White Picket Fences part two (all the usual stuff in part one)
In theory, history class offered excellent opportunities to observe your friends, to see if they really were mindless puppets. Buffy Anne actually couldn't see anything weird about Alder, though, or about anyone. Really, the only one who was totally weird was obviously Mr. US Mail, and Buffy Anne herself, for believing all that stuff. At least that's what she tried to tell herself all day, trying for maximum normality and observance of routine.
How was she gonna tell if everyone was an evil puppet or not? Seriously, in the harsh light of day it all seemed pretty unlikely. If only she could forget the scary images in her dreams last night, from the dozens of dreams she seemed to have had in the two hours or so she'd slept in her own bed after dawn. Fighting, always fighting, the most incredibly ugly and scary creatures, blood, gore, magic, death, going on and on. If that was her world, she might not try too hard to get back to it. Here everything was safe and ordinary, people were honest and kind and the colors were all bright.
She joined her friends on a bench outside and tried to look at them from an outside viewpoint. She couldn't do it. They were her friends, and she loved them, and they had fun together. The wit flew back and forth automatically, she didn't have to concentrate on the banter, and meanwhile she tried to remember what they'd talked about the day before, and was a little disturbed to notice that she couldn't.
Her attention wandered off and her eyes idly took in her surroundings, enjoying the bright pretty colors of the students' clothes against the even green of the grass. She looked a little sharper. The grass wasn't so even anymore. Some stalks were longer than others, and there were things standing in it, like flowers, only smaller and not with nice bright colors. She had no idea what had invaded the grass, but it looked sick. She felt a little icky sitting on it and moved to a bench.
That night, when she left her bedroom by the window, she was better prepared. She was wearing an old skirt and a sweater and carried a fleece blanket. The round-shouldered pudgy figure of Spike beside the tree stood staring in the other direction. Buffy Anne felt a pang of dread. There must be something seriously wrong with her if she was really planning to talk to this guy in his polyester two-piece all night. Sheesh. Then he turned and smiled at her, his eyes almost disappearing inside crow's feet, and all her resistance melted and fell with a thunk in her belly. There it transformed into butterflies and made her skip the last few yards over to him and fling herself in to his arms.
"Spike!"
He returned her hug briefly and then detached himself. Buffy Anne felt disappointed and pouted at him. She remembered she was stronger than he and started a more forceful approach.
"Hey," he said gently. "Not the strong-arm tactics again, pet. We owe each other more respect than that."
That was all very grown-up and restrained. Buffy Anne complied, thinking that she'd get round his scruples some way. She knew what she knew, she had no doubts at all she felt something for this unlikely guy, and how could her real world counterpart feel otherwise?
"So," she said, standing close, "What's the plan for tonight?"
"Um, if you don't have one, I thought I'd show you what people are doing in their homes at night, when you don't see them."
She made a face. "Do I need to know?
"Yeah, you do."
Buffy Anne got on the back of the bicycle and they slowly made their way over to Alder's, circling around the Park. She was sitting on the flimsy carrier on the back of the bicycle, arms tightly clasped around his ample middle.
She giggled out loud. "Are you my knight in shining armor? Are you finally gonna rescue me now? What have you been waiting for anyway?'
The bicycle wobbled. "Usually, you do the rescuing, Buffy. You are the hero. I'm just a sidekick."
She felt stumped. "I'm the hero? I'm a girl!"
He shrugged, and almost wrecked the bike by careening into the sidewalk. "So?"
At Alder's house, Spike parked the bike against a tree and they crept over to the dark house. The porch creaked a little. Buffy Anne felt a thrill of pleasure coursing through her. She liked the danger. Because she was a hero? Spike peeked into the window and motioned Buffy Anne over.
"Look!" he pointed.
That was so weird. Instead of sleeping, Alder and her parents sat motionless in front of the TV, which was only showing static of course, at this time of night. They were fully dressed. Their positions were oddly stiff and to see their faces without any animation at all was really strange and frightening.
Buffy Anne pulled Spike away from the window and almost ran back to the bicycle.
"That was awful," she said angrily. "I hate this. I hate the way it makes me feel. I thought she was my friend. I mean, I don't care about her Mom and Dad, but Alder was mine."
"Don't be sad about the puppets, Buffy! You do have real friends, and they are at home, trying very hard to free you from this trap."
She was sulking and didn't reply. He walked on silently beside her, pushing the bike, while she took the biggest steps she could. They passed the gate to the Park again.
Spike stopped. "Why don't we cut across? This is the same Park that's close to your house, isn't it? Why go all the way around?"
"Because we're not supposed to go into the Park, everyone knows that. Come on, it's bad enough without using the Park."
"I saw you go in the first day. Wasn't that forbidden, then?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, but I was trying to escape you. I thought that would make it alright, but Alder still got really nad at me."
"She did? Now I know for sure we've got to get into that Park where nobody is supposed to go. Come on."
Against her misgivings, Buffy Anne followed Spike. He seemed to know what he was doing. They entered the gate. Everything was neat and well-kept. There were trees, paths and lawns.
"What's so special about this place? Looks just like a normal park, " Spike said.
When they rounded a corner, Spike stood stock-still. A peculiar little stone building came into view. It had a peaked roof, a door but no windows, and weird letters and ornamentation on it.
"It's my bloody crypt! What's it doing here?"
"What's a crypt? Do you live there?" Buffy Anne peeked in. "Dusty smelly old place. Kinda damp and unhealthy I'd say."
"I used to live there. Didn't mind the cold so much."
"Why did you move then?"
Spike made a few vague gestures with his hands. "Long story, "He said finally.
"So, where's your new place?" Buffy Anne inquired curiously. Maybe they could go there sometime.
He threw her an odd little half smile. "Your basement, love."
"Really? I don't believe that. My parents would never…"
Spike said nothing. He stood staring at the crypt and said finally, "I'm going to go in. See where it leads."
"What do you mean?"
"There might be tunnels underneath. They might lead us out."
"Tunnels? That is just…weird."
Buffy Anne's eyes followed Spike's movements from the entrance into the crypt. There was no tunnel entrance anywhere. Spike knocked on every wall, scuffled over the cement floor, but there was nothing there.
"Hm. I still feel this must be important," he said, "Why else would they want to keep everyone away?"
They walked on. From a shrub to their left two grey and white moving things appeared. They circled around each other with a hopping motion and then suddenly the one thing climbed on top of the other thing and bopped up and down. After half a minute it climbed off again and both things wandered back into the shrub.
"What were those things? How could they move on their own? Ew!" Buffy Anne felt a little strange. The one thing had poked a little pink thing into the other one. It didn't seem to mind, though.
Spike's eyebrows climbed up his forehead again. "The rabbits? The bunnies? What do you mean? They were having a good time, no harm in that."
"What's a bunny?"
"A kind of animal! Don't tell me you've never seen a bunny before?"
"Well, I haven't. And what is an animal?" Buffy Anne asked, faintly disturbed by the sight of the little things. "Let's kiss," she said to Spike. "I feel like kissing."
"Yeah, humping bunnies do that to me, too, every time. Leave off, Buff. Are there no animals at all in this world?"
"I told you, no!"
Spike ran his hand through his lank hair. He looked around at the grass. "Looks like it was mown yesterday. No flowers. No bunnies, no humping."
He lifted her chin with his finger, which Buffy Anne considered a very moving gesture. There would be kissing now, she assumed.
"Buffy, did you ever kiss anyone before?"
"Of course not!" she said, indignant.
"Why not?" Spike asked.
She gaped. "Because we're not supposed to. Because that's for Prom Night, for seniors. And we did it only because we have been dating before, of course."
"I see. And does everybody stick to that rule?" The tilt to his head said, why bother to stick to any rule ever? It was very confusing.
"Of course. Only, well, today a couple of seniors were caught doing it in the library."
"It?"
"Kissing, what else." How would asking all these questions help in the adventure? Or was he trying to find out how far he could go? In that case, she was completely on his side. Rules, schmules.
"Any other peculiar occurrences?"
"Well, the grass was sick, and water came out of the sky."
"Thank you. Can you show me the sick grass?"
They left the park and climbed on the bicycle again. Buffy saw Spike look back twice.
"What are you looking at?" Buffy Anne asked, idly tracing the stitching on his jacket.
"The crypt. Can't see it anymore."
"Huh. How come they sent you over here? Because you love me the most?" Buffy Anne asked.
Spike coughed. "Not exactly. I am more like a last resort. Not the most popular man with your Watcher, right now. It's just that Willow and Giles didn't have any freedom of movement in their fake bodies. They couldn't break past the programming and had to spend all day performing actions they couldn't change. The librarian never leaves the library, you know. He stands there all night behind his counter. Not that anyone would ever notice, I suppose."
The bike started going slower and slower. Spike was puffing and gasping. Finally Buffy Anne took pity on him and offered to ride. To her surprise, he accepted immediately.
"Most guys wouldn't accept a ride from a lady."
"So I'm not most guys, Buffy."
"I think this is the most romantic evening ever," Buffy Anne told Spike, pushing down strongly on the bike. "Sharing everything, having adventures. Walking through the Park with the man you love."
The arms lightly resting around her middle tightened for a moment.
"Buffy, don't say that. You don't know what you're saying."
"I don't? Why? I'm not an evil puppet!"
At her house, Buffy Anne slowed the bike and waited for Spike to climb off. She put the bike against the tree and purposefully closed in on him.
"No more stalling now," she said, grabbed the lapels of his US Mail-jacket and kissed him. He struggled faintly, but as she had known he would, caved in quickly. It wasn't at all like the last time they kissed, fueled on by that fuzzy desperate memory. That had been more like wrestling than kissing, in Buffy Anne's opinion, although it had made her feel warm and wicked all day. This was what two people in love kissing should be like, sweet and warm and wet, and leaning against his warm body, and feeling his big hands spread on her back…She wished it would go on forever, and they just stopped to breathe now and then, and then kissed some more. She felt all woozy and floaty and tried to press all of her body into him, because more contact was urgently needed.
They paused for breath, and he leaned his forehead against hers, and the feeling welling up in her could no longer be contained.
"Spike, I love you so much," she whispered.
He closed his eyes and averted his head. "Please, love," he whispered back. "I know this is wrong. You're not yourself, don't say these things."
"I am too myself! So I don't have all these memories, what's the difference? I know what I feel, and I want you to know about it. You love me, don't you?"
"Always. It's just…"
She fastened her hands behind his neck and drew his face towards her again." Shh. Trust me. I know what I want." She softly sucked his lower lip with her own lips, and for a short moment his mouth stayed passive and relaxed under hers, but when she pressed her hips against his, his whole body surged and tightened against her. She took his hands and guided them under her cardigan, where he would hopefully discover she hadn't been wearing a bra the whole night. His fingers on her breast evoked feelings she didn't know existed and her body molded against his. She felt her thighs spreading slightly, opening up to him, even if she wasn't sure what for. The world lit with a flash and a thundering sound split the sky.
Buffy and Spike sprang apart, but nothing followed the crack of thunder. The night was dark and silent again.
"What the hell?" Spike said, tilting his head up to the empty night sky.
"What was that sound?" Buffy Anne asked, sliding back into his arms, trying to cling even tighter.
"Thunder. It's odd, though, it's cloudless, there can't be a thunderstorm out of the blue."
"Come on, " Buffy Anne said urgently. "No time to waste. Touch me."
His lips slid over the thin skin of her neck, trailing little shocks of pleasure that sparked low in her belly at the same time. "Touch you where?"
She gasped and grabbed his hand again, urging it to wander over her belly and the tops of her thighs. His fingertips were made of fire. Her knees wobbled and she slid down on the ground. She lay down and spread her arms and legs. "Spike. Touch me everywhere."
His hands traveled over her body, which was straining to meet them, tingling where it awaited his touch. He pushed her legs up and rucked up her skirt. The heat generated by the skin of her thighs must be burning him, Buffy Anne thought. She felt weak and heavy, unable to lift a fingertip. His tongue traced the crease where hip met thigh, and she spread her legs wider, waiting for something to happen. When his hands shoved aside her panties, she couldn't help moaning out loud.
"Spike! Right there!"
His cheek slid against her thigh. "Really?" he murmured. "Who'd have thought…"
His fingers and tongue did clever burning things to body parts she didn't know she had, but felt like magic. A feeling was rising in her that she couldn't describe, it was like climbing a hill, where you knew something wonderful and special was going to happen once you got to the top. She panted, toiling up the hill, and when she reached the summit, she arched her body and cried out, shaking all over with hot and cold shivers. The grass she was lying on quivered. Another, louder thunderclap sounded, and rolled away over the town.
Buffy Anne opened her eyes. "Wow. That was amazing. I've never felt anything like it. Like kissing, only better. "
Spike was looking at her with a frown on his forehead. "Thank you. Did the ground move, or what?"
"It did. It's not a normal part of the experience?"
He laughed. "Not really."
"Can I make you feel the same, Spike?"
He inhaled sharply. Buffy Anne took that as a yes and started experimenting with touching him. It was very gratifying to see him moan and twitch and pant, and when she started unbuckling his belt he started talking.
"Buffy, oh yes, so good, don't stop, oh god…"
The body part that sprang free was unexpectedly different from her own body. She touched it curiously and it twitched. A memory clicked into place.
"It's like the bunnies!" she cried out. "The one bunny had a thingy like this, only much smaller."
"Hmm…yeah…"
She squeezed it gently. Spike groaned again, oblivious. "Could you hump me with it, like a bunny?"
"Ahhh…."
"Now?"
"No, not now…Move your fingers up and down. Gently. Yes. Ahhh. Sweet Buffy. Who knew you could be so sweet?" Spike murmured.
She just loved to watch him quiver and groan and fling his head from side to side, fingers scrabbling in the grass. Slowly the organ darkened. His whole body tensed for a moment, and then the thing quivered and she felt something surge under her hands. Little jets of white fluid shot out from it as Spike cried out. "Buffy!"
She looked down on him lovingly and smiled as he groggily opened his eyes.
"Can you show me the humping now?"
"What? No, not right now. Not up to it, love. Sorry." His head fell back on the grass and she could feel him falling asleep. She wiped her fingers on the grass, laid out the fleece blanket, rolled Spike on it and snuggled up to him. She hoped that would take care of the backache. They could only have a short nap, of course, before she had to go back to her bedroom.
"Spike! Spike! Wake up!" Buffy Anne whispered and shook him. He sure wasn't easy to wake up. When she finally had him in a sitting position, he was hard to make sense of. He mostly grumbled and cursed, stretching his neck and massaging his temples.
"Never knew I'd thank Drusilla again for making me a vampire. Being human is truly the worst thing that ever happened to me, being beaten up by Glory didn't feel like this. My stomach hurts, my back, my head…This is not funny."
"Stop whining, " Buffy Anne said firmly. "What you need is to drink lots of water and have a proper breakfast. Promise?"
Spike grumbled.
Buffy Anne kissed him, although he didn't seem very cooperative, and was about to walk off to return to her bedroom, when Spike stopped her.
"Buffy, do something for me?"
That made her happy. "For you, of course!"
He smiled tightly and grabbed her hand. "I want you to do everything different today. Different hair, different clothes than normal, change your breakfast routine, take a different way to school, anything you can think of. Be rude to teachers, fight with Alder, anything."
"What? Why?" Buffy Anne didn't like the sound of this willful going against routine. It made her profoundly uneasy and she didn't see what he was going to accomplish with this.
"Disrupting routine is going to disrupt the magic of this world. I'd just like to try and see what happens."
"Spike, do we have to go back to the other world? It makes me feel kind of dread and icky thinking of that. Are you sure it's a good world? As nice as this one? Because if not, I don't see why we would have to leave here," Buffy Anne said. She was glad she'd finally screwed up the courage to say it. They could be perfectly happy here together.
Spike looked so surprised. "Stay in this world? Are you insane? There's nothing here! Look at his! It's got about five colors, all of them primary, and nothing every happens. It's awful. Why do you find it so attractive?"
"Well, it's got you…" Buffy Anne started, drawing nervous circles on his hand.
"So does the other world, love."
"Yeah, but in this one we are together. Can you promise me we will be together on the other one?"
Spike looked at her with an apologetic frown. "No, I can't. That depends on you. The complete and unabridged you. Who will probably have my balls for fooling around with you here."
Buffy Anne's eyes filled with tears. "Spike, I love you. This isn't fooling around for me! How can you say that!"
He took her in his arms with a deep sigh and patted her back. "It isn't for me either, it's just a little weird. You aren't a teenager, but you look like one, and that's very confusing. I worry about what the real Buffy is going to think of that."
"If she's really me, she loves you just as I do. Trust me," Buffy Anne said with conviction.
He smiled at her crookedly. "Believe me, I do. Nothing else could have induced me to make love to you otherwise. Don't want to bollix up the slim chance there still might be with the woman I love."
"Me, right?"
"Yeah, you, you-plus."
She beamed at him. "Tell me about the other world. How is it different? What do you look like?"
He started to tell her, but all the talk of Vampires, Vampire slayers, Hellmouths, evil and apocalypses confused her. The only thing she really remembered was that his hair was curly and platinum white. And him being a vampire? She decided to put those thoughts aside, because if she couldn't grasp the big picture, there was no point in worrying about the details. She'd know what to do when the time came, she always did.
******
Buffy Anne padded downstairs as silently as she could, though why she did that, she surely couldn't say; her parents would see her anyway when she arrived in the kitchen. She slid sideways in the half-open door and quietly made her way to the breakfast table.
She cleared her throat. "Good morning, Mom. Can I have a cup of coffee please?"
The hand that was pouring coffee twitched. "Buffy Anne, baby girl, aren't you a little young for coffee?" Joyce delivered the line with a wide sweet smile and set down a glass of orange juice in front of her.
Buffy Anne sighed, but persisted. This talk alone counted as disrupting of routine, even if she never acquired the smelly cup of coffee. "Please, Mom. I'm almost a senior, I think I can drink coffee."
Her mother visibly wavered. "Well – I'll talk about it with your Dad. I could hardly decide something like that without his permission, you know."
Buffy Anne thought guiltily about all the things she'd done lately without his permission. Determinedly she grabbed a plate and starting lathering a slice of bread with her Dad's special orange jelly.
She licked her fingers and looked up at her mother's stifled exclamation. "What?"
"Buffy Anne – licking your fingers – not how I brought you up – and using your father's jelly – what's gotten into this morning?"
Buffy Anne shrugged, ignoring the guilt and uneasiness she felt. "I just felt like a change, is all. There's no rule a person has to have the same breakfast every morning, is there?"
Her mother looked at her with a troubled frown. "Nooo – but it is diverging from routine. I don't think I approve."
Buffy Anne said through a mouthful of the bitter jelly," Mom, I promise, tomorrow I'll eat my usual stuff again, okay?"
Joyce nodded uneasily. "Better hurry, Buffy Anne. Leave for school before your daddy gets down. No sense in upsetting him, is there?" She paused. "I like your hair."
Buffy Anne fingered the braids, which were the most different hairstyle she'd been able to come up with. "Thanks, Mom." She hurriedly finished her breakfast and started walking to school.
She was wearing an old skirt, a very old, too tight pink twin-set and her highest heels. If that wasn't unusual, she'd give up. Outside the house, she paused. A different route to school, huh? She started right, instead of left, and wandered all through the neighborhood. For good measure, she crossed the Park as well. It, too, had changed since last night. The grass had become uneven, like at school, and was speckled with many tiny things in all kinds of colors. Flying things shot through the air, fluttering their weird little arms, making pretty sounds with their mouths. There were also smal buzzing things floating around. Why had the world changed? These thing had never existed before. She didn't know their purpose, if they had any, but it looked kind of pretty.
Buffy Anne thought of what she and Spike had done last night, and the tingling feeling in her belly started up again. Unconsciously, her hand stole down her belly and rubbed there, in that place Spike had touched her. The feeling intensified immediately. Wow. Maybe, you know, she could imitate what he had done and get the mountainy feeling again? She looked around, feeling strongly that she wanted to be unobserved for this. She spotted Spike's crypt and went inside. Not very comfy, but private enough for her purposes.
She experimented with doing it standing up, lying down, panties on, panties off. Finally she lay down on top of sarcophagus, and proceeded to rub herself. It was a little different from when Spike did it. There was no suspense, as it were, because she knew, after some trial and error, exactly where to put her fingers. It ended quickly, and with a nice little thrill, but although she thought she heard the thunder-sound again, the earth didn't move. Perhaps she needed more practice. Or perhaps it was just nicer with someone else – Spike! – doing it. She put on her clothes again and walked to school.
She was late. In spite of doing it intentionally, she felt deeply nervous about it. This was gong to go on her record. Would she still make Valedictorian? Would Alder be mad? Would she be punished? She realized she didn't know what the punishment might be; no one was ever late. The teacher seemed a little flustered, too. Mrs. Knightly finally found the slip of paper she wanted, after a frantic search of her desk drawers. She filled it in with a shaking hand and told Buffy Anne to report to the principal. The eyes of all her class mates were staring at her in wonder and disgust.
Buffy Anne winced inwardly and with dragging steps went to report. She could probably say goodbye to popularity. No amount of communication skills could repair the condemnation she'd seen on all their faces. She was an outcast. She'd never ever get a prom date. Wouldn't go to college.
She wasn't punished, but having to listen to the ringing speech the principal gave her on duty and timeliness was worse. She felt like an ungrateful lowly worm, who'd disappointed everybody. At lunch, her friends demonstratively refused to sit with her. Buffy Anne was very lonely. By the end of the school day she was starting to feel sorry she'd ever met Spike, and even sorrier she had done as eh asked. The whole school was buzzing anyway about the thunder, and the mail and the papers that hadn't gotten delivered this morning. The teachers told everyone to ignore the strange happenings, as talking about them would only make things worse, but for once the students weren't listening.
After school, Buffy Anne went straight home. She didn't feel like making detours. She went up to her room without saying 'Hi!" to her Mom and had a good cry on her bed, clutching Mr. Gordo to her bosom. She might as well go with Spike now to the other world, her life here was ruined. Ruined!
At dinner, her parents noticed that she was a little more silent than usual. It was sweet of them to care, but of course she couldn't tell them exactly what was wrong. They'd be so disappointed! After dinner, she went to get her embroidery. Joyce regarded her with amazement.
"Buffy Anne! What is it with you today! This is your night for going to Alder! You have your head stuck in the clouds, haven't you?"
Buffy Anne paused. "What are clouds, Mom?"
Joyce was flustered. "Just a figure of speech, darling. Now go on, Alder will be waiting for you!"
Buffy Anne wasn't so sure about that, but dutifully went out and started the trek to Alder's. Spike would probably meet her somewhere. She paused at the entrance to the Park. She might as well go in again. No use being a good girl anymore.
Spike was waiting for her by his crypt, as she might have known. When she found herself sobbing on his chest, she realized this was what she'd been wanting to do most of the day. Spike shushed and patted patiently, and the warmth of his solid body and the strength of his arms around her made her feel very safe and loved.
"What was that all about, love?" he asked when she'd calmed down a little.
Buffy Anne told her woeful tale of being punished and shut out all day. "I'm sorry I ever did what you asked," she said sulkily. "If I hadn't, I'd still be the most popular girl in Junior Year."
"I'm sure you would be," Spike said. Buffy Anne detected a faint undertone in his voice, but was unable to determine what it meant exactly.
"Okay," she said perkily, determined not to ruin the evening by moping, "Let's get to work with the disruptive magic! How do I start?"
"How you are right now is fine," Spike said, caressing her back.
Buffy Anne arched into his hands contentedly. "Silly," she said, "how can us cuddling be disruptive magic?"
He nuzzled her neck. "You and this world seem bound together by symbolic magic. To break the last bindings, we are going to open up your portal, so to speak. We're going to make love. Have sex. Hump like bunnies?"
The last words finally elicited comprehension. "Cool!" Buffy Anne squealed, and climbed up the sarcophagus and knelt down with her back to Spike. "Or should I take off my clothes first?"
"Buffy, sweetheart, you don't have to kneel down. Human beings are a little more flexible than bunnies, and I can think of other positions that are a little more, um, personal, than this one. And, about the clothes, just loosen them. We'll probably need to move really fast into the portal after the magic spell is breached."
"Okay," Buffy Anne said, and started unbuttoning her blouse and unhooking her bra.
"Buffy," Spike murmured, "You are so beautiful…"
He kissed her deeply while his hands roamed over her stomach and breasts. Buffy Anne gasped in surprise at the speed and ferocity of the feeling that hit her. She couldn't stifle a moan and grasped his upper arms urgently, pulling spike tighter against her.
"Careful," Spike wheezed, "you're squeezing me, you're very strong!"
"Oh, sorry," Buffy Anne said, I just needed to touch you, I couldn't help myself."
"That's fine, love, just try to remember not to use so much strength…""
They stretched out on the sarcophagus and wriggled until their bodies were tightly clasped together. Buffy Anne was in heaven as they kissed and rubbed naked skin to naked skin. When Spike shoved up her dress and pulled off her panties her heart started to hammer in anticipation. Would he make her feel the mountain feeling again? "
"Oh, Spike, please touch me there again," she asked breathlessly. "Yes, there. Oh! That is so nice. I've never felt anything like it. When I tried it myself, it wasn't half so nice…"
Spike chuckled against her neck, where he was sucking hard on that ticklish place below her ear. "Good for you, Buffy, try out the good stuff for yourself. How about this?"
Buffy Anne hadn't thought she was halfway up the mountain yet, but there it was, almost unexpected, that dizzying, burning bright feeling of the world contracting into one small point and than expanding again rapidly until she thought she was spread out so thin she would blow away. She heard thunder roll above them, and the slab of marble underneath them trembled. Apparently that was a normal accompaniment to the good feelings.
"Let me touch you again, Spike…" Buffy Anne murmured happily against his chest.
"Mmm, no, let's try something new," Spike said.
He put her on her back, pulled up her knees and proceeded to put his thing inside her, like the bunny. Buffy Anne's eyes closed and her head fell back. This was different from the other good feelings there, but very very pleasant in itself. It made her feel nice and full, and when he bumped her inside it was, well, if you compared it to the mountain feeling, it was like low, rolling hills, one after the other.
Spike started to pant and gasp. His face became very warm and sweat started dripping off him. Thunder continued to roll and crack, seemingly straight above them. An enormous clap sounded, and the roof of the crypt split straight in two, allowing Buffy Anne a look at the roiling black heavens above them. Finally she understood. They were causing this, they were making the magic to destroy her happy world right now! The sarcophagus started to buckle under her back, and she started to become frightened.
"Spike!" she shouted, trying to reach him above the sounds of thunder and wind and things breaking.
"Pay attention, Buffy!" he gasped. "Concentrate! Try to come; I'm pretty sure that's going to do the trick!"
He meant she should try to have the mountain feeling again, instead of just the rolling hills. She shifted her hips slightly, trying to let his thrusting thing hit just that one right spot. She soon found it, and was on her way to the top again in no time. It was even more intense this time around, and she found herself shrieking his name.
"Spike! Spike! I love you!"
They shuddered and groaned in unison. When Buffy Anne opened her heavy eyes again, the first thing she saw was a shimmering sheet of white fire, hanging in the middle of the crypt. Thick hard clots of rain were hitting them from the gaping split in the crypt roof, and she could hardly keep her eyes open because of the raindrops.
Spike heaved himself off her, grunting tiredly, and started talking to her urgently. She couldn't hear him. She started to panic. What now? Everything was breaking around her, what would happen?
"Buffy!" Spike yelled in her ear. "That is the portal! We have to go through it, now!"
The climbed off the broken sarcophagus and tried to walk towards the portal. They had to fight as if against a heavy wind to reach it. The wind buffeted them from all sides, whipping up their clothes and hair. If the portal hadn't shone so brightly it would have been impossible to orient themselves.
"Buffy! Go through the portal! Don't pay attention if my body falls down! Don't look back and go forward! I'll be waiting for you on the other side!"
"Okay!" she yelled back, but silently vowed not to leave him under any circumstances.
Spike stepped though the portal first and pulled Buffy Anne through. They seemed to be in a huge, dark cave, with a faint light shining from a spot a ways off and higher up than they were. They were standing on a narrow path lining the walls of the cave. The abyss on their left side was so deep she couldn't see the bottom.
"Come on," Spike said, "follow the path. Go toward the light. You go first."
Tentatively Buffy Anne stepped forward on the narrow rocky path, and wished she had remembered to put her shoes back on. Her bra was round her neck and her blouse unbuttoned. She stopped and started to tidy herself up, but Spike pushed her impatiently from behind.
"Come on, love, hurry. It won't remain open forever."
She resumed walking again. It seemed to take very long. She wanted to pause and rest, but Spike kept urging her on. Suddenly it seemed silent from behind her. She stopped, and put one hand on a stony outcropping in the wall to steady herself when she was going to turn around.
"Buffy! Don't look back! Come to me! Follow my voice!"
Spike's voice seemed to come from before her, not behind her. It came from the suddenly brighter white rectangle in front of her. She started walking again more strongly. When she had reached the portal, she hesitated. She really wanted one last look backward. She was afraid she'd see Spike's body, but she also wanted to. His voice from the other side of the portal urged her on, telling her to step into it. From so close it sounded different, deeper, the accent the same as her Spike's but the timbre richer.
This was so scary. She would have preferred to turn back, but what she'd seen through the roof of the crypt, trees falling down, skies splitting open, hard water trying to hit her, made her think there wouldn't be anything to return to. She swallowed. This was too hard. Why did she have to make these decisions? It wasn't fair!
The portal grew almost imperceptibly fainter. Spike's voice kept urging to go on. At last, she decided. Spike would take care of her. Love was more important than fear. She jumped.
******