In the Name of Love
By Tales of Spike
Spoilers: Story started just prior to As You Were and runs through to the end of Hells Bells. From there on the story goes AU, so Normal Again, Entropy etc. haven't happened and won't.
Disclaimer:
The Bronze, Spike sits at a table on which there rests a large family of empty beer bottles. He is drinking from a slightly fuller one. Buffy enters and moves over to the table.
Spike: Slayer.
Buffy: Bloodsucker. What's with the mini-brewery?
Spike: Felt like a drink… That's all.
Buffy: Yeah, right. And you're the new spokesperson for Coppertone. What gives?
Spike: Witches did a trial run for sending Faith through. Don't think we can go ahead.
Buffy: Can't go ahead. Why?
Spike: Wiccas did the spell. Had a kitty all ready to go through. When the portal formed we couldn't see where it went. There was just a big flashing message. Magical version of a Times Square billboard.
Buffy: Advertising what?
Spike: Advertising Spike buggers it up again.
Buffy: And this is news?
Spike: Yeah, real funny. "Any attempts at intrusion in the life of Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or any of the other owners of the TV series such as UPN, Mutant Enemy, Fox etc. may be deemed "actor fiction". As such this could result in the deletion of any stories in which such attempts are made." Glinda wouldn't even let us try putting the kitten through. No way we can try with Faith.
(Spike hold up his now empty bottle, waving it until he has attracted the barmaid's attention. Okay, he already had the barmaid's attention. She's female and het – so it goes without saying. She loads up a tray with another six bottles and brings it over. Spike flashes her a smile and watches Buffy's face cloud over. He pushes one of the bottles over to Buffy and gives her a dirty grin, tongue curled behind his upper teeth.)
Spike: You goin' to get all hot 'n' bothered ev'ry time I smile at some bint, pet? Makes me go all warm inside when you're possessive.
Buffy: Ha, like I'd want to possess you, and the only way you'd go all warm inside would be if someone stuck a red-hot poker up your-
Spike: Uh-huh, Slayer. Language. Besides I've got a whole drawer full of toys I bought for us to play with before we have to resort to pokers.
Buffy: (Grabs Spike by the lapels of his duster, pulling him toward her.) Spike, you're a pig. (Kisses him slow and deep, making sure the barmaid gets to see.) … but at least for just now, till that Joss guy comes back and screws things up, you're my pig.
Feedback: I'd really like feedback, I get all insecure without it and start to think no one's reading this crap I produce, so bring it on at Sandy.Osborne@blueyonder.co.uk.
Chapter 22
"Hey, don't look at me. I haven't done anything… lately."
"Sure," said Dawn. "Telling the woman who loves you that she's evil and untrustworthy pales into insignificance when you've already dumped her at the altar. I guess it's really nothing."
"I didn't say that. I said Spike was evil and untrustworthy."
Tara spoke quietly. "You said demons were evil and untrustworthy. I know you didn't mean to upset Anya, but you have." She moved over to the training room and checked to see if Anya was there. After a brief look round she shook her head. Buffy headed down to check out the basement.
"Anya's not a demon. She's an ex-demon. She's human now. She knows I didn't mean her."
"'Cos insulting who she was, is so much better than insulting who she is, and given your recent past, how does she know you don't mean it? In her shoes, I'd probably be wondering what I'd done to deserve it, so when you say, "demons can't be anything but evil and untrustworthy," then you can't blame her if she thinks that's part of why you ran out on her." Dawn leapt to the attack again. "If you had actually paid some attention when we asked you to lay off Spike then maybe you wouldn't have hurt Anya."
Xander rose from his seat. "I'm sick and tired of all you women not being able to see past a smile and some muscles. The guy is evil and he can spend every red cent he has on flowers," Xander picked up the vase from the counter and threw it against the wall, "and it won't change it, it just means he wants something."
"Since you ask, Xander, no, she isn't downstairs. If she left without locking up it looks like you really did it. I'm glad you're concerned and wanting to say sorry and make it up to her, instead of putting the blame on someone who isn't even here."
"Maybe we should call it a night," suggested Tara.
"Yeah, I think that would be for the best. Dawn, how 'bout you give me a hand tidying up."
Buffy watched the others leave. Willow and Tara whispered together before Tara left and Willow came over to take Xander's hand, leading him away. He hesitated when he drew level with Buffy but then seemed to think better of it and kept going.
Buffy cleaned up the spilled water and pieces of broken glass while Dawn found an old coffee jar and set about rebuilding the arrangement. Before they left Buffy checked around the shop, making sure everything was as it should be and then locking up.
"What I don't get is how none of us saw or heard her leave. It's like she just vanished into thin air."
* * * * *
"It's a bit late to be paying house calls, isn't it, blondie?"
"Well, I might still catch her on her rounds."
"I'm guessing the introductions can wait till tomorrow."
"Yeah. Get some sleep. I'll get them to call over after school's out. See ya."
Spike closed the motel room door, and jogged over to the hire car parked outside, humming as he went.
"Every night I'm there, I'm always there, She knows I'm there and heaven knows, bam, I hope she goes, bam, bam, I find it hard to realise that love was in her eyes. It's dying now, bam, She knows I'm crying now, bam, bam, and every night I'm there, I break my heart to please, Eloise." Spike was still singing under his breath as he patrolled the cemetery where he had lived until recently.
When he saw a young vampire running toward him, he didn't pause, if anything he sang louder, providing a soundtrack for the scuffle.
"Eloise. Ba ba-ba-ba ba ba ba baa, You know I'm on my knees, Ba ba-ba-ba ba ba ba baa, I said please. You're all I want so hear my prayer."
Even so, until his spinning kick landed squarely in the fledgling's solar plexus, doubling him over, he seemed oblivious to the elder vampire's presence. He was just straightening up after the first blow when Spike pulled a stake from his coat pocket and drove it into his heart. He headed in the direction his opponent had come from, his gait halfway between a Tigger-bounce and a strut.
As he crested a slight rise he saw her, and as always the sight of her took away all thoughts of anything else. She was down to two opponents and Spike knew that his help would be superfluous, so he stood his ground and watched.
"Couldn't you have told her what her butt looks like in spandex? Shame on you letting her come out like that."
The male vamp just shrugged and Spike flinched as she landed a punch on his nose. He knew all too well what it felt like to be on the receiving end of that. The girl moved in to attack Buffy from behind an received an elbow in her face for her troubles, closely followed by a back kick that shattered her kneecap and had her rolling on the ground.
Her boyfriend, a beefy type who topped Buffy by more than a foot, swung his fist round in an arc towards Buffy's head. She dropped below it, sweeping his feet out from under him with her left leg. As he fell over she launched forward and dusted him, regaining her feet immediately and facing off against the girl. She had made it back into a standing position but it was obvious she wasn't going to present much of a threat. One of her legs was dangling useless and she made a desperate attempt to hop out of Buffy's way. Buffy didn't even bother chasing her. She just hefted her stake and measured the throw. The point struck dead centre in her back and she exploded in a shower of dust.
Moving out of the shadows Spike clapped his hands together slowly but loudly. "Nice work, l-."
Buffy caught him off guard and he barely managed to block the first of a string of punches and kicks that she used to punctuate the conversation.
"Why. Didn't. You. Phone?"
"Giles was supposed to tell you. My phone's bust."
"Call. Box?"
"Thought you might find it a pleasant surprise." Spike swept Buffy's feet and held onto her as she fell so that they ended up rolling on the ground together. The fight became a wrestling match, each trying to pin the other to the ground.
"Me. Slayer. Surprises. Bad."
Spike smirked. "In that case…" He threw Buffy off to one side and flipped into a standing position. "… maybe I should leave before you die of shock." He began to back away from her, his eyes alight with laughter.
"Don't think you can get away that easy." Buffy executed the same flipping movement as Spike and launched herself at the vampire. Spike braced the lower half of his body against the nearest grave-marker and grabbed Buffy's right wrist as she impacted against him, preventing her punch from hitting its mark and then pulling her off balance. She found herself partially supported by his chest with her feet too far back to balance properly and unable to push herself upright because of Spike's grip on her arm.
"Ask nice, love, and I'll see you home." He let go of her wrist, but before she could react he grabbed her rear with both hands lifting her up till her eyes were level with his.
For two full seconds hazel eyes stared into sapphire blue. Then his emotions mirrored in the inky depths overpowered her and she wrapped herself around him like she would never let go. Her arms wrapped around his neck, fingers straying to tease the hairs at the base of his skull. Her legs swung around his waist and hooked over the top of the headstone he leant against. She shifted forward to allow the marker to take some of her weight, grinding his hips between her and the granite block.
She whispered in his ear before nibbling gently on his lobe. "Take me home." Her voice was husky and Spike was conscious of the waves of heat emanating from her core. The words seemed more euphemistic than literal and Spike knew he had to take control of the situation. He drew back until he could look into her face once more and stroked her hair back from her brow. In an effort to regain control of his own body he brought to mind the image of Quentin Travers in his bathtub. The more he concentrated, the more the discomfort caused by his tight jeans was eased.
"Shh, pet. Shh. It's not time." He kissed her softly, open-mouthed but still almost chaste. "We've got the rest of our lives." He pictured rolls of fat turned strawberry pick in the steaming water and a torso sporting enough hair to make a medieval penitent's shirt.
"Spike? I need you."
Spike was forced to think about the sight that he'd rapidly covered with a towel. Even so his voice was thick with emotion when he spoke.
"Slayer, we can't just make all the same mistakes all over again."
"Not. A. Mistake. Bloody. Revelation." This time she dropped kisses on his cheeks, brow and finally mouth.
"Right, pet. That's why you're always gone before the stains have time to dry on the sheets." He grabbed a handful of her hair using it to gently but forcefully pull her face away from his. He spoke softly. "I'm not going to let you treat me like a whore. We both deserve better than that." She was shocked at the ice-cold anger in his eyes and disentangled herself from him.
She would have backed away from him, but he kept his hand tangled in her hair, forcing her to look into his eyes as the hostility in them melted away. He kissed her gently on the lips once more and this time she responded in kind. His hands moved to rest gently on her hips and she relaxed in his arms.
"I missed you, love."
"I missed you too… pest."
His chin came to rest on top of her head and for minutes or hours they stood, happy just to be together.
"Your roots are showing."
"Yeah? Needs cutting too, but I thought getting home was more important."
"It is, it was, whatever."
"Yeah, couldn't last any longer without my duster."
She landed a playful blow against his chest before taking his hand and leading him in the direction of the cemetery's entrance. "We'd better go fetch it then."
When they reached the car park Spike pulled Buffy toward his hire car, a large convertible.
"Another new car? Or have you been getting up to old tricks?"
"Hired it at the airport if you must know."
"And what happened to the last one. You know the one with my name on all the papers. I hope you didn't leave it in a no parking zone, 'cos if ya did you can pay the fines."
"Cute. I forged your signature. It's real easy. You should learn joined up writing, you know. It changed hands before I left for England. I've got a receipt somewhere if you need it for your taxes or whatever."
"I don't know. Do I?"
"Like I ever filled in a tax return."
Spike rummaged around in his jacket pockets till he came up with an envelope with Buffy's name on it. It looked like it had been in his jacket a while.
"Is this your way of making me take some of your ill-gotten gains?"
"Might be." Spike smirked, vaulting over the door into the driver's seat. "Coming, pet?"
Buffy swung her legs over the side of the car sliding into the passenger seat. "Home, Jeeves."
Spike shook his head. "Jeeves was the butler not the chauffeur, pet."
Buffy stuck out her tongue at him. "Could be worse. Could have called you Giles."
"That's just nasty, love."
The car pulled up outside the slayer's house. Spike reached across and stroked Buffy's cheek with his thumb, before leaning in for a kiss.
"Home, safe and sound, like I promised."
"You… want to come in?"
"Not a good idea. We had one narrow escape tonight. Let's not push our luck."
"You think anything's going to happen if I don't want it to?"
"You think you can convince me that you don't want it?"
"Porch? Hot chocolate? Coat? Dawn if she's awake?"
"Yes to all of the above."
He jumped out of the car and while Buffy was still checking to make sure she had all her things, he slid across the car bonnet landing on his feet to open her door for her, his hand extended towards her.
Buffy snorted her amusement, but nevertheless took the proffered hand. "Showin' your age, old timer." They walked up the front path fingers still loosely entwined. Buffy pulled her hand free to search for her keys.
"Meet you out back." She whispered so as not to wake the house's inhabitants. Before she could turn away, Spike pulled her to him and kissed her fiercely.
"Hurry back," he said turning the stunned slayer toward the door and patting her on the behind.
"Hey… Stop changing the rules, Billy."
Spike, lit a cigarette, and sat on the front porch thinking how lucky he was. He was waiting now for the point where he said or did the wrong thing and she'd slap him in the face and walk off immersed in a cloud of self-righteousness. Maybe he should have quit while he was ahead. That was when he heard the string of thumps that could only mean a teenager was running down the stairs. Five seconds later he could hear the locks on the back door being undone and Dawn threw herself into his arms. He couldn't remember standing up to greet her, but he held her tight in his arms and spun her round till she was laughing and breathless.
"You are such a doof, you know."
"Only round Summers women. It's some sort of genetic reaction."
He put her down and looked at her properly for the first time. She was wearing his coat over the top of a very skimpy nightdress. Both of them looked pretty damn good on her. Spike groaned inwardly at the thought of trying to fend of hordes of teenage hormone bombs that were interested in his little girl.
"You grew again."
"That's what you get for staying away so long."
"Wasn't exactly by choice, Bit. You think I could willingly stay away from you two that long."
"How's it feel to be chipless, then?"
"Not much for small talk, are you? Really good but really bad and more than a bit scary. I nearly lost it in England. Ripper had to talk some sense into me but I'm dealing."
Dawn walked toward the back door.
"Keep me company while I make the drinks?"
"Guess I might as well." Spike took up a position leaning against the doorjamb, so that technically he wasn't smoking in the house. "What's takin' Big Sis so long? You got the coat. You're makin' the cocoa. What's she doin'?"
"You'll see."
"How's the soul thing goin'?"
"Nowhere fast… We had a meeting last night. We'd just told everybody and were trying to work out what different people might be able to do and Buffy went to talk to Anya and she was gone. It looks like Xander upset her. He was being a bit of an ass. But after that things just sort of went kerplooey.
Willow went off with Xander when he left and we haven't seen either of them since. Buffy pulled a double shift at work, so with Willow gone I had to stay at Janice's till she got off, so no-one knows if Anya's okay now or not, because we only realised after she was gone last night that none of us know where she's staying."
"Speaking of staying…" Spike flicked a matchbook onto the counter by the stove. "I'm in room six. I want to see you after school tomorrow, preferably with Big Sis if she's not at work. There's someone I want you to meet."
"Hey, just because you helped rescue me from my last date doesn't mean you get to set me up."
"Would I dare be that presumptious? Besides I've no idea how old he is but I suspect it's too old for you. Just show up. You might get a pleasant surprise, but don't bring Janice. I really don't think he's her type."
"Well at least I know it's not Angel. You should know what age he is."
"You think I'd bring Angel anywhere near this house now that you're the same age Buffy was when he started stalkin' her, you can think again."
"Yeah, 'cos he'd never resist my wily charms. Buffy's the pretty one no-one even notices me."
"Shows what you know. By the time you've finished growin' you'll have her beat."
"Are you allowed to say that, what with being her boyfriend?"
"Em, probably not. What say you don't tell her? I don't suppose saying you're both gorgeous is going to get me off, even if it is true?"
"No, but I could settle for a hefty bribe."
"How about presents? I might have brought you back some stuff from England."
"Tell me more."
"Find out tomorrow."
Dawn poured out the hot chocolate, adding marshmallows to two of the three mugs. She was just rinsing the pan under the tap, when Buffy came charging downstairs having changed into a clean pair of jeans and a little vest top with spaghetti straps.
"You!" She pointed at Spike.
"What the hell am I meant to have done now, Slayer?"
"You gave that car away."
"Yeah. So… I figured it might buy me some leeway on the flowers."
"You gave away a three year old car."
"So. As long as no-ones rigged a bomb to it, I've got the De Soto. It's got more style than anything that came off a production line three years ago. It's a classic."
"Why do you do this to me? Every time I think I'm beginning to get you sussed you do something completely unexpected.
And I'll tell you something else. You didn't drop it off yourself, did you?"
"No, Peaches and Giles jnr. took it, but I don't see how the hell you could have known that?
What's your problem? It's a real place, or at least if it isn't, it's Soul Boy that's trying it on, not me. This was supposed to put you in a good mood, not get you all aggravated."
"Yeah, you already got me all aggravated tonight and then refused to do anything about it." Buffy sighed. "I think giving the car to the shelter is pretty cool. I'm just sort of mad at you for something you did four years ago."
"Bloody hell. How do you get from me giving away the car, to try and make you happy and to save you from having to pass any more of my filthy lucre through your account to you getting mad about something I did four years ago?"
"Because I know the girl who runs East Hills Teens Centre and she sent me a thank you note, and the first time I met her you were taking a chunk out of her neck."
"Well I obviously didn't make too good a job of it then."
"Only because I was going to stake Drusilla."
"Okay, so four years ago, I was a total git and I would have eaten your mate, but you stopped me. It's not news."
"And you turned my fifth grade crush."
"I keep my end when I make a deal. He was the one who sold you to me. Buffy this isn't news and judging by the fact that I never saw him again I suspect you corrected your earlier misjudgement and staked the wanker before he was even out of his grave.
I figured that I should have quit earlier tonight, that sooner or later I'd do something to piss you off. I just never figured it would be something I did four years ago. I think I should go now."
"Uh-huhhhh," objected Dawn. "You haven't touched your hot chocolate and I can't have it now it's got monkey brains in it. Besides Buffy's just being bitchy because she's scared and doesn't want to admit you did good. Right, Buffy?"
Spike hesitated as he turned, looking across at Buffy. Was Dawn right, or were there just too many things in their combined past for them to get over?
Buffy reached out, grasping Spike's sleeve and pulling him back toward the house.
"Sort of. I mean, as a global thing I've kind of made peace with who you were, and I know you're different now, but when something like this brings it home that you did the things you did to people I know. It makes it real, and I want to yell at you and kick your ass till you're sorry.
It doesn't mean I feel any different about you like you are now." She smiled and let her eyes show a tenderness he never thought he'd see. "It just means… that Miss Smug is probably right and subconsciously I'd rather start a fight than admit that you doing stuff, like giving away a car, which I still can't get over, is liable to make me go all mushy."
"Yeah, you could at least have waited and given it to me when I'm old enough," Dawn butted in as she pushed a mug into each of their hands. "You do realise that these presents you've got me had better be good now I know you're giving cars away to people you've only just bit the once." She picked up her own cup and took a seat on the porch steps.
Spike raised his eyes to the heavens and asked himself 'Why me?'
Buffy took his right hand in her left and led him to the steps so that they sat either side of Dawn holding hands behind her back.
Sitting there on the porch drinking hot chocolate with the two young women he loved so much, Spike thought to himself, "it's good to be home…"
End of chapter 22