. The demon gurgled what spike took to be a laugh and pulled the ax out of its chest then tossed it to the side. Buffy grinned happily.
"Finally!" she exclaimed and rushed the creature. Spike flipped to his feet and joined in. The demon flung them both back and roared its displeasure. Buffy and spike attacked again and were flung back again.
"Ok this is getting ridiculous!" spike commented and pulled himself off the grass. Buffy nodded, doing the same for herself.
"We should just take him down, no more toying with it guess." She said sounding slightly put out and he rushed it again. After ten minutes of hard fighting the demon lay dead on the grass in a pool of crayola purple blood. Buffy made a disgusted noise and wiped a large glob of the purple blood off of her shirt. She and spike were both liberally smeared with the incandescent goop. Spike wrinkled his nose distastefully and tried to clean off his trench coat.
"God that's rank. I need to shower, like now." Buffy grumbled and wrung a stream of the stuff out of her hair. Spike nodded.
"Yeah, there's a shower at my crypt, you can clean up there before you head home." Spike offered. Buffy nodded and made another face of disgust before following him.
Spike pushed open the heavy door of the crypt and walked inside. Buffy walked in after him and stood in the middle of the floor while spike went around the room lighting candles with his silver Zippo.
"Showers downstairs." Spike told her once he was done and the crypt was bathed in a warm golden glow. Buffy smiled her thanks and followed him down the ladder into the lower level of the crypt. She stopped in shock when she saw the previously cluttered and dank lower level. Spike stopped also and looked back at her confused.
"What's wrong?" he asked. Buffy waived her hand around the room.
"What did you do down here while I was gone?" she asked, her voice slightly awed. The broken furniture and random papers along the floor had been cleaned out and replaced with a large four poster bed with what looked like silk sheets and soft pillows. A large oak table with intricately carved legs stood against one wall and was covered with old leather bound books. A book case next to it was filled similarly and a large overstuffed high-backed arm chair stood in front of the table. Heavy tapestries hung over the rough hewn stone walls and an embroidered carpet covered the cold stone floor. Spike shrugged indifferently.
"I figured I was going to be here for at least most of my eternal life so I decided to clean the place up a little. Showers over here. You can use it first, I'm going to get something to eat." Spike gestured to a dark canvas curtain that hung across a small alcove. Buffy could see the silver head of a shower fixture over the top of the curtain. She watched spike go through another curtain into what she presumed was a storage area. She went to the canvas curtain and pulled it open. Several hooks were screwed into the wall and towels were in a stack next to the alcove. Buffy grabbed one and hung it on a hook. She closed the curtain and peeled off her sticky clothes and dropped them on the floor. She turned the water onto hot and showered quickly scrubbing her hair and body with the chunk of soap on a ledge in the alcove. Then she rinsed her clothes and washed them with the soap trying to get as much of the gunk off as she could. Then she turned the water off and wrapped a towel around herself. She poked her head out and saw a pile of clean clothes sitting on the bed and spike leaning against the ladder with a book in his hand and a mug in his other. Buffy walked out of the alcove grabbed the clothes and smiled at spike. Spike nodded and turned back to his book. Buffy went back into the alcove and pulled on the black sweatpants and tee-shirt that spike had lent her. She had to cinch the waist tightly on the pants to keep them from falling off. She ran her fingers through her damp hair and went back out through the curtain. Spike looked up and she smiled again.
"Your turn." She said.
"Yay." Spike said dryly and grinned at her. She rolled her eyes and watched him grab a towel and close the curtain. Her mouth went dry when she saw his jeans drop to the ground. Oh for Christ sake girl, once again, this is spike. You don't think of him like that, even though he is incredibly beautiful and really built and, NO stop that! You don't have those feelings for spike. Then another voice in her head piped up. Sure you don't. Shut up both of you! Buffy scolded herself mentally and sat down on spikes bed. The soft sheets and fluffy down comforter felt like heaven on her tired body and she stretched out on the mattress.
"Ill just lay down till spike's done then I'll go home." Buffy said with a wide yawn. She was asleep in seconds. Spike finished his shower and changed his clothes. He left the alcove and stopped with a smile. Buffy was sprawled out on his bed dead asleep. He watched her for a few seconds, his eyes drinking in the soft gold of her skin and the gentle curve of her side. Then he went over to the bed and shook her shoulder gently.
"Hey slayer, s'time to wake up." He said gently. Buffy mumbled in her sleep and rolled over taking his hand with her. Spike's eyes widened realizing he was trapped. Spike sighed and shook her again. She didn't even respond this time just slept on with his hand clutched against her stomach. Spike sighed and reached in his pants for his cell phone.
"Hey willow?" he said when the phone picked up.
"Yeah?" came the girls sleepy voice on the other end.
"Its spike, Buffy was really knackered after patrol tonight and kind of fell asleep over here, is it ok if she just stays? I tried to wake her but that didn't work." He said looking down at his captured hand. Willow chuckled.
"You tried to wake her up? Do you still have all your limbs?" she said with a grin. Spike chuckled back.
"For now. I just didn't want you all to worry. Ill make sure she gets home tomorrow. Tell dawn and Glenda I said hi." He told her referring to Buffy's sister and willow's girlfriend Tara. Willow laughed again.
"I will. G'night spike." Willow said and hung up the phone. Spike clicked his phone off and stuck it back into his jeans. He tried to pull his hand away from Buffy grasp but she just clutched it tighter. Spike sighed and laid down on his stomach on the bed next to her. Buffy sighed in her sleep and rolled over, releasing his hand but sprawling across his tee-shirt clad chest. Spike froze, his muscles tense and his hands up not touching her. After a minute or two his hands drifted down and wrapped loosely around her small body. Spike's eye drifted closed. Buffy snuggled closer and mumbled something. Spike frowned and leaned his head down to hear her better.
"What's that luv?" he asked softly. Buffy sighed.
"G'night spike." Spike's face lit up and he held her tighter.
"Love you Buffy." He said for the first time since she had come back from the dead.
"I know." She mumbled and fell back to sleep. Spike closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep feeling warmer then ever in his entire life.
"God damn it, spike!" she exclaimed looking up at the person she nearly ran into. A rather short man with hair bleached so blond it was nearly white grinned infuriatingly at her and cocked his scarred left eyebrow. Amused blue eyes looked down at her and the mans arms were crossed over his chest.
"Sorry Buffy." He said, his rough British accented voice not sounding sorry at all. Buffy sighed and propped herself up on her elbows still laying on the ground with her knees bent.
"Spike, bell, neck, look into it." She said sarcastically. The man, spike, moved around the tombstone and sat down on the ground next to her.
"Hey its not my fault that you weren't paying attention. Your the slayer, you should know when there is someone behind you." The man told her, unrepentant.
The girl was 21 year old Buffy summers, small, reaching maybe five two, pretty, at first glance there wasn't anything incredibly special about her, but the special thing about Buffy was that she was a slayer. In every generation there is one girl in all the world, chosen to fight the vampires, demons and forces of darkness, she is the slayer. Buffy was one of the longest lasting slayers in history. In a life where not many lived past eighteen Buffy was already twenty-one. And she had died twice. The first time she was fighting an ageless vampire called simply the master and she was drowned. Her friend Xander Harris brought her back to life by CPR. And the second time she had jumped into a portal to save the world, and more specifically her little sister dawn. That time she had been brought back from the dead almost three months after by her friend and a powerful witch called willow Rosenburg. The man was spike or William the bloody, a vampire, almost two hundred years old. Spike was also small, maybe five ten with bleached hair and dark blue eyes. Spike had been one of the most feared master vampires in the world until a government organization called the initiative captured him and planted a computer chip in his brain that neutered him so he could not hurt any living human. Because of his handicap spike had joined forces with the slayer and had subsequently fallen in love with her. After Buffy died the second time spike had stayed in Sunnydale California, the place where Buffy and her friends lived and also home to the hell mouth, a center for evil on earth. Spike took care of Buffy's little sister dawn and looked after her friends until Buffy came back from the dead.
Buffy scooted her body into a sitting position, folding her legs tailor style facing the leather clad vampire.
"I guess I'm just so used to having you around that I don't really notice it anymore." She said thoughtfully. Spike grinned.
"So you like having me around then?" he asked, his voice low and teasing. Buffy's eyes widened.
"I never said that." She quickly backtracked. "I am just so used to you annoying the hell out of me that I don't notice anymore." She amended. Spike quirked his eyebrow and smirked at her blustering. Buffy mentally kicked herself. This is spike, SPIKE, you do not have any feeling towards him other than irritation, god he has pretty eyes, stop it! Buffy kicked her self mentally again while spike just stared at her like he knew exactly what she was thinking. Buffy cleared her throat loudly and turned her eyes to the ground.
"So what brings you to my neck of the cemetery?" she asked, studiously avoiding his penetrating gaze. Spike shrugged.
"Just bored, looking for a fight, 'stead I found a blond with a walking impairment." He said snidely. Buffy scowled.
"If you don't shut up ill give you a walking impairment. Ill shove my stake so far up your ass you'll get splinters in your eyelids." She snapped and stood up. Spike followed suit with a frown on his face.
"Buffy, what's wrong?" he asked his voice losing its playful tone and becoming concerned. Buffy sighed and smiled wanly at him.
"I'm sorry, I just, I had a bad day. Dawn was late for school, I got coffee on my favorite shirt. It was just bad." She apologized. Spike nodded.
"Sorry, you had a bad day you probably don't need me around pissing you of further." Spike said contritely and turned to walk away. Buffy had to restrain her self from grabbing at his coat to keep his from walking farther from her.
"No spike, its OK, you can patrol with me if you want. I didn't mean to take it out on you." She apologized again. Spike turned back around with a dazzling smile on his face and Buffy became suddenly short of breath. She turned away and began walking again to cover her reaction. Spike sauntered along beside her. They walked for a while in companionable silence. After almost ten minutes Buffy groaned in frustration.
"God! Did all the demons take a holiday and forget to send me a memo cuz its been like this for almost two weeks. If I don't get in some sort of slaying I'm going to go completely off my rocker." Buffy complained. Spike nodded.
"Yeah it has been kind of dead around here lately. No joke intended." He agreed. Buffy sighed and turned around.
"Well screw this, I'm going home. No need to walk around aimlessly if there is nothing to aim at." She began walking spike wandered behind her looking rather disappointed. Then suddenly he was on the ground with a large hairy demon pinning him to the ground. Buffy spun around and tackled the demon off of spike's chest and sunk her ax into the creatures ribcage. The demon gurgled what spike took to be a laugh and pulled the ax out of its chest then tossed it to the side. Buffy grinned happily.
"Finally!" she exclaimed and rushed the creature. Spike flipped to his feet and joined in. The demon flung them both back and roared its displeasure. Buffy and spike attacked again and were flung back again.
"Ok this is getting ridiculous!" spike commented and pulled himself off the grass. Buffy nodded, doing the same for herself.
"We should just take him down, no more toying with it guess." She said sounding slightly put out and he rushed it again. After ten minutes of hard fighting the demon lay dead on the grass in a pool of crayola purple blood. Buffy made a disgusted noise and wiped a large glob of the purple blood off of her shirt. She and spike were both liberally smeared with the incandescent goop. Spike wrinkled his nose distastefully and tried to clean off his trench coat.
"God that's rank. I need to shower, like now." Buffy grumbled and wrung a stream of the stuff out of her hair. Spike nodded.
"Yeah, there's a shower at my crypt, you can clean up there before you head home." Spike offered. Buffy nodded and made another face of disgust before following him.
Spike pushed open the heavy door of the crypt and walked inside. Buffy walked in after him and stood in the middle of the floor while spike went around the room lighting candles with his silver Zippo.
"Showers downstairs." Spike told her once he was done and the crypt was bathed in a warm golden glow. Buffy smiled her thanks and followed him down the ladder into the lower level of the crypt. She stopped in shock when she saw the previously cluttered and dank lower level. Spike stopped also and looked back at her confused.
"What's wrong?" he asked. Buffy waived her hand around the room.
"What did you do down here while I was gone?" she asked, her voice slightly awed. The broken furniture and random papers along the floor had been cleaned out and replaced with a large four poster bed with what looked like silk sheets and soft pillows. A large oak table with intricately carved legs stood against one wall and was covered with old leather bound books. A book case next to it was filled similarly and a large overstuffed high-backed arm chair stood in front of the table. Heavy tapestries hung over the rough hewn stone walls and an embroidered carpet covered the cold stone floor. Spike shrugged indifferently.
"I figured I was going to be here for at least most of my eternal life so I decided to clean the place up a little. Showers over here. You can use it first, I'm going to get something to eat." Spike gestured to a dark canvas curtain that hung across a small alcove. Buffy could see the silver head of a shower fixture over the top of the curtain. She watched spike go through another curtain into what she presumed was a storage area. She went to the canvas curtain and pulled it open. Several hooks were screwed into the wall and towels were in a stack next to the alcove. Buffy grabbed one and hung it on a hook. She closed the curtain and peeled off her sticky clothes and dropped them on the floor. She turned the water onto hot and showered quickly scrubbing her hair and body with the chunk of soap on a ledge in the alcove. Then she rinsed her clothes and washed them with the soap trying to get as much of the gunk off as she could. Then she turned the water off and wrapped a towel around herself. She poked her head out and saw a pile of clean clothes sitting on the bed and spike leaning against the ladder with a book in his hand and a mug in his other. Buffy walked out of the alcove grabbed the clothes and smiled at spike. Spike nodded and turned back to his book. Buffy went back into the alcove and pulled on the black sweatpants and tee-shirt that spike had lent her. She had to cinch the waist tightly on the pants to keep them from falling off. She ran her fingers through her damp hair and went back out through the curtain. Spike looked up and she smiled again.
"Your turn." She said.
"Yay." Spike said dryly and grinned at her. She rolled her eyes and watched him grab a towel and close the curtain. Her mouth went dry when she saw his jeans drop to the ground. Oh for Christ sake girl, once again, this is spike. You don't think of him like that, even though he is incredibly beautiful and really built and, NO stop that! You don't have those feelings for spike. Then another voice in her head piped up. Sure you don't. Shut up both of you! Buffy scolded herself mentally and sat down on spikes bed. The soft sheets and fluffy down comforter felt like heaven on her tired body and she stretched out on the mattress.
"Ill just lay down till spike's done then I'll go home." Buffy said with a wide yawn. She was asleep in seconds. Spike finished his shower and changed his clothes. He left the alcove and stopped with a smile. Buffy was sprawled out on his bed dead asleep. He watched her for a few seconds, his eyes drinking in the soft gold of her skin and the gentle curve of her side. Then he went over to the bed and shook her shoulder gently.
"Hey slayer, s'time to wake up." He said gently. Buffy mumbled in her sleep and rolled over taking his hand with her. Spike's eyes widened realizing he was trapped. Spike sighed and shook her again. She didn't even respond this time just slept on with his hand clutched against her stomach. Spike sighed and reached in his pants for his cell phone.
"Hey willow?" he said when the phone picked up.
"Yeah?" came the girls sleepy voice on the other end.
"Its spike, Buffy was really knackered after patrol tonight and kind of fell asleep over here, is it ok if she just stays? I tried to wake her but that didn't work." He said looking down at his captured hand. Willow chuckled.
"You tried to wake her up? Do you still have all your limbs?" she said with a grin. Spike chuckled back.
"For now. I just didn't want you all to worry. Ill make sure she gets home tomorrow. Tell dawn and Glenda I said hi." He told her referring to Buffy's sister and willow's girlfriend Tara. Willow laughed again.
"I will. G'night spike." Willow said and hung up the phone. Spike clicked his phone off and stuck it back into his jeans. He tried to pull his hand away from Buffy grasp but she just clutched it tighter. Spike sighed and laid down on his stomach on the bed next to her. Buffy sighed in her sleep and rolled over, releasing his hand but sprawling across his tee-shirt clad chest. Spike froze, his muscles tense and his hands up not touching her. After a minute or two his hands drifted down and wrapped loosely around her small body. Spike's eye drifted closed. Buffy snuggled closer and mumbled something. Spike frowned and leaned his head down to hear her better.
"What's that luv?" he asked softly. Buffy sighed.
"G'night spike." Spike's face lit up and he held her tighter.
"Love you Buffy." He said for the first time since she had come back from the dead.
"I know." She mumbled and fell back to sleep. Spike closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep feeling warmer then ever in his entire life.