"Come on, Slayer! How else was I supposed to ask?" Spike said, recovering the few steps she had taken away from him. Currently the vampire was staring at Buffy's back, unable to stop himself from admiring the way beams of moonlight caused her hair to shimmer in the most beautiful ways.
Turning on one of her sharpened heels, Buffy stared at the vampire with a deadly gaze, though her mood wasn't quite so lethal. "I don't know… maybe in a way that doesn't start with 'was it good' and end in 'for you, too?'" eyes narrowed, arms crossed, Buffy's face was otherwise blank. Internally, she was still floating on an emotional cloud that had been induced by the rather tender night she had spent with Spike, but the way he asked her about the experience had made her blood curdle.
Gazing into the emerald daggers that were the eyes of his lover, Spike gave a sigh, straightening from his slightly slouched posture. Closing the gap between them with a daring step, Spike landed so that his face was only a few inches from Buffy's, able to sense the way her heart picked up speed in that small instant. The daggers had melted in her eyes, their green texture becoming no more threatening than a shamrock.
"What did you feel two nights ago?" Spike paused momentarily, the fingers of his left hand rising to capture her well-defined cheek. "How do you feel about me now?" his eyebrows lifted optimistically with the second question, wishing Buffy's arms weren't still crossed, but thankful that her eyes hadn't fluttered shut with his touch.
After four seconds of silence dragged on for an eternity, Buffy broke the bubble of soundlessness that surrounded them, her voice so soft that only Spike was capable of hearing her. "I can't say that I love you, Spike" she said cautiously, her heart clenching when Spike's vision fell away from her. "Not yet…" the Slayer's next words were a mere breath, but held enough power in them to return Spike's eyes to hers.
In that moment, Buffy was ready to pour her heart out to the vampire. Spike's tender eyes and feather-light touch had broken down many more of her emotional barriers, and the answers to his questions were on the tip of Buffy's tongue. Unfortunately, the demons of Sunnydale didn't have a record of keeping a Slayer-friendly schedule.
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They fought, side-by-side, vampire and Slayer, against a group of five demons who decided they might be able to dispose of the Chosen One on such a fateful eve. Speaking without words, motioning without gestures, Buffy and Spike were a perfect match in love and in combat. It took only moments for them to dispose of the quintet, their dance against the creatures resembling a perfectly choreographed ballet, a work of art.
Caught up in the action, their senses focused only on the demons before them, neither Spike nor Buffy took notice when the existing Scooby gang arrived. Walking toward the newly triumphant pair, Xander was the first to stop when he saw the almost affectionate glance Buffy gave Spike after his execution of the final demon. "Xander?" Willow questioned him, taking only a moment to realise his halt in motion.
"Did you guys see that?" the carpenter whispered, his mouth hanging open in disbelief, matching the gaping look in his eyes. Dawn, Willow, and Anya were all puzzled, a simultaneous frown falling on each of their faces. "Just watch," he said, motioning to the blonde pair with a lazy hand, keeping his voice low despite the shielding tombstones surrounding them. Each girl turned toward Xander's objective, not understanding what he was getting at.
Still oblivious to the presence of her friends, Buffy turned back to her vampire lover, the barriers he had broken within her still lying as a crumpled heap in the catacombs of her body, feeling anything but urgent to be rebuilt. Brushing back a stray lock of hair, the Slayer gave her leather-clad hero a slight smile, forest green jewels reflecting the moon's silver stare in an almost playful manner. "Now, as I was saying…" she took a moment to think of what her next words would be, how she could explain her emotions to the vampire before her.
"Oh, forget it…" Spike said, overcome with the simple and powerful need to just have his hands on the Slayer as soon as possible. The gaze her eyes offered him had been enough to tell Spike the volumes of complicated stories that Buffy just couldn't put into words. For now, he could handle that, as long as he could just be touching her right now.
Taking the face he had grown to love so dearly in both palms, Spike was satisfied with the electric energy that quickly spread through his form. Pausing to admire her features for a brief moment, he could see that Buffy's eyes were asking him to do exactly what he had intended. Closing his mouth over hers, the vampire immediately began to work his magic, politely brushing his tongue against Buffy's lips as a request for entrance to her mouth.
Granting access without a second thought to the motion, Buffy's jaw immediately went to work against Spike's, each orifice caught in a friendly competition for dominance. To the further surprise of her watching friends, the Slayer's arms quickly found their way around Spike's neck, her fingertips playing with the flesh and bleached hair found there. Somewhere in the meanwhile, a satisfied, throaty moan pushed its way past her sealed lips, followed by another and another as Spike's vocal chords also recalled the ability to make sound.
Sighing in bliss as one of his hands migrated from her cheek to her waist, Buffy encouraged the vampire as he pulled the lower half of her body against his, not surprised when she was met by a protruding bulge. "Spike…" she panted, taking hold of the leather collar of his duster and pushing it away, revealing the black sleeve of his t-shirt. Her hands gripped his powerful shoulder before frantically roaming other regions, meeting his waist, cheek, back, and head during their unending travels. At a loss for words, she simply thrust her mouth against his again, soliciting a pleased grunt from the vampire.
Buffy's knee had just made its way to Spike's hip, sensuously stroking the back of his leg with her foot, his hand gripping her thigh when a disgusted voice instantly spoiled the mood. "Jesus jumped up Christ, Buffy! What the Hell are you doing?" Xander's voice rang clear and strong, echoing through the otherwise desolate graveyard. Anya, Willow, and Dawn were all equally shocked, but appeared unable to put their state into words.
Every point of contact Buffy had made with the bleached vampire was instantly severed, her head spinning to meet the sound of her friend's voice. "Xander…" she said in utter disbelief, desperately wishing that this were a horrible dream she could just wake up from. Spike's attention had also snapped toward the carpenter, but instead of the fearful expression Buffy wore, his face was painted with utter rage.
"Okay, the fact that you know my name tells me that you're not suffering from some form of amnesia, in which case I'll ask again: what are you doing?" he interrogated, eyes still wide and disbelieving. Willow nudged him harshly with her elbow "Xander…!" she berated him, seeing the obvious discomfort on her friend's face. "What?" he said, looking around the group. "Am I the only one who saw that?" his eyebrows were raised, wondering if his friends had suddenly gone blind.
"Shove off, Harris" Spike's venomous words shot toward the vampire. The last thing he needed right now was for one of Buffy's Superfriends to start planting seeds of doubt in her mind. Especially when it looked like he was finally getting somewhere with her.
When Xander was about to shoot back at Spike's remark, Willow instantly hushed him, glancing in a rather blank manner to her friend. "Buffy…?" was all she could manage to say, not knowing how to react after seeing her friend wrapped up in the arms of a killer. Inwardly, the redhead also prayed that Anya would maintain her tactful silence.
"Willow, I…" she began, looking briefly to Spike who gave her a meaningful glance. Facing her friends and sister, she exchanged a glimpse with each of them, positive that her cheeks had turned bright red in the meantime. What was she supposed to say to them in this situation? 'I was just testing the endurance of Spike's tongue when things got a little heavy between us'… Yeah, the excuse to end all excuses right there.
Luckily for the Slayer, no one really knew what to say at the moment. Xander was raging inside, but feared Willow as much as he did Buffy. Willow tried to appear easy-going, but behind her eyes, a thousand questions were whipping by. Dawn was simply doing the math in her head, filling in what gaps she could about the current situation. Anya was glancing around at everyone, taking no interest in any specific subject.
Buffy's head lowered in resignation for a moment, no longer able to take the hard stares from her 'friends'. Clenching her hands tight, Spike was about to speak for his lover when she looked up again, the movement halting his lips in mid-motion. Sighing gently, the Slayer glanced first at Spike, then Xander, Willow, Dawn, and Anya, her hands trembling as she did so.
"Look…" she started, not able to believe that the softer side of her was actually winning an internal battle for once. "I'm seeing Spike. Spike is seeing me. Spike and I are seeing each other…" Buffy marvelled at how strong her voice was being thrown at the Scooby gang. "Unless any of you have something earth-shattering to say about that, I'd rather not hear it. I'm a big girl. I can handle myself, and I'm sorry… but I'll date whoever I want whether you like it or not".
Leaving her friends stunned, Buffy quickly turned around, looking at an equally shocked Spike. "Let's go…" she half-ordered, half-pleaded with him, taking hold of his hand in an attempt to snap him back to reality. Azure orbs suddenly became comprehensive as Spike glanced between Buffy and her friends, until finally following orders, racing toward his crypt with the love of his life.
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Buffy's mini-rant to her friends had created a tension that lasted only temporarily amongst the Slayer Circle. Showing up to Scooby meetings with her hand in Spike's had been a bit awkward for the group members at first, not knowing what to make of it when she then proceeded to sit in the vampire's lap. Constant and public physical contact with the peroxide demon seemed to be helping the Slayer's case though, because the harsh, concerned glares from her friends were becoming fewer in number as time moved on.
Everyone in the group had seemed to reach a silent truce with each other. The Scooby gang would work on accepting Spike both as a person, and as Buffy's boyfriend, and the Slayer would attempt to develop a sense of true, unquestioned love for her vampire companion. A love that, if he kept his promise, would last forever.
(Hey all! Wow, I know it's been a long time since my last update and I am very sorry! I just had a serious bout of mental un-creativity, and it affected my writing big time. In that case, I'd really appreciate any reviews you guys can give me, because I need to know if I'm slipping at all… hehe, anyway, I'm gonna go start working on another story, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!)
