A/N: My thanks to all that read this story, I wouldn't be finishing it without you. I'm sorry I haven't got around to thanking you before. But I am now. This part is a little confusing but it will get less confusing someday soon...maybe. *smile*
This is for FanFreak, because she made me smile knowing she printed this out. And for Kimberly for helping me with the last part. I hope she's still reading and enjoying.
And Rarachie and Chen, who wrote to me. Thank you both.
Chapter Nine
Time for killing things.
Yep.
Sure.
Buffy Summers was wandering around her second cemetery that night, feeling very much depressed.
And angry.
Very angry.
How DARE he.
"Bastard."
She'd expected so much more from him. More...begging, more...well more, let's put it
that way.
He said he loved her.
She loved him.
Had she told him this?
No, of course not.
" 'M not gonna give him that kind of power."
She kicked at a rock on the grass, not really paying attention to anything. Which meant she didn't feel him come up behind her.
His arms went around her waist, and she fell back against him. "Spike."
The body behind her tensed.
"No. Not Spike."
Buffy pulled away from Angel's arms and stared at him, her eyes wide.
"What the hell are you coming up and groping me for?"
"I was just..."
"No...answer me."
"I..."
She shook her head. "You honestly can't think...Angel..."
He looked at his feet and she sighed. "Angel I..."
He looked up and she saw the pain in his eyes. "Buffy I know you still love me. I just...you have to."
"Angel I...I think I have to tell you...I...I'm in love with..."
Before she could finish he cut her off with his mouth, pinning her arms down against her sides.
She was too surprised at first to break the contact but it only took a minute for her to pull away, pushing him away with all of her strength.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Buffy you don't love him."
She couldn't believe what was happening. "YES I DO!"
"NO you...you can't."
Her eyes were still hard when they looked at him and Angel had never seen her so angry before.
"I do. And he doesn't know that. He...Angel..."
Angel growled. "He doesn't deserve you."
"Well I KNOW... that!"
He sighed, anger showing in his shoulders. "He...he's not..."
"He's not YOU? Is that it?"
"Buffy...I..."
She stared at him, tears in her eyes. "I love him Angel. He doesn't know that...and you...you shouldn't know that...now you do."
He growled, pulling her towards him into another kiss. He practically shoved his tongue down her throat before she could push him away.
"Bastard...you...just...stay away from us."
"Us? This isn't real, Buffy...what you're feeling. You and me, we're real."
She slapped him across the face. "Stay away from me." she whispered coldly, walking away from him.
Someone called her house the minute she walked in, and she grabbed it before Dawn could. "Hello?"
"H'lo...have fun tonight, Slayer?"
She blinked, focusing on the words. "Spike?"
"How did it feel Buffy? To have his tongue down your throat? Did you miss it? Was it everything you knew it would be?"
He'd seen them.
"Spike...he...I..."
"I saw you. I...you didn't push him away and..."
"I DID! I did push him away he...he kept trying but...but I don't want him. I..."
"You what?"
She held the phone tighter in her fingers, trying to calm herself before saying something she'd regret.
He deserved to hear it from her, not from the phone.
"I...can I come over?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I won't be here."
She froze and Dawn walked into the kitchen, staring at her.
"Where...where will you be? I'll come there."
"Gone."
"Gone...gone where?"
He laughed. "As far away from you as I possibly could be, that's where."
"Spike I have to see you I have to tell you I..."
She heard the dial tone and slammed the phone down on the receiver.
"Fuck."
"He's leaving," she heard Dawn whisper.
"Yeah...I guess so."
"What are...are you going after him?"
Buffy looked up at her little sister. "No."
His car was parked in a back alley lot, where no one else would have been able to find it.
Good thing.
There wasn't much to bring except himself and some shit here and there, which he piled up in the backseat and could still see out the back window.
Maybe he'd go to Vegas.
It was always fun in Vegas.
Drunk people walking around, women sniffing at him everywhere he went.
Spike smiled, settling in the driver's seat of his DeSoto.
"Yeah...fun..."
He was just ready to close the door when an arm wrapped around his neck and threw him onto the pavement.
"I'm gonna kill you."
Angel stood staring down at him, a stake in his ready hand.
Not this again.
"Angel...well you're right on time."
He started to stand and was kicked back down.
"You're not even fit to exist, let alone love. I want you to say it, Spike. Say you don't deserve happiness and that you don't deserve her."
Spike pushed Angel's leg off his chest and stood without any trouble, dusting himself off. "No...and why are you here anyway? You have her. I don't. You win. I lose."
"What?"
"I saw you kissing her. I saw..."
Angel blinked at him, then remembered and smiled cruelly. "You saw?"
"Fuck you."
"You...saw."
"Do me a favor Angel. Leave me out of it from now on. I don't need this anymore."
"Fine...but I'll do Buffy one more big favor before I go."
Angel came at him fast, pushing him into the fence behind them.
He held the stake in front of Spike's face, both their eyes on it.
"Ready, boy?"
"You're gonna kill me now? Why?"
"Keep you off my girl, wouldn't it?"
Spike smiled. "Fine."
"Ready William?"
"As I'll ever be. Do it."
Angel stared at the stake in his hand, and then raised it over his head.
Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya sat around the table in the Magic Box, playing cards.
"Got any...aces?"
Tara smiled. "Go fish."
Xander had chosen the game.
It was twelve o'clock in the morning when Willow started coughing.
Tara put a reassuring hand on her back, rubbing circles affectionately.
"You okay?"
"I...*hack*...I..."
"What's wrong?"
Willow coughed one final time, and blood ran down her chin.
Anya sighed. "She's gonna get the table all stained. Honey, find some paper towels."
Xander stared at her. "She's sick, An. Will, what's..."
Suddenly she stopped talking and looked at the door.
"Someone's here."
"What?"
"Someone's..." she coughed again, reaching out to touch Tara's shoulder at the same time.
Tara looked at Xander. "Call Buffy."
"What? Why?"
"Tell her Spike's...just call her!"
"Spike's what?"
"NOW Xander!"
She got up and went to the front door, opening it slowly.
Spike lay still on the other side, his face a mess of cuts and bruises, a small piece of wood sticking out of his shoulder.
She touched him, feeling for a second.
"Spike?"
He opened his eyes, looking at the sky. Then he looked at her and sighed.
"Oh great, he brought me here?"
She stared at him oddly. "What?"
"He...the stupid sod was..."
He coughed, spitting out a tooth.
"You're...okay?"
"I'm fine...just..." he winced, standing.
She put a hand on him. "You...who did this?"
"Angel...he..."
His legs fell out from under him and he hit the pavement with a crack.
"Ow."
Willow came up behind her, her hand on Tara's back. "He's...what..."
Spike looked at her. "I'm still alive, witch. Sorry."
"What happened?"
He stood now, his hand reaching out and holding the door for support.
"Angel kicked the shit out of me..."
"Why?"
"Because I asked him to."
Willow couldn't resist smiling and Spike stared at her. "What?"
"You asked him to."
"Damn right I did."
"Yeah...right."
"I did...I...god, he put the stake in me? Shit...someone get it out."
Willow and Tara let him to the couch in the training room and he laid there to wait for Buffy. "You called her? Already?"
Willow's face was pale. "I...I knew you were there."
He smiled. "Really...well it looks like someone approves of me, then?"
She sighed. "I didn't say that...Spike..."
Tara put her hand on Willow's shoulder. "Later."
Both witches left him alone and Spike waited for his plan to work.
Angel walked back to the mansion, the muscles in his back aching from the fight his childe had put up.
Man, that was bad.
There was only so much he could do for Spike, when he disliked him so much.
They'd stood there staring at that stake for five minutes and Angel couldn't kill him.
He'd thrown it on the floor and told Spike he could have Buffy.
He approved.
Shit, he approved.
Spike let him beat him up anyway and wanted Angel to leave him on Buffy's doorstep.
"Would've been too easy." Angel smiled to himself, grabbing his coat off the dusty chair in the dining room and walking to where he'd kept his car.
Buffy sat in the driver's seat, tearstains on her face and her hands tight around the steering wheel.
Angel stared at her, his body tensing just watching the way she stared out the windshield.
"You didn't listen to me."
"Buffy...he..."
"Don't. Don't even try to make..."
She turned and looked at him, then stood up in the car.
Angel didn't even see her coming and wouldn't have fought back even if he had.
She didn't come.
Spike fell asleep on the couch at three in the morning and Tara covered him up entirely with a blanket.
He woke up to Willow singing foreign words.
His eyes opened and he saw she was punching the bag on the wall, her hands taped.
"What time is it?"
She stopped singing and looked at him. "It's almost noon."
"She..."
"She called."
He sighed, sitting up and stretching. "She CALLED."
Willow punched the bag hard and grunted. "She asked if you were okay. I said you were hurt but still alive...or...undead...or whatever...she said okay and hung up."
Spike stood up, staring at her. "Well...that's it then."
Willow stopped moving and looked at him. "You're leaving?"
"Why should I stay?"
"We need you. You're...important."
He smiled. "Since when do you appreciate me more than Buffy does?"
She shrugged. "I found something else to occupy my time."
She smiled, her eyes on something standing behind Spike. "Something much more exciting and much more...important." Tara finished for her.
Spike looked behind him and sighed. "I can't listen to the two of you anymore or I might puke."
Tara smiled at him. "Good morning."
"Is it?"
"Yes, it is. I left you something to eat down in the basement. Help yourself."
He smiled a little at her, patting her head as he walked out of the door and into the shop.
He slowly crept along the shadows to the basement door and went down the stairs.
"There are so much more important things to do then fight, Angel. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Buffy kicked your ass, huh?"
"I let her."
"Yeah...keep telling yourself that."
This is for FanFreak, because she made me smile knowing she printed this out. And for Kimberly for helping me with the last part. I hope she's still reading and enjoying.
And Rarachie and Chen, who wrote to me. Thank you both.
Chapter Nine
Time for killing things.
Yep.
Sure.
Buffy Summers was wandering around her second cemetery that night, feeling very much depressed.
And angry.
Very angry.
How DARE he.
"Bastard."
She'd expected so much more from him. More...begging, more...well more, let's put it
that way.
He said he loved her.
She loved him.
Had she told him this?
No, of course not.
" 'M not gonna give him that kind of power."
She kicked at a rock on the grass, not really paying attention to anything. Which meant she didn't feel him come up behind her.
His arms went around her waist, and she fell back against him. "Spike."
The body behind her tensed.
"No. Not Spike."
Buffy pulled away from Angel's arms and stared at him, her eyes wide.
"What the hell are you coming up and groping me for?"
"I was just..."
"No...answer me."
"I..."
She shook her head. "You honestly can't think...Angel..."
He looked at his feet and she sighed. "Angel I..."
He looked up and she saw the pain in his eyes. "Buffy I know you still love me. I just...you have to."
"Angel I...I think I have to tell you...I...I'm in love with..."
Before she could finish he cut her off with his mouth, pinning her arms down against her sides.
She was too surprised at first to break the contact but it only took a minute for her to pull away, pushing him away with all of her strength.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Buffy you don't love him."
She couldn't believe what was happening. "YES I DO!"
"NO you...you can't."
Her eyes were still hard when they looked at him and Angel had never seen her so angry before.
"I do. And he doesn't know that. He...Angel..."
Angel growled. "He doesn't deserve you."
"Well I KNOW... that!"
He sighed, anger showing in his shoulders. "He...he's not..."
"He's not YOU? Is that it?"
"Buffy...I..."
She stared at him, tears in her eyes. "I love him Angel. He doesn't know that...and you...you shouldn't know that...now you do."
He growled, pulling her towards him into another kiss. He practically shoved his tongue down her throat before she could push him away.
"Bastard...you...just...stay away from us."
"Us? This isn't real, Buffy...what you're feeling. You and me, we're real."
She slapped him across the face. "Stay away from me." she whispered coldly, walking away from him.
Someone called her house the minute she walked in, and she grabbed it before Dawn could. "Hello?"
"H'lo...have fun tonight, Slayer?"
She blinked, focusing on the words. "Spike?"
"How did it feel Buffy? To have his tongue down your throat? Did you miss it? Was it everything you knew it would be?"
He'd seen them.
"Spike...he...I..."
"I saw you. I...you didn't push him away and..."
"I DID! I did push him away he...he kept trying but...but I don't want him. I..."
"You what?"
She held the phone tighter in her fingers, trying to calm herself before saying something she'd regret.
He deserved to hear it from her, not from the phone.
"I...can I come over?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I won't be here."
She froze and Dawn walked into the kitchen, staring at her.
"Where...where will you be? I'll come there."
"Gone."
"Gone...gone where?"
He laughed. "As far away from you as I possibly could be, that's where."
"Spike I have to see you I have to tell you I..."
She heard the dial tone and slammed the phone down on the receiver.
"Fuck."
"He's leaving," she heard Dawn whisper.
"Yeah...I guess so."
"What are...are you going after him?"
Buffy looked up at her little sister. "No."
His car was parked in a back alley lot, where no one else would have been able to find it.
Good thing.
There wasn't much to bring except himself and some shit here and there, which he piled up in the backseat and could still see out the back window.
Maybe he'd go to Vegas.
It was always fun in Vegas.
Drunk people walking around, women sniffing at him everywhere he went.
Spike smiled, settling in the driver's seat of his DeSoto.
"Yeah...fun..."
He was just ready to close the door when an arm wrapped around his neck and threw him onto the pavement.
"I'm gonna kill you."
Angel stood staring down at him, a stake in his ready hand.
Not this again.
"Angel...well you're right on time."
He started to stand and was kicked back down.
"You're not even fit to exist, let alone love. I want you to say it, Spike. Say you don't deserve happiness and that you don't deserve her."
Spike pushed Angel's leg off his chest and stood without any trouble, dusting himself off. "No...and why are you here anyway? You have her. I don't. You win. I lose."
"What?"
"I saw you kissing her. I saw..."
Angel blinked at him, then remembered and smiled cruelly. "You saw?"
"Fuck you."
"You...saw."
"Do me a favor Angel. Leave me out of it from now on. I don't need this anymore."
"Fine...but I'll do Buffy one more big favor before I go."
Angel came at him fast, pushing him into the fence behind them.
He held the stake in front of Spike's face, both their eyes on it.
"Ready, boy?"
"You're gonna kill me now? Why?"
"Keep you off my girl, wouldn't it?"
Spike smiled. "Fine."
"Ready William?"
"As I'll ever be. Do it."
Angel stared at the stake in his hand, and then raised it over his head.
Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya sat around the table in the Magic Box, playing cards.
"Got any...aces?"
Tara smiled. "Go fish."
Xander had chosen the game.
It was twelve o'clock in the morning when Willow started coughing.
Tara put a reassuring hand on her back, rubbing circles affectionately.
"You okay?"
"I...*hack*...I..."
"What's wrong?"
Willow coughed one final time, and blood ran down her chin.
Anya sighed. "She's gonna get the table all stained. Honey, find some paper towels."
Xander stared at her. "She's sick, An. Will, what's..."
Suddenly she stopped talking and looked at the door.
"Someone's here."
"What?"
"Someone's..." she coughed again, reaching out to touch Tara's shoulder at the same time.
Tara looked at Xander. "Call Buffy."
"What? Why?"
"Tell her Spike's...just call her!"
"Spike's what?"
"NOW Xander!"
She got up and went to the front door, opening it slowly.
Spike lay still on the other side, his face a mess of cuts and bruises, a small piece of wood sticking out of his shoulder.
She touched him, feeling for a second.
"Spike?"
He opened his eyes, looking at the sky. Then he looked at her and sighed.
"Oh great, he brought me here?"
She stared at him oddly. "What?"
"He...the stupid sod was..."
He coughed, spitting out a tooth.
"You're...okay?"
"I'm fine...just..." he winced, standing.
She put a hand on him. "You...who did this?"
"Angel...he..."
His legs fell out from under him and he hit the pavement with a crack.
"Ow."
Willow came up behind her, her hand on Tara's back. "He's...what..."
Spike looked at her. "I'm still alive, witch. Sorry."
"What happened?"
He stood now, his hand reaching out and holding the door for support.
"Angel kicked the shit out of me..."
"Why?"
"Because I asked him to."
Willow couldn't resist smiling and Spike stared at her. "What?"
"You asked him to."
"Damn right I did."
"Yeah...right."
"I did...I...god, he put the stake in me? Shit...someone get it out."
Willow and Tara let him to the couch in the training room and he laid there to wait for Buffy. "You called her? Already?"
Willow's face was pale. "I...I knew you were there."
He smiled. "Really...well it looks like someone approves of me, then?"
She sighed. "I didn't say that...Spike..."
Tara put her hand on Willow's shoulder. "Later."
Both witches left him alone and Spike waited for his plan to work.
Angel walked back to the mansion, the muscles in his back aching from the fight his childe had put up.
Man, that was bad.
There was only so much he could do for Spike, when he disliked him so much.
They'd stood there staring at that stake for five minutes and Angel couldn't kill him.
He'd thrown it on the floor and told Spike he could have Buffy.
He approved.
Shit, he approved.
Spike let him beat him up anyway and wanted Angel to leave him on Buffy's doorstep.
"Would've been too easy." Angel smiled to himself, grabbing his coat off the dusty chair in the dining room and walking to where he'd kept his car.
Buffy sat in the driver's seat, tearstains on her face and her hands tight around the steering wheel.
Angel stared at her, his body tensing just watching the way she stared out the windshield.
"You didn't listen to me."
"Buffy...he..."
"Don't. Don't even try to make..."
She turned and looked at him, then stood up in the car.
Angel didn't even see her coming and wouldn't have fought back even if he had.
She didn't come.
Spike fell asleep on the couch at three in the morning and Tara covered him up entirely with a blanket.
He woke up to Willow singing foreign words.
His eyes opened and he saw she was punching the bag on the wall, her hands taped.
"What time is it?"
She stopped singing and looked at him. "It's almost noon."
"She..."
"She called."
He sighed, sitting up and stretching. "She CALLED."
Willow punched the bag hard and grunted. "She asked if you were okay. I said you were hurt but still alive...or...undead...or whatever...she said okay and hung up."
Spike stood up, staring at her. "Well...that's it then."
Willow stopped moving and looked at him. "You're leaving?"
"Why should I stay?"
"We need you. You're...important."
He smiled. "Since when do you appreciate me more than Buffy does?"
She shrugged. "I found something else to occupy my time."
She smiled, her eyes on something standing behind Spike. "Something much more exciting and much more...important." Tara finished for her.
Spike looked behind him and sighed. "I can't listen to the two of you anymore or I might puke."
Tara smiled at him. "Good morning."
"Is it?"
"Yes, it is. I left you something to eat down in the basement. Help yourself."
He smiled a little at her, patting her head as he walked out of the door and into the shop.
He slowly crept along the shadows to the basement door and went down the stairs.
"There are so much more important things to do then fight, Angel. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Buffy kicked your ass, huh?"
"I let her."
"Yeah...keep telling yourself that."