Chapter 9: Ice Cream

Buffy sat back at the wooden table outside with a grin. Dawn hopped up and down in her seat as she passed out the three ice cream tickets to Spike and Buffy and for herself saying, "I want a chocolate dipped double scoop cone with orange ice cream! What are you having Spike?"

Buffy eyed the tickets, "Where did you say these came from?"

Dawn grinned, "Anya! Well sort of. There was a customer that came in offering these to her in return for helping him find the perfect ingredient for his anti-weed spell and I had helped as well so he handed her a ton of booklets and then he stole one from her hand to hand it to me so we can use it! I don't think Anya liked that much but that's how we got free tickets! So Spike what are you getting?"

Spike hadn't had ice cream in a while and had no idea what flavors were out there. He usually went with his traditional chocolate milk shake but with everyone else having fancy ice cream, he wanted to fit in, "Not sure nibblet. Honestly? I haven't had ice cream in ages so I don't know what flavor to get."

Buffy grinned, "I want a sundae. I changed my mind about the cone. I want moose tracks with peanut butter topping and whipped cream and a cherry."

Spike grinned, "Moose tracks?"

Buffy nodded, "Peanut butter and chocolate. The best combo for flavors."

Spike lifted the tray from the table tossing the garbage into the bin saying, "Well we'd better get driving or all the ice cream will be melted by the time we arrive."

Dawn laughed as she climbed in the seat leaving Buffy and Spike to sit side by side. Spike backed the car out heading towards the ice cream joint in the center of town.

Ice Cream Parlor, Friday 7 pm.

Buffy grinned as she handed Spike her coupons. He insisted on paying for everything saying he had already withdrawn some money from his account. She decided to ask Spike again why he had the eggs because she was really curious. He had an account with money in it? So why would he need the eggs. She had kind of assumed it was for money. She thought he needed money for something but then today he shows up with a new dresser, new clothes, and a new bed all which Clem had handed him back hundreds of dollars of change so therefore money wasn't really an issue.

She sighed as she sat down at the table and saw Dawn happily eating her cone and Spike digging into his marshmallow covered moose tracks and orange ice cream. He couldn't decide what he wanted so he got a scoop of each of theirs with marshmallow topping on top and a cherry, which Dawn stole claiming he didn't need the cherry and she didn't have one. Spike whispered to her after hearing her sigh, "Penny for your thoughts luv?"

Buffy nodded, "Why did you have the eggs in the lower level of your crypt. I thought it was money but…you have money."

Dawn frowned as Spike flippantly waved his hand dismissing her question, "Not important."

Dawn took a bite of her ice cream hoping it would keep it from melting as she stated, "Tell her why Spike or I will. It's very important."

Spike frowned as he took another bite of ice cream wishing he hadn't talked to Dawn about that very thing. Dawn eyed him with a warning and he finally relented, "Fine fine, placelet, I'll tell her. If she walks away leaving us alone with our ice cream don't go blaming me."

Buffy raised her eyebrows in curiosity but stayed quiet taking a bite of her ice cream watching as Dawn leaned back in her chair licking hers. Spike frowned as he admitted, "You needed money. I offered you money, you refused saying you didn't want to bother me with such things. So I figured, this guy called the Doctor that played poker with me the other day, offered me a sweet deal. He told me he had some eggs that needed a safe haven. They were eggs that were going to be used for research for illnesses of humans but they needed a strong bloke to handle the job since the babies tend to get a little out of hand. They don't kill if that's what you are thinking."

He stated seeing her eyes go big but he didn't understand that was so not what she was thinking. Spike straightened up in his chair as he finished his story, "So I owed him 2 kittens and he said if I handle this job for him, he will call it even. I haven't seen him since and never saw him before that day but I figured it was a sweet deal. No fail. Five thousand for keeping those bloody babies safe from the boogie man and 2 hours of collecting them up to put them in the little cages he provided but you blew up and I would have to collect the milk from inside the eggs after they hatched. I was to drop them off in Sunnydale hospital two days later in the basement level and they would pay me the cash."

Spike toyed with the spoon as his ice cream melted. Dawn spoke up finally, "He was getting you money. He figured if he got it for legit reasons, you'd accept it. He thought he was helping out the people of Sunnydale."

Buffy sat with her spoon in her hand, her ice cream melting with a solid frown on her face. She didn't know what to make of it but it didn't match the story Riley had given her but she knew he couldn't lie. She glanced at Spike who looked horribly embarrassed and nervous as she repeated, "You were trying to help."

Spike nodded and Buffy finished her thought, "So Riley lied."

Spike shrugged not really knowing what to say about any of that. He just knew what he was told which obviously meant someone was lying. She put down her spoon and turned completely towards him, "Did you know what kind of eggs they were?"

Spike nodded, "Yea every vampire who has ever deal with a Polimon demon knows what their eggs look like. They have been tested to help treat cancer only it's not widely known that there is where the treatment comes from."

Buffy frowned, "So they weren't a Solarrite demon?"

Spike blinked, "A what demon?"'

Buffy shrugged, "Riley said they were a Solarite demon. They were rare, lethal and almost extinct."

Spike blinked, "Suvolte demons?"

At Buffy's nod, Spike continued, "Um no, those are nasty buggers. Green, big, and actually I'm fairly sure they are extinct. Even if they aren't, they wouldn't be in Sunnydale. They are allergic to warmth and sunlight. They would hit the border of CA and melt into a sticky puddle of green…"

Buffy stood up forgetting she was at an ice cream parlor, "So Riley lied to me to what? Have me never sleep with you again? Is he that jealous that he would make up some lie so I would break up with you? God, he's insufferable and a jerk and I want to kill him."

She was so busy pacing she didn't even notice when Xander and Anya raced over to the table from where they had been sitting enjoying their ice cream. Xander grabbed the wooden branch off a bush and was ready to stake Spike when Buffy swung him around, "Hey just what do you think you are doing Xander? Drop that already!"

She hit his arm hard enough to cause him to drop the stick on the ground. Other customers were staring at them as Spike picked up his ice cream and Buffy's even though it was melted, it was still cold and Dawn followed behind as Buffy dragged Xander out by his arm to behind the building to make their outburst a little less obvious.