Buffy took a moment to collect herself as she stood outside the door to her room. Smoothing her clothes down she willed herself into resisting the desire that filled her, the need to rush into the room and look after him now that he was awake.

Grasping the door handle, she took a deep breath and then opened it in a casual manner.

"Up then?" She raised her brows at him as she walked directly to the little lamp on the bedside table and flicked it on.

Spike frowned as the light stung his eyes.

Buffy tensed as she tried to stop herself from apologising.

Frowning still, Spike tried again to manoeuvre himself into a more comfortable position on the bed but winced and swallowed noisily as his ribs sent pain shooting along his nerves.

Buffy hurriedly arranged pillows behind his back and patted them to make them fluffy so he would be comfortable, her façade of coolness slipping.

Spike watched her small hands working to look after him, propping him up as he lay on her bed in nothing more than tiny shorts that used to be his favourite jeans. As she leant over to arrange the pillows on the other side of him, his eyes fell to her exposed neck.

His frowned intensified.

A sudden anger boiled up inside him over the fresh marks on her pale skin.

He caught her arm roughly and tugged her to him, sniffing her neck as he growled low in his throat. As she stilled in his arms and let him inspect her neck, he let his frown melt away and it was replaced with a look of amazement.

They were his.

His marks pronounced beautifully on her throat and exposed for the whole world to see.

Standing slowly, Buffy felt his hand slip from her arm and walked across the room to the door, clicking the lock into place before coming back to sit on the bed next to him.

She took a deep breath as she stared at her hands, avoiding the incredulous look on his face and the way his eyes bore into her.

"You felt better." She spoke to her hands rather than him. Suddenly she felt timid, like a shy girl trying to speak to the school bad boy and not sound stupid.

"Yeah, I do…hang on…I felt better?" Spike frowned at her as he tried to figure out what was happening. Since leaving her in Sunnydale, everything seemed to be a blur and now he was back-in her room and feeling like he was half dead, again.

As her cheeks turned a strange shade of crimson, he realised that there was something going on and he'd missed the memo due to being unconscious.

"Felt. As in…you can feel me or you felt me?" Spike found his frown intensifying as he tried to understand, the ache in his head made it hard to concentrate.

"Spike." She took another long deep breath and raised her eyes slowly to meet his. The look of confusion on his face made her stomach flip with frustration. She wanted to tell him, wanted to just come out with it but she couldn't, the words just didn't want to come. "Don't make a fuss…"

"There's cause for a fuss now? What the bloody hell is going on?" Spike tried to sit up a little and watched her jerk as she went to help him and then stopped herself. "I wake up…feeling deader than I already did and now all this…fuss."

Buffy didn't like the way his eyes narrowed like he'd just hit on the answer with that one little word.

"You're making a fuss of me…you…me?" He arched a brow at her and watched her shift uncomfortably. "Slayer? Buffy? What's going…"

She pressed her finger against his lip so quickly, and with such a force, that she squashed them slightly. He frowned down at her offending finger and she released his mouth.

"While I was…back in your lair…you healed me and I think I…" Buffy let her voice drop to a whisper as her eyes fell to the bed. "Claimed you."

Spike sighed out his breath like he'd just been punched in the stomach. A million questions bubbled up inside him but he pushed them aside as he saw her, her eyes fixed on the bedspread and her head turned slightly to the side. She looked like she was waiting for something. He tensed his jaw as he realised what it was. She was waiting for him to make some kind of sarcastic comment about her claiming him.

He remembered it now, a hazy moment after he'd finished cleaning up her wounds and healing them for her. He'd been enjoying the feeling of her blood in his veins and she had wiped the blood from his lips. He hadn't even thought about her words at the time, or his response. He'd replied automatically, without a thought to the possible consequences of agreeing with her. Something in her body language told him she hadn't known the power of that one little word or the impact it would have on them both if he responded.

Buffy couldn't understand what was taking him so long to say something, anything. She couldn't bear the silence between them and the feeling of confusion inside her made her head and heart ache. She wanted him to tell her it was okay, that everything would be fine and all this was meant to be, that it was destiny or something equally as stupid.

She just wanted some kind of comfort from him.

But he was just sitting there, looking like she'd just said she was having his baby.

Furrowing her brows, she considered leaving the room and giving him some time to think through whatever was going on in his head.

She closed her eyes as she felt a cool hand brush against hers, the palm of his hand covering the back of hers as his fingers wrapped around it and squeezed it gently. A flood of reassurance swept through her and she relaxed a notch. Letting her eyes open a fraction she looked down at their hands and was surprised by how the sight of them soothed her, like they were a symbol of their unity and how he was okay with what had happened.

"All I could think about was you, you know." Spike watched her blink slowly and then raise her head slightly so her eyes met his. "When I was looking after you, when I was going to LA, when Angel of all sodding people saved me from those pricks…"

Buffy smiled as he smiled weakly at her.

"I could feel you inside me. Your pain, it guided me to you. I really thought Angel had done that to you at first." She ran her fingers lightly over his cheek. The bruise beside his eye had now started to fade and the swelling was practically gone. "I could have killed him. Giles says that when you reverted to an animal state of mind that it affected me…I went with you."

Spike frowned as she heaved a long sigh and looked deep into his eyes. He felt relieved to see them so full of life again, vibrant green and shining at him in the low light.

"I can still feel you, Spike." Letting her hand run down his arm she took hold of his hand and pressed his palm against her chest. "Right here."

Moving her free hand, she pressed it against his naked chest and felt lost in his eyes as he blinked at her.

"Can you feel me too?" She didn't know why she felt so nervous about asking him-in all the books that she'd read it had stated clearly that they would both feel the same things. Part of her was scared that he wouldn't want to be bonded to her, that he'd want to break it somehow like Giles had mentioned.

Spike cocked his head to one side and let the corners of his mouth twitch into a smile as he struggled to grow accustomed to the difference in the mood between them-it seemed so tranquil. "Like you're a part of me, pet."

Buffy let her fingers stroke his chest and smiled at him. She could see his wounds were starting to heal, the edges of them no longer red raw but a dull pink, leaving just the cuts themselves a deep crimson colour. She ran her fingers over one that ran down his ribcage and frowned at it as she felt the pain inside him. Spike caught her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Give it time." He let her hand go as she nodded at him.

He tried to shift again on the bed as she smiled warmly at him there was something in it that spoke volumes. She clearly knew what she had gotten into and she seemed to be fine with it and all the implications. She actually looked as though she liked being bonded to him.

He gritted his teeth as he moved too much and pain shot up his side.

"You okay?" Buffy moved immediately, her hands rushing to help him as he tried to sit up more in her bed.

"I'll be fine." Spike swallowed noisily and then froze as he realised how close she was to him. He could feel her warm breath on his neck as she leant over him and her body brushing slightly against his bare chest.

Buffy bit her lower lip as she felt his hands sliding up her arms and his eyes on her neck. As his cool breath tickled her skin, she closed her eyes, letting her body relax against his as she gave silent thanks that she'd locked the door. The last thing she needed was her mother walking in and seeing what was about to happen.

Spike inhaled sharply as he slipped into vampire guise. His fingers grasped her tightly as he wrapped them about her waist and held her to him. Placing a soft kiss on her neck, he quickly followed it with his fangs-piercing her silky flesh where he had done previously.

She gasped as she felt his teeth enter her-the first pull on her blood making her heart feel like it was going to explode from the feelings that flooded it. It beat painfully against her ribcage as she buried her fingers into his hair and clasped him to her neck. She could feel him, inside her, surrounding her. Could feel what he felt on being allowed to feed from her and how her potent blood made his body scream for more.

Allowing him to drink from her for a longer time than she had before, she found herself not wanting to make him stop. The exquisite sensation of pain and pleasure running through her veins was something she didn't want to end.

Spike released her neck and growled quietly as he licked the wound clean. Pulling back, he looked down at it and found himself wanting to sigh over the sight of her beautiful pale skin marked by his teeth and his teeth alone now.

Buffy smiled slightly as she caught the look of amazement on his face, the expression in his eyes soft and tender as he looked down at his mark.

Raising her hand she let her fingers play on his cheek and found his eyes moving to meet hers. He smiled as he blinked slowly.

"Get some sleep. We'll talk more later…about this claim thing…and what happened."

Part of Spike wanted to tell her that he could reverse the claim, that there were methods of undoing a bond, but his more selfish side fought against it and won. He wanted to be hers, wanted to keep this bond between them and deep down inside he knew she wanted to keep it too, no matter what happened.

Or at least it appeared that way.

Why else would she offer up her neck as his chalice?

He smiled at that thought and leant back against the pillows. Even as sleep beckoned him, he could feel his body bursting into action and using the strength from her blood to start healing itself more rapidly.

Buffy hesitated for a moment before standing up. She felt pulled in two directions, one leading her back downstairs to her friends and the other leading her to Spike. She didn't want to leave him while he was still awake; she wanted to stay by his side until she knew he was comfortable and resting again.

Walking until she was stood right by his side she gave him a shy smile and then opened her mouth to speak. Her voice drifted away as she felt his hand in hers, his fingers gently brushing against the palm of her hand as his thumb stroked the back of it.

"Go downstairs, pet. I'll be fine here. Catch a little more kip and before you know it I'll be right as rain again." He looked up at her and noticed her concerned expression didn't fade away this time.

Squeezing her hand, he wondered if she was still feeling as confused as he was. By all rights he should have drained her dry while he had the opportunity, she'd offered up her neck to him and he'd only taken what he needed to help him heal faster. He frowned.

A warm swirling feeling settled itself in his stomach.

It was vaguely familiar, like a distant echo of something he used to know but now couldn't quite remember.

Buffy stroked his forehead and let her hand slip free of his grasp as she turned to switch the small lamp off.

"Buffy." Spike watched her turn to face him in the darkness.

"Yes?" Her voice trembled slightly; the atmosphere around her seemed suddenly heavy.

"Get some sleep…you look like hell."

Buffy smiled at him as his words heated her stomach through. She knew it was the closest thing to concern that she was going to get from him right now.

Walking out of the room, she stopped in the doorway and let her eyes linger on him for a few moments more before shutting it and heading back downstairs.

She cast a glance around the room before settling back down in the spot she'd vacated on the couch and picking up her tea.

She sipped it.

Cold.

How long had she been up there with Spike? There wasn't even a lingering trace of warmth on the cup-it was stone cold.

"How is he?" Joyce gave her an affectionate smile as she touched her knee.

"Getting there. Think it's going to be a while before he's back to his usual sarcastic ways but he's good." Buffy put the mug of cold tea back down on the table and curled up.

She realised everyone was staring at her.

Not her exactly.

Her eyes widened.

Her hands raced to cover the marks on her neck that they'd already seen.

Turning a bright shade of red she buried her head in her knees and then looked up sheepishly at everyone.

"Oops?" Buffy offered with a slight smile but the varying looks of shock on their faces didn't fade.

"Buffy, how could you?" Giles frowned down at her.

Joyce stood up and moved in front of her daughter; sheltering her from the looks that her friends were giving her.

"Buffy's done nothing wrong here. She did what she felt she had to, to help him. She's done it before, it's no different this time and you can't treat it like it is."

Buffy looked up at her mother and smiled as she looked down at her. "Guess you knew, huh?"

"I saw them on your neck that night. I understand why you did it, there's no need for you to feel ashamed." Sitting down next to Buffy she took hold of her hands and squeezed them tightly. "There's no need to be ashamed of anything you feel or do."

"I'm sorry, Buffy. Just after everything you went through with Angel…I just don't want to see you hurt."

"I know." She smiled up at Giles and then at Willow and Xander. "I know what I'm doing though, trust me guys? I know I've been wrong on occasion…but I'm right this time." She watched their faces soften and then grinned. "Plus, if you get all grumpy at me I'll just have Spike eat you."

Their eyes widened.

"Joking…" Buffy grinned and then let her look turn pensive. "Kinda raises a question though doesn't it. If he's going to be a part of my life I can't really let him go around killing people, can I?"

She pouted as she thought about trying to explain to Spike that he couldn't be a free-range fox in the henhouse anymore. As she pictured how happy he'd been that time he'd talked about saving the world because of its 'happy meals on legs' she whined. He was not going to take it well.

"Like I don't have enough problems now I have to think about how to feed a vampire…one who's gonna get cranky about not being allowed human blood."

"He could be useful though, Buffy, in the fight against evil." Willow gave her a reassuring smile. "Besides, you'll have him house broken in no time."

"House broken?" Buffy looked incredulous.

"While you were upstairs with Spike, we discussed what would happen now." Joyce took hold of her hands again. "Of course you'll continue at college but we have to think about where you're going to stay now. No matter how much you try to hide it, I don't think you like being apart from him so we realised that the best move would be for you to move back in here. You'll still be able to get into college and you won't be far from him if you need him."

"What are you saying…you've got that look you get when you've come up with some devious mom plan."

"He's staying here."

"But…" Buffy moved to protest but found herself cut off by a warning look from Joyce.

"No buts, young lady. He can stay in the basement once he's recovered. It's dark enough and he'll be safer staying here with you."

Buffy didn't know whether to wrap her arms around her mother in a hug or to be angry at decisions about her and Spike's living arrangements being made without her. Her thoughts slipped to the sleeping vampire upstairs and she closed her eyes as she concentrated on him.

She could feel him healing, his body relaxed as he slumbered on.

It was comforting to be able to sense him nearby, to be close enough to him to just reach out briefly and feel him there.

Maybe her mother had been right when she'd said she acted like she loved him.

Except it wasn't an act.