*********************************TRApPeD************************************
Twenty-Four: As It Grows
By Annie
2003-04-24
****************************************************************************
Day Seventeen.
9.42 a.m.
Buffy woke slowly. Stretching she yawned and then Willow's voice made her open her eyes fully to look over at her friend, who was sitting on her own bed brushing her hair.
"You were out late last night," she said and Buffy nodded a little, pulling herself up to sit with her back leaned against the headboard. "Any Adam sightings?" Willow added and the latter shook her head as a response. "What time DID you get back?"
"Oh... I'm not sure," Buffy answered, throwing her covers off and getting to her feet. "Patrolling kinda dragged time out, you know? You get to that point where you're not sure if it's night or morning anymore."
Willow smiled hesitantly.
"Right," she agreed. "Buffy... Is there something you wanna tell me?"
A chill of surprise iced the Slayer's back and then she shrugged it off impatiently. Willow was her best friend, she wouldn't hold the formers socializing with Spike against her. Buffy felt foolish for even having an ounce of worry, for such a thing to occur, within her. And so she faced the redhead with the decision to tell her everything that had happened... Well, practically everything - minus a few more intimate details.
"I saw you," Willow said before Buffy had a chance to open her mouth and speak, and the latter turned into an ashy shade of white at the hurt expression on Willow's face. "Last night I saw you."
"What?" Buffy wondered slowly, her head filling with cotton. "Who?"
"You," Willow replied. "And Spike."
Buffy swallowed.
"What were you doing out by yourself?" she then asked and Willow rolled her eyes before shaking her head, getting to her feet as well.
"This isn't about MY safety, it's about YOURS. What were you doing with him?" she demanded and Buffy felt the cotton swell, her thoughts fighting for air, she couldn't find them or make them move to her mouth in order to be spoken. "Buffy," Willow tried, voice filled with concern, "what really happened in that basement? Please, tell me. Don't you trust me?"
Buffy's eyes grew at that.
"Of course I trust you, Will!" she then answered, walking up to her and taking her hands. "It's not... I just don't know how to explain," she added and Willow furrowed her brow.
"'Explain' what?" she wondered and Buffy bit her jaws together before motioning for them to have a seat on Willow's bed.
They did and Buffy tried to collect herself. Pressing the cotton down she regained some control over her mind and she took a breath to ease the pain from the heaviness with which her heart was beating. Looking up she met Willow's gaze and then she said:
"We've come to sort of an understanding," and Willow's eyebrows rose. Buffy continued: "Spike's gonna help me...us..."
"Why?!" Willow exclaimed, voice filled with the surprise clear on her face and Buffy smiled slightly.
"Frankly... I don't know," she then replied.
Because he can't be feeling something that he really shouldn't be feeling, she instructed herself for the thousandth time since he and her had parted at half past four that morning, and for the three-thousandth time since he had touched her the way he had when they were still on patrol.
The hours had floated by quietly enough. They had gone to Willy's - now unnecessarily renamed Willy's Place, or so Buffy thought since a coat of paint and French waiters still wouldn't be enough to make that shack "classy" - and gotten some more information out of him. No more saves, but quite a few slays and another nest cleared out. Spike had proven himself to her. He had been fast and strong and original. Flexible when he needed to be and actually they made a pretty good team.
Team? Buffy. No.
But...yes.
And he was...different, somehow. The attitude was still there, that was for sure. But...
Derailing that train of thought she remembered where she was and with whom she was having a conversation that was pretty important and so she brought herself back into present time, looking at Willow who was waiting for an elaboration of the Slayer's former statement.
"I know he's not trustworthy, and I really do NOT trust him... But a few nights ago he saved my life; and then, two nights ago, he did it again," she now said and at that Willow's eyes grew round.
"He SAVED you? I didn't think that would be possible when it came to him. He's always seemed so...grr," the redhead stated and Buffy smiled wider at that before she nodded.
"Tell me about it! I was more than shocked and...actually he hasn't really given me an answer to why he did it yet," she then muttered thoughtfully. "But anyways, I told him to choose a side a few days ago 'cause this whole thing with Adam had me so thrown - and two nights ago he did. And he chose ours."
"But, Buffy, this is Spike we're dealing with here... And if you can't trust him...?"
"No, I know," Buffy interrupted. "But we agreed that we'd have this code of honor thing-y, and that was HIS idea 'cause he doesn't wanna stand by me without any assurance, you know?"
Willow looked clearly skeptical.
"'Code of honor'?" she then asked and Buffy smirked.
"I know, sounds all James Bond meets... whatever great war-movie that's out there, but I believe in it," she replied.
Willow blinked, then frowned.
"So, you trust him to hold up his end of the bargain?" she inquired and Buffy paused, then shook her head.
"No, it's not like that," she assured.
"Then what's it like? I wanna get with the program here, but what are you saying? He's a Scoob?" Willow wondered and Buffy shook her head violently at that.
"No, not a Scoob - he's just a string of information ready to be milked at any time. And if anyone can - HE'LL be the one who's gonna be able to get close to Adam," she then stated and Willow grew wondering. "If the time should present itself," Buffy added and Willow furrowed her brow.
"So, you're just using him?" she asked and Buffy shrugged.
"Hey, he's using me," she replied. "There's just a buncha rolled up usage going on between the two of us," she added, rising to her feet and into another stretch before relaxing with a huff. "Have you eaten breakfast?" she asked, looking over her shoulder as she walked up to her closet to pick out an outfit for the day.
"No, I haven't gotten around to it," Willow replied. "But, this with Spike... He's not gonna hang around with you - or us - is he?"
Buffy shook her head, grabbing a brown sweater off its shelf and holding it up.
"Nope, Wills. No hanging whatsoever," she assured, throwing the sweater on her bed and grabbing a pair of black jeans to go with it.
"And you're not gonna hang around...him?" she asked and Buffy stopped what she was doing - which was pulling her pajama top over her head - to stare at her friend.
"I BEG your pardon?" she then grumbled, finishing the pulling and tossing the fabric aside as she grabbed the sweater.
"Well, from what I saw last night... I dunno, you seemed... friendly," Willow mumbled tentatively and Buffy raised her eyebrows before she smiled incredulously.
"Friendly? Spike? ME? Are you sure it was US you saw 'cause I can promise you - whenever we're in too close proximity of one another sparks fly," she then answered and Willow narrowed her eyes at that statement. Buffy realized how she had phrased it about two seconds later and hurriedly added: "I mean that as in sparks from hell and filled with rage and lust to...kill. Each other, mostly! And bad, bad things happen... from the sparks."
"From hell," Willow filled in helpfully and Buffy smiled a small smile at that, then nodded.
"Right," she said and Willow returned her smile.
"Right," she then agreed silently.
***
6.33 p.m.
He felt nervous.
It was crazy - but that was how he felt as he waited for her, located beneath a big oak in the same cemetery hosting his crypt.
He had tried to pace the emotion out of him, but that didn't work; merely encouraged it to grow. Then he had decided on standing as still as possible being the better solution; but that had also been a mistake. As he began to grow fidgety and unsure of what to do with his hands he had just about turned and given to whole thing up, but then her voice had spoken his name and made him stay where he was, turning his head to look at her as she approached him.
"Here," she said, handing him a handful of stakes - three, to be exact - and then continuing passed him.
"What - no bloody wrapping? You sure do know how to take the fun outta it," he muttered with a touch of wryness and she moved her head to give him a look over her shoulder.
He merely smirked.
"We need to get going," she stated, picking up her pace and he followed, coming up to walk beside her.
"And where to?" he asked, tucking the weapons into the right hand pocket of the duster.
"I don't know," she snapped. "Just...somewhere. Everywhere."
"Me thinkest me hearest a touch of-..."
"Look," she interrupted, stopping and turning to him with a face very much drained from its last drops of patience, "I've barely slept in three days... I'm entitled the mood I'm in right now, okay? And that mood clearly lets me know just how little I wanna listen to your constant..."
"Blathering? Blabbering? Yammering? Yada-yada? ...-ing?" he filled in and she rolled her eyes to the sky. "So why did you wanna meet up?" he wondered as she got going again, and he did as well.
"I didn't WANT to, but I HAD to," she grumbled.
"Oh, right, you HAD to," he nodded, making her look at him again. "Well, I'm sorry, pet, but since when did you EVER 'have' to have me as company on one of your bloody field trips?"
She glared at him, realizing that she had no good response to that.
"Is it MY fault you proved so useful?" she asked and the lingering smirk widened.
"Was that supposed to be an insult?" he shot and she met his gaze for a few moments, then cleared her throat and looked away.
"Adam's been on a killing rampage ever since he broke free of the Initiative's lame-ass straps. He's merciless and cruel and I wanna put an end to it," she said now, meeting the blue with her green and seeing how the former seemed to come to be hit with just how serious she was. "Tonight," she finished.
"If any of what you've told me is true," he now replied, "you can't really say that you think you're gonna be able to just sodding blow him outta the water."
"No," she admitted. "That's why I need you."
He stopped, tilting his head questioningly to one side as he eyed her for a few moments.
"For what?" he asked.
"Adam's gonna contact you," she answered him. "I hope," she added, causing him to smile a little before she continued. "I'm just betting he will, sooner or later, run into you and then..."
She trailed off, looking up at this vampire before her, this form of a man with his eyes so searching, and suddenly she realized this might just get him killed. Well, more killed. The thought made her feel so uncomfortable she almost wanted to crawl out of her own skin.
Using him, remember?!
Right. Using. Just as he was her.
"Then?" he now wondered and she brought herself out of her thoughts in the next instant.
"Then you'll make him trust you and... I dunno, I haven't PLANNED the whole thing; we'll just have to take it one step at a time and hopefully everything 'll run smooth enough," she replied with as much nonchalance as she could.
It seemed to be a tad too much since he raised his eyebrows before asking:
"Hopefully? What if it sodding blows up in my face? I take it you won't be close enough to even feel the bloody after-shock!"
She licked her lips, putting a hand up by her forehead and rubbing it tiredly, trying to get her mind cleared. What had she just said to him that made him have this explosion? She needed to sit down, or lean against something, or...
His arms caught her and steadied her when she stumbled to the side. She closed her eyes, battling back the sleep-deprivation and the constant tearing on her nerves from this never seizing worrying. That child, the little boy that had died... He was still haunting her and she felt so powerless.
"You need to go home," Spike's voice simmered through her heavy thoughts. "Get some sleep, love."
"I can't!" she whined, looking up at him with the fatigue painting her gaze and sketching her features. "I can't, Spike! That's just it. I can't sleep. I have to find him, kill him.get him outta my head!"
"Shh," he mumbled softly. "Listen to me," he added, making her meet his gaze steadily before he continued: "You WILL find him, don't you bloody worry about it..." He stared down at her, taken by the sudden frailty on her. "'Cause you will," he mumbled. "I know you will..."
Dreadfully close. That was what he was. He reminded her of all the candy- covered delights he could do to her, invoke within her...with his hands...and those lips...
Her own hands had been clasping his lower arms, finding her balance thanks to them, but now they slowly moved a few inches up over the leather of his duster and her eyes grew slightly as her feet took the small step dividing their bodies. Her eyes didn't leave his as their faces drifted closer to the other, and then she let her eyelids shut out the rest of the world.
The sound of a creaking rope made them both come back from the place they had almost been taken and they looked at each other for a second before they slowly turned their heads to it. Buffy's eyes widened at the sight of the strung up and gutted demon hanging in the tree to her right.
"Holy crap," she murmured.
"You can bloody well say that again," Spike breathed.
"Holy. Crap," she repeated and they let each other go for ogling the mess before them.
"Still tired?" Spike asked and Buffy shook her head. "Adam?" he then wondered and she turned her head to him before she answered:
"It's what he did to the boy."
Ten minutes later they stopped before the stairs leading down to the back door of Xander's basement. Buffy seemed to grow hesitant and Spike turned to her with a questioning gaze.
"Want me to leave?" he asked.
Her eyes grew. The surprise he caused her was evident on her face in the pale light of the moon and he clenched his jaws together. Stupid, stupid move.
"I mean - I bloody well won't!" he added and she blinked, raising her eyebrows slightly and he sighed. "Too late for that save?" he wondered and she suddenly smiled.
"Just a bit," she then nodded and he returned the smile before they both grew rather uncomfortable and made the show of something so unlike them vanish. "Spike, why do you...?" she began and then the door opened below and Xander poked his head out.
His eyes widened slightly at the sight of the vampire and then he moved his arm, throwing what he had in his hand in a surprisingly well aimed bow to hit the fiend right in the forehead.
"Ao, bloody HELL!" Spike exclaimed, putting a hand up by the spot and rubbing it as he turned two furious eyes on the mortal. "Are you bleeding mental?!"
"No, I was TRYING to hit your heart. Gosh darn it, I missed," Xander replied sarcastically.
Buffy struggled to keep the laughter back, but she couldn't restrain the smile and she tried to hide it from the bleached blonde in front of her the best she could as she turned to face Xander.
"WHAT are you doing?" she asked and he smirked at the look on her face.
"Hey - I thought he was trying to molest you or something," he answered and she giggled, clearing her throat before she descended the stairs to him.
Turning around she met the still annoyed eyes of Spike and she tried on a calming smile. It seemed to do the trick since he shook his head and then drew a very irritated huff of air, though he seemed to soften up slightly and WHAT exactly did this mean? "Soften up"?! And why was it that she had just done that? She had actually presumed to be able to... No. No, she hadn't. She had merely looked at him and he had looked back and now they were marching into that basement to have a low down with Xander and Willow and...that was it.
Good. Fine. Perfect.
Spike blinked as she swirled around and practically ran in through the open door. Then he frowned. What had that smile just now been all about? It had said: please, forget it, don't mind him... Sure, it had been small, yet very distinct. Telling him to cool down... And he HAD?! He had. Oh, this was really very bad. This was as bad as it could possibly get. He was transforming into some sort of a wanker. A loser. Someone whom she... What? Whom she what?
"What the bugger did you throw at me?" he asked, interrupting his own thoughts and looking down at Xander who had the smirk grow back on.
"A can of tuna," he replied and Spike raised his eyebrows.
"Hurt like hell," he muttered, starting the descent as well.
"Your mask of pain sorta ratted on you," Xander remarked and Spike gave him a look.
"What were you doing with a bloody can of tuna?" the latter then asked and Xander shrugged.
"Making sandwiches. Willow likes 'em, for some reason," he then answered, following the vampire through the doorway and closing the door behind them.
"Well, were you done making them?" Spike now inquired meaningfully and Xander looked at him, then he connected the dots and opened the door again.
Spike proceeded further into the room.
"I've never seen anything like it," Buffy mumbled, pacing slowly on the floor as Willow listened seated on the couch to the vampire's right.
"And it had to be Adam who killed it?" Willow wondered, Buffy nodding. "But why?" the former asked and Buffy stopped.
"He's studying biology," she replied. "Human... demon... whatever he can get his hands on and tear apart."
"He wants to know what makes things work," Willow murmured and Buffy nodded again.
Xander re-entered the basement with the finishing touch to his snack in hand, coming to a halt as he noticed the theme of nowhere-near-happy decorating the air.
"Did something happen while I was gone?" he asked and Willow gave him a reassuring smile before she looked to Buffy for the explanation.
The Slayer gave it, making Xander stare at her and then move his arm, dropping the can of tuna into the trash bin; clearly feeling the need for food evaporating.
"When this turns into being beaten around a room by the Hulk of Frankenstein, could we please just not indulge?" he asked and Buffy's face grew determined.
"It's not coming to that," she assured. "The Initiative created this thing, and now they can't stop it. But we will," she added, turning her eyes into Spike's and he tilted his head slightly to one side before he granted her a small nod.
"What's first?" Willow wondered and Buffy sat down on the edge of the armchair by which she had been standing before replying:
"Hopefully Spike 'll be able to help locate Adam... Or Adam might locate him... But anyhow, Spike's agreed to... Well, to..." she trailed off, turning her head to once more look at the vamp.
"Act as a spy?" he tried and she furrowed her brow slightly, then she nodded.
"Yeah," she concurred.
"Is there a role in it for me?" a voice asked and Buffy turned around at the sound of it, her face having a warm smile spread across it as she rested her eyes in Riley's.
**************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** ******************
Okay, I know. Mister So-Boring-It-Sodding-Blows-My-Head-Off(thankfully) is back. I had to, you do realize that, don't you... For how long? Da-Da-DA! ;) Thank you as always for the huge outreach of support from you all! Luv ya!
Great, huge, special outshout of thanks to Heather, Pine, Captain, Von, Charlie, Rachel, Shaelune, TheRealiz, charisma1525, Johanna and Pin - I really love reading your thoughts and hearing that this is still enjoyable! Really do hope this chapter was as well.
To you who might be wondering - In the Dead of the Night HAS been hung up on a hook for a while now since I've been struggling to juggle work, writing this story - which I'm very much wrapped up in right now - AND reading (for editing purposes) In the Dead... BUT I do want to continue it so don't worry, its time will come. I don't dare to promise anything, but hopefully I will have a new chapter up sometime next week and from there I'll try to start to update regularly again. I haven't forgotten about it, not at all. It WILL be finished. ;)
Thanks to all of you on that one AND on this one. 'Til next time...
A.M.L, Annie.
Twenty-Four: As It Grows
By Annie
2003-04-24
****************************************************************************
Day Seventeen.
9.42 a.m.
Buffy woke slowly. Stretching she yawned and then Willow's voice made her open her eyes fully to look over at her friend, who was sitting on her own bed brushing her hair.
"You were out late last night," she said and Buffy nodded a little, pulling herself up to sit with her back leaned against the headboard. "Any Adam sightings?" Willow added and the latter shook her head as a response. "What time DID you get back?"
"Oh... I'm not sure," Buffy answered, throwing her covers off and getting to her feet. "Patrolling kinda dragged time out, you know? You get to that point where you're not sure if it's night or morning anymore."
Willow smiled hesitantly.
"Right," she agreed. "Buffy... Is there something you wanna tell me?"
A chill of surprise iced the Slayer's back and then she shrugged it off impatiently. Willow was her best friend, she wouldn't hold the formers socializing with Spike against her. Buffy felt foolish for even having an ounce of worry, for such a thing to occur, within her. And so she faced the redhead with the decision to tell her everything that had happened... Well, practically everything - minus a few more intimate details.
"I saw you," Willow said before Buffy had a chance to open her mouth and speak, and the latter turned into an ashy shade of white at the hurt expression on Willow's face. "Last night I saw you."
"What?" Buffy wondered slowly, her head filling with cotton. "Who?"
"You," Willow replied. "And Spike."
Buffy swallowed.
"What were you doing out by yourself?" she then asked and Willow rolled her eyes before shaking her head, getting to her feet as well.
"This isn't about MY safety, it's about YOURS. What were you doing with him?" she demanded and Buffy felt the cotton swell, her thoughts fighting for air, she couldn't find them or make them move to her mouth in order to be spoken. "Buffy," Willow tried, voice filled with concern, "what really happened in that basement? Please, tell me. Don't you trust me?"
Buffy's eyes grew at that.
"Of course I trust you, Will!" she then answered, walking up to her and taking her hands. "It's not... I just don't know how to explain," she added and Willow furrowed her brow.
"'Explain' what?" she wondered and Buffy bit her jaws together before motioning for them to have a seat on Willow's bed.
They did and Buffy tried to collect herself. Pressing the cotton down she regained some control over her mind and she took a breath to ease the pain from the heaviness with which her heart was beating. Looking up she met Willow's gaze and then she said:
"We've come to sort of an understanding," and Willow's eyebrows rose. Buffy continued: "Spike's gonna help me...us..."
"Why?!" Willow exclaimed, voice filled with the surprise clear on her face and Buffy smiled slightly.
"Frankly... I don't know," she then replied.
Because he can't be feeling something that he really shouldn't be feeling, she instructed herself for the thousandth time since he and her had parted at half past four that morning, and for the three-thousandth time since he had touched her the way he had when they were still on patrol.
The hours had floated by quietly enough. They had gone to Willy's - now unnecessarily renamed Willy's Place, or so Buffy thought since a coat of paint and French waiters still wouldn't be enough to make that shack "classy" - and gotten some more information out of him. No more saves, but quite a few slays and another nest cleared out. Spike had proven himself to her. He had been fast and strong and original. Flexible when he needed to be and actually they made a pretty good team.
Team? Buffy. No.
But...yes.
And he was...different, somehow. The attitude was still there, that was for sure. But...
Derailing that train of thought she remembered where she was and with whom she was having a conversation that was pretty important and so she brought herself back into present time, looking at Willow who was waiting for an elaboration of the Slayer's former statement.
"I know he's not trustworthy, and I really do NOT trust him... But a few nights ago he saved my life; and then, two nights ago, he did it again," she now said and at that Willow's eyes grew round.
"He SAVED you? I didn't think that would be possible when it came to him. He's always seemed so...grr," the redhead stated and Buffy smiled wider at that before she nodded.
"Tell me about it! I was more than shocked and...actually he hasn't really given me an answer to why he did it yet," she then muttered thoughtfully. "But anyways, I told him to choose a side a few days ago 'cause this whole thing with Adam had me so thrown - and two nights ago he did. And he chose ours."
"But, Buffy, this is Spike we're dealing with here... And if you can't trust him...?"
"No, I know," Buffy interrupted. "But we agreed that we'd have this code of honor thing-y, and that was HIS idea 'cause he doesn't wanna stand by me without any assurance, you know?"
Willow looked clearly skeptical.
"'Code of honor'?" she then asked and Buffy smirked.
"I know, sounds all James Bond meets... whatever great war-movie that's out there, but I believe in it," she replied.
Willow blinked, then frowned.
"So, you trust him to hold up his end of the bargain?" she inquired and Buffy paused, then shook her head.
"No, it's not like that," she assured.
"Then what's it like? I wanna get with the program here, but what are you saying? He's a Scoob?" Willow wondered and Buffy shook her head violently at that.
"No, not a Scoob - he's just a string of information ready to be milked at any time. And if anyone can - HE'LL be the one who's gonna be able to get close to Adam," she then stated and Willow grew wondering. "If the time should present itself," Buffy added and Willow furrowed her brow.
"So, you're just using him?" she asked and Buffy shrugged.
"Hey, he's using me," she replied. "There's just a buncha rolled up usage going on between the two of us," she added, rising to her feet and into another stretch before relaxing with a huff. "Have you eaten breakfast?" she asked, looking over her shoulder as she walked up to her closet to pick out an outfit for the day.
"No, I haven't gotten around to it," Willow replied. "But, this with Spike... He's not gonna hang around with you - or us - is he?"
Buffy shook her head, grabbing a brown sweater off its shelf and holding it up.
"Nope, Wills. No hanging whatsoever," she assured, throwing the sweater on her bed and grabbing a pair of black jeans to go with it.
"And you're not gonna hang around...him?" she asked and Buffy stopped what she was doing - which was pulling her pajama top over her head - to stare at her friend.
"I BEG your pardon?" she then grumbled, finishing the pulling and tossing the fabric aside as she grabbed the sweater.
"Well, from what I saw last night... I dunno, you seemed... friendly," Willow mumbled tentatively and Buffy raised her eyebrows before she smiled incredulously.
"Friendly? Spike? ME? Are you sure it was US you saw 'cause I can promise you - whenever we're in too close proximity of one another sparks fly," she then answered and Willow narrowed her eyes at that statement. Buffy realized how she had phrased it about two seconds later and hurriedly added: "I mean that as in sparks from hell and filled with rage and lust to...kill. Each other, mostly! And bad, bad things happen... from the sparks."
"From hell," Willow filled in helpfully and Buffy smiled a small smile at that, then nodded.
"Right," she said and Willow returned her smile.
"Right," she then agreed silently.
***
6.33 p.m.
He felt nervous.
It was crazy - but that was how he felt as he waited for her, located beneath a big oak in the same cemetery hosting his crypt.
He had tried to pace the emotion out of him, but that didn't work; merely encouraged it to grow. Then he had decided on standing as still as possible being the better solution; but that had also been a mistake. As he began to grow fidgety and unsure of what to do with his hands he had just about turned and given to whole thing up, but then her voice had spoken his name and made him stay where he was, turning his head to look at her as she approached him.
"Here," she said, handing him a handful of stakes - three, to be exact - and then continuing passed him.
"What - no bloody wrapping? You sure do know how to take the fun outta it," he muttered with a touch of wryness and she moved her head to give him a look over her shoulder.
He merely smirked.
"We need to get going," she stated, picking up her pace and he followed, coming up to walk beside her.
"And where to?" he asked, tucking the weapons into the right hand pocket of the duster.
"I don't know," she snapped. "Just...somewhere. Everywhere."
"Me thinkest me hearest a touch of-..."
"Look," she interrupted, stopping and turning to him with a face very much drained from its last drops of patience, "I've barely slept in three days... I'm entitled the mood I'm in right now, okay? And that mood clearly lets me know just how little I wanna listen to your constant..."
"Blathering? Blabbering? Yammering? Yada-yada? ...-ing?" he filled in and she rolled her eyes to the sky. "So why did you wanna meet up?" he wondered as she got going again, and he did as well.
"I didn't WANT to, but I HAD to," she grumbled.
"Oh, right, you HAD to," he nodded, making her look at him again. "Well, I'm sorry, pet, but since when did you EVER 'have' to have me as company on one of your bloody field trips?"
She glared at him, realizing that she had no good response to that.
"Is it MY fault you proved so useful?" she asked and the lingering smirk widened.
"Was that supposed to be an insult?" he shot and she met his gaze for a few moments, then cleared her throat and looked away.
"Adam's been on a killing rampage ever since he broke free of the Initiative's lame-ass straps. He's merciless and cruel and I wanna put an end to it," she said now, meeting the blue with her green and seeing how the former seemed to come to be hit with just how serious she was. "Tonight," she finished.
"If any of what you've told me is true," he now replied, "you can't really say that you think you're gonna be able to just sodding blow him outta the water."
"No," she admitted. "That's why I need you."
He stopped, tilting his head questioningly to one side as he eyed her for a few moments.
"For what?" he asked.
"Adam's gonna contact you," she answered him. "I hope," she added, causing him to smile a little before she continued. "I'm just betting he will, sooner or later, run into you and then..."
She trailed off, looking up at this vampire before her, this form of a man with his eyes so searching, and suddenly she realized this might just get him killed. Well, more killed. The thought made her feel so uncomfortable she almost wanted to crawl out of her own skin.
Using him, remember?!
Right. Using. Just as he was her.
"Then?" he now wondered and she brought herself out of her thoughts in the next instant.
"Then you'll make him trust you and... I dunno, I haven't PLANNED the whole thing; we'll just have to take it one step at a time and hopefully everything 'll run smooth enough," she replied with as much nonchalance as she could.
It seemed to be a tad too much since he raised his eyebrows before asking:
"Hopefully? What if it sodding blows up in my face? I take it you won't be close enough to even feel the bloody after-shock!"
She licked her lips, putting a hand up by her forehead and rubbing it tiredly, trying to get her mind cleared. What had she just said to him that made him have this explosion? She needed to sit down, or lean against something, or...
His arms caught her and steadied her when she stumbled to the side. She closed her eyes, battling back the sleep-deprivation and the constant tearing on her nerves from this never seizing worrying. That child, the little boy that had died... He was still haunting her and she felt so powerless.
"You need to go home," Spike's voice simmered through her heavy thoughts. "Get some sleep, love."
"I can't!" she whined, looking up at him with the fatigue painting her gaze and sketching her features. "I can't, Spike! That's just it. I can't sleep. I have to find him, kill him.get him outta my head!"
"Shh," he mumbled softly. "Listen to me," he added, making her meet his gaze steadily before he continued: "You WILL find him, don't you bloody worry about it..." He stared down at her, taken by the sudden frailty on her. "'Cause you will," he mumbled. "I know you will..."
Dreadfully close. That was what he was. He reminded her of all the candy- covered delights he could do to her, invoke within her...with his hands...and those lips...
Her own hands had been clasping his lower arms, finding her balance thanks to them, but now they slowly moved a few inches up over the leather of his duster and her eyes grew slightly as her feet took the small step dividing their bodies. Her eyes didn't leave his as their faces drifted closer to the other, and then she let her eyelids shut out the rest of the world.
The sound of a creaking rope made them both come back from the place they had almost been taken and they looked at each other for a second before they slowly turned their heads to it. Buffy's eyes widened at the sight of the strung up and gutted demon hanging in the tree to her right.
"Holy crap," she murmured.
"You can bloody well say that again," Spike breathed.
"Holy. Crap," she repeated and they let each other go for ogling the mess before them.
"Still tired?" Spike asked and Buffy shook her head. "Adam?" he then wondered and she turned her head to him before she answered:
"It's what he did to the boy."
Ten minutes later they stopped before the stairs leading down to the back door of Xander's basement. Buffy seemed to grow hesitant and Spike turned to her with a questioning gaze.
"Want me to leave?" he asked.
Her eyes grew. The surprise he caused her was evident on her face in the pale light of the moon and he clenched his jaws together. Stupid, stupid move.
"I mean - I bloody well won't!" he added and she blinked, raising her eyebrows slightly and he sighed. "Too late for that save?" he wondered and she suddenly smiled.
"Just a bit," she then nodded and he returned the smile before they both grew rather uncomfortable and made the show of something so unlike them vanish. "Spike, why do you...?" she began and then the door opened below and Xander poked his head out.
His eyes widened slightly at the sight of the vampire and then he moved his arm, throwing what he had in his hand in a surprisingly well aimed bow to hit the fiend right in the forehead.
"Ao, bloody HELL!" Spike exclaimed, putting a hand up by the spot and rubbing it as he turned two furious eyes on the mortal. "Are you bleeding mental?!"
"No, I was TRYING to hit your heart. Gosh darn it, I missed," Xander replied sarcastically.
Buffy struggled to keep the laughter back, but she couldn't restrain the smile and she tried to hide it from the bleached blonde in front of her the best she could as she turned to face Xander.
"WHAT are you doing?" she asked and he smirked at the look on her face.
"Hey - I thought he was trying to molest you or something," he answered and she giggled, clearing her throat before she descended the stairs to him.
Turning around she met the still annoyed eyes of Spike and she tried on a calming smile. It seemed to do the trick since he shook his head and then drew a very irritated huff of air, though he seemed to soften up slightly and WHAT exactly did this mean? "Soften up"?! And why was it that she had just done that? She had actually presumed to be able to... No. No, she hadn't. She had merely looked at him and he had looked back and now they were marching into that basement to have a low down with Xander and Willow and...that was it.
Good. Fine. Perfect.
Spike blinked as she swirled around and practically ran in through the open door. Then he frowned. What had that smile just now been all about? It had said: please, forget it, don't mind him... Sure, it had been small, yet very distinct. Telling him to cool down... And he HAD?! He had. Oh, this was really very bad. This was as bad as it could possibly get. He was transforming into some sort of a wanker. A loser. Someone whom she... What? Whom she what?
"What the bugger did you throw at me?" he asked, interrupting his own thoughts and looking down at Xander who had the smirk grow back on.
"A can of tuna," he replied and Spike raised his eyebrows.
"Hurt like hell," he muttered, starting the descent as well.
"Your mask of pain sorta ratted on you," Xander remarked and Spike gave him a look.
"What were you doing with a bloody can of tuna?" the latter then asked and Xander shrugged.
"Making sandwiches. Willow likes 'em, for some reason," he then answered, following the vampire through the doorway and closing the door behind them.
"Well, were you done making them?" Spike now inquired meaningfully and Xander looked at him, then he connected the dots and opened the door again.
Spike proceeded further into the room.
"I've never seen anything like it," Buffy mumbled, pacing slowly on the floor as Willow listened seated on the couch to the vampire's right.
"And it had to be Adam who killed it?" Willow wondered, Buffy nodding. "But why?" the former asked and Buffy stopped.
"He's studying biology," she replied. "Human... demon... whatever he can get his hands on and tear apart."
"He wants to know what makes things work," Willow murmured and Buffy nodded again.
Xander re-entered the basement with the finishing touch to his snack in hand, coming to a halt as he noticed the theme of nowhere-near-happy decorating the air.
"Did something happen while I was gone?" he asked and Willow gave him a reassuring smile before she looked to Buffy for the explanation.
The Slayer gave it, making Xander stare at her and then move his arm, dropping the can of tuna into the trash bin; clearly feeling the need for food evaporating.
"When this turns into being beaten around a room by the Hulk of Frankenstein, could we please just not indulge?" he asked and Buffy's face grew determined.
"It's not coming to that," she assured. "The Initiative created this thing, and now they can't stop it. But we will," she added, turning her eyes into Spike's and he tilted his head slightly to one side before he granted her a small nod.
"What's first?" Willow wondered and Buffy sat down on the edge of the armchair by which she had been standing before replying:
"Hopefully Spike 'll be able to help locate Adam... Or Adam might locate him... But anyhow, Spike's agreed to... Well, to..." she trailed off, turning her head to once more look at the vamp.
"Act as a spy?" he tried and she furrowed her brow slightly, then she nodded.
"Yeah," she concurred.
"Is there a role in it for me?" a voice asked and Buffy turned around at the sound of it, her face having a warm smile spread across it as she rested her eyes in Riley's.
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Okay, I know. Mister So-Boring-It-Sodding-Blows-My-Head-Off(thankfully) is back. I had to, you do realize that, don't you... For how long? Da-Da-DA! ;) Thank you as always for the huge outreach of support from you all! Luv ya!
Great, huge, special outshout of thanks to Heather, Pine, Captain, Von, Charlie, Rachel, Shaelune, TheRealiz, charisma1525, Johanna and Pin - I really love reading your thoughts and hearing that this is still enjoyable! Really do hope this chapter was as well.
To you who might be wondering - In the Dead of the Night HAS been hung up on a hook for a while now since I've been struggling to juggle work, writing this story - which I'm very much wrapped up in right now - AND reading (for editing purposes) In the Dead... BUT I do want to continue it so don't worry, its time will come. I don't dare to promise anything, but hopefully I will have a new chapter up sometime next week and from there I'll try to start to update regularly again. I haven't forgotten about it, not at all. It WILL be finished. ;)
Thanks to all of you on that one AND on this one. 'Til next time...
A.M.L, Annie.