Part 4
She attacked in a fury of rapid fire blows, and he dodged her easily, defecting with no trouble any that did get past his guard. "Slayer, aren´t you even trying to hit me? I´ve seen you do better when you got jumped by a pack of vamps, and had the soddin´ flu. Old age getting to you already?" he teased her, taunting her, his eyes dancing merrily at her growing frustration with the battle because so far she hadn´t been able to land a single blow on him, or touch him.
"You—you—grrr—damn, I can´t even figure out what to call you," she growled angrily, and redoubled her efforts, with one quick of her legs which threw him off balance, so that she was able to sweep his legs from under him, and knock him down on his rear. Before she could take advantage of him, he had already bounded up, and was going after her, feigning hits to her head, and body with his lightening fast hands to finally score a hit on her nose, blooding it which staggered her back on her feet a few feet. "You hit me?" she yelped in shocked surprise. Staring at him opened mouthed, shocked that he had been able to do that.
He looked at her, and grinned, pleased with himself. "Yeah, I guess I did. I can bloody well hit you again. No more bloody chip," he smiled in realization, and with a loud whoop started closing in on her.
"Ohh shit," she squeaked, and backed away from him only to find herself backed against the vaulting horse.
Spike smiled in triumph, enjoying her growing confusion, and dismay as she realized she wasn´t going to win this. He was amazed that he was finally cornering her, but he knew it was not going to be that easy, and it wasn´t as she grabbed the handle on the horse, and swung herself up, and then did a flip over his head to try, and land behind him. Already anticipating her move, he had spun on the balls of his feet, and caught her around her waist as she was landing. She grabbed him, and flipped him, thinking she had won, but before she could react he grabbed her feet from under her, and had flipped her down on top of him, and then rolled over, and pinned her beneath him with her hands above her head.
"You were saying something about beating me?" he questioned with a smirk, enjoying both the feel of her withering body under his as she struggled to get free, and couldn´t, and winning the match. He was now stronger than her, and he had the added advantage of size, and masculine muscles.
"Let me up you bleach blond whatever you are," she growled, getting madder, and madder at being pinned like this under him, and upset that he had won.
"Are you going to be good, --if I let you go?" he asked, his voice almost purring, enjoying the game as he looked into the angry and confused hazel depths of her eyes.
"In your dreams," she growled back, frustrated because she couldn´t figure any way to get him off short of dynamite. And becoming all too aware of his sheer physical presence, and their closeness, and what that was doing to her, and making her feel. Judging from what was poking hard against her stomach through his tight jeans, he was being similarly affected. By her. This was not so good, especially with an audience.
"I´m sure you know about those, Slayer," he purred, thoroughly enjoying the flush she was getting on her face at his words while at the same time being fully aware of Giles and Dawn looking on so he couldn´t do what he wanted to, and kiss her among other things.
He really wanted to take her right then, and there, but it was too soon. He was going to have to let the shock of his change sink in, and draw this out. Do thinks right and proper, the human way now. He had learned that lesson well and wasn't going to screw up again. Whatever it took he would do because in the end she was going to be his, and there was nothing to stop him now. Since they had company, he let his eyes doing the talking. Letting his eyes bore into hers with all the waves of emotions he was feeling, letting her know in no uncertain terms that this was far from over, and there would be further discussions on this subject. She met his look with one of her own letting him know it was not going be as easy as he thought it was. And she wasn´t going to discuss it.
For the benefit of their audience he told her, "but, seeing that I´m a nice guy, and all, and I´ve let you suffer enough—I´ll let you up," he said releasing her hands, and getting off of her quickly before she had a chance to retaliate. He offered her a hand up, but she ignored him, and she stalked angrily over to Giles who had been watching the entire exchange, trying to not give into the fit of laughter that threatened to explode from watching the two battle.
"So?" her watcher questioned, keeping his amusement to himself.
"Okay, he still has his strength, and moves," she reluctantly reported, ignoring Spike completely who had wandered over to stand behind her to hear what she thought of his abilities. "And he can hit me, so the chip is either bye bye, or fried. Whether his having my level of strength is permanent, or temporary we won´t know until we see what happens in the next couple of days." Then turning to Spike, "this was just one match and I can still whip your butt anytime, so don't think you've won and can out fight me," she told him her eyes glittering at him.
"Sure, Summers, whatever you say," he grinned and with a smirk went back to work out and test his abilities out some more.
"So right now you think he has Slayer abilities?" Giles asked as Spike left them.
"Or left over vamp. It´s hard to tell. But even as a vampire he wasn´t this strong," she said, rubbing her sore wrists where he had grabbed, and held on to her.
"Remarkable," Giles commented as he watched Spike who had wandered back over to the mats use the vaulting horse, and hold himself up with one hand vertically above it, and sustain that pose for several minutes before flipping back to the floor gracefully. Then he jumped up, and grabbed the rings from the ceiling, and executed several balancing moves with them like a train gymnast with no seeming effort at all. Even Buffy was grudgingly impressed.
"Show off," she yelled at him as he was still swinging through the air..
"Jealous, pet?" he slung back.
"No, never. And quit calling me that! I am not your pet—get that through your thick head! Your being human changes nothing—nothing at all," she said disgustedly as she grabbed up her clothes to leave and go change back into them.
"Right, pet, keep telling yourself that," he said to himself as he watched her go, shaking his head at her bullheaded stubbornness. Landing like a cat on the mats he turned to Dawn who had been watching him with sheer awe in her eyes, "You still want to learn some moves?" he asked, and she brightened up, and quickly came over to join him.
Giles decided that Dawn was safe with Spike, and he might have better luck teaching her self defense than Buffy could, Giles followed his Slayer to see what had her in such a foul mood. He was not understanding at all what her problem was with Spike. So far he was impressed with Spike´s abilities, and after several tests he was convinced that this change was real, and permanent, and could not be undone. The only thing that had reverted back to his human pre-turning status was his vision. He was going to either have to get glasses, or contacts to correct his far sightedness which he admitted to the Watcher he had suffered from as a human, and even as a vampire. He just hadn´t let anyone see him use a magnifying glass to read with. Not great for the Big Bad image. For the time being he could use one of Giles´ spares to read with, and do close up work with. Tomorrow they would take him to Lens Crafters at the Mall, and get that problem fixed.
The two men had had a long talk before joining the girls on what would be his new status in the group. And where, and how he could fit in along with practical matters of just living as a human again. Giles had quickly realized that no longer could they treat the former vampire the way they had been since he was now fully human, and had a soul as well as a conscience. There was also the fact that he had real physical needs, and weaknesses. He could be killed just like any of them, but luckily he had some of Buffy´s abilities, making him the male equivalent of a slayer.
As to the practical side of Spike´s life, Giles was going to let him crash with him until he could get things sorted out. The crypt was no longer an option since even as a vampire he had been on the demon hit list and had lots of enemies now. The danger to him would be much worse. He had been given a gift by the Powers That Be, and Giles wasn´t going to let him killed right off the bat. Nor was staying at Buffy´s another option for a number of reasons. One of which was that the idea of a young man, even though that young man was a hundred plus years older than any of them, living alone with two young women set Giles parental nerves on edge, and he knew full well that Joyce would haunt him if he allowed such a thing to happen.
Job wise, they weren´t sure what to do with him. Being a bouncer at the Bronze had sounded good, when Spike had suggested it as an idea, but his skills would be needed to help Buffy at night, and that would be when he´d have to work. So that as a job wouldn´t work out. Maybe construction with Xander, or something along that line. Spike made it clear he really didn´t want to hang around, or work at the bookstore. Since he wasn´t confined to being stuck inside during the day he wanted to do something outside, something physical, useful, and he could work with his hands and tools.
He already had false ID´s because of his car, and having to get around in a human based world. He also let Giles know he wasn´t completely without resources. He just hadn´t wanted to tap into them too heavily in his chipped state. Because that would have meant talking to Angel to free some of them up, and he wasn´t too thrilled about doing that even now. Though he had to admit he would love to see Angel´s reaction to this news.
As to the Council, they both decided that the less the WC knew what had happened the better. If they found out, or the WC needed to know, since they already knew Spike was working with them, then they would explain, but until then Giles was going to keep silent about it. Not that the Watcher could really explain what had happened—it was all very puzzling still because there was no way it 'should´ have happened—but it had, and they all had to go forward from this somehow. Though he got the impression while talking to Spike that maybe the ex-vampire did know something, or had an idea of how this transformation had been achieved, but he wasn´t willing to shared the information. Though Giles had wondered about a set of fading teeth marks on the man´ left side, but Spike had tossed it off as to not being important, and that he hadn´t gotten a good enough look at the demon to tell him what it was. So the Watcher let the subject drop for the moment.
They had already agreed that when Giles took Buffy and Dawn home then they would stop by Spike´s crypt, and get his belongings. Outside of his TV there wasn´t that much to move, and it all would easily fit in the car in one trip. Luckily, Giles had a spare guest room in his private quarters above the shop in which Spike could stay. That way the young man could have some privacy away from the business of the shop, and the Scoobies when he needed it. After having Spike as a houseguest before, the adjustment would not be too difficult—he hoped. At least he wouldn´t have to deal with bags, or containers of blood in fridge. But he would have to deal with a young man that had forgotten what it was like to be human, and would have to relearn his body all over again. It was not going to be easy for the ex-vampire for a while.
What was bothering Giles the most was Buffy´s reaction to all of this. He could not figure her out at all. It was like this was something horrible instead of wondrous and joyful. She was not going to make Spike regret being human again—that he would not allow. It was clear watching both of them interact that there was much, much more going on between the two than he had known about. And it had been going on for quite a while maybe since he got the chip, or longer than that as the Watcher remembered all the instances before the chip that Spike had helped them, or restrained Angelus from harming them. Then there had been the way they had acted together under that spell of Willow´s. He had always wondered how much of their behavior had been the spell, and how much had it been them free to let their real feelings out under the safety of it. Then afterwards neither would speak a word about it, and got angry whenever they were reminded of it. Neither of them had laughed it off, and would get such pained, embarrassed looks, and be stubbornly silent when ever they were questioned on the subject. It had taken several weeks for them to even be comfortable around the other afterwards. When Buffy had started dating Riley the sniping between the slayer and vampire had gotten increasing worse. Then something had changed early this Fall, after Spike had tried to get his chip out, and failed . It had also been roughly around the time Buffy had gone to Spike to ask him how he had killed the other slayers, something had happened that night, but what Giles wasn´t sure. He had never gotten a satisfactory explaination of what had happened that night from his slayer. Maybe he could get what had happened out of Spike now because Buffy was confining less, and less in him, or anyone else.
Riley´s departure, her Mother´s death, having to take care of Dawn, and a household, school, and Glory´s increasing desparation to get "her Key" were all doing numbers to the young woman. She was determined to prove she could handle it all, and Giles was getting increasingly worried about her. Since her mom´s death she was spending more, and more time patrolling for longer, and longer periods of time. Slaying was her means of taking out her frustrations and pain. She had been doing this more, and more over the last couple of years. Even Spike was worried about this intensive slaying as he had been watching her, and guarding her back for months now, and more so since Joyce´s death. Her ferocity, and the sheer savageness of her killing of demons was becoming more animalistic. It was like she was possessed while she was slaying, and it took her longer, and longer to snap back to reality once the demons were dead. Spike had wanted to tell him this sooner, but since no one was letting him come around, or talk to them he couldn´t. And for that Giles apologized once he heard Spike give him a run down of Buffy´s usual patrols when she thought she was alone. He definitely need to talk to the girl now.
Tara had gotten Willow downstairs, and the still exhausted young witch was sitting at the study table drinking a cup of herbal tea that the other witch had made for her. At least her color was better, Giles thought.
"I see you´re doing better, Willow," he inquired as he waited for Buffy to come out from changing her clothes.
"I think so. At least I can sit up without falling over. Is Spike giving Dawny defensive lessons?" she asked, taking a sip of her tea.
"I believe so. Buffy was getting her too frustrated, and Spike volunteered. It should be okay," he said, still trying to get used to the idea that Spike was now okay to be around and didn't pose any danger, not that he had before really since his chip.
"They get along good. And Dawn does listen to him, even Buffy said so," she commented.
Giles took in that surprising bit of news, and added that to the number of things he need to talk with Buffy about. "That's good. She is so hard to reach sometimes. He does seem to like her doesn't he?" Giles asked Willow and she nodded.
"Dawn thinks Spike's the greatest. She's got a crush on him. Buffy has had to retrieve her several times from Spike's crypt as she likes hanging out with him because he doesn't treat he like a kid so much, or so she says. She's really happy he's human now," Willow told him.
"I see, another thing of which I was not aware of," Giles mumbled to himself before speaking to Willow again. "Spike will be staying here, in case you hadn´t heard. I´m going to put him up in the spare room until he figures out what he´s going to do. He´s as shell shocked as we are by this strange turn of events, and it´s not safe for him to stay in the crypt anymore," Giles continued.
"Not to mention there´s no plumbing or anything," Tara added. "Has anyone thought of getting him anything to drink, or eat? He may not remember that he needs to? I mean it´s been over a hundred years, and with his being a vampire he may have forgotten what it feels like," Tara suggested, trying to be helpful. "If he´s working out with Dawn, he could probably use some water, or something. Want me to go bring him some, and show him where we keep stuff?" she asked.
"That´s a good idea. At least someone is thinking about this. I haven´t quite got Spike needing food, and drinks fixed in my mind yet, Giles replied as Tara got up, and went to go get some bottled water from the store fridge, and to check on how Dawn and Spike were doing as well as to ask the former vampire about taking some self defense lessons from him for herself since she wasn't any better at defending herself than Dawn was.
Buffy finally came out of the bathroom, and saw that Tara was checking on Dawn, and came over to where Willow and Giles were sitting, and sat down unhappily with an unreadable expression on her face. Before Giles could get a chance to ask his slayer anything, Anya called him over to help a customer with their selections, so he got up leaving the two friends alone to talk.
"What´s up Buff-Buff," Willow asked at her friend´s sour look.
"This whole day—my life—everything," she grumbled. "This whole thing is giving me the willies. Like why Spike, and not Angel if the Powers That Be wanted to turn a vampire human again? Angel deserves to be human, but Spike? Unless I am missing something somewhere?" she said folding her arms across her chest looking towards the workout room.
"I know Spike isn´t on your most favorite person list, but maybe there is a reason for this, maybe there´s some prophecy, or something at work here. At least he came back strong, and not normal guy strength. You´re not going to have to worry about him like you do Xander, or Riley. And he can fight, and knows weapons. Just look on the plus side he can go out in the sun now, and not burn up, and you don´t have to worry about him biting someone," Willow said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, there is that," Buffy said grudgingly. "But he´s still his annoying self, getting a soul hasn´t seem to change him that much-- if any. Maybe I was hoping that I´d see some difference, but so far I can´t. That bothers me because it also means he was right all along about everything he said, and I really don´t want to deal with that," Buffy admitted with a sigh.
"I was hoping I´d see some change too, but you´re right so far Spike is still Spike, except not a vampire anymore. Maybe the changes haven´t kicked in yet—he´s only been alive for what two or three hours now? I thinking he´s doing very well so far," Willow said defending Spike.
"Yeah, he is, and that´s scary too. Then there´s still this 'thing´ he has for me. That did not go away by the way. He´s already let me know his feelings have not changed any, and that he still wants me. Now I really don´t have any excuses, except he still makes me mad, and he still drives me up the wall," Buffy told her. "I mean before I could say he was a bad, evil vampire, and ignore him—now…it´s not going to be that easy," she admitted, looking down at her hands in her lap, not wanting to meet Willow´s eyes.
"And you think I´m surprised by this? There has been something between the two of you for years, girl—anyone could see that. My spell didn´t help either. Let´s face it he is cute, and sexy, even as a vamp, now he´s not off limits. Just what are you going to do about it?" the witch asked.
"Spike? Cute and sexy? Don´t let Tara hear you say that. Okay, yeah, he is… sort of, but if he wasn´t so damned obnoxious, and irritating. Maybe he´ll mellow out. I´m not sure whether I can think of Spike as anything, but a vampire, and someone who knows how to get under my skin. Maybe that´s the part that scares me the most because he knows me sometimes better than I know myself," Buffy told her.
"And this is a bad thing?"
"Yeah, …sometimes…he…I," Buffy started to say, and then shut up when she saw the ex-vampire in question, and her sister head their way.
"Buffy, Spike taught me some really neat moves. He was great," Dawn told her all bubbly, and still flushed from exercising as was Spike. Though he did look a little weak, and shaky as he sat down in a chair.
"You okay?" Willow asked him concerned.
He nodded, taking the water Dawn thrust in his hands, and took a couple of swigs, beginning to feel better already before he spoke. "Yeah, I think the term is I over amped. Forgot that human bodies do have limitations, especially when they haven´t eaten. Didn´t you say something about buying me dinner, Slayer?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"You´re going to have to take a rain check on that. Tonight´s still a school night, and I have to get Dawn home, and fix dinner before I go out on patrol," she told him making plain that she was not inviting him home either.
He was amused to see how she was squirming out of it. "You cook?" he asked trying to sound impressed as he leaned back in his chair watching her.
"Not really," Dawn grumbled under her breath as she watched the interchange between the two.
"I heard that," Buffy said, shooting her sister a nasty look, and ignoring Willow´s and Spike´s snickers "So, I´m learning. I haven´t burned anything this week. I never had to cook before--," she snapped getting up and going to see Giles before she lost her temper completely, or burst into tears missing her mother, and feeling still so lost as she tried to step into her shoes and take care of her family.
"Geeze, Buffy, I didn´t mean to get you all mad," Dawn tried to apologize, and gave up, shaking her head. "I did it again," she swore, and bounded up to go change her clothes before Buffy bugged her on that too.
"This pretty typical?" Spike asked Willow, motioning towards the two.
"Yeah, it´s usually worse though. Buffy´s trying to take care of Dawn, and the house. Before her mom did everything except when Joyce was in the hospital and recovering. It's all still kind of new for her doing all these grown up things. Then she finally heard from their dad. He´ll be coming in sometime next week. But Buffy isn´t looking forward to seeing him. She´s afraid that he´ll want to take Dawn away with him, and he still doesn´t know that Buffy´s the Slayer, or anything else that´s going on," Willow explained, since she figured it was okay for him to now know what was going on.
"Yeah, I was there when Buffy had to tell her Mum she was Slayer. Joyce freaked to say the least. So her Dad doesn't know at all? I doubt if he'll believe her, or any of us about what is happening," he told the witch remembering how difficult it had been for Joyce to accept even when she had seen a vampire killed before her eyes. "So he's just now hearing Joyce died? He didn´t show for the funeral and all?" Spike asked surprised, not understand how the man could have stayed away.
"Nope, he didn´t even know about Joyce´s death until two days ago when Buffy´s messages finally caught up to him in France. Seems he was on his honeymoon—that´s why no one could find him. Buffy didn´t know about that either. Now she also has to deal with a new stepmother. A fairly young one, or so I have heard," Willow added unhappy for her friend.
"No wonder the girl is falling to pieces. She isn´t getting any breaks at all," he commented, looking over to where Buffy was having an animated conversation with Giles. "If she wasn´t so determined to handle it all herself, and let people help," he sighed, not finishing the rest of his thoughts because he could see that Willow understood what he was saying.
She was still surprised by Spike's real concern about Buffy, and was having to do a lot of mental shifting to process it, but she could also tell he was sincere, and his worry about Buffy was long standing, and not just due to his transformation. He had been concerned about Buffy all these months but no one would believe or listen to him because they had thought because he was a vampire he couldn't care she was just beginning to understand how wrong they all had been. "I know, we all have been trying to help, but she won´t accept it."
"Somehow we´ve got to make her accept it before she falls apart completely. There´s got to be some way to make this all right for her, and the Nibblet. Just got to figure out what it is," he told her, looking thoughtful.. "I appreciate you filling me in on this, Red. I can understand why no one did before. I could tell there was more going on with her, but she´s not really one for sharing stuff, and neither was anyone else," Willow winced at Spike's words. He was going to say more then decided against it as he watched Buffy come back their way with Giles and Dawn following.
"Okay, Giles is taking us all to dinner, so I don´t have to cook," Buffy announced, and Dawn did a silent 'thank you´ upward that she was spared Buffy's cooking. Ignoring her sister, Buffy asked, "Wills, you, and Tara are invited if you want to come?"
"That´s okay, Buffy, maybe another time. I still have finish up some of my reading for class, and work on my reports that are due, then Tara has to get caught up too," she said excusing herself from the dinner party.
"Okay, thought I´d ask. Xander called, and he´s coming to pick up Anya after the shop closes," she explained to her friend, not adding that he really wanted avoid Spike until he could handle the new situation. Xander had not dealt with the news of Spike being human any better than Buffy had. Then turning to the ex-vampire Buffy told him, "Spike, do you want to pick up your stuff before, or after we go to dinner?"
"After, I think. Food first. When your stomach starts making growly noises does that mean you need to eat?" he asked innocently, hoping to lighten her grim mood. He knew he was hungry, but he was faking that he didn´t.
"Yeah, it does," she said shaking her head, and trying not to smile in spite of herself. "Let´s go, Spike," she told him, indicating it was time to go, and he got up to follow her. "Talk to you later, Wills," she told her friend, and they left to take Spike for his first real meal in over a hundred years.
End Part 4
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