Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. Everything else belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and UPN.
Finished: November 24, 2001.
A/N: Thanks to my Hunnies and Numsy for reading this over, the encouragement, and the editing help. Love ya!
The Challenge:
Two of the following MUST happen:
*The ghost of Glory appearing--in a funny way.
*Spike climbing a tree while Buffy watches, he falls and breaks his leg.
*Giles walking in while Buffy and Spike are at 'it'--if Spike has his cast on it's better *g*
*Buffy singing for the 'host'.
*Spike being chased by a mob of children--Xander comes to his rescue.
MUST include 2 of the following settings:
*A soccer field
*Gym
*Ice cream shop
*The hospital
*A court room
*An alley
Four of the following items MUST be included:
*Earphones
*Black thongs
*Rain
*A rat
*A veggie burger
*A flying demon
*Green goo
*Song: "Fools rush in."
*Movie: "Sleeping Beauty"
*A horror Book
*A giant
~~ All In A Night's Work ~~
As darkness settled across Sunnydale, the vampire stirred in bed, his senses coming alive as the moon called out to him through the thick black curtains covering the windows. It was time for the hunt.
Slowly he climbed from his bed, stretching his arms up above his head, letting out an instinctive yawn. *Too much time around humans.* he thought to himself.
He was pulled from his thoughts when he sensed someone in the pitch-black room. He stopped his movements and became utterly still, tuning into the darkness.
He could hear distinct breathing and the sound of a heartbeat drumming quickly against the creature's chest. He grinned slyly as he crept toward the sound and began to hunt the intruder. As he neared the being, its footsteps were heard as it scurried away from him, laughing lightly at him.
Spinning around quickly, he dashed after the creature, growling playfully as he slid his arms around its waist and picked it up, depositing the light figure onto the bed, smiling as he pinned its arms to its sides.
"What do you think you're doing in here?" he asked as the figure squirmed under his grasp. "Sneaking in here, waking me up...I was dreaming you know."
"Yeah, well, it's time for you to get up anyways," an annoyed female voice replied. She paused before dropping her attitude, her voice becoming quiet and sultry, as she remained motionless on the bed. "What were you dreaming about?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" he taunted, releasing his hold on her and straightening up.
She followed his lead and rose to her feet, lightly running her nails up and down his bare chest. "Oh, I think I do." she said. She snaked her arms around his neck and pulled his head down for a chaste kiss as his arms wrapped around her waist.
"Oh yeah, and how would you?" he asked, after they parted.
"You talk a lot in your sleep. More than you probably should. I mean, if Dawn had walked in here to wake you up and had heard the things you were saying about me, I'd--"
"You'd what?" he challenged.
"I'd do something evil and mean."
"Is that a promise?" he asked, grinning before kissing her gently.
Her arms slipped down from around his neck as she walked towards the bedroom door and opened it, her figure silhouetted from the light in the hall. She turned to glance back at him from the doorway. "I'll heat up some blood for you downstairs...I want to get patrolling over with as early as possible tonight."
"You got something planned, Slayer?"
Without answering, she closed the door as she left the room, leaving Spike in the darkness once more.
He showered quickly, wanting to know what Buffy was up to, and, wrapping a towel around his waist, returned to her bedroom to get dressed. He flicked on the lamp sitting on the nightstand, pulling on his usual black jeans, shirt, and duster. Using a dab of gel, he mussed his hair, leaving it a mass of wild curls and spikes instead of his usual slicked back look.
He descended the stairs as the phone rang, heading into the kitchen to see Buffy talking on the cordless. She pointed to the microwave where his mug of blood sat as she continued to talk to Giles, he supposed. He drank down the mug as she hung up the phone with a heavy sigh. "Well, tonight's plans are a no-go."
"What's up?" he asked. "A new creepy crawly to kill?"
Buffy nodded. "Only more creepy and less crawly. Giles said it flies," she said with a shudder. "You know how much I hate things with wings. Especially bats...I mean, mice rejects just weren't meant to fly."
"We'll get it...do you have a net or something?"
She shrugged in response. "We could check the basement," she suggested. "There wasn't ever much use for anything like that around here. Now chains on the other hand..."
************************************************************************
The pair stalked through the cemetery, one with a tennis racket, the other with a fishing net, as they searched for the creature said to haunt the place.
"Here, thingy, thingy!" Buffy chirped as she gripped her tennis racket tightly, her eyes darting around, searching the perimeter. Suddenly she felt something land lightly on her head and let out a yelp of terror as she dropped her racket and began shaking her head and batting her hair with her hands. "It's on me! It's in my hair! Get it out, Spike! Get it out!"
He jumped as she screamed, thrashing her arms around, and saw her assailant fall to the ground. Laughing as he picked it up, he stood with his arms crossed, letting out a bored sigh, waiting for her stop wailing.
"Buffy?" he called gently.
She continued her actions, feeling her hair until she was sure the demon was gone and looked up at him. "Is it dead? Did I kill it?" she asked in a small voice.
"Yeah, you killed it good, baby. It's just as dead as, well, me. Here's your horrible monster." he said, waving a small leaf in front of her face.
Buffy's face flushed red as she chuckled embarrassedly. "That was just practice."
"Practice, eh?"
"Yup, for if the real thing does attack me. And I must admit, I don't like your reaction time. What if that had been the demon? I could be dead right now."
"Right. I'll be sure to grab the big ugly winged thing *next* time it lands on your head."
Buffy rolled her eyes and combed through her hair with her fingers. "Yeah, you'd better, or--"
"Buffy, look out!" Spike shouted, pointing to the air above them. She let out another shriek of fright as she wrapped her arms around him, hiding her head in his chest until she realized he was laughing again.
Looking up where he was pointing, she saw another leaf fall from the tree. With an angry growl she pushed him away, knocking him to the ground and standing over him, a foot on either side of his waist. She leaned forward and pointed a finger at him. "You are so gonna pay for that."
He grinned mischievously and grabbed her hand, pulling her down so she was lying on his chest. "Another promise, eh Slayer? I hope you follow through with all these." he said before kissing her.
She broke the kiss and stood up, brushing off the knees of her pants as Spike got to his feet as well. Buffy scowled at him, placing her hands on her hips. "You know, you should respect me more. I'm your mortal enemy. The one thing in the world you should fear. I'm extremely dangerous with a toothpick."
"Buffy, now very slowly, look up there." he said in a serious tone, motioning with his eyes to something behind her.
"Yeah right, Spike, like I'm gonna fall for that again. What is it this time, a twig? Maybe I'll use it to stake you."
She turned around, standing frozen in shock as a dark green, four-legged creature with yellow glowing eyes, sharp fangs, and huge nearly-transparent wings covered with hundreds of thin, blue veins swooped down from a tree and flew around their heads, screeching loudly before taking off.
"What the hell was that?" Buffy squealed.
"Well, pet, I'm assuming that's our flying monkey." Spike replied, watching the creature as it flew off into the night.
"Why didn't you warn me?"
"I did! I said 'look up there'. What did you think that was? If you hadn't yelled your lungs out, we could've got him first off."
"Whatever. Let's just kill the thing and get back home." she said, picking up the tennis racket off the ground.
"And what are you planning back home, luv?" he asked with a sly grin.
"Nothing unless we find Peter Pan and make him think some not-so-happy thoughts."
"Well, he headed that way, so I'm thinking he went to find a new hideout." Spike said, grabbing the fishing net from its spot on the grass and heading toward the cemetery gates, practically dragging Buffy along.
"You're just hurrying so we can get home and be alone." she chided jokingly.
"Can you blame me?"
************************************************************************
"Okay, there it is." Spike whispered as they crouched behind a tree on the edge of Sunnydale High's soccer field.
"Where?" Buffy asked, peering over his shoulder. "If it attacks us again, I'm going postal."
She held up her tennis racket menacingly as Spike inched toward the goalpost on the edge of the field where it was perched, surveying the ground surrounding it.
As Spike crept further and further away from her, she let out a small squeak as the demon looked at her, and she grabbed the sleeve of his jacket.
"Spike, if you leave me here, we're never having sex again." she hissed.
He hesitated for a minute before shaking his head and shaking her off. "Don't worry, baby, you'll be fine. I'll handle it."
He crept up beneath the goalpost and was about to jump up to catch it in the fishing net, when it screeched loudly and flew into the tree Buffy was currently cowering under.
She ran out, flailing the tennis racket around her head as she grabbed Spike, hiding behind him. "Ew! Ew! EWWWW! Kill it!"
"Shhhh, the more fuss you make, the more warning it has to take off."
Buffy quickly stopped her squealing and scoffed loudly at herself. "I can do this. I'm a Slayer. I can beat the crap out of this thing, even if it's got its slimy, veiny wings all flapping around and stuff. I faced Adam, the big Mayor-snake, and thousands of other evil ugly things, hell, I've even faced you."
Spike rolled his eyes. "Wow, thanks, luv, you're so inspiring." he said sarcastically.
"Thank you. Now...go get it...please?"
With an aggravated sigh, Spike stalked towards the tree. "Stay here."
He began to scale the large tree, grabbing onto the lower branches and pulling himself up. If Buffy hadn't been so scared out of her wits, she'd be picturing his back and arm muscles flexing as he...
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard him yelling profane words at the creature, hearing it screech and flap its wings loudly in response. Buffy shuddered as she pictured its beating wings touching her boyfriend. He'd have to have a seriously cleansing shower before she'd let him touch her again.
Soon the screeching stopped, followed by a loud yell as Spike tumbled from the branch to the ground with a sickening crack. He growled in pain as his right leg broke in the fall, but he held the fishing net firm against the ground as not to let the demon free.
"Spike!" Buffy yelled, approaching him somewhat cautiously. The net looked pretty unstable against the creature's insistent struggling and flapping. "How do we kill it? Giles didn't say, and I didn't bring my ax or anything."
"It's just a Kreshalt demon. Killed with your standard slice and dice. Hell, even beating it to death will do the job," he said through clenched teeth. "But whatever you do, hurry up, will you? My leg's killing me."
She stepped towards the creature, whacking it with the tennis racket. It screamed in pain and spit some sort of green goo on her shirt.
"Ugh! Just what I needed to make my day complete: demon barf. And on my new shirt too!" she growled as she continued to beat the demon with the racket as Spike prevented the fishing net from flying off into the night.
Even as it lay there dead, Buffy persisted to deliver blows to the Kreshalt with loud thwacks. "Knock...my...vamp...out...of...the...tree...will...you?" she grumbled, bringing the racket down with each word.
"It's dead, luv. You killed it. And beating it to a deader death isn't gonna help."
Buffy finally stopped hitting the beast and dropped the racket, panting heavily as she collapsed next to Spike. "Are you okay, honey?" she asked, helping him sit up without further agitating his leg.
"Just peachy." he growled.
"How long do you think it'll take to heal?"
"Depends on how bad it is. Feels pretty damn bad."
"Is it just me or is it hot out here?" she asked.
"Slayer, now is really not the time..."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Believe me, if I wanted to start something here and now, you'd know it. It's...it's...the gunk on my shirt!" she exclaimed. "It's burning me!"
She quickly tore the shirt from her body, not bothering to undo the buttons since the shirt was pretty much ruined anyway. She dropped the blouse on the ground, wiping the goo that had seeped through her shirt off of her stomach with her hands, them cleaning them off on the dead dry grass.
"Okay, so now I'm here, half naked with a weird green rash and your leg is broken. How much more fun could this be?"
"That much more fun." he replied as drops of rain began to splatter their shoulders.
"We so need to get out of here." she whined, standing up and helping Spike to stand on his good leg. She began to lead him away from the field of the school when he stopped her with a scoff.
"If you think I'm letting you go anywhere public in that skimpy lacy thing, you've got to be kidding me." he said, shrugging off his duster and wrapping it around her shoulders. She slipped her arms through the sleeves and pulled it closed as she helped him hobble back towards the street.
"What do we do about the Kreshalt?" she asked, glancing back at its rain-soaked carcass.
"We'll come back tomorrow night. Nobody ever comes to the school anymore."
With each step, his leg throbbed in blinding pain as the rain pelted down harder and harder on them, drenching every molecule of their hair and clothes.
"What are we gonna do about your leg?"
"It'll be fine, I just need to get home and--BLOODY HELL!" he yelled as Buffy stumbled over a rock jutting out of the ground, sending them tumbling to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
"Oh, god, Spike, your leg. Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm doing great aside from the searing pain crippling me, which is not unlike being fried by the bloody chip in my skull." he growled.
"Relax, we'll get you home and get a splint on it or something." she said, helping him slowly and painfully to his feet to continue their way down the street.
************************************************************************
"Dammit, Slayer! Why do you have to live so bloody far away?"
"Because I've been secretly planning this for years and thought it would be funny to see you fall from a tree and break your leg, leaving me to drag your sorry ass across the city in the pouring rain while I'm half-dressed," she said mockingly. "I guess my secret's out."
Car after car passed the weary couple, each one showering them with the freezing water that slicked the road. Buffy's hair was matted to her head, water dripping down her face as she brushed several strands of blonde out of her eyes.
"Spike, I've had enough of this," she said with an aggravated sigh. "We're going over there." She pointed to a building across the street.
"Are you insane? We can't. I'm a vampire. No heartbeat, which equals no pulse, which equals suspicion."
"If we don't stop here, we won't make it home before sunrise and you will no longer be a vamp, not to mention a raging case of pneumonia for me."
As they crossed the street to the hospital and approached the front doors, the rain gradually slowed to a stop.
"Go figure." Buffy scoffed, looking up at the suddenly clear sky.
They made their way through the doors, soaked to the bone, looking like people that had just crawled from the bottom of a lake. Buffy shivered as she helped Spike through the lobby, letting out a loud sneeze that caught the attention of several nurses.
Taking in the couple's disheveled appearance, they rushed to their aid, bringing stretchers and blankets for them. Immediately the pair shared a look of utter panic before they were wheeled off in separate directions.
************************************************************************
"Giles comma Rupert," Spike said, annoyed. "I don't know the bloody number, can't you look in your files? Ask Buffy Summers, she'll know."
"And who is Buffy?"
"The girl I came in here with. Bring her in here. She's an expert at this."
"Another doctor is with her at the moment."
"She's not hurt, just cold and wet, nothing a warm blanket and a roaring fire can't fix. No, get that stethoscope away from me. My heart's fine, my lungs are fine," he took a deep, unneeded breath to prove it. "Now, can you please get her in here?"
The doctor sighed and put away her stethoscope. "I'll go check on her condition. But, William, you need to try and get some rest. You can get that cast off your leg faster if you take it easy and let it heal."
As she left the room and closed the door behind her, Spike patted the cast and smiled mockingly. "Gee, I can't wait to get all my friends to sign it."
Sighing, he picked up the phone beside his bed and dialed the Summers' residence. After a couple rings, Dawn picked up. "Hey, Nibblet, you wouldn't happen to have Giles' phone number lying around, would you?"
************************************************************************
"Rupert Giles is...his father." Buffy answered quickly.
"He said he didn't know the phone number to reach him at." the doctor replied, looking unconvinced.
"Well, Giles moves around a lot. He's not really the 'settle down' type...but can I please go in and see Sp--William? How's his leg?"
"We put a cast on it, he'll live...unless he has pneumonia or hypothermia; he won't let me get near him with a stethoscope."
"Well, you know those things," she chuckled nervously. "They're always so cold. And he has a childhood fear of...of...cold...objects. Besides, he's almost immune to sickness, it's odd really."
"I'm sure it is," the doctor replied with a smirk. "You must be immune too because you're quite lucky you're not sick from being out in that rain, especially in what you're wearing."
Buffy looked down at herself, wearing a black, lacy bra and jeans. Luckily, the green residue from the demon's acidic spit had washed off in the rain, leaving only a slightly red rash. "My blouse got a little ruined, hence the oversized jacket," she grinned sheepishly. She sighed and tilted her head pleadingly. "Can I please go see him? I really don't like leaving him alone for too long. He likes to get into mischief. Because of one incident, his hair color will never be the same."
"Well, the cast should take care of the mischief problem for a little while."
"Yeah," she said simply, knowing full well it wouldn't do a thing to stop him from doing what he damn well wanted. "So, pretty please, can I go see him?"
"We need the insurance information filled out at the reception desk."
Just then Giles knocked on the door and entered the room. "Giles! Here he is, he can give you details." Buffy said with a bright smile as she shrugged on Spike's jacket and jumped off the bed, quickly disappearing out the door.
A few seconds later, her head reappeared in the doorway wearing a sheepish grin.
"Room 126." the doctor replied with a smile.
"Thanks!" Buffy chirped as she scooted down the hall.
************************************************************************
"Slayer," Spike said as Buffy pulled him into a hug. "What's up with you?"
"I don't know, just missed you...I didn't want them to take you to the morgue or anything."
He propped himself up against the pillows and pulled Buffy closer to the bed, placing a soft kiss on her lips, his hands roaming inside his jacket.
"Spike, what are you--we so can't do this here."
He pulled back, a pack of cigarettes in one hand, a lighter in the other. "You can't do that here either."
"Well, I knew you wouldn't give them to me if I asked you," he said, opening the pack only to find it empty. "Bloody hell. Buffy, be a dear and buy me some smokes, will you?"
"I think not." she said, crossing her arms and looking away.
Spike rolled his eyes and sighed. "For crying out loud, Slayer, what now?"
"Is that all I'm good for? Buying your drugs?"
"You're good for a lot more than that, baby." he said, looking her up and down.
"Whatever." she sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Whatever!" he hissed.
"Fine." she said curtly, glaring at him
"Fine!" he growled, glaring back.
Suddenly he grabbed her hips and lifted her onto the bed, crushing his lips to hers, breaking apart only to lift his shirt over his head. Grabbing the lapels of his duster, he pulled her body against his, forgetting all about the pain in his leg.
************************************************************************
Giles pushed the door open to the room and immediately covered his eyes. "God, you two! This is a hospital, have some decency! You're supposed to be injured, not doing *that*!"
Buffy pulled Spike's duster tightly around her body and climbed down from the bed. "Don't worry, Giles, nothing happened--"
"That's a relief."
"I couldn't get his jeans off because of the cast."
Giles sighed and shook his head. "What am I going to do with you two?"
"You can start by buying me some new jeans. Stupid chit cut off the fabric to put the bloody cast on since I wouldn't let her take them off, and you sent us on the mission in the first place. So pay up, Ripper." Spike said, pulling on his shirt.
"Shut up, Spike."
"Can we go home now, Giles?" Buffy said. "Or do I have to remind you that hospitals give me the wiggins?"
"No, we can go. So, the demon, is it dead?"
"Yeah, we got it." the Slayer replied.
"You know, you should get into a professional tennis career. That backhand could take you places." Spike whispered to her as he grabbed his crutches.
************************************************************************
"These are so cool!" Dawn exclaimed as she walked about the living room with Spike's crutches.
"Glad I could be of service," Spike said with a smirk as he watched her amble around from his seat on the couch, his injured leg resting on the coffee table. He looked down at his Slayer sitting on the floor at his feet. "Oh no, you'd better stop that right now before I--"
"Before you what? Shake a finger at me? You can't do anything from where you're sitting...besides, I'm almost done," she said as she finished the touches to the drawing on his cast. "There! You want me to read it to you?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Nope. It says: 'Hurry up and get better. I need someone to practice my backhand with!' and there's a little picture of a Kreshalt demon right there, holding a little tennis racket."
Spike couldn't help but chuckle at the comment she'd written. "It took you four days to think of that?"
"No, I thought of that as soon as we left the hospital, I just needed you to be distracted for five minutes for me to draw it. Thanks, Dawn."
"Anytime, sis," she said, handing Spike back his crutches. "See you guys tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Dawnie!"
"Night, Bit!"
After the young brunette had made her way to the stairs, the Slayer looked at the vampire. "So? Wanna watch TV?"
Spike looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "You mean watch TV, or 'watch' TV?"
"Look, Spike, I know it's been a couple days since we--"
"Five and three-quarters." Spike reiterated.
"Right, but we have to give your leg a chance to heal without, uh, aggravation."
"I'm a vampire, I heal quickly."
"Dawn's upstairs."
Spike scoffed. "You know as well as I do that she listens to music when she sleeps."
"Yeah, a recent habit that began when you moved in here, and why do you think she started it??" she questioned.
"'Cause you're a screamer."
Buffy used her hand to muffle her laughter as a blush rose to her cheeks.
"Or maybe it's the noisy headboard...have you seen the wall behind it? It's full of dents."
"Okay, that's it. No 'watching' TV tonight. We're gonna watch something innocent and wholesome. And I mean actually watch it--no air quotes."
"Yeah, right, your attention span for 'innocent and wholesome' as about as long as mine is when it comes to Twenty Questions." he scoffed
"Fine, we'll just have to watch something I like." she said as she looked at the collection of movies on the shelf by the TV.
"The Sound of Music?"
"Too musical."
"Titanic?"
"Too long."
"Snow White?"
"Too dwarfy."
"Sleeping Beauty?"
"Too poofy."
"Okay, Sleeping Beauty it is."
"No way are you making me watch that. I'd sooner be dead." the vampire said.
"Spike, you are dead. And there's no way you're getting out of this."
"What I'd like to get out of, my dear Buffy, is this bloody cast and these uncomfortable sweatpants. Do you know how stupid these make me look?"
"Of course, honey, that's why I bought them for you." she said with a charming smile as she popped the tape into the VCR and pressed play.
Spike wrapped his arms around her as she sat down next to him in an exaggerated hug, pressing a noisy kiss to her temple. "Just you wait and see, before the theme music starts you'll be all over m--"
She quieted him with a chaste kiss. "Shush!"
As she began to fast-forward through the previews, he turned her head to press a kiss to her lips, his tongue teasing her lips, which she parted in response, dropping the remote to the floor. Bringing a hand to her neck and one around her back, he turned her to face him and pulled her onto his lap, the hand on her back slipping under her shirt, his fingers running idly along her spine.
The Slayer straddled him as they continued to kiss, breaking only momentarily for her need of oxygen as he undid the buttons on her sweater, sliding it down her shoulders and to the floor, leaving her in her white tank top. He broke away from her lips to trail wet kisses down her throat and along her collarbone.
"Bad, Spike!" Buffy scolded, pushing him back against the couch. "We're supposed to watch the movie. Your leg--"
"Is fine, now c'mere." he commanded, pulling her body down against his.
"This really isn't fair. You're not as comfy as you were pre-cast."
"Easily fixed, luv." he shrugged, and turned himself so that he was sitting with his back toward the armrest and his wounded leg resting on the floor. She wrapped her legs around his waist as she sat in his lap, locking her arms around his neck.
"Much better." she said, before descending her lips on his. His hands found the hem of her top, lifting the thin material over her head, throwing it on the coffee table in the middle of the room. She copied his actions, removing his black shirt, then pulling him close for another deep kiss, the silky fabric of her bra brushing against his chest.
She could feel his arousal through the light material of his pants and ground her hips against him, making him growl deeply as he unclasped her bra with skilled fingers and tossed it across the room.
Just then the front door opened and Giles came rushing in. "Buffy? Are you here? I've located a nest of vampires in a warehouse on the--" his words stopped short as he entered the living room, assuming someone was actually watching the movie playing on the TV.
Instead he found the Slayer in the arms of the vampire, clinging to him to hide her half nudity and at the same time trying to keep an innocent look on her face. Spike, however, had his head turned in the intruder's direction and was glaring daggers at the Watcher for interrupting them. Giles immediately turned around, while Buffy scrambled about the room for her scattered clothes, apologizing to the vampire in hushed tones as her Watcher began to lecture her.
"Oh for--don't you two have anything better to do? For example watch the movie that's playing? A cartoon, nonetheless! And do you even care that there's a 15-year-old girl upstairs? I say, Buffy, you should be more responsible--"
"Responsible how?" she asked, clasping her bra. "I could go eat a bunch of cursed candy and run around town stealing things, and having sex with my Slayer's mother if it would make me seem more responsible." she chided, making a face after her brain provided a mental picture to go with her words as she pulled on her tank top.
"You and Joyce, eh Ripper? Didn't think you had it in you." Spike said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, covering himself up with a blanket hanging off the back of the couch.
Giles began to sputter, angry and embarrassed that Buffy would bring that topic up yet again. "Shut up, Spike."
"I bet you didn't even call her or buy her flowers or anything, did you?" he taunted.
"Enough, Spike. Now's the time I repress that not-so-minor incident until I need to prove a point again or blackmail Giles later," she said, buttoning her sweater over her tank top and straightening her hair. "Okay, dressed now. So, you said something about a vamp nest?" She stood in the middle of the living room, smiling brightly as her Watcher turned to face her with a tired expression.
"Why couldn't I have just been a grocer?" he sighed to himself as he headed out the door, leaving the Slayer staring after him. She slowly turned to the very uncomfortable, very turned on vampire still sitting on the couch, looking appropriately ticked.
"Well, now that dad's gone, whatever shall we do?" she said, a mischievous smile spreading across her face.
Spike flashed her a smile to match her own. "Why don't we work on that backhand of yours?"
Finished: November 24, 2001.
A/N: Thanks to my Hunnies and Numsy for reading this over, the encouragement, and the editing help. Love ya!
The Challenge:
Two of the following MUST happen:
*The ghost of Glory appearing--in a funny way.
*Spike climbing a tree while Buffy watches, he falls and breaks his leg.
*Giles walking in while Buffy and Spike are at 'it'--if Spike has his cast on it's better *g*
*Buffy singing for the 'host'.
*Spike being chased by a mob of children--Xander comes to his rescue.
MUST include 2 of the following settings:
*A soccer field
*Gym
*Ice cream shop
*The hospital
*A court room
*An alley
Four of the following items MUST be included:
*Earphones
*Black thongs
*Rain
*A rat
*A veggie burger
*A flying demon
*Green goo
*Song: "Fools rush in."
*Movie: "Sleeping Beauty"
*A horror Book
*A giant
~~ All In A Night's Work ~~
As darkness settled across Sunnydale, the vampire stirred in bed, his senses coming alive as the moon called out to him through the thick black curtains covering the windows. It was time for the hunt.
Slowly he climbed from his bed, stretching his arms up above his head, letting out an instinctive yawn. *Too much time around humans.* he thought to himself.
He was pulled from his thoughts when he sensed someone in the pitch-black room. He stopped his movements and became utterly still, tuning into the darkness.
He could hear distinct breathing and the sound of a heartbeat drumming quickly against the creature's chest. He grinned slyly as he crept toward the sound and began to hunt the intruder. As he neared the being, its footsteps were heard as it scurried away from him, laughing lightly at him.
Spinning around quickly, he dashed after the creature, growling playfully as he slid his arms around its waist and picked it up, depositing the light figure onto the bed, smiling as he pinned its arms to its sides.
"What do you think you're doing in here?" he asked as the figure squirmed under his grasp. "Sneaking in here, waking me up...I was dreaming you know."
"Yeah, well, it's time for you to get up anyways," an annoyed female voice replied. She paused before dropping her attitude, her voice becoming quiet and sultry, as she remained motionless on the bed. "What were you dreaming about?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" he taunted, releasing his hold on her and straightening up.
She followed his lead and rose to her feet, lightly running her nails up and down his bare chest. "Oh, I think I do." she said. She snaked her arms around his neck and pulled his head down for a chaste kiss as his arms wrapped around her waist.
"Oh yeah, and how would you?" he asked, after they parted.
"You talk a lot in your sleep. More than you probably should. I mean, if Dawn had walked in here to wake you up and had heard the things you were saying about me, I'd--"
"You'd what?" he challenged.
"I'd do something evil and mean."
"Is that a promise?" he asked, grinning before kissing her gently.
Her arms slipped down from around his neck as she walked towards the bedroom door and opened it, her figure silhouetted from the light in the hall. She turned to glance back at him from the doorway. "I'll heat up some blood for you downstairs...I want to get patrolling over with as early as possible tonight."
"You got something planned, Slayer?"
Without answering, she closed the door as she left the room, leaving Spike in the darkness once more.
He showered quickly, wanting to know what Buffy was up to, and, wrapping a towel around his waist, returned to her bedroom to get dressed. He flicked on the lamp sitting on the nightstand, pulling on his usual black jeans, shirt, and duster. Using a dab of gel, he mussed his hair, leaving it a mass of wild curls and spikes instead of his usual slicked back look.
He descended the stairs as the phone rang, heading into the kitchen to see Buffy talking on the cordless. She pointed to the microwave where his mug of blood sat as she continued to talk to Giles, he supposed. He drank down the mug as she hung up the phone with a heavy sigh. "Well, tonight's plans are a no-go."
"What's up?" he asked. "A new creepy crawly to kill?"
Buffy nodded. "Only more creepy and less crawly. Giles said it flies," she said with a shudder. "You know how much I hate things with wings. Especially bats...I mean, mice rejects just weren't meant to fly."
"We'll get it...do you have a net or something?"
She shrugged in response. "We could check the basement," she suggested. "There wasn't ever much use for anything like that around here. Now chains on the other hand..."
************************************************************************
The pair stalked through the cemetery, one with a tennis racket, the other with a fishing net, as they searched for the creature said to haunt the place.
"Here, thingy, thingy!" Buffy chirped as she gripped her tennis racket tightly, her eyes darting around, searching the perimeter. Suddenly she felt something land lightly on her head and let out a yelp of terror as she dropped her racket and began shaking her head and batting her hair with her hands. "It's on me! It's in my hair! Get it out, Spike! Get it out!"
He jumped as she screamed, thrashing her arms around, and saw her assailant fall to the ground. Laughing as he picked it up, he stood with his arms crossed, letting out a bored sigh, waiting for her stop wailing.
"Buffy?" he called gently.
She continued her actions, feeling her hair until she was sure the demon was gone and looked up at him. "Is it dead? Did I kill it?" she asked in a small voice.
"Yeah, you killed it good, baby. It's just as dead as, well, me. Here's your horrible monster." he said, waving a small leaf in front of her face.
Buffy's face flushed red as she chuckled embarrassedly. "That was just practice."
"Practice, eh?"
"Yup, for if the real thing does attack me. And I must admit, I don't like your reaction time. What if that had been the demon? I could be dead right now."
"Right. I'll be sure to grab the big ugly winged thing *next* time it lands on your head."
Buffy rolled her eyes and combed through her hair with her fingers. "Yeah, you'd better, or--"
"Buffy, look out!" Spike shouted, pointing to the air above them. She let out another shriek of fright as she wrapped her arms around him, hiding her head in his chest until she realized he was laughing again.
Looking up where he was pointing, she saw another leaf fall from the tree. With an angry growl she pushed him away, knocking him to the ground and standing over him, a foot on either side of his waist. She leaned forward and pointed a finger at him. "You are so gonna pay for that."
He grinned mischievously and grabbed her hand, pulling her down so she was lying on his chest. "Another promise, eh Slayer? I hope you follow through with all these." he said before kissing her.
She broke the kiss and stood up, brushing off the knees of her pants as Spike got to his feet as well. Buffy scowled at him, placing her hands on her hips. "You know, you should respect me more. I'm your mortal enemy. The one thing in the world you should fear. I'm extremely dangerous with a toothpick."
"Buffy, now very slowly, look up there." he said in a serious tone, motioning with his eyes to something behind her.
"Yeah right, Spike, like I'm gonna fall for that again. What is it this time, a twig? Maybe I'll use it to stake you."
She turned around, standing frozen in shock as a dark green, four-legged creature with yellow glowing eyes, sharp fangs, and huge nearly-transparent wings covered with hundreds of thin, blue veins swooped down from a tree and flew around their heads, screeching loudly before taking off.
"What the hell was that?" Buffy squealed.
"Well, pet, I'm assuming that's our flying monkey." Spike replied, watching the creature as it flew off into the night.
"Why didn't you warn me?"
"I did! I said 'look up there'. What did you think that was? If you hadn't yelled your lungs out, we could've got him first off."
"Whatever. Let's just kill the thing and get back home." she said, picking up the tennis racket off the ground.
"And what are you planning back home, luv?" he asked with a sly grin.
"Nothing unless we find Peter Pan and make him think some not-so-happy thoughts."
"Well, he headed that way, so I'm thinking he went to find a new hideout." Spike said, grabbing the fishing net from its spot on the grass and heading toward the cemetery gates, practically dragging Buffy along.
"You're just hurrying so we can get home and be alone." she chided jokingly.
"Can you blame me?"
************************************************************************
"Okay, there it is." Spike whispered as they crouched behind a tree on the edge of Sunnydale High's soccer field.
"Where?" Buffy asked, peering over his shoulder. "If it attacks us again, I'm going postal."
She held up her tennis racket menacingly as Spike inched toward the goalpost on the edge of the field where it was perched, surveying the ground surrounding it.
As Spike crept further and further away from her, she let out a small squeak as the demon looked at her, and she grabbed the sleeve of his jacket.
"Spike, if you leave me here, we're never having sex again." she hissed.
He hesitated for a minute before shaking his head and shaking her off. "Don't worry, baby, you'll be fine. I'll handle it."
He crept up beneath the goalpost and was about to jump up to catch it in the fishing net, when it screeched loudly and flew into the tree Buffy was currently cowering under.
She ran out, flailing the tennis racket around her head as she grabbed Spike, hiding behind him. "Ew! Ew! EWWWW! Kill it!"
"Shhhh, the more fuss you make, the more warning it has to take off."
Buffy quickly stopped her squealing and scoffed loudly at herself. "I can do this. I'm a Slayer. I can beat the crap out of this thing, even if it's got its slimy, veiny wings all flapping around and stuff. I faced Adam, the big Mayor-snake, and thousands of other evil ugly things, hell, I've even faced you."
Spike rolled his eyes. "Wow, thanks, luv, you're so inspiring." he said sarcastically.
"Thank you. Now...go get it...please?"
With an aggravated sigh, Spike stalked towards the tree. "Stay here."
He began to scale the large tree, grabbing onto the lower branches and pulling himself up. If Buffy hadn't been so scared out of her wits, she'd be picturing his back and arm muscles flexing as he...
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard him yelling profane words at the creature, hearing it screech and flap its wings loudly in response. Buffy shuddered as she pictured its beating wings touching her boyfriend. He'd have to have a seriously cleansing shower before she'd let him touch her again.
Soon the screeching stopped, followed by a loud yell as Spike tumbled from the branch to the ground with a sickening crack. He growled in pain as his right leg broke in the fall, but he held the fishing net firm against the ground as not to let the demon free.
"Spike!" Buffy yelled, approaching him somewhat cautiously. The net looked pretty unstable against the creature's insistent struggling and flapping. "How do we kill it? Giles didn't say, and I didn't bring my ax or anything."
"It's just a Kreshalt demon. Killed with your standard slice and dice. Hell, even beating it to death will do the job," he said through clenched teeth. "But whatever you do, hurry up, will you? My leg's killing me."
She stepped towards the creature, whacking it with the tennis racket. It screamed in pain and spit some sort of green goo on her shirt.
"Ugh! Just what I needed to make my day complete: demon barf. And on my new shirt too!" she growled as she continued to beat the demon with the racket as Spike prevented the fishing net from flying off into the night.
Even as it lay there dead, Buffy persisted to deliver blows to the Kreshalt with loud thwacks. "Knock...my...vamp...out...of...the...tree...will...you?" she grumbled, bringing the racket down with each word.
"It's dead, luv. You killed it. And beating it to a deader death isn't gonna help."
Buffy finally stopped hitting the beast and dropped the racket, panting heavily as she collapsed next to Spike. "Are you okay, honey?" she asked, helping him sit up without further agitating his leg.
"Just peachy." he growled.
"How long do you think it'll take to heal?"
"Depends on how bad it is. Feels pretty damn bad."
"Is it just me or is it hot out here?" she asked.
"Slayer, now is really not the time..."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Believe me, if I wanted to start something here and now, you'd know it. It's...it's...the gunk on my shirt!" she exclaimed. "It's burning me!"
She quickly tore the shirt from her body, not bothering to undo the buttons since the shirt was pretty much ruined anyway. She dropped the blouse on the ground, wiping the goo that had seeped through her shirt off of her stomach with her hands, them cleaning them off on the dead dry grass.
"Okay, so now I'm here, half naked with a weird green rash and your leg is broken. How much more fun could this be?"
"That much more fun." he replied as drops of rain began to splatter their shoulders.
"We so need to get out of here." she whined, standing up and helping Spike to stand on his good leg. She began to lead him away from the field of the school when he stopped her with a scoff.
"If you think I'm letting you go anywhere public in that skimpy lacy thing, you've got to be kidding me." he said, shrugging off his duster and wrapping it around her shoulders. She slipped her arms through the sleeves and pulled it closed as she helped him hobble back towards the street.
"What do we do about the Kreshalt?" she asked, glancing back at its rain-soaked carcass.
"We'll come back tomorrow night. Nobody ever comes to the school anymore."
With each step, his leg throbbed in blinding pain as the rain pelted down harder and harder on them, drenching every molecule of their hair and clothes.
"What are we gonna do about your leg?"
"It'll be fine, I just need to get home and--BLOODY HELL!" he yelled as Buffy stumbled over a rock jutting out of the ground, sending them tumbling to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
"Oh, god, Spike, your leg. Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm doing great aside from the searing pain crippling me, which is not unlike being fried by the bloody chip in my skull." he growled.
"Relax, we'll get you home and get a splint on it or something." she said, helping him slowly and painfully to his feet to continue their way down the street.
************************************************************************
"Dammit, Slayer! Why do you have to live so bloody far away?"
"Because I've been secretly planning this for years and thought it would be funny to see you fall from a tree and break your leg, leaving me to drag your sorry ass across the city in the pouring rain while I'm half-dressed," she said mockingly. "I guess my secret's out."
Car after car passed the weary couple, each one showering them with the freezing water that slicked the road. Buffy's hair was matted to her head, water dripping down her face as she brushed several strands of blonde out of her eyes.
"Spike, I've had enough of this," she said with an aggravated sigh. "We're going over there." She pointed to a building across the street.
"Are you insane? We can't. I'm a vampire. No heartbeat, which equals no pulse, which equals suspicion."
"If we don't stop here, we won't make it home before sunrise and you will no longer be a vamp, not to mention a raging case of pneumonia for me."
As they crossed the street to the hospital and approached the front doors, the rain gradually slowed to a stop.
"Go figure." Buffy scoffed, looking up at the suddenly clear sky.
They made their way through the doors, soaked to the bone, looking like people that had just crawled from the bottom of a lake. Buffy shivered as she helped Spike through the lobby, letting out a loud sneeze that caught the attention of several nurses.
Taking in the couple's disheveled appearance, they rushed to their aid, bringing stretchers and blankets for them. Immediately the pair shared a look of utter panic before they were wheeled off in separate directions.
************************************************************************
"Giles comma Rupert," Spike said, annoyed. "I don't know the bloody number, can't you look in your files? Ask Buffy Summers, she'll know."
"And who is Buffy?"
"The girl I came in here with. Bring her in here. She's an expert at this."
"Another doctor is with her at the moment."
"She's not hurt, just cold and wet, nothing a warm blanket and a roaring fire can't fix. No, get that stethoscope away from me. My heart's fine, my lungs are fine," he took a deep, unneeded breath to prove it. "Now, can you please get her in here?"
The doctor sighed and put away her stethoscope. "I'll go check on her condition. But, William, you need to try and get some rest. You can get that cast off your leg faster if you take it easy and let it heal."
As she left the room and closed the door behind her, Spike patted the cast and smiled mockingly. "Gee, I can't wait to get all my friends to sign it."
Sighing, he picked up the phone beside his bed and dialed the Summers' residence. After a couple rings, Dawn picked up. "Hey, Nibblet, you wouldn't happen to have Giles' phone number lying around, would you?"
************************************************************************
"Rupert Giles is...his father." Buffy answered quickly.
"He said he didn't know the phone number to reach him at." the doctor replied, looking unconvinced.
"Well, Giles moves around a lot. He's not really the 'settle down' type...but can I please go in and see Sp--William? How's his leg?"
"We put a cast on it, he'll live...unless he has pneumonia or hypothermia; he won't let me get near him with a stethoscope."
"Well, you know those things," she chuckled nervously. "They're always so cold. And he has a childhood fear of...of...cold...objects. Besides, he's almost immune to sickness, it's odd really."
"I'm sure it is," the doctor replied with a smirk. "You must be immune too because you're quite lucky you're not sick from being out in that rain, especially in what you're wearing."
Buffy looked down at herself, wearing a black, lacy bra and jeans. Luckily, the green residue from the demon's acidic spit had washed off in the rain, leaving only a slightly red rash. "My blouse got a little ruined, hence the oversized jacket," she grinned sheepishly. She sighed and tilted her head pleadingly. "Can I please go see him? I really don't like leaving him alone for too long. He likes to get into mischief. Because of one incident, his hair color will never be the same."
"Well, the cast should take care of the mischief problem for a little while."
"Yeah," she said simply, knowing full well it wouldn't do a thing to stop him from doing what he damn well wanted. "So, pretty please, can I go see him?"
"We need the insurance information filled out at the reception desk."
Just then Giles knocked on the door and entered the room. "Giles! Here he is, he can give you details." Buffy said with a bright smile as she shrugged on Spike's jacket and jumped off the bed, quickly disappearing out the door.
A few seconds later, her head reappeared in the doorway wearing a sheepish grin.
"Room 126." the doctor replied with a smile.
"Thanks!" Buffy chirped as she scooted down the hall.
************************************************************************
"Slayer," Spike said as Buffy pulled him into a hug. "What's up with you?"
"I don't know, just missed you...I didn't want them to take you to the morgue or anything."
He propped himself up against the pillows and pulled Buffy closer to the bed, placing a soft kiss on her lips, his hands roaming inside his jacket.
"Spike, what are you--we so can't do this here."
He pulled back, a pack of cigarettes in one hand, a lighter in the other. "You can't do that here either."
"Well, I knew you wouldn't give them to me if I asked you," he said, opening the pack only to find it empty. "Bloody hell. Buffy, be a dear and buy me some smokes, will you?"
"I think not." she said, crossing her arms and looking away.
Spike rolled his eyes and sighed. "For crying out loud, Slayer, what now?"
"Is that all I'm good for? Buying your drugs?"
"You're good for a lot more than that, baby." he said, looking her up and down.
"Whatever." she sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Whatever!" he hissed.
"Fine." she said curtly, glaring at him
"Fine!" he growled, glaring back.
Suddenly he grabbed her hips and lifted her onto the bed, crushing his lips to hers, breaking apart only to lift his shirt over his head. Grabbing the lapels of his duster, he pulled her body against his, forgetting all about the pain in his leg.
************************************************************************
Giles pushed the door open to the room and immediately covered his eyes. "God, you two! This is a hospital, have some decency! You're supposed to be injured, not doing *that*!"
Buffy pulled Spike's duster tightly around her body and climbed down from the bed. "Don't worry, Giles, nothing happened--"
"That's a relief."
"I couldn't get his jeans off because of the cast."
Giles sighed and shook his head. "What am I going to do with you two?"
"You can start by buying me some new jeans. Stupid chit cut off the fabric to put the bloody cast on since I wouldn't let her take them off, and you sent us on the mission in the first place. So pay up, Ripper." Spike said, pulling on his shirt.
"Shut up, Spike."
"Can we go home now, Giles?" Buffy said. "Or do I have to remind you that hospitals give me the wiggins?"
"No, we can go. So, the demon, is it dead?"
"Yeah, we got it." the Slayer replied.
"You know, you should get into a professional tennis career. That backhand could take you places." Spike whispered to her as he grabbed his crutches.
************************************************************************
"These are so cool!" Dawn exclaimed as she walked about the living room with Spike's crutches.
"Glad I could be of service," Spike said with a smirk as he watched her amble around from his seat on the couch, his injured leg resting on the coffee table. He looked down at his Slayer sitting on the floor at his feet. "Oh no, you'd better stop that right now before I--"
"Before you what? Shake a finger at me? You can't do anything from where you're sitting...besides, I'm almost done," she said as she finished the touches to the drawing on his cast. "There! You want me to read it to you?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Nope. It says: 'Hurry up and get better. I need someone to practice my backhand with!' and there's a little picture of a Kreshalt demon right there, holding a little tennis racket."
Spike couldn't help but chuckle at the comment she'd written. "It took you four days to think of that?"
"No, I thought of that as soon as we left the hospital, I just needed you to be distracted for five minutes for me to draw it. Thanks, Dawn."
"Anytime, sis," she said, handing Spike back his crutches. "See you guys tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Dawnie!"
"Night, Bit!"
After the young brunette had made her way to the stairs, the Slayer looked at the vampire. "So? Wanna watch TV?"
Spike looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "You mean watch TV, or 'watch' TV?"
"Look, Spike, I know it's been a couple days since we--"
"Five and three-quarters." Spike reiterated.
"Right, but we have to give your leg a chance to heal without, uh, aggravation."
"I'm a vampire, I heal quickly."
"Dawn's upstairs."
Spike scoffed. "You know as well as I do that she listens to music when she sleeps."
"Yeah, a recent habit that began when you moved in here, and why do you think she started it??" she questioned.
"'Cause you're a screamer."
Buffy used her hand to muffle her laughter as a blush rose to her cheeks.
"Or maybe it's the noisy headboard...have you seen the wall behind it? It's full of dents."
"Okay, that's it. No 'watching' TV tonight. We're gonna watch something innocent and wholesome. And I mean actually watch it--no air quotes."
"Yeah, right, your attention span for 'innocent and wholesome' as about as long as mine is when it comes to Twenty Questions." he scoffed
"Fine, we'll just have to watch something I like." she said as she looked at the collection of movies on the shelf by the TV.
"The Sound of Music?"
"Too musical."
"Titanic?"
"Too long."
"Snow White?"
"Too dwarfy."
"Sleeping Beauty?"
"Too poofy."
"Okay, Sleeping Beauty it is."
"No way are you making me watch that. I'd sooner be dead." the vampire said.
"Spike, you are dead. And there's no way you're getting out of this."
"What I'd like to get out of, my dear Buffy, is this bloody cast and these uncomfortable sweatpants. Do you know how stupid these make me look?"
"Of course, honey, that's why I bought them for you." she said with a charming smile as she popped the tape into the VCR and pressed play.
Spike wrapped his arms around her as she sat down next to him in an exaggerated hug, pressing a noisy kiss to her temple. "Just you wait and see, before the theme music starts you'll be all over m--"
She quieted him with a chaste kiss. "Shush!"
As she began to fast-forward through the previews, he turned her head to press a kiss to her lips, his tongue teasing her lips, which she parted in response, dropping the remote to the floor. Bringing a hand to her neck and one around her back, he turned her to face him and pulled her onto his lap, the hand on her back slipping under her shirt, his fingers running idly along her spine.
The Slayer straddled him as they continued to kiss, breaking only momentarily for her need of oxygen as he undid the buttons on her sweater, sliding it down her shoulders and to the floor, leaving her in her white tank top. He broke away from her lips to trail wet kisses down her throat and along her collarbone.
"Bad, Spike!" Buffy scolded, pushing him back against the couch. "We're supposed to watch the movie. Your leg--"
"Is fine, now c'mere." he commanded, pulling her body down against his.
"This really isn't fair. You're not as comfy as you were pre-cast."
"Easily fixed, luv." he shrugged, and turned himself so that he was sitting with his back toward the armrest and his wounded leg resting on the floor. She wrapped her legs around his waist as she sat in his lap, locking her arms around his neck.
"Much better." she said, before descending her lips on his. His hands found the hem of her top, lifting the thin material over her head, throwing it on the coffee table in the middle of the room. She copied his actions, removing his black shirt, then pulling him close for another deep kiss, the silky fabric of her bra brushing against his chest.
She could feel his arousal through the light material of his pants and ground her hips against him, making him growl deeply as he unclasped her bra with skilled fingers and tossed it across the room.
Just then the front door opened and Giles came rushing in. "Buffy? Are you here? I've located a nest of vampires in a warehouse on the--" his words stopped short as he entered the living room, assuming someone was actually watching the movie playing on the TV.
Instead he found the Slayer in the arms of the vampire, clinging to him to hide her half nudity and at the same time trying to keep an innocent look on her face. Spike, however, had his head turned in the intruder's direction and was glaring daggers at the Watcher for interrupting them. Giles immediately turned around, while Buffy scrambled about the room for her scattered clothes, apologizing to the vampire in hushed tones as her Watcher began to lecture her.
"Oh for--don't you two have anything better to do? For example watch the movie that's playing? A cartoon, nonetheless! And do you even care that there's a 15-year-old girl upstairs? I say, Buffy, you should be more responsible--"
"Responsible how?" she asked, clasping her bra. "I could go eat a bunch of cursed candy and run around town stealing things, and having sex with my Slayer's mother if it would make me seem more responsible." she chided, making a face after her brain provided a mental picture to go with her words as she pulled on her tank top.
"You and Joyce, eh Ripper? Didn't think you had it in you." Spike said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, covering himself up with a blanket hanging off the back of the couch.
Giles began to sputter, angry and embarrassed that Buffy would bring that topic up yet again. "Shut up, Spike."
"I bet you didn't even call her or buy her flowers or anything, did you?" he taunted.
"Enough, Spike. Now's the time I repress that not-so-minor incident until I need to prove a point again or blackmail Giles later," she said, buttoning her sweater over her tank top and straightening her hair. "Okay, dressed now. So, you said something about a vamp nest?" She stood in the middle of the living room, smiling brightly as her Watcher turned to face her with a tired expression.
"Why couldn't I have just been a grocer?" he sighed to himself as he headed out the door, leaving the Slayer staring after him. She slowly turned to the very uncomfortable, very turned on vampire still sitting on the couch, looking appropriately ticked.
"Well, now that dad's gone, whatever shall we do?" she said, a mischievous smile spreading across her face.
Spike flashed her a smile to match her own. "Why don't we work on that backhand of yours?"
