Chapter 22: Fight in a Cave

We're not friends, Buffy said.

Spike stuttered, bewildered. Ok, one, where the hellmouth had that come from, and two, what?!

I said, we're not friends, she repeated slowly.

Oh, I heard you the first time! But where the bloody hell is that coming from, and what do you mean, we're not friends? After everything we've been through... I understand you'll never love me, and that's... well, not fine, but I accept it. But now you say we're not even friends? What the bloody -

The Slayer interrupted his rant. We're not friends.

He was about to explode at her, maybe hit her to see if she was just stuck, like a broken record, when she continued.

You said you and my other friends, implying that you and I are friends... well... Buffy took a deep breath, wondering if he would recognize her words. We'll never be friends. We'll be.... she swallowed, deciding she still couldn't say that next line, skipping to the one after that. We'll fight, and we'll shag, and we'll hate each other till it makes us quiver, but we'll never be friends.

Spike stared at her, comprehension slowly dawning.

She was paraphrasing something he'd once said to her and Angel, so long ago, when the two were trying to pretend that they were only friends...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lover's Walk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike (facing Angel and Buffy in the magic shop):

You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. (points at his temple) Love isn't brains, children, it's blood... (clasps his chest) blood screaming inside you to work its will.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Admittedly, she'd skipped the bits that involved that dreaded word love,' but he knew she had a problem with that term. Even without it, though...

Once again, he leaned towards her and took her hands in his. She glanced away, but he didn't let that deter him, recognizing it as yet one more of her defense mechanisms.

Buffy, pet, what exactly are you saying?

She took a deep breath. Now or never. Finally turning to face him, she said, Spike, I-

With that oh-so-impeccable timing that catastrophe often showed on the Hellmouth, it was at this moment that they both felt and heard the gang of vamps approaching.

Grabbing the stakes they were never without, the Slayer and the vampire sprang to their feet, standing in identical defensive stances.

Buffy urgently hissed, Spike? How the hell did they get here?

Sheepishly, he said, Um, guess there's a back entrance...

One which he and Xander had failed to find, hidden as it was behind part of the cave wall. They'd been too distracted by the plan, and by their conversation.

Their short exchange of phrases was all they had time for before the first vampire rounded the corner.

As the vamps came closer down whatever corridor they were in, the two could hear the leader saying, All right boys, you know what to do. I want Egabarge alive. He'll pay for that double-crossing... the head honcho trailed off as he rounded the rocks which hid the passage, spotting Spike and Buffy.

Well, well, well, what have we here?

Spike thought fast. The vamp's words explained that mess he and Xander had found. This Egabarge guy probably had been here, but must have cleared out in a hurry. Since it didn't look like the resident intended on returning, Spike and Xander cleared the debris and thought no more about it.

Hoping the usually impulsive Slayer would restrain herself, Spike said, We're not who you're looking for, so why don't you go and look for him elsewhere. Like, now. Maybe we can still talk our way out of this and go back to our conversation, he thought, not believing that for an instant.

The boss laughed as he walked a step farther into the cave. Spike and Buffy tensed, ready to attack if he came any closer.

And why would we let such tasty morsels such as you and this pretty gal go free?

Spike vamped, and the leader took a step back. Because I'm a vampire, and she's the Slayer.

A short, scrawny vampire came around the bend from the hidden passageway. His eyes widened in recognition as he saw the bleached blonde.

He tugged on the boss's sleeve. Hey, Biff! That's the traitor, the one who killed your brother, Darren!

Biff's eyes narrowed. The two were dangerous, if the girl was really the Slayer, but.... she looked too little. And if the vampire had really killed his brother, well then.... he shouted to his gang behind him.

Stupidly, he charged forward at Spike, who shifted so that Biff impaled himself on the upheld stake.

One down, who knows how many more to go, Spike thought grimly.

The smaller vamp hung back as the rest of the gang rushed in.

Spike and Buffy tried to remain where they were, close to the entrance to the hidden passage, so that the vamps who came through wouldn't be able to surround them. This tactic worked for a moment before an extremely large vampire came lumbering through and tackled both the Slayer and her companion.

The vamp built like a football player was staked and the two were back up in moments, but by then the vampire gang were all in the cave with them.

It was a rather large gang, Spike saw. Glancing around, he guesstimated there were about 15 or 20. A difficult and dangerous number, even for the Slayer and the rebel vamp.

For a time, the two warriors fought back to back, before the pull of battle dragged them apart.

Spike was somewhat surprised to hear Buffy quipping, as she would have in previous times.

We - were- trying - to - have - a - conversation - you - morons! In between each word was a punch, kick, or staking.

Sometime during the fray, Buffy staked a vampire who quickly fell backward as he disintegrated, taking her stake with her. Spike! Got an extra-

Guessing her predicament, Spike threw her a stake without even looking; without a glance, she caught it, a brief reminder of how well attuned they were to one another.

Buffy and Spike both received minor wounds as they worked their way through the vampires; Buffy's left wrist was sprained, possibly broken, and Spike had been slashed in the side by a vampire who, oddly enough, had been carrying a knife.

But overall, they were doing pretty well for a while. Buffy, who'd been too busy with her job to really do much training, was slowing down. As always, even though the distraction could prove fatal, Spike was keeping an eye out for her.

As he staked the little annoying twerp who'd spoken before the fight, he caught a glimpse of a vampire grasping the stake Buffy had lost, creeping up behind her.

Spike was just a few yards to Buffy's right. He was distracted by another vampire, to whom he turned and quickly dealt with. By the time he turned back to Buffy, the other vampire was lunging towards her unprotected back, stake upraised.

There was no time to warn the Slayer, nor any to think. Using all of his vampiric speed, Spike moved himself between the dangerous stake and his love.

Having staked the two vampires she'd been wrestling with for several minutes, and sensing something behind her, Buffy turned. She was just in time to see Spike move between her and the threat to her life.

With horror, she saw a stake - her stake- protrude from his back.

she shrieked.

Spike weakly turned to her. he murmured.

Taking advantage of her distraction, two vampires rushed her, knocking her to the ground.

Within moments, the Slayer had staked them both. She was on a rampage, screaming her rage, moving like never before. It was as if she'd tapped into the essence of her Slayer abilities, as she whirled, kicked, punched, staked.

It took only minutes for her to kill the 6 or 7 vampires left.

Suddenly realizing she'd run out of opponents, she looked around desperately to where she'd last seen Spike, hoping for some sort of miracle, for him to still be there, here, with her, never leaving her, loving her.

There was nothing but dust.

A/N:

Wow! I got a great response, review-wise.... and look, see, another chapter! Lots of reviews, another chapter up quickly... think there's a connection? ;0)

Ivy: No, at least so far Spike hasn't interacted with Connor, but Spike and Angel did have a soul-to-soul talk when Angel helped Spike to bed that first night (chapter 11) - it just wasn't shown. However, I always planned on their discussion being mentioned later on, possibly even a full flashback. That's still several chapters away though. Glad you like the story!

Bonus points to Casey, Mistified, Tobert, and wolf116 for guessing what the we're not friends' really meant; extra to wolf116 for guessing about the Lover's Walk speech!! Guess I'm kinda predictable, huh... hopefully the vamp attack was unexpected!

spikesmine9: Uh, thanks for the death threat... I think... ;-)

Thanks to all those mentioned above, as well as poisonivy, Nikki, ms trick, ShawThang, hammy, WickedWiccan and Chibi Chaos Mage. You don't know how much your reviews mean to me.

Sorry this chapter is so short, but it's the length it needed to be.

Review!!!!