A/N : I said I'd have this up in a couple of days and I've kept my promise! Here's the next chapter - Buffy is drunk and alone with Spike...what will happen next? Hope you like this, all reviews are welcome. Thanx for all the great reviews so far - you guys are the best : )
(For main disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1. Extra disclaimer - line about the word 'drunk' being anglo-saxon, etc is borrowed from episode 'Something Blue')
Chapter 17 - Too Close For Comfort
Spike looked down at the Slayer who now had her head resting on the bar, glancing up at him. She looked beautiful as ever, he thought, despite the fact she was completely drunk out of her head.
"Hi Spikey" she smiled and giggled like a child.
"Hey now, Buffy" he couldn't help but smile back "Come on, time to go home" he said as he helped her up off the stool. She stumbled a little but he managed to keep her upright and direct her through the crowds, holding onto her by the waist and walking behind her.
"You're gonna take me home?" Buffy tried to turn her head to talk to him as they walked.
"Yep, time you were in bed" Spike spoke without thinking and soon regretted his words as Buffy turned around in his grasp and ceased her childish giggling.
"You're gonna take me to bed?" she asked softly and Spike had to close his eyes as he forced several dangerous thoughts from his mind.
"Yes, to your own bed, Buffy" he said firmly "and then I'm going to my own bed" he completed as they finally exited the Bronze and started off down the street.
"Oh..." Buffy sighed, dejectedly, before asking matter-of-factly "Why is the ground spinning?"
"Because you're drunk, perhaps?" Spike suggested with a touch of a smirk and a good helping of sarcasm.
"Nooo!" Buffy drew out the word in protest, as she stopped and turned again to look at him "Drunk is such a strong word, like a guttural Anglo-Saxon word - drunk" she explained and Spike sighed.
"Trust you to know complex sentences when you're smashed, Slayer" he smiled down at her and she looked up into his eyes and for a moment, with the moonlight and the stars and the feelings... 'but, she's drunk', Spike reminded himself quickly. He made to start moving her along again but she wouldn't budge.
"Y'know what?" she smiled up at him.
"What is it now, pet?" he asked with frustration as he steadied her wavering form.
"You have really pretty eyes" she told him with a smile and he suddenly didn't care if she was drunk, he just wanted to kiss her. She was making it too hard to resist.
"Really?" he asked as he leant towards her, but the alcohol finally staged a revolt with the inside of the girls body and put in a re-appearance all over the pavement, along with everything she'd eaten in the last day or so.
Spike sighed in defeat as Buffy sank to her knees on the sidewalk and heaved. This was hardly how he'd planned his night to go, not at all.
It was about half an hour later when Spike had got his Slayer off of the floor and more or less carried her to Revello Drive.
"If I take you home in this state your Mum's gonna kill me, mine too when she finds out" Spike said more to himself than to Buffy since she really wasn't coherent enough to understand anyway right now, "so, looks like I'm taking you to my bed after all Slayer" he smirked as he helped her up the porch steps and in through his own front door, careful to be quiet and not draw attention from the next door neighbour he was trying to avoid.
"Spike, I don't feel so good" Buffy moaned as they went through the door "I think I'm gonna...y'know" she gestured that she meant throw up.
"Buffy, you already did" he pointed out and she looked confused when she said;
"Oh" before promptly slipping down the wall he had leant her against while he was locking the door.
"Come on, luv" he smiled, sweeping her literally off her feet and carrying her up the stairs. He'd expected her to be quite heavy, all the muscles she had being the Slayer, but she was feather light and seemed to fit perfectly in his arms. He smiled to himself, he'd had dreams about carrying Buffy to his bedroom, but this was not quite how he'd had it planned.
Spike kicked the door to his bedroom open with his foot and placed the semi-conscious girl on the bed, his bed - this was weird.
"You feeling any better yet?" he asked as knelt beside the her.
"Maybe a little" she said quietly, her eyes closed already.
"I reckon someone's gonna have a killer hangover in the morning" Spike smiled as he dared to reach out his hand and push some stray hair from her face "Just try to get some sleep, Slayer"
He made to stand up and walk away but turned back when he heard her infectious laughter again.
"I can't sleep with my boots on, silly" she giggled and Spike rolled his eyes, walking around to the foot of the bed and removing the aforementioned footwear for her.
"Better?" he asked, dropping the boots down by the side of the bed. Buffy shrugged and nodded a little as she glanced over at him. He kicked off his own boots and tried to get comfortable in a chair with a blanket, not the ideal place to sleep, but he'd suffer for a night for her sake.
"Now will you get some sleep, then maybe I can too" he said, closing his eyes. Just a few seconds later, he was disturbed again.
"Spike?"
"Yes, Buffy?" he sighed
"Aren't you gonna kiss me goodnight?" she asked, innocence in every word, since she was too drunk to really know what she was asking.
"I don't think that's a good idea, luv" the young man told her, moving from the chair to stand beside the bed again. God how he wanted to kiss her, but he couldn't take advantage, he did have some morals, although right then he wished he had less of a conscience.
"Why not?" she complained, grabbing at his hand and pulling him down to sit beside her "I won't go to sleep until you do" she fluttered her eye-lashes and tried to be innocent but he knew better.
"You're a nuisance do you know that, Slayer?" Spike asked rhetorically as he leaned over to place a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Buffy just giggled her drunk laugh in response and shook her head as much as she dared in her current condition
"You don't kiss me on the forehead!" she told him "You're not my Mom!" and with that she closed her eyes tight and pouted in preparation for what she really wanted. Spike knew what she wanted, and he also knew how much he wanted it too, and infinitely more. He leaned over her, taking in her angelic face before closing his eyes, their lips a mere hairs breadth apart. He placed the most tender of kisses on her lips, just a few seconds of contact, before he pulled away again and opened his eyes to see her smile.
"How was that?" he asked in a whisper, his head spinning from the strength of his own feelings right at that moment.
He waited for some verbal answer, but the girl didn't have one. Her eyes opened slowly as her hand travelled up to his face, she ran her fingers across his cheek before coming to rest behind his head. She leaned up, her eyes closing again and he knew what she was doing, even if she was only half-aware. As much as he wanted to kiss her again, to be in her arms, to show her just what he felt for her...those damn morals and his annoying conscience wouldn't let him, not like that.
Quickly but gently, Spike slid from the edge of the bed and got to his feet, her hand falling away as he moved. He turned back to the chair and blanket he would use for a bed tonight and, without looking back at the silent girl on his bed he whispered; "Sweet dreams, Slayer"
To Be Continued...
