TITLE: " Garden of Eden "
AUTHOR: LilHairyEyeball
FEEDBACK: Gimme gimme. Just be gentle.
SUMMARY: Alternate Season Four fic, stemming from Something Blue onwards.
SPOILERS: Up through Season 4
RATING: Giving it an R rating, in case I get frisky. Which I tend to do.
DISCLAIMER: Nobody buys me good presents, so I steal other peoples

---


"This place gives me the Wiggins, and not just in the everyday Sunnydale sense of the word," said Xander, as he wandered around the Crawford mansion main room.

Willow simply rolled her eyes, and took the supplies to the kitchen area. Who knew vampires would even have a kitchen area. Huh. Things you never think about during every day research.

"And another thing? Not a lot of what I'd call good vibes going on in here. Or memories. I had to rescue Giles from this room," noted Xander with a point. "He'd been tortured."

He held on to that last word, as if it would explain the mystery of life to anyone who was listening, but all he got was a strangled cry from Buffy.

"Yes Xander, he was tortured. And Spike was crippled, and I killed Angel, so I'm thinking I'm aware of the bad vibes. Okay? None of it matters. It's safe, it's sun proof, and the Initiative will have no idea about our connection to it. Unless you want to camp out in the school remains? Use some mayor meat as a sleeping bag perhaps?" said Buffy, expectantly. When Xander had the good grace to look sheepishly at the floor, Buffy simply shook her head, and returned to the task of making fire.

"I gather that Spike should be reaching your mother, shortly. Once he returns with her, we can formulate some sort of plan," mused Giles, who had mysteriously left himself out of the designated chores.

"That's if she agrees to go with him, G-man. Spike might have a little trouble luring Joyce out, don't you think?"

Giles snorted a response, letting Willow expound on the details.

"Xander, he has hot chocolate and chats with her once a week. He does that flirty, you're so special thing to her. She'll be here, trust me. Mrs. Summers isn't an idiot, and if Spike arrives screaming "Danger!" than she'll move."

Xander looked to Buffy for clarification, but all he saw was her nodding her head in agreement, while re-arranging wood.

---

"Bloody hell, woman! Do you need me to pack up the kitchen sink as well? I believe my exact words were pack "light," not pack as much as possible" hollered Spike, from the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh Spike, don't worry so much. If I remember everything now, I won't worry later. And if I worry, Buffy worries, and if Buffy worries…"

"Yeah yea yeah! The world as we know it will end. Or at least mine will" snaked Spike, before shaking his had and making a beeline for the television. Well, if he was going to be waiting, he could at least catch up on some telly time.

"Oh," said Joyce as she made her way down the stairs, and peeked through the front window, "that's strange."

"What is?" asked Spike, before joining her in the curtain twitching.

"That sedan, parked across the street? It was there when I went upstairs, but it doesn't look like any body's gotten out of it yet."

If Spike had any, the color would have drained from his face. Grabbing the overnight bag, he started to usher Joyce to the back door.

"Okay, playtime is over. We need to shift it, and sharpish. Those could be military boys over there. We need to get you to Buffy. Now."

Joyce was reluctant to go, leaving all her prized possessions behind.

"Well, maybe we should call Buffy? To warn her?" she asked, reaching for the telephone.

"No!" yelped Spike, "They could be tapping the lines. Last thing we need is that lot showing up at…the place we're going to." He looked around, as if the potential hidden bugs would suddenly reveal themselves.

"We head out. And now. Slayer will have my hide if anything happens to you, and I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself if it did."

Joyce smiled, before patting Spike gently on the cheek, and grabbing her bag.

"Right. Let's go then shall we?"

--- "Mom!" cried the ecstatic Slayer, as her mother walked in along side the sauntering vampire.

"Spooks are out in force, Watcher. There was a couple of 'em stationed at the house, but they didn't see us leave."

Giles sighed. Things were beginning to escalate, and he had no idea how to handle the situation. Apparently, Willow did.

"Look! I'm making smores!" she announced to the latest arrivals.

"Well sorted, Red," grinned Spike. "My sweet tooth's been humming all afternoon."

---

The evening had been quiet. It was more a sleepover than a hideout, with stories shared, food cooked, and laughter. Buffy had felt more relaxed this evening than she had for weeks. That in it's self was unnerving. But the fact that everyone was in good spirits, Xander and Spike included, made her worry that things were going to get real bad, real soon. Spike had obviously had a similar thought, when he suddenly stood and announced that he needed a private word with the Slayer.

He nodded towards the kitchen, before heading off in that direction. Buffy disentangled herself from the sleeping bags, and scurried after him.

---

By the time she'd joined him, Spike was involved in his favorite stress reliever: pacing.

"So, what's up?" she asked, before hopping onto one of the counters, and waiting patiently for the vampire to gather his thoughts.

Spike stopped to look at her. She was all optimism and shining light. She'd be the bloody death of him, and he embraced it. God, he really was a poncy sod when he tried. But things needed to be cleared, before all hell broke lose, and he lost the chance. God, this was more frightening than any beastie he'd ever faced.

"The thing is, Slayer…" he began, before immediately losing his bottle. "It's just…how do I put this? Christ on a crutch!" and then he was pacing again. Buffy sighed. This could take a while.

"Spike, just spit it out, okay? I gotta get some sleep. A tired slayer is a something, something. I don't know, ask Giles. Just spill already, the suspense is starting to make my staking hand itch."

She didn't know what hit her. One minute he'd looked up at her, with those damn eyes of his, the next, her arms were wrapped tightly around him, and he kissed the breath right out of her.

He finished the kiss, resting his forehead against hers. She hadn't released him of her hold, and he smiled.

"That was pretty much all I wanted to say. Figured I should get it out of the way, before we get all preoccupied with the staying alive and what not." He said.

Buffy smiled. God, he could piss her off and make her all squishy feeling, all at once. It was amazing.

"Well, it was an interesting statement, that's for sure," she said with a smirk. "Do you mind if I take this moment to offer up a counter argument?"

Spike looked puzzled for only an instant, before Buffy had resumed the kissing, and all rational thought flew from his mind.