The Song Remains the Same

by Sara M

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Author's Note: My New Year's resolution: never predict when the next chapter is going to post. You'd think I'd have learned that by now, but I am apparently not quite that smart. There's always some reason, some perfectly valid reason, for the delay, and then I feel guilty and my readers grow restless. Badness abounds. So, sorry. Truly. But I will say that I did have chapters written and ready to go, but suddenly decided I needed something more in between and to address some stuff and there I sat, bogged down with an impossible middle chapter once again. So, no more predictions. There. I said it. It must be true.

Hope your New Year's was a happy one and that you enjoy the new chapter. Thank you all once again for your reviews. They make me sing and also urge me to write better.

Disclaimer: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox studios. This story is not meant to infringe upon anyone's rights, only to entertain.

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Chapter Sixty-Four
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Throwdown

Saturday, January 22nd
Espresso Pump
mid-morning

Since Willow was in the middle of finals and couldn't get away from her studying for very long, the girls had decided that a short coffee-and-croissants-break would make a welcome, if brief, diversion for the both of them. Buffy arrived at the Espresso Pump first and settled down at a table by the front window to watch the outside world go by and do some hard thinking.

Over the last few days Buffy had become uneasy. She knew that something was wrong but she wasn't sure what it was. She had tried to dismiss it as just her imagination, but it kept niggling at the back of her mind and refused to be ignored any longer.

The party the previous Thursday had been a complete surprise, and quite touching really. She liked her new friends very much and thought that they liked her, too. Spike had been very sweet and very demonstrative during the party, touching her, kissing her, making it clear to everyone present how he felt about her and how much he wanted her. At the party this had been quite evident. At the party ... at the party at Willow's house ...

And that was really the problem, she realized. That was what was bothering her. It had been a wonderful party, a thoughtful party, a fun party. But it had also been a very private party. Their rides home and make-out sessions were -- naturally -- private. Almost everything they had done so far as a couple had been private. Their first date had been to an out of the way diner that was not exactly crawling with teens; and the movie was on a low-attendance Tuesday night, and, of course, in the dark. And when she thought about it, that first date had been the most public thing they had done as a couple in the entire time they had known each other.

Why was that? Was he ashamed of her? Ashamed of being seen with her? There was no other girl; she had to believe that Willow would have told her if there had been. She couldn't quite wrap her mind around this puzzle. After all, Spike had asked her to go to the New Year's party with him. That had to mean something, after all. But that had been a month ago, and of course she had had to beg off and never went with him. And since then there had been nothing else so public, and he had not yet said a word about the Winter Formal. Now that she looked back on it, whenever the subject came up of Buffy joining him at school for second semester, Spike always seemed to change the subject.

If it were true, that he was somehow keeping her out of sight, it was a devastating realization. So devastating, in fact, that Buffy decided not to believe in it. It just could not be true ... and yet ...

She needed to talk to someone about this before it made her crazy and she was any more paranoid. She made up her mind to bring up her fears to Willow. Willow knew him so much better than she did; surely she would be able to give her some insight, some advice.

"Hey Buffy!" a cheerful voice chirped from behind her.

"Hey," Buffy turned her head to see Willow smiling at her. She watched as her friend got her own coffee and pastry and settled herself down at the little table. Buffy picked at the corners of her croissant. "So."

Something about Buffy's tone gave Willow pause; she stopped mid-sip and placed her cup back down. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Of course," Buffy nodded emphatically. "Sure. Everything's okay. Of course ..." she trailed off.

Willow raised an eyebrow and waited for an explanation.

Buffy sighed. "Spike hasn't asked me to the Winter Formal yet."

"Oh," Willow squeezed Buffy's hand briefly. "He will --"

"No, he won't," Buffy declared. "He isn't inviting me, Will. In fact, I don't think ..."

"He will," Willow pronounced authoritatively. "There's still two weeks, Buffy."

"But --"

"He will."

Buffy nodded agreeably, seeing that Willow was so determined that it be true. She gave her friend a grateful smile, then sighed into her coffee. "Will, do you think maybe he is ... might be ... sorta ... well ... couldhebeashamedofbeingseenwithme?"

Willow paused to decipher what Buffy just said, and when she had worked it out she turned shocked eyes to stare at her friend. "No! Why would you think that?"

"Because he never takes me anywhere public," Buffy explained softly. "He hasn't asked me to Winter Formal. Whenever I start to talk about starting school with you guys he doesn't say anything or he just changes the subject." She had started crying now, in spite of her determination not to; she didn't want to be all weepy and insecure here but she just couldn't hold them back. Try as she would, the tears fell harder yet, and she finally just gave in to her anguish and laid out her worst fears before her friend. "Why wouldn't he be ashamed of me? My life is like some grotesque circus sideshow, and god! the gossip there's bound to be about me once I start school. I'm pretty sure Harmony is gonna make trouble for me at the very least. Why would Spike want any part of that, Will?" Buffy stiffened and sucked in her breath, determined to cease crying and pull herself together.

Willow sat still, stunned by her friend's sudden breakdown. She hadn't seen this one coming at all.

"Oh" she moved quickly to the seat beside Buffy and put her arm around her, whispering soothing words to her, trying to calm her down so they could talk rationally about what Willow considered to be a ridiculous fear. Willow just could not believe that Spike -- especially Spike -- would let what anyone else thought determine whom he hung out with or dated. Buffy was right about one thing though. The school gossip mill was going to be vicious if Harmony had anything to do with it. And Drusilla took such pleasure in being hateful, just for sport. It wasn't likely that Buffy was going to simply blend in to the social scene at Sunnydale High School without any drama going on around her.

After some firm supportive encouragement from her friend, Buffy was feeling a little better about things, and Willow had made a firm decision to speak with Oz. If he didn't know what Spike was thinking, he could find out. And Willow was determined to relieve Buffy's fears as quickly as possible. There was just no way that Spike was trying to keep his relationship with Buffy out of sight. He wouldn't do that.

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Monday, January 24th
Community Health Center
7:00 P.M.

All the thunder and rain in the world could not dampen Buffy's spirits tonight because this was the night she graduated from her substance abuse program. Six weeks of that peculiar form of torture known as 'group counseling' and her court card was complete with all the required signatures and negative drug test results. Now, with any luck, she'd never be on the receiving end of either a 'Jerry glare' or a 'Warren leer' again. For this brief moment in time, life felt good.

It was really pouring down now, with lightning flashing and thunder booming from on high with increasing frequency. The rest of her substance abuse group had already left for the night; she was the last one, waiting on her ride under the overhang right outside the main entrance. There were other classes and meetings going on inside, but out here she was on her own. The severe weather kept even the smokers inside tonight.

Spike should be picking her up any minute now, and she just couldn't wait to see him and share her joy. She wanted to go out and celebrate. Tonight definitely called for a special treat of some sort. She shivered and pulled her coat more snugly around herself, hands warm in pockets and shoulders hunched against the chill. She swore softly under her breath - he was a little late this time.

"Hey, strawberry" drawled a familiar, hated voice from behind her. "Congratulations on your graduation tonight."

With a disgusted eye roll and another whispered curse, Buffy just barely stopped herself from responding directly to her tormentor. Here it was the last night she had group with him, and although she had thought she was free she saw now that she hadn't quite escaped his taunting pursuit. He seemed to be looking to get a reaction from her so she decided that her best course of action was to simply ignore him.

Coming up to stand beside her in the covered entryway, Warren leered. "Come on, baby, don't be like that. Ol' peroxide's got nothin' on me. Don't waste yourself on him when you can have a real man."

She refused to give him the satisfaction of a verbal response, and simply moved to the other side of the entryway to put some distance between them.

Warren watched her step away and felt a spark of fury light inside of him. She thought she was better than him, and he needed to make her see that attitude for the lie that it was. If there was anything Warren hated, it was an uppity broad. Curling his fists by his sides, he marched over and got right in her face.

"Look, you little bitch," he sneered. "You think you're too good for me, don't you? Well think again, baby. You're nothing but a little low-rent whore who'd be living on the street or in some dealer's house if social services hadn't picked you up and given you a place to stay."

She stiffened and flashed a startled glance at him.

"That's right, I know where you come from, who you were living with and what they were doing." He laughed bitterly, shook his head, and continued contemptuously, "And now you come to these meetings acting like your shit don't stink. Well, I'm here to tell ya, honey, you got nothing anybody wants 'cept what's between your legs. So don't think you're so special. You're nothing. No one. And pretty soon bleach boy is gonna figure that out and dump your slutty ass."

"'s that so?" The deathly calm voice came from directly behind him.

Startled, Warren spun around just in time for Spike's fist to connect with his stomach.

Shocked by the sudden violence, Buffy swung around and away, her back crashing into the door behind her. She stayed there, quite still, watching with wide eyes as her boyfriend dealt with her tormenter.

When Warren bent over from the force of the sucker punch to his gut, Spike slammed his knee up into his face. Before Warren had a chance to react to the force of that blow, Spike's fist was slamming into his jaw and he went down onto the wet concrete beyond the overhang. Hard.

Spike stared a moment as the rain soaked the prostrate boy before him, then strode quickly to Buffy to take her into his arms. She gaped at him a moment, still in shock, then stepped forward and allowed him to draw her into his safe embrace for a moment. He pulled back and gave her a quick once over, to see for himself whether she was okay. Once he had satisfied himself that she was uninjured, he turned to watch as Warren sat up, wiping the blood and water from his nose and eyes as sheets of rain soaked him through.

"You owe the lady an apology," Spike's voice was colder than the night that surrounded them.

Warren stood up, his legs wobbly but his attitude unshaken. "You've gotta be kiddin' me," he sneered.

Spike gave Buffy a reassuring squeeze, then released her, moving to face Warren directly while at the same time pushing Buffy behind him and further away from the other boy. With slow deliberate steps, he approached Warren. "Not the answer I'm lookin' for here."

Warren stood his ground a moment, but when he saw Spike take another menacing step forward, he backed up and put his hands up in a placating gesture. "Fine, man, fine," he nodded as he turned toward Buffy's direction. "I'm sorry, okay, I won't bother you anymore. She's all yours." Warren spit that last to Spike, then turned around and walked briskly off into the rainy night just as a huge clap of thunder boomed over their heads.

The couple watched in silence as he moved past the dim light of the community center and faded into the darkness beyond. When they could no longer see him, Spike turned and drew his frightened girlfriend back into his arms for a tight hug.

"You okay, luv?" Spike tilted her chin up so he could look into her eyes. "He didn't touch you did he? Cuz I can still go kill 'im --"

"No! No ... he was just being his usual jerky self, that's all. Just words, nothing more than that," Buffy assured him shakily. She gave Spike a quick smile and nestled into his embrace, trying to put a good face on even though she was really feeling overwhelmed by the brutal confrontation to which she had just been witness.

She felt both relieved to have Warren dealt with and disturbed that her boyfriend had done so with such lightning-quick violence. Violence, she noted, that he seemed very practiced at and comfortable using. She tried to shake off her unease, confused by her conflicting emotions. On the one hand, she liked the fact that Spike seemed able to actually physically protect her. That was reassuring and all kinds of hot. But on the other hand, she was not comfortable with the beating she saw delivered so coolly tonight, even if Warren had deserved what he got. She wasn't sure what to think, but decided for now that she would comfort herself with the belief that Spike would never hurt her or anyone else undeserving. Yeah, that was it -- it was okay, because he would only use his power for good. She really believed that, and it gave her the ability to relax again, and take comfort in the warmth and protection he was offering her right now.

Spike was one of the good guys, and it was okay.

Spike squeezed her to him and let out a relieved sigh. As much as he'd love to beat the life out of Warren, he knew that Buffy could not bear any more drama in her life right now, and he could tell she was upset by the confrontation she'd just had with the little shit. So he would let Warren go for now. But if he heard so much as a negative word about Buffy from that little swine, he'd beat him until he prayed for death. She was still shaky, and he didn't want to frighten her with talk of further violence, so he decided it was time to move the subject on to happier things.

"So!" he exclaimed, "I hear you've graduated tonight and that congratulations are in order." He stepped back a space to look down into her eyes. "Let's you and I go celebrate, yeah?" He smiled at her and was happy to see her face light up in happiness.

"I am so up for that!" she agreed; she would be happy to go with him to anywhere that was not here. "Where're we going?"

"You'll see," he kissed the tip of her nose with a teasing smile and reached down to grab the large black umbrella that he'd brought from home. Opening it over them, he tucked her by his side for a dash to his car, which was parked out of sight at the side of the building. He managed to get Buffy in the car with little difficulty, but as he walked around to the driver's side a huge gust of wind yanked the umbrella out of his grip, whisking it away into the darkness. Buffy watched as he made a sudden lunge in an attempt to recover the thing, and then gaped open-mouthed as she saw him over-balance in the effort, finally landing on his ass in a rapidly forming puddle of water.

When at last he folded his body into the car, he was soaking wet and cursing furiously in strange British words that she only slightly understood. He slammed his door shut and squished uncomfortably into the driver's seat, both embarrassed and furious about his performance with the umbrella. To add insult to injury, instead of offering him sympathy and gratitude for his efforts, there was his girl laughing hysterically at him from her nice dry spot inside the car.

"You'd better not be laughin' at me," he warned her sternly while pulling off his wet duster. He reached around to hang it on the hook above the door in back of him, so that both he and it could start to dry off a little, then turned to take in his appearance in the rear view mirror.

His severe mien and forceful words contrasted comically with the sight of him sitting there, looking in the mirror, soaked to the bone. Buffy watched him as he used his hands to wipe the excess water out of his hair and eyes, and then worked futilely to smooth back his unruly curls. She thought he looked as though he were trying to glare his hair back into place through sheer force of will.

Finally, with a dramatic sigh, he gave up the hopeless task and let the curls loosen and pop out all over his head. He hated his curls.

While Spike wrestled with matters of grooming, Buffy could feel her emotional control badly slipping. She'd been overjoyed to end the horrible drug group meetings, had been hurt by Warren's cruel words and then stunned by Spike's violent reaction in her defense. It had been a trying few minutes.

So the sight of Spike landing ass first in a pool of water as he lunged for the umbrella, and then him sitting here, dripping wet, cursing and trying to tame his hair, was enough to send her completely over the edge tonight. Her emotional dam broke and the emotion that won out over all the others was hilarity; she laughed herself silly, uncontrolled and quite unstoppable. It was as though a safety valve had opened, letting the excess tension of the last few minutes harmlessly flow away.

Don't laugh, he had warned her? Impossible. She just laughed all the harder.

"Oy! I mean it now, you laugh at your peril, missy," he narrowed his eyes when she doubled over giggling helplessly. While his hurt pride made him take a quite severe tone at the moment, within he was reassured by her giggles, relieved that she had been able to recover from the 'Warren-incident' without slipping into a morose depression as he had thought she might. But not for anything was he going to let her know that he found her amusing; not yet anyway. There was hay to be made of the present moment and he decided to play with her for a bit. He too needed to release some pent up tension.

"All right, that's it! You've done it now," he waggled a finger at her as he slid over to the middle of the bench seat and went to pull her on his lap.

Buffy couldn't stop laughing but she did register that she was again on his lap and it was the place she most wanted to be, even if it was thoroughly soaked by now. She was about to make some snarky comment about the fact that she was now sitting in a pool of water when she suddenly found herself turned over his lap, one arm wrapped round her waist holding her firmly in place, her jeans-covered ass in the air. Just as she was beginning to process this sudden strange change of position, she felt a sound smack land on her right cheek.

"Hey!" she cried out in surprise. "What're you doing?!"

"What does it look like I'm doin'? I gave you fair warnin', but you just laughed at me. And now I'm gonna spank you just like you deserve. Laughin' at a bloke cuz he got caught in the rain tryin' to help you, now. Is that any way to act?" He landed three more firm blows to her bottom then stopped to register her reaction to what he belatedly realized was an extremely rash act. These were games Drusilla had liked to play and he had fallen into the role without thinking it through. He had no idea whether Buffy would take his playful dominance in the spirit in which it was given, and it was only a few days since she'd refused the birthday spanking. That was not a good omen, right there. He became quite nervous now at what Buffy's reaction to this bit of impulsiveness might be; he hoped he hadn't taken this thing too far.

Buffy lay over his lap, stunned. This was a situation she simply had no context for, and she had no idea what she was supposed to be thinking about it. She was absolutely certain of two things though -- the laughter he was spanking her for was ready to start bubbling up again at any moment; and Faith had been right. This was kinda sexy.

She had just decided that the proper response was to mock lecture him for spanking her as though she were a child when suddenly the laughter bubbled to the surface and she erupted in helpless giggles once more. Here she was laying over Spike's wet lap and he was spanking her for heaven's sake. It was both absurd and oddly pleasant. And she couldn't stop giggling to save her life.

Spike had been holding his breath, hoping for some clue to gauge her reaction to him. The complete silence was worrisome. Just as he was about to apologize profusely and return her to the seat beside him she started giggling again and he let out his breath in relief. So, she wasn't angry. Thank God she wasn't angry at him. He decided that he was doing fine now, and he took her renewed laughter as a sign that she was willing to play along with him here. And he so wanted to play. In fact he'd been itching to do this since Anya had brought it up the other night at the party. He just hadn't thought he'd have the nerve to try it. Not yet. But a situation had presented itself, and now here they were.

"That how it's goin' to be then, is it?" he smirked as he landed four more solid smacks to her bottom, alternating cheeks.

"Okay okay okay!" she laughingly cried out as the spanks came down hard. "No more, that hurts! I'm sorry ... I'm sorry I laughed at you." She was laughing but she meant it all the same -- he spanked hard. She fought for better control of her giggling, and hoped he'd let her up now.

"Yeah?" he considered her ass for a moment. It was a very nice one, and his hand dropped down softly to caress it.

Mmmmm, Buffy sighed. Now that was different, and the mood had certainly taken a turn around an interesting bend. Buffy's helpless levity quieted to a subdued good humor with an undercurrent of arousal. She tried to suppress the little moan his hands drew from her, but Spike heard it all the same.

So, Baby likes to play, he grinned to himself.

"There's a good girl, then," he stroked her soothingly and then released her from his hold. She was having difficulty getting up from her new position, so he helped her rise from his lap and move over to sit beside him.

Once seated again, she stared calmly into his eyes, and he saw what he had hoped to see there -- a deep and gentle humor reflected back to him, with a touch of something else he recognized as well. Lust. That was a relief ... and something to put in the file for later.

"Yeah. I'm sorry," she reached up to smooth down an unruly curl above his right ear. "Sorry about laughing at you when you were being so good to me. You're always so good to me." She lifted her eyes to meet his and smiled cheekily. "But not about the rest of it."

His eyebrows rose at that last comment, and he leered down at her. "That so?" he asked with a sexy grin. "I'll have to keep that in mind, luv."

She just smiled sweetly and pulled him in for a solid hug, whispering in his ear, "Let's go somewhere and get dry and celebrate my new found freedom from cheesy drug awareness films and sleazy druggie losers."

"I know just the place." He smiled down at her and planted a soft kiss on her lips. Satisfied with the smile she gave him in return, he started up the engine and headed out for their date.

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There you go. I hope you all liked it and please please leave a review if you can. I really appreciate each and every one.

Sara