OR ENDING THREE
"I wish I had the chance to change the way I told Buffy my feelings"
"Done"
* * *
Spike grinned to himself as he walked home, they'd just been to the warehouse and he's made sure he'd done nothing to betray his feelings to Buffy. When the time came he wanted to do it right. As he walked he knew Dru was going to be at his crypt waiting for him. He'd planned all this out, all he had to do was tell her he wasn't interested and hopefully she'd just leave.
Opening the door to his crypt he took in the soft light of the candles which Dru had set up. Then he saw her, radiant as always, gently caressing a rose to her cheek. She always did know how to make an entrance.
"Hello Dru." He said, forcing himself to sound surprised.
"My Spike," She crooned. "I'm here to make you all better."
Spike said nothing, merely lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in Dru's direction.
"And what makes you think I want your help? You left me for a bloody fungus demon of all things, and now you just expect me to take you back?"
Dru frowned for a moment, then her eyes widened.
"It's her isn't it? The Slayer. You reek of her worse than you did in Brazil." She walked over and placed her hand on his chest. "Your heart's full of her."
Spike grinned. "Guilty as charged. You've always been telling me that I loved the Slayer, well guess what, you were right. I love her so much I can't think straight."
Dru stared at Spike throughout his outburst, then she slapped him hard across the cheek.
"I came back to help you and you're telling me you love the Slayer!" She yelled. "Does what we had mean nothing to you?"
Spike shrugged. "Sorry baby, that's life. Besides, what we had didn't mean much to you when we were in Brazil."
Dru opened her mouth to protest when the door to the crypt burst open and Harmony bounded in. She wrapped her arms around him and started nuzzling his neck. After a moment she spotted Drusilla.
"Who's this Spikey?" Spike rolled his eyes. "Dru, this is Harm, Harm this is Dru."
"You've been a busy little boy Spike." Dru observed. "Isn't loving the Slayer enough for you?"
"A bloke has certain needs."
Harmony smirked. "Yeah, he ...WHAT? You love the Slayer? Are you Crazy?"
Spike just shrugged. "Sorry Harm, I guess it's over between us. Now, if you two will excuse me I've got a girl to go and see."
Leaving both the former loves of his lives standing there he turned and left.
Harmony and Drusilla looked at each other. The same idea clearly written across their faces.
* * *
Buffy lay in bed tossing and turning, her mind mulling over the events of the day. She still couldn't believe that Dawn had suggested that Spike was in love with her. It was crazy. Still, he had been acting a bit weird over the last few weeks. Nothing major, just being a bit less snippy and trying to help a bit too much. It couldn't be true...could it?
Finally she got up and got dressed. There was only one way she was going to get any sleep tonight, she'd have to ask him. Climbing out of the window she jumped the ground and headed for Spike's crypt
* * *
As Spike headed towards Buffy's house he went over exactly what he was going to say to her in his head. He was lucky to have the advantage of knowing what her initial reaction was going to be, so he made sure he had arguments for all her protests prepared.
As he arrived he hoisted himself up onto the tree and took a deep, unneeded breath and climbed through the window.
The room was empty.
With a dejected sigh, Spike took a quick look around, savouring Buffy's essence before climbing back out of the window and heading home.
* * *
Rather than barging in as she normally did, Buffy knocked on the door of the crypt. There was no answer. She wasn't exactly surprised, it was night which was Spike's going out time. Nevertheless she opened the door and stepped inside.
"Spike?" She called softly. "Are you here?"
When there was no answer she turned to leave, at that moment she felt something press into her side and her whole body felt like it was being pricked with millions of needles. The pain was almost unbearable as she slumped to the floor. Looking up through the haze of pain she saw the blurry outline of two figures standing over her. One of them was speaking to her, but she couldn't make out the words. Another wave of pain went through her and everything went black.
Drusilla and Harmony looked down at the unconscious Slayer.
"I say we play a little before we kill her." Said Dru as she bent down and lifted her up. Carrying the Slayer down to the underground area of Spike's crypt Dru snapped a manacle around her limp wrist and the two vampires decided what to do with her.
"Why can't we just kill her?" Asked Harmony as she watched Dru study Buffy's unconscious form intently. "All that torture stuff is just....eeew. All messy and stuff."
Dru rolled her eyes and turned to face the blonde vampire.
"I want to teach her a lesson for taking my Spike's heart away from me."
"HEY!" Harmony protested, "She took him away from me too. I don't see why you get to decide what happens to her. I mean you left Spikey and nearly broke his poor little heart. Now you come here and act like you own the place."
Dru growled. "You should learn your place little girl."
Harmony then pulled out the crossbow she had brought with her and pointed it at Dru. "Maybe you should learn yours."
Dru arched an eyebrow in surprise.
"Well, looks like we've got a little party going on down here." Said Spike who had arrived home to hear the voices of the two arguing vampires. "I thought you two would have got the hint and buggered off by now."
"We wanted to have a bit of fun before we left." Dru replied with a coy smile.
Before he could question her meaning he heard a moan coming from behind her back. Walking over to the source of the noise, his jaw dropped at the sight of Buffy hanging limply in his chains, just regaining consciousness. Grabbing the key from the table he unlocked the chains and caught her as she slumped against him.
She blinked as her eyes began to focus. "Spike? What's going on?"
"We're just leaving pet." He said gently.
Buffy's head began to clear and she gently pushed herself away from him, standing to face Dru and Harmony.
"I'm guessing I have one of you two to thank for my little trip to the land of unconsciousness."
"Actually it was both of us." Piped up Harmony, ignoring the glare she got from Dru. "We wanted to pay you back for taking Spike from us.
Buffy gasped and glanced at Spike. He looked at the floor. It was true then. Harmony turned to face them, now pointing the crossbow in their direction.
"Harm," said Spike carefully. "Maybe you should point that thing somewhere else, like away from us."
Harmony rolled her eyes. "Spike, I think I know how to use-"
At that point her finger slipped on the trigger and a blot flew straight at Buffy. Without thinking Spike threw himself at her, pushing her out of the way. The last thing he was aware of was landing on top of her and a burning sensation in his chest.
"Ooops." Said Harmony as she watched the bolt, which would have rid the world of it's oldest living Slayer, embed itself in her ex-lover's chest.
"Nooooo!" Wailed Dru as she knocked the crossbow out of Harmony's hand. "You hurt my baby!" She yelled and began to rain punches down on Harmony's body.
Buffy slid herself out from underneath Spike's body and winced when she saw the bolt sticking out from his chest, a bolt that would have killed her if he hadn't pushed her aside. Gently lifting him into a sitting position she took hold of the bolt, thankful that he was unconscious and wouldn't feel it. With one sharp tug she removed it and threw it to one side. Glancing up she observed that Dru and Harmony were too involved in fighting each other to notice what was going on.
As silently as she could Buffy lifted Spike up and carried him out of the crypt and towards her house.
* * *
The first thing Spike was aware of when he woke up was that he was no longer in his crypt, he was in a bed. Opening his eyes he looked down and saw that someone had bandaged the wound in his chest. At that moment he heard the door open and saw Buffy walk in carrying a mug.
"Hey," she said gently. "You're awake."
He nodded and accepted the mug of blood which she handed him. When he'd drained it she arranged the pillows so that he was able to sit up comfortably. She paused for a moment, considering how to phrase what she wanted to say.
"Spike...thank you...for saving my life."
For a moment he looked genuinely shocked, she had never thanked him for anything before, ever.
"You're welcome." He mumbled uncomfortably, knowing that if he gloated now it would ruin everything.
The few second of silence which followed seemed deafening to both of them. Finally Buffy spoke.
"Spike, I'm going to ask you something and I want you to be totally honest with me, ok?"
He swallowed and nodded, knowing what was coming.
"Do you...are you in love with me?"
Not trusting himself to speak he merely nodded.
Buffy sighed. "I'd kind of guessed you know, you've been acting pretty different recently, nicer." She grinned. "A bit less of a pain in the ass."
Spike smiled.
"I wish I could tell you that I love you, but I can't, not yet anyway. But what I will say is this, why don't we drop this whole enemies facade and try and work at being friends. I know that's not what you want, but I'm not ready to jump head first into a relationship. That's what I did with Riley and look where it got me. What do you think? Can you handle us being friends for now?"
Spike smiled, reached out and took her hand.
"I'd like that."
Buffy smiled, stood up and kissed him softly on the cheek. "You should try and get some sleep. I'll be just next door if you need anything."
Spike nodded and settled himself back down in the bed. Buffy pulled the covers over him before switching off the light and closing the door.
As he drifted off to sleep Spike smiled. This was going to be the start of something good
The End