Here is the second part of Consequences. This fic is a slight problem for
me, cuz it was only meant to be a one-shit and now I have no idea where it
is going. I'm hoping it's gonna be one of those ones where you start
writing and everything just flows, cuz otherwise I'm screwed.
Also, I am sick of typing ellipses (that's what the three dots are called, right?) and them not turning out, cuz of the crappy formatting on ff.net, so I'm trying a new way. If it looks ooky, I'm sorry. It's just a trial run.
So, on that awkward note, on with the story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giles gratefully stepped under the awnings around his door, clutching the collar of his overcoat closer around his neck as he shook out his umbrella.
'Damn rain,' he cursed. 'You'd think that once you've left Britain the rain would go away, especially in a place called Sunnydale. But, no, I am followed around by incessantly inclement weather and . . . dear Lord, now I'm talking to myself.'
He fumbled in his pocket for his keys, his frozen fingers finally clutching them and inserted the correct one in the lock. He swung the door open and stepped inside, placing the umbrella in the stand.
Taking off his coat, Giles turned around to look for the annoying vampire who was sharing his house.
'Good Lord!'
Looking over at the sofa he saw his Slayer, dressed in what looked suspiciously like his clothes, curled up - asleep - in the lap of the master vampire who had his arm curled around her waist, her face snuggled into his shoulder.
Giles took a tentative step forward, and Spike stirred, looking around for what had woken him up, his arm tightening protectively around the slim waist of the girl in his lap. He saw Giles, and his face blanched . . . looking for all the world like he had been caught making out by his girlfriends father.
Spike shifted a bit, trying to sit up, but Buffy murmured incomprehensibly and snuggled in further.
Giles raised an eyebrow at Spike, some of his Ripper alter-ego showing through.
'What in the name of all that is good is going on here?
Spike shook his head and raised his fingers to his lips, nodding to the sleeping form of Buffy.
Buffy, however, wasn't asleep. She had awoken when Spike had moved and was now lying a still as a log, trying to keep her breathing even so she could compose herself and come up with a reasonable excuse for being found sleeping with Spike.
'Don't go getting on your high-horse, Rupes.' He said in a low voice. 'The Slayer here hadn't slept since the night before last, and turned up dripping wet, so I got her some dry clothes and she fell asleep.'
'And you just decided to assign yourself pillow duty?' Giles voice was dripping with sarcasm.
'Look, Watcher, the bint was cold and upset and needed a shoulder to cry on, she came to you, but you weren't here. . . which is bloody ironic, really.' Spike added under his breath so Giles couldn't hear.
'Upset? What's wrong with her?'
Spike felt Buffy tense, confirming his suspicions that she wasn't as asleep as seemed. He raised a comforting hand to her shoulder, out of Giles line of vision, and rubbed her shoulder soothingly.
''m not gonna say anything, luv,' he murmured into her ear, as Giles tapped his foot, folding his arms as he waited for an answer.
'Well?'
Spike looked up at the man and a look crossed his face that Giles had never seen before. He couldn't exactly explain what it was, it was openness and closure at the same time; it was pride and humility. . . and it was something else that Giles put from his mind as soon as it crossed it.
'It's the lady's business to tell, not mine.'
'Spike.' Giles tone was warning.
Spike shook his head as his other arm came up to hold Buffy. 'You'll have to stake me before I say anything.'
Giles gave the vampire a cold look and walked across to the stairs. 'I don't know what you're playing at, Spike. I'm not sure that I want to know, but you'd better be extremely careful from now on. . .'
Spike grimaced at the unspoken warning.
*Bugger, soddin Watcher's onto me*
'Buffy?' Spike shook her gently. 'He's gone, Slayer.'
'Gone where?' Buffy raised her head to look into Spikes eyes, her close proximity making him uneasy. Spike sat up, and swung his legs over the side of the sofa, depositing Buffy onto the seat next to him.
'Hey!' Buffy pouted. 'I was comfy.'
The sight of that bottom lip had Spike fighting back a groan. I looked so juicy and soft. . . he longed to nibble at it, suck it into his mouth where he could gently massage it with his tongue. . .
'Soddin Hell!'
Buffy jumped at his sudden and loud exclamation.
'Spike? Are you ok?'
Hang on a moment. When did she start caring if Spike was ok?
*When he started caring if you were.* A little voice at the back of her head whispered.
'Yeah, Summers, I'm just peachy,' Spike muttered into his hands.
Buffy stood, uncomfortably hovering between staying and trying to figure out what was wrong, and running far far away where she could try and sort out these confused thoughts and feelings that were suddenly assailing her mind.
'Well, I'm gonna go home, get changed and. . .' Buffy glanced out the window at the darkening sky.
She sighed. '. . . go patrolling,'
'You want some company, luv?' What? What are saying, you soddin fool?
Buffy raised her eyebrows at him, incredulously. 'What? You can't even fight!'
'Well, y'see I've bin thinkin about that. I don't reckon those bloody military blokes would count demons and such as human, so I might be able to hurt them.'
Buffy looked thoughtful for a minute, her eyes growing distant. 'Hmmm, you could be onto something there, but I don't think it's a good idea. Giles would never buy it, after coming home and finding. . .' she gestured to the sofa.
Spike nodded, slumping back disheartened.
Buffy hid a smile. He looked so cute when he sulked.
*No! Not cute. Very very bad vampire with extremely uncute tendencies.*
'Er, uh. . . well, I'll talk to the Giles when he's cooled off, see what he thinks.'
'Are you sure you wanna be slaying, Summers? You could still be weak. . . and with no back-up. . .'
'I'll be fine, Spike. I need some time to think and stuff, and slaying helps me vent. Quit with the concerned act already, anyone would think you wanted to stay around me, and we both know that isn't the case. What's your angle anyway? Why are you suddenly so interested?'
'Bloody hell, woman! You were just in here cryin your bleeding eyes out on my shoulder, an emotional wreck. Is it too much to believe that I'm simply worried about you?'
'Actually, yes. You have spent the past two years trying to kill me, so you'll excuse me if I don't completely trust you.'
Spike looked away from her, he knew he was caught, 'Fine, Slayer. Whatever. . . I wont take up anymore of your precious time.'
Buffy looked at him hard for a moment, before turning and leaving, slamming the door behind her.
'Bollocks! Bloody, buggering bollocks!'
*You know she's right, she has no reason to trust you. You're just another vampire to her, she just pities you because you are a hopeless waste of space*
'Shut up.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy slammed the door behind her and breathed in the fresh air. Checking her watch, she knew she had about fifteen minutes to get back to the campus before the vamps started appearing.
She began to jog, praying that Giles's oversized pants wouldn't decide to take a vacation to her ankles before she got safely in her room.
What was Spike's problem anyway?
Her mind took a rapid detour from Giles's pants.
Where did he get off being so. . . nice? Spike was being nice?
Her mind ran over the earlier occurrences that day, trying to find a catch to his behavior, but she couldn't.
He hadn't taunted her over losing yet another guy; he had gotten her clean, dry clothes to change into, he had comforted her when she had broken down; he had even kept the reason for her breakdown from Giles, and discretion, especially when the issue concerned Buffy, was definitely not one of Spike's strong points. She looked around, and found she had made it up to her dorm room without even noticing. Closing the door, she pulled of the enormous shirt and reached into a drawer for one that fitted.
As her fingertips brushed her skin, she recalled Spike's fingers, holding her, rubbing her back soothingly as she cried into his shirt. The way they calmed her and relaxed her when she was scared that he would betray her secret. The loss she felt when he sat up, sliding her from his lap onto the sofa.
But most of all remembered the safety and feeling of belonging she had felt when she had awoken, cuddled up to him, his arms around her protectively.
'Shhhhh, I won't leave you, luv. I'll never leave you.'
The words sprang unbidden to her mind. She had been falling asleep when he had said them, and they had remained forgotten until now.
'I'll never leave you.'
Buffy remained frozen in the middle of the room as she contemplated the meaning of those words. They rung with sincerity, and something inside her told her that she could trust them.
*After all* the voice in her mind reminded her. *He keeps coming back, and even if it was only to kill you, that does show dedication and commitment. Which was much more than anyone else was showing her recently*
Wait! Stop! You are thinking of Spike in terms of commitment. What is wrong with you? Evil, blood-sucking fiend, remember? The slayer of two Slayers. He is destined to hate you. . . but he kisses so well.
'What?!?!?!?!' Buffy screeched to the empty room. She felt dizzy and stumbled to her bed, flopping back on it.
'Oh no, oh no, oh no.' Buffy closed her eyes to try and block out the images of blue eyes and chiseled cheekbones, and the way he had kissed her under Willows spell. Such fire and passion, she had never experienced the like.
'NO! No fantasizing about Spike. He is mean and heartless and evil.'
But. . . he hadn't been acting mean and heartless and evil. He had been kind and sympathetic.
Ever since that spell, he had been acting differently to her. The bite was usually contained in his insults wasn't there anymore. He had been quieter, although maybe it was her imagination, she hadn't hung around him much since the spell.
It was too awkward.
A scream from outside startled her from her reverie, and she quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and grabbed a stake from her top drawer, running from the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, what did you think?
Also, I am sick of typing ellipses (that's what the three dots are called, right?) and them not turning out, cuz of the crappy formatting on ff.net, so I'm trying a new way. If it looks ooky, I'm sorry. It's just a trial run.
So, on that awkward note, on with the story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giles gratefully stepped under the awnings around his door, clutching the collar of his overcoat closer around his neck as he shook out his umbrella.
'Damn rain,' he cursed. 'You'd think that once you've left Britain the rain would go away, especially in a place called Sunnydale. But, no, I am followed around by incessantly inclement weather and . . . dear Lord, now I'm talking to myself.'
He fumbled in his pocket for his keys, his frozen fingers finally clutching them and inserted the correct one in the lock. He swung the door open and stepped inside, placing the umbrella in the stand.
Taking off his coat, Giles turned around to look for the annoying vampire who was sharing his house.
'Good Lord!'
Looking over at the sofa he saw his Slayer, dressed in what looked suspiciously like his clothes, curled up - asleep - in the lap of the master vampire who had his arm curled around her waist, her face snuggled into his shoulder.
Giles took a tentative step forward, and Spike stirred, looking around for what had woken him up, his arm tightening protectively around the slim waist of the girl in his lap. He saw Giles, and his face blanched . . . looking for all the world like he had been caught making out by his girlfriends father.
Spike shifted a bit, trying to sit up, but Buffy murmured incomprehensibly and snuggled in further.
Giles raised an eyebrow at Spike, some of his Ripper alter-ego showing through.
'What in the name of all that is good is going on here?
Spike shook his head and raised his fingers to his lips, nodding to the sleeping form of Buffy.
Buffy, however, wasn't asleep. She had awoken when Spike had moved and was now lying a still as a log, trying to keep her breathing even so she could compose herself and come up with a reasonable excuse for being found sleeping with Spike.
'Don't go getting on your high-horse, Rupes.' He said in a low voice. 'The Slayer here hadn't slept since the night before last, and turned up dripping wet, so I got her some dry clothes and she fell asleep.'
'And you just decided to assign yourself pillow duty?' Giles voice was dripping with sarcasm.
'Look, Watcher, the bint was cold and upset and needed a shoulder to cry on, she came to you, but you weren't here. . . which is bloody ironic, really.' Spike added under his breath so Giles couldn't hear.
'Upset? What's wrong with her?'
Spike felt Buffy tense, confirming his suspicions that she wasn't as asleep as seemed. He raised a comforting hand to her shoulder, out of Giles line of vision, and rubbed her shoulder soothingly.
''m not gonna say anything, luv,' he murmured into her ear, as Giles tapped his foot, folding his arms as he waited for an answer.
'Well?'
Spike looked up at the man and a look crossed his face that Giles had never seen before. He couldn't exactly explain what it was, it was openness and closure at the same time; it was pride and humility. . . and it was something else that Giles put from his mind as soon as it crossed it.
'It's the lady's business to tell, not mine.'
'Spike.' Giles tone was warning.
Spike shook his head as his other arm came up to hold Buffy. 'You'll have to stake me before I say anything.'
Giles gave the vampire a cold look and walked across to the stairs. 'I don't know what you're playing at, Spike. I'm not sure that I want to know, but you'd better be extremely careful from now on. . .'
Spike grimaced at the unspoken warning.
*Bugger, soddin Watcher's onto me*
'Buffy?' Spike shook her gently. 'He's gone, Slayer.'
'Gone where?' Buffy raised her head to look into Spikes eyes, her close proximity making him uneasy. Spike sat up, and swung his legs over the side of the sofa, depositing Buffy onto the seat next to him.
'Hey!' Buffy pouted. 'I was comfy.'
The sight of that bottom lip had Spike fighting back a groan. I looked so juicy and soft. . . he longed to nibble at it, suck it into his mouth where he could gently massage it with his tongue. . .
'Soddin Hell!'
Buffy jumped at his sudden and loud exclamation.
'Spike? Are you ok?'
Hang on a moment. When did she start caring if Spike was ok?
*When he started caring if you were.* A little voice at the back of her head whispered.
'Yeah, Summers, I'm just peachy,' Spike muttered into his hands.
Buffy stood, uncomfortably hovering between staying and trying to figure out what was wrong, and running far far away where she could try and sort out these confused thoughts and feelings that were suddenly assailing her mind.
'Well, I'm gonna go home, get changed and. . .' Buffy glanced out the window at the darkening sky.
She sighed. '. . . go patrolling,'
'You want some company, luv?' What? What are saying, you soddin fool?
Buffy raised her eyebrows at him, incredulously. 'What? You can't even fight!'
'Well, y'see I've bin thinkin about that. I don't reckon those bloody military blokes would count demons and such as human, so I might be able to hurt them.'
Buffy looked thoughtful for a minute, her eyes growing distant. 'Hmmm, you could be onto something there, but I don't think it's a good idea. Giles would never buy it, after coming home and finding. . .' she gestured to the sofa.
Spike nodded, slumping back disheartened.
Buffy hid a smile. He looked so cute when he sulked.
*No! Not cute. Very very bad vampire with extremely uncute tendencies.*
'Er, uh. . . well, I'll talk to the Giles when he's cooled off, see what he thinks.'
'Are you sure you wanna be slaying, Summers? You could still be weak. . . and with no back-up. . .'
'I'll be fine, Spike. I need some time to think and stuff, and slaying helps me vent. Quit with the concerned act already, anyone would think you wanted to stay around me, and we both know that isn't the case. What's your angle anyway? Why are you suddenly so interested?'
'Bloody hell, woman! You were just in here cryin your bleeding eyes out on my shoulder, an emotional wreck. Is it too much to believe that I'm simply worried about you?'
'Actually, yes. You have spent the past two years trying to kill me, so you'll excuse me if I don't completely trust you.'
Spike looked away from her, he knew he was caught, 'Fine, Slayer. Whatever. . . I wont take up anymore of your precious time.'
Buffy looked at him hard for a moment, before turning and leaving, slamming the door behind her.
'Bollocks! Bloody, buggering bollocks!'
*You know she's right, she has no reason to trust you. You're just another vampire to her, she just pities you because you are a hopeless waste of space*
'Shut up.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy slammed the door behind her and breathed in the fresh air. Checking her watch, she knew she had about fifteen minutes to get back to the campus before the vamps started appearing.
She began to jog, praying that Giles's oversized pants wouldn't decide to take a vacation to her ankles before she got safely in her room.
What was Spike's problem anyway?
Her mind took a rapid detour from Giles's pants.
Where did he get off being so. . . nice? Spike was being nice?
Her mind ran over the earlier occurrences that day, trying to find a catch to his behavior, but she couldn't.
He hadn't taunted her over losing yet another guy; he had gotten her clean, dry clothes to change into, he had comforted her when she had broken down; he had even kept the reason for her breakdown from Giles, and discretion, especially when the issue concerned Buffy, was definitely not one of Spike's strong points. She looked around, and found she had made it up to her dorm room without even noticing. Closing the door, she pulled of the enormous shirt and reached into a drawer for one that fitted.
As her fingertips brushed her skin, she recalled Spike's fingers, holding her, rubbing her back soothingly as she cried into his shirt. The way they calmed her and relaxed her when she was scared that he would betray her secret. The loss she felt when he sat up, sliding her from his lap onto the sofa.
But most of all remembered the safety and feeling of belonging she had felt when she had awoken, cuddled up to him, his arms around her protectively.
'Shhhhh, I won't leave you, luv. I'll never leave you.'
The words sprang unbidden to her mind. She had been falling asleep when he had said them, and they had remained forgotten until now.
'I'll never leave you.'
Buffy remained frozen in the middle of the room as she contemplated the meaning of those words. They rung with sincerity, and something inside her told her that she could trust them.
*After all* the voice in her mind reminded her. *He keeps coming back, and even if it was only to kill you, that does show dedication and commitment. Which was much more than anyone else was showing her recently*
Wait! Stop! You are thinking of Spike in terms of commitment. What is wrong with you? Evil, blood-sucking fiend, remember? The slayer of two Slayers. He is destined to hate you. . . but he kisses so well.
'What?!?!?!?!' Buffy screeched to the empty room. She felt dizzy and stumbled to her bed, flopping back on it.
'Oh no, oh no, oh no.' Buffy closed her eyes to try and block out the images of blue eyes and chiseled cheekbones, and the way he had kissed her under Willows spell. Such fire and passion, she had never experienced the like.
'NO! No fantasizing about Spike. He is mean and heartless and evil.'
But. . . he hadn't been acting mean and heartless and evil. He had been kind and sympathetic.
Ever since that spell, he had been acting differently to her. The bite was usually contained in his insults wasn't there anymore. He had been quieter, although maybe it was her imagination, she hadn't hung around him much since the spell.
It was too awkward.
A scream from outside startled her from her reverie, and she quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and grabbed a stake from her top drawer, running from the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, what did you think?