Chapter 20:

Spike and Saffron ran towards the vamp that had just appeared out of a fresh grave. He was enjoying himself and had been showing off in front of his girl. He was supposed to be teaching her, but he had been enjoying himself too much when he was fighting. The vamp was new and wasn't much taller than Spike himself. Spike decided to hold the arms of the vampire behind his back to restrain it and gave Saff a chance to dust it. She had a clear shot at his heart and dusted him quickly. He praised her as he dusted himself off, they smiled at each other forgetting their surroundings. They could have been anywhere, and it didn't matter, they had each other.

"Spike, I'm not a baby! Let me have a proper go" She pouted, breaking their moment, wanting to try to fight one on her own already.

"Just showing you how the experts do it, love" He smiled cockily and adjusted his leather duster confidently.

"You're hogging the slaying!" she whined, trying to make him feel guilty. She pouted again, but Spike was too keyed up from the adrenaline of fighting.

"We're not bloody slaying, it's a dance, love" He jumped and did some practice moves in anticipation. She smiled, she enjoyed seeing him so happy and he was always in a good mood when he was fighting like this. They hadn't noticed that Riley and Buffy were watching them the whole time, Spike had grabbed the vampire that Buffy had been about to dust but the pair hadn't noticed them as they were too wrapped up in their own conversation. Buffy watched the way they interacted and she noticed something odd. Riley stood next to her with his arms crossed, he looked to Buffy to see what she was going to say.

"What are you two doing here?" Spike and Saffron turned their heads, neither of them had sensed the two that were watching them despite both of their heightened senses. Saffron looked slightly panicked when she realised who was watching them. Spike spoke up, trying to cover for them both.

"Spot of violence before bedtime, Saff happened to be-" Spike started to make up an excuse, knowing to keep his mouth shut about their relationship.

"Saff? Since when do you call her that?"

"Since-" Saffron quickly tried to explain but Riley cut in faster.

"Since they started sleeping together" Riley said bluntly. He wasn't stupid, he could tell by that interaction that Saffron had been looking and touching since she had said she would stop. Buffy laughed, not believing Riley at first, but when she saw Saffron's panic-stricken face and Spike's smirk she stopped. Buffy jumped into action then, she didn't want the details she just wanted Spike dead. She started to beat him up swiftly, Saffron could barely see Buffy's limbs as she was kicking and hitting him at an ever faster pace.

"Buffy! Buffy, please! Stop it" She grabbed Buffy and tried to pull her off him. This made Buffy stop and turn to Saffron, her expression looked angry.

"You've seriously been having sex with Spike?!" Saffron nodded and looked at the ground, "Spike?!" Buffy shuddered at the thought.

"Well, if you were worried about his performance, he's actually quite good" Saffron spoke up finally, after a long pause, and crossed her arms over her chest. Spike smirked even more and decided he was enjoying this exchange, despite the threat to his unlife.

"He's evil, Saff. He tried to bite you, you remember that right? The night terrors and cutting your own hair in the bathroom?" Buffy asked, concerned for Saffron. Spike must have manipulated her. Buffy looked at Spike who winced slightly at how she described the way Saffron had reacted to their first meeting, "Is it-is it an English thing?" she continued, trying to figure out how this could have happened.

"Why does everyone ask that?" Saff rolled her eyes before continuing, "He's got that chip, he won't hurt me"

"Wouldn't hurt her even if I didn't have the cute little government chip" He stared at her lovingly. Buffy knew then that Spike had done something to trick Saffron and she needed to put a stop to it. He clearly had a sick obsession with her.

"This is ridiculous. Don't go near him again" Buffy ordered her cousin, pointing the stake for emphasis.

"You can't tell me what to do, the good soldier already tried it"

"How long have you known?" Buffy looked shocked and turned to her boyfriend, who looked sheepish. "Saffron. Home. Now" Buffy barked, noticing the look that Spike and Saffron were staring at each other.

"Buff-" Saffron tried to appeal to Buffy, but Buffy wasn't having any of it.

"Now" Buffy repeated, she wasn't happy and Saffron shut up so she wasn't making things worse, "And you. You look at her or even think about her and Mr pointy will dust you so fast I'll be washing you out of my shiny, strawberry scented hair for weeks" Buffy walked threatening over to Spike who had been watching the way her cousin was shouting at her. That's why she wanted it secret. Bloody slayer.

The walk home had been in a cold silence. Saffron could feel disappointment and anger coming from Buffy and it was almost unbearable. They had got into the kitchen and switch the lights on, still in complete silence. Dawn and Joyce were in bed. The girls both stood and stared at the other from across the counter, Saffron was bracing herself for Buffy to kick her out or something. Still, she maintained a brave face.

"What do you think you're doing?" Buffy questioned in disbelief, she was struggling to keep cool.

"Thought I'd give the vampire thing a go, worked so well for you" Saffron replied coolly, but inside she was panicking. She put her hands in her pockets to hide the shaking.

"It was different with me" Buffy answered and this annoyed Saff. It had been a lot worse between her and Angel.

"Oh, because the slayer is never to blame?" She shot back, unable to bite her tongue.

"No, because Angel had a soul" She replied quickly, before asking, "Why, Saff?"

"When I'm with- It just started when-" Saffron struggled to explain herself. She cursed herself for being useless at stuff like this.

"End it" Buffy took her response as embarrassment and not a sign of a relationship, "End it and we'll forget about it. Nobody else needs to know. I'll tell Riley and we'll just pretend nothing happened" Saffron hesitated, not sure what the right response was. She nodded in silent agreement, not able to meet Buffy's eyes properly. Behind her usual confident attitude was not necessarily how she felt inside and she cursed herself for not being braver like Buffy. True to who she was like Willow. Goofily uncaring like Xander.

"Just, uh, don't slay him… I'd feel responsible" Saff added. Buffy nodded, but she didn't agree to not beating him up when she next saw him.

xoxoxo

Saff was sat on the couch in Spike's crypt. Spike was sat next to her, his eyes on her. She had chipped all of the nail varnish off her fingers. She was nervous about what she was about to say and she knew Spike might react badly. She needed to face up to it though. She couldn't go on like this any longer. The pause was agonising as she tried to figure out exactly the right words to break the news.

"I'm going to give up smoking" She stated, she had given it a lot of thought and decided that she needed to be a better role model for Dawn. Spike just smiled and started lighting up a cigarette. He exhaled smoke towards her and grinned. "You are evil" she told him as she shoved him lightly.

"What can I tell you? I've always been bad" he smirked through the cloud of smoke around him, "Is this sudden change because just the smell of smoke will remind you of me and you'll come running back?" he purred and leaned closer to her.

"Spike, you saw how she was. I had to say we'd end it, properly this time." She straightened her ponytail and added, "She really would have staked you, did you see the look in her eyes?" Saffron shuddered at the way Buffy had looked at them.

"Maybe we should stop seeing each other then" he said, throwing his cigarette away and leaning ever closer so he could press light kisses along her neck. Her breathing quickened as he started to kiss her agonisingly slowly, along her jawline. He found his way to her pulse point and bit down slightly with his blunt teeth. This elicited a small moan from Saffron and she ran her hands through his hair with anticipation. She was breathing heavily and he smirked into her neck at the way he made her feel. She was letting him feel it again.

"Well, maybe we'll stop seeing each other from tomorrow" She mumbled, willing him to continue.

"Mm, or the day after" Neither of them had any intention of not seeing the other again, and Spike, for his own preservation, had agreed grudgingly to act as if they weren't together anymore. It meant they were going to have to be extremely careful but they couldn't let what they had go. They had started to kiss passionately, ignoring whatever was on the tv when the door to the crypt swung open and the two sprung apart. Crap.

Harmony burst in and quickly shut the door, she looked scared and sounded out of breath, which Saffron knew was an act because she didn't need to breathe.

"Is it safe? Has Buff-"

"Hey, Harm. Long time, probably not long enough" Saffron waved and then slinked her arm up Spike's chest. Harmony looked between them both and pulled a face.

"Blondie bear? Are you- are you with her?" Harmony asked, wrinkling her nose as she was human and well, not her. Saffron turned to Spike and mouthed, "Blondie bear?" which made Spike roll his eyes and get annoyed at Harmony.

"What on God's buggering earth, do you want, Harm?" He asked, clearly irritated. He had been enjoying himself before she had interrupted. He wanted to get her out as soon as possible so they could continue where they left off.

"It's her-her cousin" Harmony pointed at Saff, "Buffy. She's after me. She won't stop until she's killed me to death" Harmony looked genuinely scared and was trying to appeal to Spike for help. "She's my arch nemesis" she explained. This made saffron laugh and Harmony frowned at her, upset that she found this funny.

"Well, you can't bloody hide here. I've got my own slayer problems, you know" Spike snapped, but Saffron looked at the way Harmony was frightened. She could almost feel the fear, it was so strong. However, Harmony was still dead so she couldn't actually feel it unless she was in physical contact. And that wasn't going to happen any time soon if Saff could help it.

"Let her, Spike. Look, she's on the lam" She pointed to Harmony who nodded in enthusiastic agreement.

"I'm not a sodding vampire creche" He started, but Saffron gave him a look that told him she wanted him to do this for her. He watched her closely, not so recently she had been jealous of Harmony. She seemed to be genuinely empathetic towards the vampire she had gone to school with. Her feelings were strong, so he reluctantly agreed that she could stay, as long as she didn't unpack her bag or make herself at home.

Harmony smiled and sat on the couch. She reached into her bag and struggled to light up a thin cigarette. Saffron watched her struggle for a while before reaching to take the lighter and the cigarette from her and quickly lighting it up for her and handing it back. She smiled and thanked her and looked over at Spike who was looking between the pair of them, with darkened eyes. Saffron stared back with her own eyes raised, snapping him out of whatever fantasy he had conjured up about them.

Spike told Saffron lighting up counted as smoking, so she hadn't even lasted a day of quitting. He then started to tease Harmony about how Buffy was on her tail and Saffron threw a cushion at him to shut him up. Saffron then shrugged at what Spike had said and borrowed a cigarette from Harmony and lit up for herself. She'd quit after this one. The three of them stayed in Spike's crypt for a while until Saffron needed to go so she would get in before her cousin. That way, Buffy wouldn't ask any more questions.

xoxoxo

Saffron had been helping at the magic box that morning. She had had a strange feeling when she had woken up, like she was missing something. Or she had forgotten about something important. She guessed it was the weird dreams she had been having the night before. She had been dreaming of weird scenes but what linked them all was the number. Three, again. When she had arrived, Giles had revealed a circular table near the front of the shop with a sliding curtain and a little crystal ball on it. He explained it was so that she could take readings on some of the days and he would help her advertise it properly. He had made the area for her to read Tarot and the back for Buffy to train. Saffron was touched, and beyond happy. She appreciated the way Giles treated her, she didn't know what she would do without him. She got so excited she started to dance around the room and Tara smiled at her. Saff could feel that Tara was happy for her but she also longed to do readings herself. With a grin, Saff swayed over to her, apparently the only one that could hear the music she was dancing to, and asked Tara if she'd help out with the readings and she seemed to light up at the idea. Saffron took Tara's hands, ignoring the cold jolt that shocked them, and started to direct her arms to sway in time with her own. Giles and the others watched amused as Saffron stopped once she noticed she had been embarrassing Tara.

Saff was still in a good mood when the phone started ringing. She felt like she was forgetting something again, but this didn't stop her skipping towards the phone to pick it up. Her heart quickened and her stomach dropped as she heard Dawn's voice on the other end. She screamed for Saffron to come home. Something had happened to Joyce. Dawn had already called 911 and Saffron promised she would be at the hospital right away to meet her there. She called Buffy before she left to check she knew and then rushed out of the door, throwing an apology at Giles as she left. Luckily, her new boss was more accommodating than her last.

Saffron had been sitting with Dawn in the waiting room, she didn't need to be empathic to know how Dawn was feeling. She felt the same. Her younger cousin was leaning against her and Saffron was stroking her hair, willing her to feel the comfort she was sending. Dawn was fiddling with the stethoscope in her lap when Buffy and Riley sprinted over to them. The three girls hugged as Ben, the nurse, walked over to them to confirm that Joyce was doing okay. Saffron got a strange feeling from Ben, but guessed it was because he was quite attractive in a normal sort of way, he kind of reminded her of Graham a little. Riley started to ask questions, which received an eye roll from Saffron. She was still annoyed with him for telling Buffy about her and Spike. She listened to Ben explaining the situation and let Dawn listen to her heart with the stethoscope she had borrowed. She watched Dawn listen to everyone else's heart beats with interest, but when she got to Riley's Saffron could feel shock echo through her brain as Dawn stared up at him. She must hear something. Dawn went and sat back down next to Saffron and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Dr Dawn, what's your professional opinion on Riley's heart rate?" Saff whispered while Ben and Buffy were still talking. Dawn thought for a while and looked up at her older cousin.

"I think it's wrong" She said, not sure how to explain it.

"What's wrong with it, Dawny?"

"It's all fast, it's like beating double everyone else's" Dawn explained with a frown, and Saffron grabbed the stethoscope and listened for herself. Her eyes widened as she heard the beating, it was as if he had run very fast but he wasn't even moving. Riley had looked down at her with a frown, quirking his eyebrow as if to ask what she thought she was doing. She scowled back, reconsidering if she wanted to tell him.

"Riley, you need a doctor" She said bluntly, deciding no matter what she felt about him, he shouldn't be left like that. She waved her arms around, trying to get Buffy's attention. She let both him and Buffy listen to Riley's heart and Buffy dragged him away to the doctor's room. Dawn and Saffron waited impatiently for both Riley and Joyce to come out of their respective hospital rooms and Saff tried her best to distract Dawn with a game of 'that man's a gigolo'. This was a game Saffron had picked up from somewhere, where they looked at the people walking past and guessed their backstory. Saffron hadn't told Dawn the real name of the game, she didn't want to get told off by Joyce for teaching her the word Gigolo.

"That one" Dawn nudged her head at a grey-haired registrar. He had tiny glasses on the end of his nose and bushy, grey eyebrows that seemed to be arranged in a permanent scowl.

"Easy. He was the best up and coming ballerina in the New York company" Dawn snorted as she looked at the stocky old man, "He broke his face doing one of the most complicated lifts, it's called the crane toss, and he sort of fell back on his career as a surgeon. To be a ballerina, you need an open and friendly face but when he broke it, his eyebrows didn't set back in place properly and he was cursed with a constant frown" This made Dawn laugh, her cousin was making her feel better. Dawn asked Saff to pick her a person to make up a story about. At this moment, Riley stormed out of the room with Buffy close behind. She was trying to convince him to go back in but he wouldn't listen. He muttered something about getting some air and left the girls in the waiting room.

Buffy was so worried and not even Saff could do anything to calm her down. She was pacing and explaining what the doctor had said. Saffron knew there was something she could do, but she needed some help. This is gonna be fun. She grabbed some quarters from her purse and walked up to the payphone in the room. She sighed before dialling the number.

"Uh, hi, Gray… Please don't put the phone down, it's about Riley. He's in trouble" She rushed. "Hello?" She asked again. There was a long pause, but someone was still on the line.

"Meet me at the park at noon" He said simply before putting the phone down as quickly as he had picked up. Saff rolled her eyes but decided she would have to go. She explained to Buffy what she was doing and her cousin smiled tightly at her as she watched Saff leave to meet Graham.

xoxoxo

Spike had been playing a word game with Harmony, and his patience with her was wearing thin. He wished Saffron would come back, she was the one that made him let her stay after all and she wasn't even doing her share of minding Harm. The crypt door swung open and Harmony went to hide in case Buffy had come to kill her finally. It was, in fact, the slayer and Spike was instantly defensive. He hadn't seen the slayer since what had happened with Saffron and he didn't know what her intentions would be.

Buffy took some money out and explained that she wanted him to check the caves for Riley. Spike didn't say anything, he just watched her. It couldn't be this simple. Buffy ripped up half the money and passed it to him, before starting to walk out. She turned as she got to the door.

"Saffron is already happier without you following her round, stalking her from the shadows. She doesn't need you manipulating her into anything" Buffy stated, her hands on her hips. Spike rolled his eyes at this; he was tired of the self-righteous slayer bit.

"Didn't make her do anything, if you recall she made sure everyone knew my performance in bed was very good" He smirked cockily and raised his eyebrows. Buffy came over and punched him hard on the nose.

"You really are disgusting, Spike. You know she sees the good everyone and it blinds her to people like you. The evil ones" She spat at him, but this made Spike grin wider. He didn't have Saffron to hold him back now, he wanted to rub it in. He had been with Saffron because he wanted her, but it was a bonus that he could hurt the slayer at the same time.

"Mm, maybe sweet Honeysuckle enjoyed the nastier side. She certainly liked it when we-" Spike was cut off by another blow and Buffy turned to leave again, and added as she walked away, "Oh, thought you might want to know that Saff is meeting with Graham as we speak. You've got no chance with her, Spike" She smiled and stalked into the night, hoping that Spike would still look through the caves if he wanted the rest of the money. She couldn't resist telling him. Spike let Harmony out from her hiding place and started to pace back and forth. He didn't want Graham near her and he was trying to come up with a plan. He told Harmony to grab the bow and follow him.

Saffron was waiting with Graham for Riley and Buffy to show. It had been awkward since they had met at the park, Graham had tried to convince Riley before he had met her but he left it for Buffy instead. They had chatted about Riley and what everyone had been up to but avoided the harder topics. Saffron was sat on one of the hard, plastic seats in the hospital and Graham moved from where he was stood pacing, waiting for Riley, to sit. His leg was bouncing slightly as he was still concerned for his friend. Saff sensed this, but thought better of offering a comforting hand.

"How's it going, doll?" He finally asked, not quite meeting her eyes.

"It's going. You know, worried about my Auntie and Riley too now. Always seem to be working and, uh, I've dropped out of college. Please don't say anything if Riley and Buff come though" She explained quickly, making sure to avoid mentioning Spike. She didn't like seeing him upset.

"What? How come? Is it him?" Graham seemed shocked she was dropping out and instantly blamed Spike for it.

"Nothing to do with Spike. Managed to do some thinking all by myself" She rolled her eyes but smiled to show him she wasn't annoyed.

"You're smart, you could do something important. Don't give that up for a job in a book store"

"Oh, I was sacked from there. I'm working in a magic shop now, if it ever gets sorted in time for opening. Besides, I am doing important things, I help my cousin save the world, that's not exactly an easy breezy extra-curricular" She told him, defending her decision. "You know, I feel like this is the most I've shared with you. Even when we were dating, I felt so distant" She looked at him, her vulnerability showing, she had never talked to him like this before.

"I could tell. I looked at you some days and you were in a different world. I was just happy to be close to you" He shrugged, he was moving on slowly but talking about it still stung him.

"I really am sorry, Gray. You'll meet someone kind and decent, someone that treats you as well as you treat them. I'm sorry that wasn't me" She said honestly, although some of it was to save his feelings. If she was honest, she had felt trapped with him. But she knew his intentions had been kind.

"No problem, doll face. We should have known from the start we'd hit something like that" He repeated something she had once said to him about how opposite they had been. She smiled at the memory, things had seemed more simple back then.

"So, we're good? Wanna hug it out like we're on a cheesy tween tv show?" She offered her arms out and he would have felt rude to reject her. He was still fond of her after everything and tried not to appear too eager to meet her friendly embrace. Predictably, Spike and Harmony had decided to burst into the waiting room at that exact moment. Spike's chest dropped, the slayer had been right. He ran and pulled Graham away from her and told Harm to point the weapon at him.

"Spike!" Saff shouted standing between the two men.

"Oh, now we're a bleeding love triangle. It's not a bloody blockbuster you've seen at the Sunnydale drive-in, love"

"Spike, it was a hug. Stop throwing your weight around like some bloody caveman" She warned him, before adding more softly, "We were saying goodbye"

"Don't fucking touch her again" Spike stood dangerously close to Graham, the height difference didn't make Spike any less menacing. Graham crossed his hands over his chest, staring back. He knew he'd done nothing wrong. Buffy and Riley arrived then to get him to the doctors. She rolled her eyes when she saw that Spike had come with Harmony, he really was obsessed with her cousin and it annoyed her. Saffron was trying to separate the two men from their posturing without much luck.

"Can we cool the display of testosterone for one minute. We're here for Riley and look, he's here" Saffron said the latter part more to Graham, she knew Spike didn't like Riley. Graham looked over and started to step towards Riley but Harmony's hand slipped at the sudden movement and she shot him with one of the arrows. Spike smirked at what had happened and Graham groaned in pain. Buffy took Riley quickly to the doctor and brought one out for Graham.

When she returned, she saw Spike was a bristling with a burning jealousy in the corner next to Harmony as Saffron knelt next to Graham. Good, Buffy thought. She made the right choice. The doctor took over from Saffron where she was trying to comfort him and she followed them to the room Graham was going to be treated in. This left Buffy, Harmony and Spike in the waiting room together.

"Why don't I make you an offer, slayer?" He acted as if he was in deep thought as he proposed, "You convince the good military doctor to get my chip out and I'll leave your precious cousin alone" He had no plans of leaving Saffron alone, he loved her. But he decided while they were pretending anyway, he might as well get something good out of it. He was evil, after all. Buffy laughed, as if he couldn't possibly be serious. She suggested he walked away, he wasn't getting the chip out.

"You know what, Spike? I've had just about enough of dealing with you" She stated, and started to land blows on his face and anywhere she could reach. Harmony cut in, trying her best to help with the fight. The three of them fought and traded blows. Spike was giving himself a headache but he wanted to land at least one punch for the slayer. Saffron ran out of the room she had followed Graham into and stared at the three fighting in the room, she had heard them and decided she needed to stop them. She shouted, but nobody listened. She got annoyed and just stared, hard. Everyone suddenly stopped what they were doing and stared at her. They suddenly felt calmness wash over them all, as if they hadn't been fighting viciously moments ago. Saffron was influencing their emotions and nobody knew what to say. They all stared, unable to feel angry enough to fight, and saffron stared right back.

"Why don't I make you all an offer? Leave or stay, but just leave each other alone" Saffron asked, showing she had heard the conversation. She looked at Buffy and Spike, not caring much if Harmony stayed or left. She turned and went back to check on Graham without a glance behind her. The three were awe-struck at what she had done, so much so that they really did stop fighting. Buffy went to check on Riley and Spike and Harm left for the crypt.

A/N: Please, please, please tell me what you think! Are you enjoying the story? Are the chapters too long? Are you invested in Saff and Spike's relationship? Feel free to leave a comment (or don't, it's all up to you!) xoxo