Buffy waited until she was out of their line of sight before slowing to a walk and letting the tears flow. She made no move to wipe them away, instead just letting them fall and roll down her cheeks as she made her way to a small grove in the back pasture. It was her favorite place on the ranch, where she would come to think and all that. A small pond surrounded by large oak trees, it was a wonderful place to just sit and think and swim during the summer. She used to come up here with her horse Glory, to talk and vent about things. But that all changed…Glory was dead and Buffy never wanted to ride again. And now to top it off they wanted to take Sunset away from her too. Wasn't losing Glory enough?
She sank to the ground and buried her head in her hands and sobbed. Her shoulders began to shake with the effort of stopping. She stayed like that, her golden locks spilling over her arms and shielding her face from anyone or anything that looked at her, for several minutes. Finally the sobbing subsided and she looked up, her eyes rimmed with red and tear soaked. She sniffed and wiped a hand over her face, getting rid of the tears that lingered.
"Its not fair. They can't take Sunset to New York. He doesn't belong there. He belongs here…with me. I cant lose him too." she whispered, staring into the distance. Buffy was so wrapped up in her thoughts about Sunset and loosing him, that she didn't hear the approaching hoof beats and then the footsteps that followed.
Spike dismounted from the bay mare that Willow let him ride after telling him where Buffy would most likely be. Since it was his fault that she was upset, he had volunteered when Joyce and Hank returned to go and get her. So he had saddled up the mare and rode out to the little grove and watched Buffy through the trees. He patted Moondust on the cheek as he studied Buffy's profile. His sharp eyes caught the barely visible tear stains and hoped it wasn't his careless remark about taking her horse away that caused them, knowing that it was. He tied the reins to a low branch and approached Buffy slowly and silently, resting a hand on her shoulder.
Buffy jumped and screamed, startling the birds from their trees, when she felt the weight of his hand. She whirled to face him the panic and fright fading from her face, turning to pure rage.
The blonde slapped his hand from her and she glared heatedly at him, "What the fuck are you doing? Why in the hell did you follow me?"
Spike offered her a fake hurt look, "What? Don't want my company?"
"Well, I'd rather spend time with a snake than you." she hissed.
Spike faked a hissing noise and grinned, "Loosen up. I came after you. Your mother and father are worried."
"They know where I am." she said bitterly. Moondust neighed and Buffy looked at her then back to Spike, "Willow let you ride Moondust?"
"Err…yes, said she needed to work out Galia more and Moondust just needed a little walk in the pastures. So I volunteered to do that for her and search for you." said Spike, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.
Buffy arched a eyebrow and stared at him, "So you came to fetch me? Feeling bad about taking my horse away?"
"Well luv last time I checked, Sunset belonged to your parents." remarked Spike, ignoring the death glare she was sending him.
"Where it matters, he's mine. I raised him and I broke him. And I work him…or I used to." she said quietly, moving towards the pond, standing on the bank and staring into the depths of the blue waters.
Spike studied her from behind, noting the defeat in her by the slouch in her shoulders. He sighed to himself and walked over to her and rest both his hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently. Buffy tilted her head back to look at him and he found him self swallowing his next words as he caught the aching pain in her eyes.
"I don't want to lose my horse. He means to much to me for him to be miles away, where I can never see him." she whispered, her own eyes captured by his, wondering if he could understand how she felt.
Spike brushed a finger over her cheek, letting it trail softly over her lips and down her throat, causing small shivers to travel up and down Buffy's spine. He smiled down at her, "You can come see him whenever you want. You heard my dad. But for Sunset to be trained properly, he needs to be at the track with us. I promise you that he'll be in the best of care."
Buffy lowered her head and jerked away from Spike, "No you don't understand. You never could. All you want is a horse to ride."
Spike's soft gaze sharpened as he grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, "Look, if I wanted a horse to ride, I'd go back to New York. There are plenty for me to ride there. And I understand that you had a bad riding accident and all that, but do not ruin Sunset's chances by holding him back. You know as well as I do that if you mope and complain enough your father will call this whole thing off. Then you'll have your horse but at what cost? For him to sit around and be ridden as a pleasure horse? That will kill him. I saw it in his eyes, he wants to run, to prove himself to be something great. Are you selfish enough to deny that to a horse you love?"
Buffy blinked back the tears that had sprung to her eyes when she started to imagine Sunset moping around in his stall, never getting the exercise he needed cause she was too scared to ride again. And no one else would ride him. How he become a ill tempered stallion who allowed no one next to him. She sniffed when she realized that these imagines could become a reality.
"I don't want that to happen to Sunset. He does deserve the chance." she whispered.
Spike smiled and slid a hand under her chin, tilting her head up so that he was staring down into her hazel eyes, "Good girl" His words were soft and Buffy found herself leaning into him. Spike studied her face briefly, searching for hesitation and the brushed his lips over hers lightly.
Buffy drew a sharp intake of breath as his soft lips covered her and shocks radiated through her body. Without thinking, she wound her arms around his neck and drew him closer, deepening the kiss. Her body pressed against his as his hands slid down her back and cupped her bottom lifting her up. Obediently she wrapped her legs around his waist as he tugged gently on her bottom lip.
It was Spike's moan as she grinded her hips against his growing erection that caused Buffy to jerk away from him. The lust fled from her eyes to be replaced with horror and she pulled away from him quickly, sliding back to the ground and backing away. Spike looked at her with a combination of want and confusion. The way his brain was muddle right now, he was slightly confused on what happened. One moment a beautiful woman was wrapped around him and the next she was five feet away from looking like she was about to cry.
"Luv…?" he asked, his voice husky.
Buffy gulped and fought back the urge to jump him again and forced herself to remember Riley, "I can't do this. I've got a boyfriend."
Understanding filled Spike's eyes and he nodded, " 'f course pet. Boyfriend right. Well then maybe to prevent this from happening again, since I'm more than willing to push back up against a tree and kiss you again, we should leave and go back to a more populated area."
Buffy trembled as a image of him doing just that and a little more flashed through her brain, "Yeah, your right. We need to go. Like now."
He nodded and went to untie Moondust as Buffy stared after him, mentally slapping herself. 'How could I let that happen? Riley, remember him, the ever faithful boyfriend who loves you and you love him. Kissing another guy, even one as hot-I mean cocky as William is bad. Very bad…but cant it like be bad in a good way. Oh, no more naughty thoughts about this guy. Think happy thoughts. William naked. Happy but bad. Riley Riley Riley!'
She continued have those thoughts and more as she and Spike made their way back to the stables. She was about to turn to him to say something when a tall broad figure caught her eyes. She narrowed them and a wide forced grin broke across her face. He was tall, taller than what Spike was, and had over the months allowed his hair to grow a bit longer so that now it was hanging just above his ears. 'Poofter' was Spike's first thoughts, but Buffy ran across the field and threw her arms around the as she called out, "Riley!"
A/N: Yes, I am evil. Yummy hot spuffy moment then Captain Cardboard. Someone shoot me. Not really. But don't worry. I have no intentions of letting Captain Cardboard remain.