It had been a few hours since Buffy had seen Spike last, or, she figured it had been that long because she had dozed off for about a half an hour earlier. She moved herself into a sitting position and looked around, noting right away that Spike didn't exactly have bad taste in furniture, and his decorating skills were probably better than hers.
There was a red, most likely satin, couch in one of the corners, and a tapestry on almost every wall. She really didn't understand why people would want to hang rugs on their walls, but it did make the room look a little more royal than it should, being a hole in the ground and all.
There was a small wooden desk against the far wall, with a chair neatly tucked under it. She couldn't exactly see what was on it, but figured it didn't exactly matter right now, and if she had to, she could snoop through whatever it was later. Right now, she was too comfortable to move.
Her foot felt considerably better, and she was thanking whoever gave her slayer healing powers for that, then again, if it hadn't been for them, she probably wouldn't be a slayer in the first place and wouldn't have gotten hurt at all.
As she finished her visual inspection of the house, she began to wonder what Spike was doing. It was daytime, and there was doubt that he was doing anything but sitting up stairs avoiding her. But still, she couldn't help but wonder what he could be doing for so long up there, and the thought of why she cared was still bothering her. She hated Spike, right, so why did it matter to her what he was doing?
She shook her head, and lay back down, admiring the red canopy that hung from the large four-poster bed. And just as she was about to close her eyes and resume that nap she'd been taking earlier, Buffy heard someone coming down the ladder.
Spike lumbered down the ladder once again carrying a brown paper bag in his arms, only this time there was no blood in it. He set the bag down on the desk, and looked over at Buffy.
"Hey pet, I'm back."
"Yeah, I can see that." She told him, "What's in the bag? Donations from the butcher?"
"Actually not, but you probably don't care, so I'm not going to show you." He said.
"You're right, I don't care." She said, but she really was curious to find out what he had brought back with him, seeing as he'd obviously been out. "Wait a second, isn't it light outside? As in vampires turn to dust in this kind of weather?"
"No, it's raining outside, not enough sun to burn me to a crisp today."
For the first time she realized that he was soaked to the skin, and the bag was looking just a little bit soggy.
"Oh, what a shame..." she said sarcastically, still eyeing the bag.
He rolled his eyes at her, then sits down next to her on the bed, "Yeah, I know, but you'd have missed me if I was gone, pet."
It was her turn to roll her eyes, "Right Spike, I would really miss you, even keep your ashes in an urn on the mantle." She told him sarcastically.
"Aw.... She cares enough to buy me an urn, thank you Buffy, I'm truly touched." He said, smiling a little to sweetly at her.
She grumbled and pouted, "I was having so much fun while you weren't here, can't you just go back upstairs or something?" she asked, only glancing at him before going back into her cute little pout mode.
Wait. Cute? No way, the slayer was not cute. Ok, maybe just a little.... Oh screw it, she's bloody gorgeous and you know it! Spike thought, "Fine I'll go back upstairs and I'll take my bag with me." He said, getting up and walking over to his desk.
She continued to pout, not only was he not going to show her what was in the bag, he wasn't even going to leave it down here for her to look through while he was watching her snoop.
"On second thought, if I don't do something with this, it's going to melt on me...." He said, and Buffy's head popped up.
"Melt on you?"
"Well yeah, that's what it does when it's left out, it melts, and seeing as I don't have a freezer or something of the like, I'm going to have to do something with it."
She smiled at him, he had gone out and bought ice-cream, probably for her too, seeing as they had had that conversation earlier about how it made her feel better, and the fact that he had nowhere to keep it.
"I think I can help you with that if you just let me see the bag." She said, propping herself up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed.
"Fine, but, only if you admit you like me, and that you'd miss me if I was dust."
She sighed, "Ok, Spike, I don't hate you and if you did turn to dust I wouldn't exactly be happy, that good?"
"Good enough." He said, sitting down next to her once more, and opening the bag, "So what do you like better, chocolate, or fish food?"
"Fish food?"
"Yeah, it's like chocolate ice cream with marshmallow stuff, and little chocolate fish in it, it's quite good actually." He told her, pulling out the two cartons of ice cream, and a couple of spoons.
"I guess I'll have to take your word for it, 'cause I'm not going to try it." She said, grabbing a spoon and the tub of chocolate ice cream from him.
She opened it, and dug in, enjoying the ice cream immensely, and finding herself in a much better mood than she had been in.
Chocolate. It has a way of making everything better, just like Spike. Buffy's eyes widened at her own thoughts. What am I thinking, Spike makes everything worse, not better.... Even if he does bring me ice cream, and help me when I get hurt.... Stop it Buffy, you're making him sound like a hero, not like an evil vampire that you're supposed to hate!
"What's the matter, luv?" Spike asked, noticing the confused and frustrated look Buffy had on her face.
Snapping herself out of her traitorous thoughts, Buffy looked over at him, "Huh?"
"I asked you what was wrong, you're not talking and you look mad, did I do something again?" he asked.
"No.... I mean yes, I mean.... Ugh! Can we just not talk about it?" she asked, not exactly understanding what she was thinking at the moment.
"Yeah, sure, but, only if you try this." Spike said, holding out a spoon full of the Fish Food ice cream to her.
She raised an eyebrow at him, and looked at it before taking the spoon from him, and eating it.
"Mmmm...."
Spike smiled, "See, told you you would like it." He said, getting another spoonful for himself and eating it, "You want anymore?"
She looked at him then nodded, and he held out a spoonful for her. This time she didn't bother to take the spoon from him, just took it in her mouth.
He blinked looking at little shocked at what she had just done, but he had no problem with it what so ever, so took his spoon out of her mouth and smirked at her. Eating more ice cream out of his tub, he glanced at her occasionally, and smiling at how unconsciously flustered she looked.
God Buffy! What are you thinking? Letting him spoon-feed you like that? It's just going to feed his obsession, and it's not like you need to do that. She thought, just a little bit confused at her actions.
Then why did you let him do it, huh? Admit it Buffy, you liked it.
I did not.
Did too.
Did not.
Did too.
I so did not, and having conversations with my inner self is really not good for my sanity.
She sighed, and shook her head, wondering why that part of her was arguing with her in the first place. Maybe she did like Spike, is that what her mind was trying to tell her?
Well duh.
"Shut up!" Buffy said, becoming frustrated once again.
Spike abruptly looked over at her, a questioning look on his face, "I didn't say anything, luv."
She blushed, "Sorry, just me and my random outbursts, I didn't mean to just shout like that or anything, really...."
"Right then." Spike said.
Did she just blush? Wait, did I just make her blush? He thought, looking at her, watching as his gaze seemed to make the redness on her cheeks seem to increase. And God, is she cute when she babbles.
Buffy was mad at herself for letting this happen. She felt the heat in her cheeks sore as he looked at her, and she didn't even know why she was embarrassed. Was it because she had just inwardly announced that she might like Spike? Because the blushing and the babbling were defiantly signs of an unwanted crush scenario that didn't seem like it would end well at all.
Well, now that we know you're attracted to him, She thought, then amended quickly, only a little bit though, you can at least admit to yourself that you think he's hot, right? That's not going to do anything, is it?
She sighed again and shook all the thoughts from her head, that didn't involve ice cream, away, and ate some more of hers. She blinked again; he had fed her ice cream! She had let him feed her ice cream! God, what was she getting herself into?