25

"Fucking bloody goddamn…"

Lucy chuckled a little when she heard a glass shatter and Spike's tirade of profanity. She hurried to the kitchen where Spike continued to rant. From the coppery smell Lucy figured that Spike had been trying to heat up a cup of blood but had dropped it.

"Do you need some help?" She asked nicely, trying hard not to sound patronizing.

"No!" Spike shouted just before another glass shattered. "Ok well maybe I do." He admitted.

Lucy grabbed Spike's hand and helped him find the table. Once he was sitting she set about cleaning up the spilled blood and shattered glass. Another benefit of her newfound powers was that even cleaning up the glass bare handed presented no problems to Lucy's flesh.

"Don't know how you do this all the time love." Spike commented. His voice was muffled and Lucy got the mental image of Spike sitting slumped at the table with his head down.

Lucy shrugged as she continued to wipe up otter blood. "I guess people can adjust to anything given enough time. Lucky for you, you won't have to get used to it, only two more days and then the doctor says you can take those patches off."

"Can't bloody wait." He muttered more to himself than to Lucy.

Lucy threw a wad of bloody paper towels into the garbage can and then moved to the table. She pushed Spike up from his slumped position and sat down on his lap. He buried his face into her hair and hugged her tightly.

"Spike? Is it going to bother you when you see me in two days?" Lucy asked hesitantly.

"Why would it bother me love? You're one a the most beautiful women I've ever seen." He complimented.

Lucy froze in Spike's arms. She thought Angel or someone else would have told Spike about her transformation.

"What's wrong?" Spike asked, feeling her body tense up in his arms.

"Angel didn't tell you?" She whispered. "Spike I don't look like me anymore. I mean I guess I do kind of, but I look like Illyria now too. I'm all blue and stuff." She explained uncomfortably.

Spike shifted a little and then tightened his hold on Lucy. "I didn't know love. I'm glad you told me, before I saw you I mean."

"Are you going to hate looking at me now?" She asked her voice quivering in fear.

Spike picked Lucy up then and set her down on the table top. He stood up and kissed the top of her head. Using the tips of his fingers he traced the shapes of her face, just like she so often did to him. Her skin felt just as soft as it ever had, her long hair was just as silky, her lips just as full. He kissed her long and hard, taking her breath away.

"Lucy, I love you, it don't matter to me if you're blue or purple or as green as Lorne." He assured her.

Lucy threw her arms around Spike's neck and kissed him back every bit as passionately as he'd kissed her a moment before. She slipped one hand up and wrapped it around the back of Spike's neck, pulling his hair a little the way he liked. Spike groaned in pleasure and pushed himself closer to the table as Lucy wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this Spike." She said suddenly and began to pull away from him.

"Why not?" He asked sounding dismayed.

"You just got out of the hospital and I don't want to hurt you." She explained.

Spike scoffed. "Lucy I'm a bloody vampire, you couldn't hurt me if you wanted to."

As an answer Lucy picked up the sterling silver candlestick from the middle of the table. She squeezed the candlestick with one hand. The metal let out a protesting squeal and bent into a small ball of crumpled metal the size and shape of her fist. She then placed the ball into Spike's hand.

"If I can do that to a candle stick, I think I can hurt you." She pointed out.

Spike fingered the ruined metal and let out a sigh. "Guess you got a point there love. How bout we just take it nice and slow then?" He suggested.

"You'll tell me if I hurt you right?" She asked uncertainly.

"Yes love, I promise I'll tell you if you hurt me." He assured her.

Lucy pulled him back close and began to kiss him again. Her teeth scraped against his neck as she moved up to lick and nibble at his ear lobe.

"You know if you want to hurt me a little, that'd be ok." He whispered into her ear.

In response Lucy bit his neck a little harder and raked her nails down his back. His groan let Lucy know that was exactly the kind of hurting he liked.

Afterward they both lay sprawled naked on top of the kitchen table.

"We should probably wash this table before we invite everyone over for dinner again." She said with a giggle.

"Guess you wouldn't be wrong about that." He agreed.

Once she'd finished putting her clothes on she heated up another mug of blood for Spike and pressed it into his hands.

"I have to head down to my office for awhile. Will you be alright?" She asked as Spike sipped on his blood.

"Think I can keep myself outta trouble for a bit without a babysitter." He assured her.

Lucy left the apartment but didn't go to her office like she'd said she would. Instead she headed towards the small group of cells that Angel's girlfriend used on the nights when she turned into a werewolf. Lucy slipped inside when she knew that the hallway was empty.

The scent inside was one she knew well.

"Hello Knox, I think it's time you and I had a talk." She sneered poisonously.