Buffy awoke, finding her face pressed into Spike's clothed chest, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist and her legs tangled with his. She burrowed into him, feeling warm and safe. She smiled as she felt a rumble within Spike's chest and his arms coil tightly around her. Spike brushed his lips against her forehead. She bumped her head on his chin as she lifted her head.
"Ow," she giggled, looking into his face.
He smiled at her, kissing the top of her head. 'Looks like we'd have terrible coordination if we ever got fused into a two-headed Spuffy monster.'
She laughed. "Spuffy," she snorted in amusement.
'I don't know, sounds a little more creative than 'Bike.'' She could tell he was chuckling as his chest rumbled. 'Are you hungry, love? I had Wesley order us some takeaway.'
"You and Giles, I swear! It's called takeout."
He looked appalled. 'Hey, don't pigeonhole me with Mr. Tweed & Stuffy.'
She smirked. "Only if you start learning to adjust to American culture. You've been out of the motherland for what, a century?"
'Hey! It hasn't been that long.' He stuck out his tongue. 'Gotta stick to my roots somehow. Plus, it's a well known fact that the girls dig foreign accents.'
"Oh, yeah?" she said, raising her eyebrows at him. "Wooed any girls lately with that secret weapon of yours?"
He tossed his head back as he laughed. 'I believe my secret weapon is my looks. Don't think there's much wooing power in British slang, 'specially if you don't understand what the hell anyone's sayin'.'
"You're so sure," she teased, wrinkling her nose at him.
'Certain,' he said with a leer. His leer softened as he gazed into her face. 'Buffy?'
"Mmm?"
'Gonna kiss you.'
She grinned. "'Kay."
Spike heard the door swing open just as he was about to land one on her lips. 'Wes, I fuckin' swear -- no pun intended -- you've got the most impeccable tim--'
In the doorway, Angel cleared his throat.
Spike shot his head up, and Buffy followed suit in curiosity.
Angel cleared his throat again. 'Takeout's downstairs,' he said, doing an about-face and walking out the door.
Buffy fell back onto the bed and groaned. "Running into people who I had no intention of seeing anyway -- check."
The bleach blond vampire smirked. "Angel's only one person, but I could see how you could have mistaken the lumbering ninny for multiple, pet."
Buffy blinked as she saw Spike's mouth moving at the corner of her eye. "Ooh, could you repeat that? Wasn't looking at your mouth."
He smiled sadly. 'No need, pet. Got other plans for it, anyway.'
A pained frown came over her features. "No, really," she insisted. "What did you sa--"
Spike pressed his lips to hers and tightened his arms around her waist in silent apology.
Buffy's eyelids fluttered closed as she kissed him back, her hands cupping his cheeks, tracing her thumbs over his cheekbones. She withdrew slowly, looking him in the eyes. "You don't have to feel bad, Spike," she said, her voice soft.
He nuzzled her cheek before tilting his head back so she could see him. 'I know. I just… feel like a right git not thinkin' of your… predicament.' He smirked, but his heart wasn't in it. 'I was just pokin' fun at Angel, anyhow.'
Buffy's stomach grumbled. She smiled at him sheepishly.
'Right. At least your tummy's got the right idea of changin' this rather boring subject.'
--
"Hey," Buffy greeted Wesley and Angel with a small smile.
'Buffy,' Wesley responded with a smile of his own, 'are you feeling better?'
"Much," she replied with a nod. "Will be much, much better once I'm fed."
Angel gave her an awkward smile. 'It's… good to see you, Buffy.'
"It's good to see you too, Angel," she said, walking towards the bag of Chinese takeout. "What have you been up to?" she asked, glancing at him.
'Same old, really. Demon hunting, helping the helpless. And there's paperwork, but I avoid it as much as possible.'
Buffy grinned. "Glad to see you're sticking to your mission statement."
The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile. 'It's good for business.' He shoved his hands into his pockets. 'And you?'
"Dawn and I visited Giles and Willow during Christmas break. It was a lot of fun, except for when it wasn't… Giles has been Head Watcher Guy and he's been up to his nose with paperwork and legal work and pretty much all around-workness. But he managed to get a couple of days off and show us the touristy sights and the not-so-touristy sights. Dawn really enjoyed it. Willow's been doing much better. She's been making a lot of friends within and outside of her coven, and they're teaching her how to deal in ways we probably couldn't have. World-saving and apocalypse-stopping are not in the formula for recovering magick-a-holics." She cleared her throat, crossing an arm to her chest while her free hand lifted an egg roll to her mouth. "So… You didn't think to tell me Spike was suddenly undead? Well, undeader than usual."
Angel cleared his throat, too. 'Uh. It… selectively slipped my mind?' He tried for honesty. 'And I've been a little busy,' he said, his features laced with guilt.
Buffy sighed. "I see."
'Buffy, if you want, you could stay here,' he offered.
She bit her lip. "My dad is probably worried sick. Not that he's ever cared so much before, but I'm inconspicuously abusing my 'I've-suddenly-lost-my-hearing' card for necessary father-daughter time and um, the possibility of shoe shopping." She shrugged. "But I could visit. I mean, I'll probably be here for a week or so, or at least long enough until I get an answer from Willow's witchy friend."
Spike came downstairs with a bag of blood. He disappeared into Wesley's office, only to return a few moments later with a black mug. He dug into his pocket with his free hand and produced Buffy's cell phone. He handed it to her. 'You've got like eighteen text messages, love. Think they're all from da'.'
She winced. "Oops." Her eyes widened as she looked at the time. It read 11:42. "Spike, you let me sleep for almost two hours?"
'It was more like an hour and a half,' he said with an apologetic shrug. 'Figured you could use it.'
"I'm just going to text my dad to pick me up," she said, more to herself. She glanced up at the bleach blond when he touched her shoulder.
'Wouldn't it make more sense to stay over here, love?' Spike said. 'It's closer to Caritas if you needed to get in touch with that apothecary chit.'
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, but I figure I can spend some time with my dad, meet his new family or whatever. I'm sure it'll get so awkward that at some point I'd welcome another… less awkward alternative."
'You're always welcome to stay here, Buffy,' Angel said warmly.
Spike bristled, which did not go unnoticed by the rest of the room. 'I could take you home, Slayer,' he said tersely. 'It's late.'
She looked into his taut features, and then at Angel, whose face was carefully blank. "I guess that could work," she said, putting her phone away.
The bleach blond nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. 'Right.'
She pointed towards the stairs before making her way up them. "I'm just going to get my things."
--
"Spike," Buffy said as he pulled out of the parking spot. "What was that about back there?"
He pulled up to a red light and looked at her. 'What was what back there?'
She shrugged. "You with the… You seemed… You were upset."
Spike pursed his lips. Truthfully, he preferred to have her as far away from Angel as possible even if it meant having her far away from him as well. There was too much history and too little time to sort everything out. He shook his head. 'I'm sorry, love. It was nothing.'
Her brows crunched together in a frown. "It didn't look like 'nothing.'"
He sighed. 'I know.'
"Spike, talk to me," Buffy said, her voice soft.
He kept his eyes on the road, but his right hand slid between them to take her hand. Buffy leaned forward to better see his lips. 'It's not important, pet. It's just… me. You've got more important things to worry about.' He shifted uncomfortably.
Her frown deepened, and the corners of her mouth tugged down angrily. "Spike, of course it's important. You're important to me, and if it's come so far that you can't see that, after all the talking and the… Everything up in your room…" Her voice lowered and so did her eyes. "I must have messed up really badly."
Spike's hand tightened around hers, and when she looked at him, there was shock written all over his features. 'Buffy, no,' he insisted. 'That's… Not all of it,' he admitted. With a shake of his head, he let go of her hand and used both hands to turn into a vacant parking lot. He put the convertible into park and twisted around to really look at her.
She was wringing her hands in her lap, biting her lip and averting her gaze from him. He touched her shoulder and she directed her gaze back on his face.
'Listen…' Spike said, then smiled wryly, 'Buffy, back there… It's always going to be hard for me as long as Angel's in the picture. It doesn't matter in what context, love, but…' An intense look came over his features, and Buffy sat up, her attention clearly riveted on him.
"You're insecure!" Buffy gasped, sounding surprised.
Spike let out a nervous laugh. 'Yeah, just what every bloke wants their object of affection to know…'
She cradled his hand with both of hers, tracing his calloused palm. "Spike, if anything, I'm as insecure as you are." She looked into his face shyly.
Spike's Adam's apple moved up and down as he swallowed nervously. 'Yeah?'
"Yeah," she whispered, sounding pained. "But… I-I'm ready. To fix this." She hung her head. "If you are. You know, no 'I' in 'team' and all that…"
He cupped her cheek, a look of awe on his face. 'You want to… With me…' he tried to clarify. He shook his head in disbelief. 'Feel free to fill in the blank, love, because I've no idea where we're tumbling.'
She laughed, and his heart soared. "Tumble up, or down, I want to… I want it to be with you. Spike, I spent a year thinking you were dead. I…" She bit her lip, her eyes glossy with unshed tears. "I mourned you, yeah, a-and I tried to accept that you were gone, but then I always found my mind reeling, you know? Like… Why should I need to accept such a terrible thing?"
He smiled a sad smile. 'Yeah, I know what that's like,' he said truthfully. 'Let's get you home before your dad has a heart attack, yeah?'
She grinned. "Okay."
Spike pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the street. 'By the way, love, I have no idea where I'm going.'
Suddenly, she burst into laughter as realization dawned upon her. "Me neither. Maybe I should just stay at the hotel for tonight."
Spike eyed her and gave an impatient -- yet affectionate -- huff, turning the car back towards the Hyperion, their hands joined the entire way.