DC: lyrics by Adams/Vallance
New Horizons: Chapter Twenty-Seven
By Annie
05-14-2002
"I think I've found something," Spike said, straightening his back with his eyes still on the page he had been reading.
"What?" Sarah asked and they all waited for his reply.
"It says something about offerings.near water, I think," he said. "My Italian is more than rusty but."
"You speak Italian?" Buffy interrupted, not able to hide the surprised skepticism in her voice.
He looked up at her, cocking an eyebrow at her question before nodding.
"I was a man of many talents," he answered quietly and she felt how her cheeks started to burn at those words before she looked away. "As I was saying," he now continued, turning around to Sarah, "it says something about water and fire but I can't make out the bloody context of it."
"Let me see," she said, getting up and walking over to him.
She kneeled beside him and took the book from him.
They had been researching since eight o'clock and now it was close to one, and all this time Buffy had noticed the change in the way Sarah and Spike were towards each other. They seemed, if possible, even more relaxed than before, acting like he had never been away, behaving so much like brother and sister that it was hard to believe they weren't actually related through blood. She couldn't help but feel that sting of pain inside when she thought of the reason for it all; he was staying.
She couldn't believe it. It still hadn't completely sunk in. The idea of it, of him not being in Sunnydale, was too incredible. She couldn't imagine how it would be like without him.
"I think I know what you mean, it says that fire will be born on the water," Sarah said, nodding. "Oh Lord, look at this!"
He bent over, looking at whatever row of letters her finger was pointing to and his eyes grew a little.
"'The birth of fire will bring onto the world a ruler to rule all'," Spike read out loud. "Now. why don't I really like the sound of that?"
Buffy got to her feet, bringing her notepad over to the desk where Jacob was sitting.
"Let's see what we have so far," she said. "Time is running out."
Sarah and Spike got to their feet as well and they joined her and she began:
"I wrote all the sacrifices down, and remember I told you yesterday that it said how they are going to perform the ceremony and that might lead to WHY they had sacrifices, or offerings, as they describe it?" The others nodded and she continued: "Well, it says that the eight 'helpers' will stand in a ring around the ninth, the 'evoker', who will be floating." she looked up at Spike. "It only says 'floating', but that might have something to do with the water thingy," she said and he nodded, she looked down at her notes again, drawing a small breath before continuing: "Ahem, anyway, so he's supposed to be floating and he has the ninth 'offering', which is the human sacrifice, with him. What I don't get is WHY he has an urn, I mean, we saw the urns, none of them were big enough to hold a human body," she now said thoughtfully.
"Well, I guess that when we find this place and stop this thing then we'll find out," Spike said and she looked up at him again, nodding slightly.
"Sounds like a plan," she said with a small smile and he returned it.
Sarah looked at the two; she just couldn't make up her mind about Buffy. Sometimes she looked at William with such unhidden longing, but never when he could see it and Sarah couldn't help but wonder if the Slayer even realized she was doing it.
"So," Jacob said and everybody turned to him. "We know that we have a human life in our hands now, and that this ceremony is supposed to take place on water. But England isn't exactly a desert, and so I believe we have some more researching to do."
Sarah nodded.
"Yes," she said, glancing at Buffy. "I think we do."
Soon enough they were all back in their places.
Buffy tried hard to concentrate, they DID have a human life in their hands and she couldn't afford to not be thorough. But every time Spike turned a page, the silent rattle of it made her glance up at him. She couldn't get the idea of not seeing him do that ever again.not that she saw him doing it that often anyway, but still, the thought felt alien and she couldn't grip it long enough for it to seem real.
Spike not in Sunnydale? It just didn't fit. Spike not outside her window ever again, Spike not sitting in his stupid crypt watching something even more stupid on his TV ever again, Spike not fighting at her side ever again? It sounded ridiculous.
'I'm staying. I'm not coming back with you.'
The words started ringing in her ears, louder and louder.
She swallowed hard, trying to get them to stop, but his voice wouldn't leave her alone and finally she gave up and got to her feet hastily.
"I'll be right back," she said as cheery as she possibly could before walking out of the drawing room and taking the stairs to her room two steps at a time.
She closed the door with a loud bang which made her jump, shaking her head to herself before turning from it and walking up to the window, sitting down in the chair by it she felt the hole that he had put in her last night start to regain its power again.
He can't stay! she thought suddenly. He CAN'T do that to Dawn.
Just then the door opened.
"Slayer," he said as he came in.
"Spike, I need to talk to you," she said as she got off the chair and he stopped, waiting. "Spike, you can't stay here," she said, sounding so sure that she was right that he furrowed his brow.
"Why?" he asked, trying to beat down the small hope starting to grow in his chest.
"Because of Dawn, Spike," she said and the hope died, giving way for the guilt he felt when he thought of the Lil'Bit. "You can't just leave her like that," Buffy continued, a hint of pleading now in her voice. "Please.Spike, she loves you. She needs you with her. You're.a sense of security, one of the few ones she's got. If she looses you." she trailed off.
He smiled vaguely, tilting his head a little before saying:
"You're so bloody afraid that she's gonna blame you for me staying that you actually take to groveling, aren't you, Slayer?"
Buffy stared at him, feeling her eyes grow a little when she realized that he was right. But.that wasn't the ONLY reason she needed him with her home!
"I need you, too," she said and he cocked an eyebrow at how easily she suddenly threw those words out. "As.as a partner, Spike. I can't do my job without you and you know that. You told me so yourself once, remember?"
He smiled again.
"Yeah, I think I remember. It was the night after we tore down that building, wasn't it?"
She looked down, nodding a little, feeling her security slip and realizing that she was loosing the argument. Loosing him.
"Slayer, you did more than fine before I came bloody crashing into your life," he now said silently and she couldn't bring herself to look at him. "You'll do even better once I'm out of it."
"But, Spike."
"Don't start it," he interrupted. "There's nothing." he paused at that, looking at her face, at the sudden disbelief rising in her eyes, and then he collected himself. "There's nothing more to say, is there, Slayer?" he asked and he saw something else in her expression, but he couldn't place it. "Dawn will be all right, trust me," he now added. "Your sis is a lot tougher than you think and. she won't blame you. She'll know that you could MAKE me stay here as much as I could." he trailed off and Buffy felt the air leave her lungs at the sight of the sudden pain in his eyes.
She tried to get rid of the tears threatening to rise, but she couldn't and they slowly distorted her sight. She blinked.
"But.Spike," she said again and now the pain was swept away by that incredible warmth as he looked at her.
"Someday, no doubt, you'll find someone who can. make you feel," he said softly and her tears spilled over as she looked into his eyes. "Make you feel more than you even thought was possible. And then you'll know that nothing will ever be the same again... And you'll be happy. Finally."
He reached out a hand and gently caught one of the tears, shaking his head a little.
"Why are you crying?" he asked and she shook her head. "You don't know?" he asked and smiled suddenly.
She found herself smiling back and then she said the only thing that came to mind:
"Thank you."
He felt his heart slowly rip and the pain was excruciating, and then he nodded.
"You're welcome."
***
"William? Buffy?" Sarah's voice was heard calling from downstairs.
Buffy started swiping away her tears as Spike answered Sarah.
"Coming!" then he turned to Buffy. "Sorry, I didn't come up here to chat," he said and she smiled a little at that. "Sarah found something that is.well, it's bloody disturbing, is what it is," he said as they walked up to the door.
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Well, seems she got one of the words wrong when she was interpreting the prophecy and now our time frame really is shot to hell," he answered as they walked down the stairs.
"Oh, perfect," she grumbled as they entered the drawing room.
"Buffy, I'm so sorry!" Sarah exclaimed. "I can't understand how I could have made such a huge mistake. At least it verifies what Will said before about tomorrow and everything but."
"Sarah, please!" Buffy interrupted her ramblings.
"Yes, of course, I'm sorry. Well, I read 'olat' instead of 'otal' and. well, 'olat' is the charmenian name for month, a-and 'otal' is the word for.week."
Buffy's eyes widened a little.
"So, in other words, tomorrow IS really tomorrow?" Buffy asked and Sarah nodded slowly. "Okay." she said, trying to think of some really clever way to save the day. or the next, really.
"We should probably see if we can find anything out from making some short visits with some mutual friends we have with lord Hart," Jacob finally spoke up.
Buffy turned to him, nodding.
"Yes, we need to find out anything about WHERE he can be planning to perform the ceremony," Buffy nodded. "Does it say anything about WHEN tomorrow it's supposed to take place?"
Sarah shook her head.
"Not that I've seen, but. Well, I'm not as advanced in the language as I would have liked," she mumbled and Buffy reached out and grabbed her hand.
"Don't worry," she said. "Everything will be fine, it's not your fault, Sarah. It's amazing that we've gotten this far and that's all thanks to you."
Sarah looked at her, gratefully.
"Thank you, Buffy," she said and Buffy smiled reassuringly.
"Anytime," she answered and Sarah returned her smile brightly.
"Why can't we just go knock the bloody door down and stop the lord TODAY?" Spike suddenly grumbled and Buffy turned to him.
"Because he's still human," she said with a meaning look and that made him smile a little.
"Maybe I could take care of that.?" he said, and she stared at him sharply.
"I honestly think your kind of care is the LAST thing he needs," she said warningly and he shrugged.
"Okay, Slayer. Just a thought."
"Yeah, I'm sure," she said sarcastically and now he grinned at her.
"You really don't trust me, do you?" he asked angelically and she stared at him for a moment before simply turning to Sarah.
"Where do we start?" she asked and Spike huffed behind her back.
Buffy ignored him as she tried to ignore the fact of her almost forgetting that he wasn't toothless anymore a few nights back, and that it seemed to want to keep on slipping out of her thoughts for some reason.
Jacob had gotten up from his chair and now he said:
"Well, where ever we decide to go William will have to stay here. I can't understand what the good Lord must have against us, letting his sun shine down on us so unusually often simply because we need it gone."
Spike laughed.
"That's okay, Jacob," he said. "I think we need to do some more digging anyway."
Jacob nodded to that and then excused himself to go put on his coat and hat.
"Buffy, you come with me," Sarah said. "I know I'll need a sensible head to ask sensible questions, my lady friends are all so talkative, it's hard to get a word in edgewise."
Buffy smiled at her, understanding, and then turned to Spike.
After the discussion they had had in her room. it felt so strange to look at him now, somehow.
"I'll see you later," she said, meeting his gaze.
"Yeah, you will," he said and she smiled a little before following Sarah upstairs.
***
An hour later Buffy was in a carriage on her way home from one of the calls they had made. They had learned that the lord actually owned a house by a lake and that it wasn't situated far from his great estate where he had held the ball.
Buffy couldn't believe how someone would buy two houses so close to one another but then they learned that he had only recently bought it, and this made the pieces fit. He was more than surely going to use the lake for the ritual.
Now she was headed back to the house because she needed to look over the maps Jacob kept in his library. Sarah had gone on to make four more calls and would be back within two hours, she had promised. Jacob had said that he would be as quick as he could and that, if he found something useful out, he would send a message to the house.
Buffy hurried up the front steps and opened the door.
She went inside and pealed off her gloves and proceeded to take off her hat. She walked into the library, wanting to tell Spike of their discovery, but he wasn't there.
"Hmh," she said to herself, turning around and walking to the stairs leading up to the second floor.
As she stopped on the top step memories of the fight they had had the second night they were there played in her mind.
'You don't know what love is.'
'Don't EVER say that to my face again.'
She closed her eyes, willing them away. And then she heard a soft strumming. She furrowed her brow a little at the sound. It sounded just like a.
She walked quietly up to the doorway of the drawing room and peeked around the frame. And there was her proof. It WAS a guitar.
Her eyes widened when she stared at him, he was humming something to himself.
She couldn't hold back a smile at the sight. Then he stopped and seemed to think for a moment before he took a few trying cords and then started to gently work the strings with his fingers.
The butterflies started in her stomach when he softly began to sing.
I'd like to see ya, thought I'd let you know.
I wanna be with you, every day.
See, I've got a feeling, that's beginning to grow.
And there's only one thing I can say.
I'm ready
To love you
I'm ready
To hold you
I'm ready
To love you
I'm ready
To hold you
As ready as I'm gonna be.
His voice seemed to fill her head, fill her entire being with a longing for him to reach out to her, pull her close, hold her. Make her feel safe and strong and. She closed her eyes again but his voice kept sounding.
You left me a long note when you left me here
Told me that love was hard to find
But, baby, it's easy, and I'll make it clear
There's only one thing on my mind
I'm ready
To love you
I'm ready
To hold you
I'm ready
To love you
I'm ready
To hold you
As ready as I'm gonna be.
She tried to block it out, the longing for him to touch her, the need to feel his lips and his hands and his body. She tried to block it out because it was wrong. She hated when that thought wavered in her head, it made it so much.
"Slayer."
She let hear a cry in surprise and jumped back, her eyes opening wide as she stared into his.
"S-Spike," she said. "Eh, hi."
He looked at her, clearly holding back a smile at the sight of her expression and she sighed.
"I just."
".eaves dropped, yes, I noticed," he filled in for her and she let her eyebrows rise in indignation.
"It wasn't like I MEANT to," she defended and he rolled his eyes at her as he stepped out of the doorframe. "W-Well, I didn't," she said, crossing her arms over her chest in a defiant gesture that only made the smile more evident. "So, was that little performance for me?" she added, a little teasingly but also curious.
Now he let the smile grace his lips as he tilted his head a little.
"Why did you come back, if it wasn't to check up on me?" he asked and she narrowed her eyes.
"Avoiding the subject, are we?" she asked and he nodded, seriously.
She smiled at that.
"We need to go check out some maps," she said and he raised his eyebrows.
"You figure anything out?"
"Maybe," she answered as she turned and walked back to the stairs. "Let's go see."
He followed and soon they were in the library, Spike remembering where the maps were offered to get them but Buffy only smiled as she went up to the place Sarah had told her they were kept.
"No thanks," she said and he smiled a little back.
"See," he then said as she got some of the maps out and brought them over to the desk, where he was waiting. "You'll do more than fine without me."
She almost paused at those words, looking up at him. Then she shook her head.
"Getting some pieces of paper wasn't exactly what I meant," she pointed out and he shrugged. "Okay, let's see," she continued, grabbing one of the rolled up maps and spreading it out. "I think that.ouch!"
She jerked her hand back and looked at her index finger.
"What?" Spike asked and she was suddenly painfully aware of how close he was standing.
She swallowed, shaking her head a little.
"Nothing.paper-cut," she then said in a low voice.
He moved a little, facing her, and then his hand slid around her wrist, his fingers up in her palm and his thumb grabbing a light hold of her hurt one. She felt how unsteady her breath was getting as she raised her gaze from her finger, a small drop of blood slowly growing on it, and looked into his eyes.
He held her gaze as he bent down and put his lips around the tip of her finger. She could feel his tongue lightly glide over the small wound and she felt like her whole body was about to collapse. Then he gently pulled his mouth away and straightened his back.
Her eyes, he noticed, were growing larger by the second and they were glazy, her heart was beating hard in her chest and he could smell the arousal all around her.
He smiled a little, tackling what her response did to him with difficulty.
"All better," he grumbled and she swallowed hard again, her head moving in an almost unnoticeable nod, as her eyes didn't leave his for a second.
She couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't breathe. All she felt was the lingering sensation of his mouth against her skin and the still present one of his hand holding hers.
God, she wanted him so much it was almost scary, how he could DO this, make her feel like this.
Then his free hand suddenly encircled her waist and pulled her close, she drew a breath in surprise as she felt his body against hers, her eyes still in his she looked at him; the familiar hunger in his gaze reflecting her own emotions.
Yes, her mind whispered.
"I'm BACK and you won't believe what I found out from Mrs. Wilkins, who, by the way, has the most charming little tea set you EVER saw."
They pulled away from each other, staring at one another as Sarah entered the room.
She stopped, looking at the two, and then she shook her head a little.
"I'll leave you two alone," she said, turning around.
"No!" they both exclaimed at the same time and Sarah turned back to them.
Spike smiled a little and Buffy looked more than embarrassed.
"What did you find out?" Buffy asked and Sarah hesitated a moment before looking at Spike, who nodded, still slightly smiling.
"Let's sit," Sarah said.
New Horizons: Chapter Twenty-Seven
By Annie
05-14-2002
"I think I've found something," Spike said, straightening his back with his eyes still on the page he had been reading.
"What?" Sarah asked and they all waited for his reply.
"It says something about offerings.near water, I think," he said. "My Italian is more than rusty but."
"You speak Italian?" Buffy interrupted, not able to hide the surprised skepticism in her voice.
He looked up at her, cocking an eyebrow at her question before nodding.
"I was a man of many talents," he answered quietly and she felt how her cheeks started to burn at those words before she looked away. "As I was saying," he now continued, turning around to Sarah, "it says something about water and fire but I can't make out the bloody context of it."
"Let me see," she said, getting up and walking over to him.
She kneeled beside him and took the book from him.
They had been researching since eight o'clock and now it was close to one, and all this time Buffy had noticed the change in the way Sarah and Spike were towards each other. They seemed, if possible, even more relaxed than before, acting like he had never been away, behaving so much like brother and sister that it was hard to believe they weren't actually related through blood. She couldn't help but feel that sting of pain inside when she thought of the reason for it all; he was staying.
She couldn't believe it. It still hadn't completely sunk in. The idea of it, of him not being in Sunnydale, was too incredible. She couldn't imagine how it would be like without him.
"I think I know what you mean, it says that fire will be born on the water," Sarah said, nodding. "Oh Lord, look at this!"
He bent over, looking at whatever row of letters her finger was pointing to and his eyes grew a little.
"'The birth of fire will bring onto the world a ruler to rule all'," Spike read out loud. "Now. why don't I really like the sound of that?"
Buffy got to her feet, bringing her notepad over to the desk where Jacob was sitting.
"Let's see what we have so far," she said. "Time is running out."
Sarah and Spike got to their feet as well and they joined her and she began:
"I wrote all the sacrifices down, and remember I told you yesterday that it said how they are going to perform the ceremony and that might lead to WHY they had sacrifices, or offerings, as they describe it?" The others nodded and she continued: "Well, it says that the eight 'helpers' will stand in a ring around the ninth, the 'evoker', who will be floating." she looked up at Spike. "It only says 'floating', but that might have something to do with the water thingy," she said and he nodded, she looked down at her notes again, drawing a small breath before continuing: "Ahem, anyway, so he's supposed to be floating and he has the ninth 'offering', which is the human sacrifice, with him. What I don't get is WHY he has an urn, I mean, we saw the urns, none of them were big enough to hold a human body," she now said thoughtfully.
"Well, I guess that when we find this place and stop this thing then we'll find out," Spike said and she looked up at him again, nodding slightly.
"Sounds like a plan," she said with a small smile and he returned it.
Sarah looked at the two; she just couldn't make up her mind about Buffy. Sometimes she looked at William with such unhidden longing, but never when he could see it and Sarah couldn't help but wonder if the Slayer even realized she was doing it.
"So," Jacob said and everybody turned to him. "We know that we have a human life in our hands now, and that this ceremony is supposed to take place on water. But England isn't exactly a desert, and so I believe we have some more researching to do."
Sarah nodded.
"Yes," she said, glancing at Buffy. "I think we do."
Soon enough they were all back in their places.
Buffy tried hard to concentrate, they DID have a human life in their hands and she couldn't afford to not be thorough. But every time Spike turned a page, the silent rattle of it made her glance up at him. She couldn't get the idea of not seeing him do that ever again.not that she saw him doing it that often anyway, but still, the thought felt alien and she couldn't grip it long enough for it to seem real.
Spike not in Sunnydale? It just didn't fit. Spike not outside her window ever again, Spike not sitting in his stupid crypt watching something even more stupid on his TV ever again, Spike not fighting at her side ever again? It sounded ridiculous.
'I'm staying. I'm not coming back with you.'
The words started ringing in her ears, louder and louder.
She swallowed hard, trying to get them to stop, but his voice wouldn't leave her alone and finally she gave up and got to her feet hastily.
"I'll be right back," she said as cheery as she possibly could before walking out of the drawing room and taking the stairs to her room two steps at a time.
She closed the door with a loud bang which made her jump, shaking her head to herself before turning from it and walking up to the window, sitting down in the chair by it she felt the hole that he had put in her last night start to regain its power again.
He can't stay! she thought suddenly. He CAN'T do that to Dawn.
Just then the door opened.
"Slayer," he said as he came in.
"Spike, I need to talk to you," she said as she got off the chair and he stopped, waiting. "Spike, you can't stay here," she said, sounding so sure that she was right that he furrowed his brow.
"Why?" he asked, trying to beat down the small hope starting to grow in his chest.
"Because of Dawn, Spike," she said and the hope died, giving way for the guilt he felt when he thought of the Lil'Bit. "You can't just leave her like that," Buffy continued, a hint of pleading now in her voice. "Please.Spike, she loves you. She needs you with her. You're.a sense of security, one of the few ones she's got. If she looses you." she trailed off.
He smiled vaguely, tilting his head a little before saying:
"You're so bloody afraid that she's gonna blame you for me staying that you actually take to groveling, aren't you, Slayer?"
Buffy stared at him, feeling her eyes grow a little when she realized that he was right. But.that wasn't the ONLY reason she needed him with her home!
"I need you, too," she said and he cocked an eyebrow at how easily she suddenly threw those words out. "As.as a partner, Spike. I can't do my job without you and you know that. You told me so yourself once, remember?"
He smiled again.
"Yeah, I think I remember. It was the night after we tore down that building, wasn't it?"
She looked down, nodding a little, feeling her security slip and realizing that she was loosing the argument. Loosing him.
"Slayer, you did more than fine before I came bloody crashing into your life," he now said silently and she couldn't bring herself to look at him. "You'll do even better once I'm out of it."
"But, Spike."
"Don't start it," he interrupted. "There's nothing." he paused at that, looking at her face, at the sudden disbelief rising in her eyes, and then he collected himself. "There's nothing more to say, is there, Slayer?" he asked and he saw something else in her expression, but he couldn't place it. "Dawn will be all right, trust me," he now added. "Your sis is a lot tougher than you think and. she won't blame you. She'll know that you could MAKE me stay here as much as I could." he trailed off and Buffy felt the air leave her lungs at the sight of the sudden pain in his eyes.
She tried to get rid of the tears threatening to rise, but she couldn't and they slowly distorted her sight. She blinked.
"But.Spike," she said again and now the pain was swept away by that incredible warmth as he looked at her.
"Someday, no doubt, you'll find someone who can. make you feel," he said softly and her tears spilled over as she looked into his eyes. "Make you feel more than you even thought was possible. And then you'll know that nothing will ever be the same again... And you'll be happy. Finally."
He reached out a hand and gently caught one of the tears, shaking his head a little.
"Why are you crying?" he asked and she shook her head. "You don't know?" he asked and smiled suddenly.
She found herself smiling back and then she said the only thing that came to mind:
"Thank you."
He felt his heart slowly rip and the pain was excruciating, and then he nodded.
"You're welcome."
***
"William? Buffy?" Sarah's voice was heard calling from downstairs.
Buffy started swiping away her tears as Spike answered Sarah.
"Coming!" then he turned to Buffy. "Sorry, I didn't come up here to chat," he said and she smiled a little at that. "Sarah found something that is.well, it's bloody disturbing, is what it is," he said as they walked up to the door.
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Well, seems she got one of the words wrong when she was interpreting the prophecy and now our time frame really is shot to hell," he answered as they walked down the stairs.
"Oh, perfect," she grumbled as they entered the drawing room.
"Buffy, I'm so sorry!" Sarah exclaimed. "I can't understand how I could have made such a huge mistake. At least it verifies what Will said before about tomorrow and everything but."
"Sarah, please!" Buffy interrupted her ramblings.
"Yes, of course, I'm sorry. Well, I read 'olat' instead of 'otal' and. well, 'olat' is the charmenian name for month, a-and 'otal' is the word for.week."
Buffy's eyes widened a little.
"So, in other words, tomorrow IS really tomorrow?" Buffy asked and Sarah nodded slowly. "Okay." she said, trying to think of some really clever way to save the day. or the next, really.
"We should probably see if we can find anything out from making some short visits with some mutual friends we have with lord Hart," Jacob finally spoke up.
Buffy turned to him, nodding.
"Yes, we need to find out anything about WHERE he can be planning to perform the ceremony," Buffy nodded. "Does it say anything about WHEN tomorrow it's supposed to take place?"
Sarah shook her head.
"Not that I've seen, but. Well, I'm not as advanced in the language as I would have liked," she mumbled and Buffy reached out and grabbed her hand.
"Don't worry," she said. "Everything will be fine, it's not your fault, Sarah. It's amazing that we've gotten this far and that's all thanks to you."
Sarah looked at her, gratefully.
"Thank you, Buffy," she said and Buffy smiled reassuringly.
"Anytime," she answered and Sarah returned her smile brightly.
"Why can't we just go knock the bloody door down and stop the lord TODAY?" Spike suddenly grumbled and Buffy turned to him.
"Because he's still human," she said with a meaning look and that made him smile a little.
"Maybe I could take care of that.?" he said, and she stared at him sharply.
"I honestly think your kind of care is the LAST thing he needs," she said warningly and he shrugged.
"Okay, Slayer. Just a thought."
"Yeah, I'm sure," she said sarcastically and now he grinned at her.
"You really don't trust me, do you?" he asked angelically and she stared at him for a moment before simply turning to Sarah.
"Where do we start?" she asked and Spike huffed behind her back.
Buffy ignored him as she tried to ignore the fact of her almost forgetting that he wasn't toothless anymore a few nights back, and that it seemed to want to keep on slipping out of her thoughts for some reason.
Jacob had gotten up from his chair and now he said:
"Well, where ever we decide to go William will have to stay here. I can't understand what the good Lord must have against us, letting his sun shine down on us so unusually often simply because we need it gone."
Spike laughed.
"That's okay, Jacob," he said. "I think we need to do some more digging anyway."
Jacob nodded to that and then excused himself to go put on his coat and hat.
"Buffy, you come with me," Sarah said. "I know I'll need a sensible head to ask sensible questions, my lady friends are all so talkative, it's hard to get a word in edgewise."
Buffy smiled at her, understanding, and then turned to Spike.
After the discussion they had had in her room. it felt so strange to look at him now, somehow.
"I'll see you later," she said, meeting his gaze.
"Yeah, you will," he said and she smiled a little before following Sarah upstairs.
***
An hour later Buffy was in a carriage on her way home from one of the calls they had made. They had learned that the lord actually owned a house by a lake and that it wasn't situated far from his great estate where he had held the ball.
Buffy couldn't believe how someone would buy two houses so close to one another but then they learned that he had only recently bought it, and this made the pieces fit. He was more than surely going to use the lake for the ritual.
Now she was headed back to the house because she needed to look over the maps Jacob kept in his library. Sarah had gone on to make four more calls and would be back within two hours, she had promised. Jacob had said that he would be as quick as he could and that, if he found something useful out, he would send a message to the house.
Buffy hurried up the front steps and opened the door.
She went inside and pealed off her gloves and proceeded to take off her hat. She walked into the library, wanting to tell Spike of their discovery, but he wasn't there.
"Hmh," she said to herself, turning around and walking to the stairs leading up to the second floor.
As she stopped on the top step memories of the fight they had had the second night they were there played in her mind.
'You don't know what love is.'
'Don't EVER say that to my face again.'
She closed her eyes, willing them away. And then she heard a soft strumming. She furrowed her brow a little at the sound. It sounded just like a.
She walked quietly up to the doorway of the drawing room and peeked around the frame. And there was her proof. It WAS a guitar.
Her eyes widened when she stared at him, he was humming something to himself.
She couldn't hold back a smile at the sight. Then he stopped and seemed to think for a moment before he took a few trying cords and then started to gently work the strings with his fingers.
The butterflies started in her stomach when he softly began to sing.
I'd like to see ya, thought I'd let you know.
I wanna be with you, every day.
See, I've got a feeling, that's beginning to grow.
And there's only one thing I can say.
I'm ready
To love you
I'm ready
To hold you
I'm ready
To love you
I'm ready
To hold you
As ready as I'm gonna be.
His voice seemed to fill her head, fill her entire being with a longing for him to reach out to her, pull her close, hold her. Make her feel safe and strong and. She closed her eyes again but his voice kept sounding.
You left me a long note when you left me here
Told me that love was hard to find
But, baby, it's easy, and I'll make it clear
There's only one thing on my mind
I'm ready
To love you
I'm ready
To hold you
I'm ready
To love you
I'm ready
To hold you
As ready as I'm gonna be.
She tried to block it out, the longing for him to touch her, the need to feel his lips and his hands and his body. She tried to block it out because it was wrong. She hated when that thought wavered in her head, it made it so much.
"Slayer."
She let hear a cry in surprise and jumped back, her eyes opening wide as she stared into his.
"S-Spike," she said. "Eh, hi."
He looked at her, clearly holding back a smile at the sight of her expression and she sighed.
"I just."
".eaves dropped, yes, I noticed," he filled in for her and she let her eyebrows rise in indignation.
"It wasn't like I MEANT to," she defended and he rolled his eyes at her as he stepped out of the doorframe. "W-Well, I didn't," she said, crossing her arms over her chest in a defiant gesture that only made the smile more evident. "So, was that little performance for me?" she added, a little teasingly but also curious.
Now he let the smile grace his lips as he tilted his head a little.
"Why did you come back, if it wasn't to check up on me?" he asked and she narrowed her eyes.
"Avoiding the subject, are we?" she asked and he nodded, seriously.
She smiled at that.
"We need to go check out some maps," she said and he raised his eyebrows.
"You figure anything out?"
"Maybe," she answered as she turned and walked back to the stairs. "Let's go see."
He followed and soon they were in the library, Spike remembering where the maps were offered to get them but Buffy only smiled as she went up to the place Sarah had told her they were kept.
"No thanks," she said and he smiled a little back.
"See," he then said as she got some of the maps out and brought them over to the desk, where he was waiting. "You'll do more than fine without me."
She almost paused at those words, looking up at him. Then she shook her head.
"Getting some pieces of paper wasn't exactly what I meant," she pointed out and he shrugged. "Okay, let's see," she continued, grabbing one of the rolled up maps and spreading it out. "I think that.ouch!"
She jerked her hand back and looked at her index finger.
"What?" Spike asked and she was suddenly painfully aware of how close he was standing.
She swallowed, shaking her head a little.
"Nothing.paper-cut," she then said in a low voice.
He moved a little, facing her, and then his hand slid around her wrist, his fingers up in her palm and his thumb grabbing a light hold of her hurt one. She felt how unsteady her breath was getting as she raised her gaze from her finger, a small drop of blood slowly growing on it, and looked into his eyes.
He held her gaze as he bent down and put his lips around the tip of her finger. She could feel his tongue lightly glide over the small wound and she felt like her whole body was about to collapse. Then he gently pulled his mouth away and straightened his back.
Her eyes, he noticed, were growing larger by the second and they were glazy, her heart was beating hard in her chest and he could smell the arousal all around her.
He smiled a little, tackling what her response did to him with difficulty.
"All better," he grumbled and she swallowed hard again, her head moving in an almost unnoticeable nod, as her eyes didn't leave his for a second.
She couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't breathe. All she felt was the lingering sensation of his mouth against her skin and the still present one of his hand holding hers.
God, she wanted him so much it was almost scary, how he could DO this, make her feel like this.
Then his free hand suddenly encircled her waist and pulled her close, she drew a breath in surprise as she felt his body against hers, her eyes still in his she looked at him; the familiar hunger in his gaze reflecting her own emotions.
Yes, her mind whispered.
"I'm BACK and you won't believe what I found out from Mrs. Wilkins, who, by the way, has the most charming little tea set you EVER saw."
They pulled away from each other, staring at one another as Sarah entered the room.
She stopped, looking at the two, and then she shook her head a little.
"I'll leave you two alone," she said, turning around.
"No!" they both exclaimed at the same time and Sarah turned back to them.
Spike smiled a little and Buffy looked more than embarrassed.
"What did you find out?" Buffy asked and Sarah hesitated a moment before looking at Spike, who nodded, still slightly smiling.
"Let's sit," Sarah said.