Tori didn't know when she'd drifted off or for how long she'd been curled up in Spike's lap. She smacked her lips togetherand let her eyes roll slowly open. She saw the smoothness of Spike's pale hand splayed across her tan stomach where her top had crept up a bit. She felt the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth at being so close to him.

His head was resting on the back of the sofa and his eyes were closed in a peaceful sleep. She tried not to disturb his slumber as she craned her neck to get a better look at him as he slept. His skin had just the slightest hint of color to it. She lifted her hand to her neck and felt the twin punctures that now marked it. Her blood had done that, made him a little less pasty; a little less dead.

Mine he had whispered. He claimed you, her Slayer side told her. Yes, he did, she thought in response. She was his. And she had no regrets. She knew he would protect her until he was dust. She wondered just how many Slayers had been claimed by vampires. Buffy. She remembered Spike telling her about his more than volatile relationship with Buffy. She had been marked by his grandsire, the other vampire with a soul, Angel. But Spike had never marked her. He had never even marked his own sire, Dru. She remembered the hurt in his eyes when he had talked about those two relationships with a mixture of longing and remorse.

"Dru belonged to Angelus," he said. "And nobody, not even me, will ever be able to take the place of her Daddy," he said with acceptance.

"But she claimed you?" Tori had asked.

"She was the one who first drank from me," he clarified. "But she never claimed me. Never turned me. Angelus turned me."

"What about the Slayer?" she continued. "You love her."

"I loved her," he corrected. "The soul has afforded me the luxury of rethinking a lot of my past misgivings. I did love her. Would have done anything for her. But there was nothing there. Not for her."

Tori could tell that the subject was one he didn't really want to expound upon. She was surprised when he did.

"Used me, she did," he said with no regrets. "Not that I minded at the time. She was what I wanted. But she was never what I needed. It took me just one instance to realize that."

Tori had waited for him to continue, but he had been lost in his own thoughts. She had reached for his hand and, for the first time, she wanted to comfort him. Her thumb rubbed absently over the back of his cool hand, tracing circles in hopes of bringing him a moment of peace. He had looked at her, touched by the gesture, and had graced her with a weak, though genuine, smile.

"I,uh..." He sucked in one of those unneeded breaths of which he was so fond. "Tori, Love... chances are you won't be so kind to me once I tell you what happened."

She had seen the fear etched in his eyes. He had been afraid of losing whatever bit of momentum he had gained with her. She made the decision that she wouldn't pull away from him... no matter what it was.

"You can tell me anything," she had promised him. "And I mean anything, Will. I've... I've done things that nobody but you could ever understand. Believe me when I tell you, no matter what it is you've done, I'll understand."

She had watched as he turned her words over in his head. Her hand remained firmly latched onto his.

"I'm not a man with many regrets," he had begun. "Hell, who am I trying to fool? I'm not even a man."

Tori tensed at that remark. It was something she constantly disregarded about him. He was a vampire. Plain and simple. The man had died long ago. She knew that. Yet, something about him made him more of a man than any other she'd ever known.

"Don't say things like that, Will," she quietly admonished. "I know what you are. And I know who you are. You're the best man I've ever known."

He had smiled at that. ducking his head to avoid her gaze. He was far from that, unless she'd only known the shady sort in her whole existence.

"That's kind of you to say, Love," he told her. "But misguided. And entirely untrue. Tried to rape the Slayer. I tried to rape Buffy."

Tori's hand had stilled on his, but she didn't release him from her grip. He'd tried to rape Buffy. Tori thought about her many near-misses on foreign soil from both men and demons who had tried to do the same to her.

"Who tried to rape her?" she had asked, wanting clarification as to which guise he was wearing.

"It was me, Sweetling," he had told her, his eyes meeting hers for the first time.

He had seen the coldness creep back into them before she had even felt it trickle down her spine. Her hand was still holding onto his. He wondered if she was willing herself not to let go. Her eyes had looked haunted as if she was reliving her own scariest moments.

"But you didn't," she whispered, forcing her voice to remain calm.

"No, Love," he had told her. "I didn't."

"You could have," she reminded him.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I could have. But I stopped. She reminded me of exactly what I was and I stopped."

Tori had chewed her lip, thinking about what he had almost done. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, she heard cliche-ing in her head. She had remained silently staring at the floor for many minutes. He didnt say anything in his defense. He made no excuses or apologies.

"Your relationship before that... it was... it was good?" she asked, not really sure what kind of relationship he'd had with the Slayer.

"No," he disagreed. "It was never good. It was either... it was... fists or fucking. Never about love or tenderness. It was about need. But never about mine. What she needed. What she wanted."

"And her friends were okay with that? Her Watcher?" Tori had wanted to know, her fingers moving slowly over his cool skin again.

"They didn't know," he said, confirming her suspicions. "She didn't want anyone to know. Told me I was a monster. Never a man. That I was..."

His eyes had dropped to watch her caress his hand. He could feel it happening again. He could feel himself beginning to fall at the tiniest of gesture of her warm skin brushing against his. He closed his eyes tightly and pulled his hand from hers.

"I'm beneath you, Tori," he ground out. "Shouldn't be treating me as a friend, as a man. Not good enough to walk the same ground you tread."

She had only known him a few months, but something new and unfamiliar had taken hold of her heart. She could feel the stab of pain in her chest at the coldness of his voice, at the echo of his words.

"I believe that's for me to decide," she had told him, her voice just as cold as her defense mechanism kicked into overdrive. "I know what you were. More important, I know what you are."

He hadn't said another word after that. He had just let her hold his hand and rest her head on his shoulder. They had fallen asleep on the couch like that for the first time. And they often woke up curled against each other after a long night of research or a marathon of cheesy horror flicks. Tori knew that he didn't need to sleep at night. But he had fallen into the habit since she came into his life. He wanted to be where she was, do what she was doing. He wanted to be lulled by the steadiness of her heartbeat, existed for the chance to touch her.

He had never taken it any further. Not until he'd come home to her after leaving her to stew in her own juices for three days.

She reached up to stroke the sharp angle of his cheek and his eyes fluttered open. It only took a moment for him to focus on her. She was studying him with quiet countenance. Her fingers slid down his cheek to the lush fullness of his bottom lip. She lightly ran the pad of her thumb over the sexy pout of his mouth. Her eyes followed each motion her hand made.

His tongue darted out to rasp across her thumb as it caressed him. She raised her eyes to his, suddenly aware of his lucid presence. She loved the way his eyes would give him away. They were truly the windows to his soul. What she saw in them now was fascination, wonderment... and something she couldn't define, something she'd never seen reflecting back to her before. She wondered if it could be love.

He raised his hand to smooth over the puzzlement of her furrowed brow. What had made her face take on such a mask of confusion?

"Kitten?" he tread delicately. "What is it?"

She wasn't sure how to even broach the subject. She had given him her life's blood. Surely that had meant something to him. Surely he understood that it wasn't something she could just do without some sort of certainty that he'd never leave. Her hand moved back to her neck, the pads of her fingers feeling for the quickly fading scabs from his claim.

"Mine," he whispered into her ear.

His cool breath made the marks on her neck tingle and a fresh pool of moisture form between her thighs.

"Am I?" she wanted to know. "Am I yours?"

He slowly licked a trail up the unmarked side of her throat, purring as he took her earlobe between his blunt teeth. He nibbled around the shell of her ear and her eyes closed shut as she lost herslef in the sensations he was creating in her.

"Always mine," he vowed. "Always yours."

She moaned as his hand moved under the hem of her shirt until it found the bare mound of warm flesh. He let his thumb brush over her nipple until it pebbled from his touch. She let out a gasp that only made him want to please her even more.

"Oh God, Will," she panted. "I need... I need..."

She didn't know how to ask, wasn't entirely sure what it was she needed. But she needed it now.

"What do you need, Baby?" he asked in a sotto voice that made her skin buzz all the way down to her toes.

He lifted her shirt over her head and went back to stroking her hardened nipple while she writhed in his lap. Tori could feel the mark on her neck begin to throb as he continued touching her in the most delicious ways. He dipped his head down to capture a rosy nipple between his teeth and alternately nipped and sucked at the sensitive nub.

"Mmmm.... Will," she mewled, arching her back into his mouth. "So... good... need... oh, God... need you!"

He lifted his head from her breast letting it fall from his talented mouth. He stood, carrying her along with him to his bedroom never looking away from her wondering gaze. He placed her on the cool red satin of his comforter and knelt beside her. He could hear her heart beating in her chest like a jack hammer.

"Never hurt you, Love," he swore, wanting nothing more than to put her at ease.

He let his hand glide down her body until he could hook his fingers into the waistband of her pajama pants. He continued to study her face as she lifted her hips, allowing him to slide the pants down her legs.

"Want you so much Tori," he said reverently. "Need you all around me."

Her eyes were wide and fixated on his every move.

"Need to taste you," he breathed, crawling down her body, leaving a trail of kisses in his wake.

She bucked at the first brush of his tongue. He couldn't believe how sensitive she was. Every nerve on her body was on fire.

Her hands found the back of his head and she twined her fingers through the soft platinum strands. Nothing could have ever prepared her for anything this good. She felt her hips rising of their own accord .

"Oh Gaaaah!! Mmmm... Will! Ohhhhh.... OHHHH!"

She came so violently it took her breath away.

She was staring down at him in amazement.

"Wh... what was that?" she asked, having no idea what her body had just done.

He looked up at her from where he lay in the cradle of her thighs. The question in her eyes could never have prepared him the one that she had voiced.

"Baby," he said softly. "You just came. Haven't you ever... I mean, you must have..."

She shook her head slowly, never taking her eyes off of his face. When had she had the time to put into any kind of relationship? The Corps had been her entire life. She never made room for this.

"No," she told him. 'You're the only one... my only one."