Chapter One: Many Happy Returns
An AU fic (no Initiative, chipped vamps, or Riley! I left out Dawn too just because). I will warn readers, there is a little bit of S/A in here, but not all parties involved are willing.
Disclaimer: These characters are products of Joss Whedon and Co, but most of the stuff in this story is mine. You know, all the witty comebacks, sexually awkward situations, and rabid tattooed monkeys! Okay, okay, maybe not the rabid tattooed monkeys, but you're an intelligent fanfic reader, you get the point. Thanks to everyone involved with the creation of this story. The few, the proud, the insane.
Two weeks later: Sunnydale, California
It had been almost four years since the whole sending-the-lover-to- hell fiasco. Four incredibly awful years of depression, training and groping from countless blind dates. After Angel had been returned to the Earth, Buffy had stopped seeing anyone. Not that it had done any good. Once recovered, he had immediately moved out of Sunnydale, sending a clear message of rejection. He had been a big help coming back to help stop the Mayor's Ascension, but kept his distance from his ex-lover the entire time.
Nonetheless, she had effectively minimized her social life to her closest friends and the calendar in her room that counted every day since she lost him. After all, Angel was her first, strongest, and last love. How could she allow herself to forget? Well, to be fair, she also counted the days because nothing remotely exciting had happened since they had broken up. At all.
It was as if the fact that giving your lover a one-way ticket to hell, having him come back, and not speaking two words the whole time caused the powers-that-be think she needed a vacation. No apocalypse, no incredibly dangerous demons! Not even a new store opening at the mall! Just the same old boring routine of patrol.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" the Slayer grumbled to herself as she stomped through a cemetery, glaring at the sky. "It's alright to send me something to do, you know! Maybe a quest! Or something!!!"
She redirected her rant, halting and turning to the ground. "And you? Let's not even go there! Not saying I like dying or anything, but does Hell enjoy seeing me bored out of my mind!!????"
Evidently only a little bit. Unbeknownst to the pissed Slayer, a vampire had come into the area. Normally, he would have avoided her at all costs, in fear of his unlife, but now he sensed his chance. She had obviously lost her mind, staring and talking to the ground below. It would be the easiest thing in the world to go kill her and get a free meal. He boldly approached with no caution whatsoever.
"I've got one word for you," the blonde stated flatly to her enemy, keen ears picking up his heavy footsteps. "Mistake."
Before the young vamp could react, she had turned and pressed a stake against his unbeating heart. Resigned to his error, he looked into her glinting hazel eyes and stiffened for the death blow. When her weapon withdrew, his vampiric face twisted into confusion, an expression which likely was not very attractive on either of his visages.
"But," the Slayer quietly continued, having decided to toy with her attacker. "I think it's your lucky night. Sort of. I'll give you a fighting chance."
"Huh?" her hapless opponent asked.
"Oh, shut up!" she barked. "You get first hit. Then we battle. May the best man.err..fighter win."
Needing little encouragement, the vamp rushed her, his head covered with a mass of dirty black hair. She stood still, letting him kick her in the stomach. Though she was thrown against a gravestone with the force of the blow, she was up a second later, laughing.
"You really are pathetic, you know that?" Buffy remarked. "Sacred duty aside, I see no reason to be out here. My poor dead grandma could beat you up!"
He gaped at her, half-embarrassed and half-afraid. "Umm.don't kill me?"
The petite Slayer just laughed sarcastically. "Brilliant comeback. You know what my line is now?"
The only answer was a cloud of dust as she threw the stake, hitting his heart with deadly aim.
She sighed once all traces of the foe were gone. "You see that." she said out loud to nobody in particular. "I got rid of him. I'm sure the world's gonna sleep better and everything! Somebody give me a damn parade!"
She stopped talking, alerted by the sound of a low chuckle nearby. Whipping around with a crossbow from her duffel bag, she aimed it at the tree from where the sound originated. The weapon dropped to the ground almost as fast as her mouth when her amused audience stepped out from behind his viewpoint, hands up in surrender.
"A..Angel?" Buffy stammered, trying to calm the flutters in her stomach. "Um.I knew trees didn't laugh!"
He grinned back, noting the rising flush on her face. "So, I take it you missed me?"
'A new speaking record!' she thought silently, with no small amount of bitterness.
"I'm so glad you're back!" she replied, belying her words with a tiny, sad smile. She doubted he was here for anything but business.
Trying to lighten the mood, Angel gestured at their surroundings, awkwardly punning. "I gathered that Sunnydale has been rather dead lately. Not dead enough though, huh?"
"Omigod." she groaned, reddening even more. "I was saying all that stuff out loud? I'm really sorry."
"Nah, don't be," the brunette vampire reassured her, inching closer. "I was the only one able to hear you.unless you count that poor vamp you dusted."
"Yeah." Buffy replied, remembering to retrieve her stake from amid the pile of dust.
As she walked over, Angel followed, complimenting "And I kinda missed Ranting Buffy.but mostly I missed just Buffy."
She giggled suddenly, with a sly smile in his direction. "Someone is theoretically blushing."
"No arguments here." Angel replied, shuffling in an awkward manner.
They made the move to embrace, not realizing what had happened until they fit once more into each other's arms. Relaxing against his chest, Buffy closed her eyes as his hand rubbed her back, retracing an endless circle. It had been far too long. She was torn between melting in a puddle to the ground or never moving for the rest of her life.
Suddenly, Angel stopped, looking down at her from his height. On the defensive, she looked up, getting a crick in the neck, but ignoring it.
"What?" she asked defensively, glaring at his dancing eyes.
"Nothing.never mind!" he laughed, before enduring a jab in the side. "I just thought you had fallen asleep or something."
Her chuckles rang out through the graveyard, soon joined by his. Though they weren't sure why it was so funny, they laughed until tears ran out of their eyes. Collapsing to the earth, Angel wiped the bloody tearstains away and gathered her close.
"So." Buffy started quietly after a few moments of silence, attempting to find out why he had come back. "How's LA been?"
"Los Angeles.is." he said slowly, trying to think of the right words.
"Swinging?" she joked. "I can see you now, clubbing all night with some drunk girls."
"They don't make them in LA like they do here." Angel flatly interrupted, his dark brown eyes doing all the talking for him.
Looking at him seriously for a second, the Slayer leaned in slowly towards his face, giving him every chance to back away. But he didn't, and when their lips finally met, the world could have shattered into fiery pieces. They didn't care.
The toll of three years apart caused them to deepen their kiss immediately, leaving her almost breathless in its' ferocity. When they finally separated, he was dazedly able to remember a slight problem with this otherwise perfect relationship.
"Buffy?" he whispered, voice hoarse with need. "My soul."
His warning was in vain, cut off by a trail of kisses she left on his chest as she unbuttoned the shirt. Driven near madness by longing and love, he forgot his constraints. She moaned, with some amount of triumph, as he yanked her shorts down, tearing out part of the zipper in his rush. Already leaning against a tree, Buffy pulled Angel down to the ground, straddling him easily. They looked at each other with passionate, smoky eyes. This action seemed hasty, but somehow so right.
A mere twenty minutes later, their solitude was interrupted. Unluckily for her, the Slayer's night seemed to be teeming with hidden audiences. Hidden to the preoccupied couple, another set of eyes observed their lovemaking, with no small amount of disgust.
"Thanks for the show, Slayer!" a voice abruptly complained from behind a nearby crypt.
Startled at the interruption, Buffy yanked her shorts back up, looking in panic for her shirt. However, the top was beyond both reach and repair. Shakily, she and Angel got to their feet, warily looking for the eavesdropper.
Spike stepped out once they were fully aware of another presence. In the pale moonlight, his silvery hair glinted nearly as much as his eyes, laughing silently at their discomfort. He had just stepped out to find a late night snack, but the excursion was turning out to be much more interesting.
"You know, luv?" he sniggered, cocking his head to the side. "I do believe you've saved some helpless soul. I've lost my bloody appetite!"
Quickly recognizing the accent, Angel leaped at the blond vampire, ready to defend himself and the Slayer. However, his grandchilde had been expecting such an attack, knocking the older vamp down with one blow. Oddly disoriented, Angel was easily out of the fight with another cruel kick, falling face-down in the shadows.
Unaware of who he had just battled, Spike turned his attention to the Slayer, his punch landing square on her jaw, cutting off her shocked gasp. Hazel eyes glinting in angry challenge, she whirled to face him, beginning a furious trade of blows. However, five bruising minutes later, the blonde Slayer had forgotten her state of undress. This fact was quickly brought to her attention by Spike's infuriating smirk.
As he took in the dark blue bra with the raise of an suggestive brow, she turned a embarrassed shade of red. The distraction was enough for him to lean forward, seizing her face with just enough force to hold her still. She thrashed but he tightened his grip painfully and placed a sadistic kiss on her unyielding lips. With a yelp, she finally managed to break away from the mockery of an embrace when he slashed down with his fangs. Blood welled up from the two shallow cuts.
Staring at him in horror as he casually licked her blood off from around his mouth, Buffy was unprepared for any attack. Mercilessly, he delivered a kick to her stomach, striking her gasping to the ground. Chastising herself for being an easy target, she focused on breathing evenly.
Spike looked down at her heaving form, hands in the pockets of his duster. Defiantly, the Slayer scowled at him, near driven mad with the silent laughter emanating from those damn cold lips of his. He just grinned at her irritation and idly waited for his opponent to rise, the poster boy for chivalry gone wrong.
"Surrender, Dorothy," he quipped with a disdainful glance at Angel, "And your little dog too."
As she regained her breath, Buffy's face was still flushed with shame. However, as he watched, a livid expression stole into her flawless features. With a sudden burst of energy, she lunged to her feet, hitting and hurling her adversary some distance away. As it happened, right into the area where Angel lay.
To Buffy's horror, he was not yet awake. Easily rolling back onto his feet, Spike sauntered over to her lover's motionless form.
"So, Slayer," the vampire taunted, dragging the 'mystery man' face-down into the light. "Who's the lay of the day?"
The small Slayer's indignant right hook was sidestepped as he turned over her unconscious conquest. Upon recognition of Angel, he snapped his head up to glare at her. Turning to her violently, he grabbed her neck and threw her up against a mausoleum. Before he had toyed with her, bored and indifferent. But now their games were over, the fury and small hint of alarm in his hard eyes unsettling her. This was not like her other dealings with William the Bloody. She writhed uncomfortably trying to get free, but his steady arm prevented any escape.
"You daft bint!" he growled with soft menace, inwardly dreading Angelus' return. "Did you finish him?"
"What?" she faltered, thoroughly confused. Finish as in kill? Wouldn't one of Spike's ultimate goals be to rid the world of his 'poofy' grandsire?
He glared at her, obviously at a loss for a appropriate insult. Sighing with a patronizing air, he dragged her over to Angel and arrogantly pointed. She still looked unsure of his meaning, struggling for breath his relentless grasp did not grant. Gazing at her speculatively for a moment, he tossed her towards her lover, resigned to be crude in order to get his point across.
"Did he cum?" he bluntly scoffed, plainly of the opinion she wouldn't know one way or the other.
His only answer was the frantic sound of the Slayer running off, barefoot. Since she would never risk feeding Spike's ego with retreat, that must be a yes. He gave Angel a troubled prod with his boot.
"That's right, Slayer," Spike finished with a snarl, viciously embedding the heel of her abandoned shoe into the soft earth. "Run away."
********** Racing as fast as she could down the street, Buffy covered the mile between the graveyard and her new apartment in what seemed to her like record time. Favoring her left foot, she limped through the entrance hall of the complex. Those inside the lobby stared at her in shock. Hair disheveled and clutching the tatters of her tank top to her chest, the small blonde headed toward the stairs, oblivious to the stir she was causing.
The receptionist, a woman in her forties with immaculate makeup was professionally startled but concerned. Obviously something awful had happened, so why was the young woman here instead of a hospital? With distaste, she moved her gaze to the bloodstains on the floor from the tenant's feet.
"Ma'am?" she said anyway. Buffy wearily turned with a bland look on her face. "Do you need me to call the police? Or an ambulance?"
Letting the question sink in for a moment, Buffy rubbed her bruising cheekbone, and mutely shook her head 'no'. Dumbfounded, the employee watched the girl practically drag herself upstairs to her third-floor apartment.
Again, reviews are wonderful.you know the drill, I bathe in praise and scrub away with that constructive criticism. Those hard to reach places. Sigh.
An AU fic (no Initiative, chipped vamps, or Riley! I left out Dawn too just because). I will warn readers, there is a little bit of S/A in here, but not all parties involved are willing.
Disclaimer: These characters are products of Joss Whedon and Co, but most of the stuff in this story is mine. You know, all the witty comebacks, sexually awkward situations, and rabid tattooed monkeys! Okay, okay, maybe not the rabid tattooed monkeys, but you're an intelligent fanfic reader, you get the point. Thanks to everyone involved with the creation of this story. The few, the proud, the insane.
Two weeks later: Sunnydale, California
It had been almost four years since the whole sending-the-lover-to- hell fiasco. Four incredibly awful years of depression, training and groping from countless blind dates. After Angel had been returned to the Earth, Buffy had stopped seeing anyone. Not that it had done any good. Once recovered, he had immediately moved out of Sunnydale, sending a clear message of rejection. He had been a big help coming back to help stop the Mayor's Ascension, but kept his distance from his ex-lover the entire time.
Nonetheless, she had effectively minimized her social life to her closest friends and the calendar in her room that counted every day since she lost him. After all, Angel was her first, strongest, and last love. How could she allow herself to forget? Well, to be fair, she also counted the days because nothing remotely exciting had happened since they had broken up. At all.
It was as if the fact that giving your lover a one-way ticket to hell, having him come back, and not speaking two words the whole time caused the powers-that-be think she needed a vacation. No apocalypse, no incredibly dangerous demons! Not even a new store opening at the mall! Just the same old boring routine of patrol.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" the Slayer grumbled to herself as she stomped through a cemetery, glaring at the sky. "It's alright to send me something to do, you know! Maybe a quest! Or something!!!"
She redirected her rant, halting and turning to the ground. "And you? Let's not even go there! Not saying I like dying or anything, but does Hell enjoy seeing me bored out of my mind!!????"
Evidently only a little bit. Unbeknownst to the pissed Slayer, a vampire had come into the area. Normally, he would have avoided her at all costs, in fear of his unlife, but now he sensed his chance. She had obviously lost her mind, staring and talking to the ground below. It would be the easiest thing in the world to go kill her and get a free meal. He boldly approached with no caution whatsoever.
"I've got one word for you," the blonde stated flatly to her enemy, keen ears picking up his heavy footsteps. "Mistake."
Before the young vamp could react, she had turned and pressed a stake against his unbeating heart. Resigned to his error, he looked into her glinting hazel eyes and stiffened for the death blow. When her weapon withdrew, his vampiric face twisted into confusion, an expression which likely was not very attractive on either of his visages.
"But," the Slayer quietly continued, having decided to toy with her attacker. "I think it's your lucky night. Sort of. I'll give you a fighting chance."
"Huh?" her hapless opponent asked.
"Oh, shut up!" she barked. "You get first hit. Then we battle. May the best man.err..fighter win."
Needing little encouragement, the vamp rushed her, his head covered with a mass of dirty black hair. She stood still, letting him kick her in the stomach. Though she was thrown against a gravestone with the force of the blow, she was up a second later, laughing.
"You really are pathetic, you know that?" Buffy remarked. "Sacred duty aside, I see no reason to be out here. My poor dead grandma could beat you up!"
He gaped at her, half-embarrassed and half-afraid. "Umm.don't kill me?"
The petite Slayer just laughed sarcastically. "Brilliant comeback. You know what my line is now?"
The only answer was a cloud of dust as she threw the stake, hitting his heart with deadly aim.
She sighed once all traces of the foe were gone. "You see that." she said out loud to nobody in particular. "I got rid of him. I'm sure the world's gonna sleep better and everything! Somebody give me a damn parade!"
She stopped talking, alerted by the sound of a low chuckle nearby. Whipping around with a crossbow from her duffel bag, she aimed it at the tree from where the sound originated. The weapon dropped to the ground almost as fast as her mouth when her amused audience stepped out from behind his viewpoint, hands up in surrender.
"A..Angel?" Buffy stammered, trying to calm the flutters in her stomach. "Um.I knew trees didn't laugh!"
He grinned back, noting the rising flush on her face. "So, I take it you missed me?"
'A new speaking record!' she thought silently, with no small amount of bitterness.
"I'm so glad you're back!" she replied, belying her words with a tiny, sad smile. She doubted he was here for anything but business.
Trying to lighten the mood, Angel gestured at their surroundings, awkwardly punning. "I gathered that Sunnydale has been rather dead lately. Not dead enough though, huh?"
"Omigod." she groaned, reddening even more. "I was saying all that stuff out loud? I'm really sorry."
"Nah, don't be," the brunette vampire reassured her, inching closer. "I was the only one able to hear you.unless you count that poor vamp you dusted."
"Yeah." Buffy replied, remembering to retrieve her stake from amid the pile of dust.
As she walked over, Angel followed, complimenting "And I kinda missed Ranting Buffy.but mostly I missed just Buffy."
She giggled suddenly, with a sly smile in his direction. "Someone is theoretically blushing."
"No arguments here." Angel replied, shuffling in an awkward manner.
They made the move to embrace, not realizing what had happened until they fit once more into each other's arms. Relaxing against his chest, Buffy closed her eyes as his hand rubbed her back, retracing an endless circle. It had been far too long. She was torn between melting in a puddle to the ground or never moving for the rest of her life.
Suddenly, Angel stopped, looking down at her from his height. On the defensive, she looked up, getting a crick in the neck, but ignoring it.
"What?" she asked defensively, glaring at his dancing eyes.
"Nothing.never mind!" he laughed, before enduring a jab in the side. "I just thought you had fallen asleep or something."
Her chuckles rang out through the graveyard, soon joined by his. Though they weren't sure why it was so funny, they laughed until tears ran out of their eyes. Collapsing to the earth, Angel wiped the bloody tearstains away and gathered her close.
"So." Buffy started quietly after a few moments of silence, attempting to find out why he had come back. "How's LA been?"
"Los Angeles.is." he said slowly, trying to think of the right words.
"Swinging?" she joked. "I can see you now, clubbing all night with some drunk girls."
"They don't make them in LA like they do here." Angel flatly interrupted, his dark brown eyes doing all the talking for him.
Looking at him seriously for a second, the Slayer leaned in slowly towards his face, giving him every chance to back away. But he didn't, and when their lips finally met, the world could have shattered into fiery pieces. They didn't care.
The toll of three years apart caused them to deepen their kiss immediately, leaving her almost breathless in its' ferocity. When they finally separated, he was dazedly able to remember a slight problem with this otherwise perfect relationship.
"Buffy?" he whispered, voice hoarse with need. "My soul."
His warning was in vain, cut off by a trail of kisses she left on his chest as she unbuttoned the shirt. Driven near madness by longing and love, he forgot his constraints. She moaned, with some amount of triumph, as he yanked her shorts down, tearing out part of the zipper in his rush. Already leaning against a tree, Buffy pulled Angel down to the ground, straddling him easily. They looked at each other with passionate, smoky eyes. This action seemed hasty, but somehow so right.
A mere twenty minutes later, their solitude was interrupted. Unluckily for her, the Slayer's night seemed to be teeming with hidden audiences. Hidden to the preoccupied couple, another set of eyes observed their lovemaking, with no small amount of disgust.
"Thanks for the show, Slayer!" a voice abruptly complained from behind a nearby crypt.
Startled at the interruption, Buffy yanked her shorts back up, looking in panic for her shirt. However, the top was beyond both reach and repair. Shakily, she and Angel got to their feet, warily looking for the eavesdropper.
Spike stepped out once they were fully aware of another presence. In the pale moonlight, his silvery hair glinted nearly as much as his eyes, laughing silently at their discomfort. He had just stepped out to find a late night snack, but the excursion was turning out to be much more interesting.
"You know, luv?" he sniggered, cocking his head to the side. "I do believe you've saved some helpless soul. I've lost my bloody appetite!"
Quickly recognizing the accent, Angel leaped at the blond vampire, ready to defend himself and the Slayer. However, his grandchilde had been expecting such an attack, knocking the older vamp down with one blow. Oddly disoriented, Angel was easily out of the fight with another cruel kick, falling face-down in the shadows.
Unaware of who he had just battled, Spike turned his attention to the Slayer, his punch landing square on her jaw, cutting off her shocked gasp. Hazel eyes glinting in angry challenge, she whirled to face him, beginning a furious trade of blows. However, five bruising minutes later, the blonde Slayer had forgotten her state of undress. This fact was quickly brought to her attention by Spike's infuriating smirk.
As he took in the dark blue bra with the raise of an suggestive brow, she turned a embarrassed shade of red. The distraction was enough for him to lean forward, seizing her face with just enough force to hold her still. She thrashed but he tightened his grip painfully and placed a sadistic kiss on her unyielding lips. With a yelp, she finally managed to break away from the mockery of an embrace when he slashed down with his fangs. Blood welled up from the two shallow cuts.
Staring at him in horror as he casually licked her blood off from around his mouth, Buffy was unprepared for any attack. Mercilessly, he delivered a kick to her stomach, striking her gasping to the ground. Chastising herself for being an easy target, she focused on breathing evenly.
Spike looked down at her heaving form, hands in the pockets of his duster. Defiantly, the Slayer scowled at him, near driven mad with the silent laughter emanating from those damn cold lips of his. He just grinned at her irritation and idly waited for his opponent to rise, the poster boy for chivalry gone wrong.
"Surrender, Dorothy," he quipped with a disdainful glance at Angel, "And your little dog too."
As she regained her breath, Buffy's face was still flushed with shame. However, as he watched, a livid expression stole into her flawless features. With a sudden burst of energy, she lunged to her feet, hitting and hurling her adversary some distance away. As it happened, right into the area where Angel lay.
To Buffy's horror, he was not yet awake. Easily rolling back onto his feet, Spike sauntered over to her lover's motionless form.
"So, Slayer," the vampire taunted, dragging the 'mystery man' face-down into the light. "Who's the lay of the day?"
The small Slayer's indignant right hook was sidestepped as he turned over her unconscious conquest. Upon recognition of Angel, he snapped his head up to glare at her. Turning to her violently, he grabbed her neck and threw her up against a mausoleum. Before he had toyed with her, bored and indifferent. But now their games were over, the fury and small hint of alarm in his hard eyes unsettling her. This was not like her other dealings with William the Bloody. She writhed uncomfortably trying to get free, but his steady arm prevented any escape.
"You daft bint!" he growled with soft menace, inwardly dreading Angelus' return. "Did you finish him?"
"What?" she faltered, thoroughly confused. Finish as in kill? Wouldn't one of Spike's ultimate goals be to rid the world of his 'poofy' grandsire?
He glared at her, obviously at a loss for a appropriate insult. Sighing with a patronizing air, he dragged her over to Angel and arrogantly pointed. She still looked unsure of his meaning, struggling for breath his relentless grasp did not grant. Gazing at her speculatively for a moment, he tossed her towards her lover, resigned to be crude in order to get his point across.
"Did he cum?" he bluntly scoffed, plainly of the opinion she wouldn't know one way or the other.
His only answer was the frantic sound of the Slayer running off, barefoot. Since she would never risk feeding Spike's ego with retreat, that must be a yes. He gave Angel a troubled prod with his boot.
"That's right, Slayer," Spike finished with a snarl, viciously embedding the heel of her abandoned shoe into the soft earth. "Run away."
********** Racing as fast as she could down the street, Buffy covered the mile between the graveyard and her new apartment in what seemed to her like record time. Favoring her left foot, she limped through the entrance hall of the complex. Those inside the lobby stared at her in shock. Hair disheveled and clutching the tatters of her tank top to her chest, the small blonde headed toward the stairs, oblivious to the stir she was causing.
The receptionist, a woman in her forties with immaculate makeup was professionally startled but concerned. Obviously something awful had happened, so why was the young woman here instead of a hospital? With distaste, she moved her gaze to the bloodstains on the floor from the tenant's feet.
"Ma'am?" she said anyway. Buffy wearily turned with a bland look on her face. "Do you need me to call the police? Or an ambulance?"
Letting the question sink in for a moment, Buffy rubbed her bruising cheekbone, and mutely shook her head 'no'. Dumbfounded, the employee watched the girl practically drag herself upstairs to her third-floor apartment.
Again, reviews are wonderful.you know the drill, I bathe in praise and scrub away with that constructive criticism. Those hard to reach places. Sigh.