Ring on her Finger

By Nickeltaffy

Disclaimer: I would like to thank Joss for the use of his characters. They are still his and will never be mine. (heavy sigh).

Synopsis: Anyone ever notice that Buffy never returned Spike's ring from when they were engaged? What if Willow's reversal of the Will Be Done spell from the Something Blue episode was not exactly 100% effective? What if Buffy was still under a spell and still considered herself engaged to a horrified Spike?

…

Chapter 5

As Buffy later walked out of the Giles' complex, she got to thinking about Spike's behavior. Sure, she couldn't remember everything that happened in that bathroom but there couldn't have possibly been anything that happened that merited that kind of rude behavior. She didn't blame Giles if he wanted to kick Spike out. Spike must be a delight in the morning, if he was that temperamental in the evening. He did not stop glaring at her the entire time she was in Giles' place. He looked like he wanted to kill her. "Cheez…who killed his dog?" she said to no one in particular.

As she made her way out of the courtyard, her mind wandered. The idea of Spike with a dog appealed to her. "What kind of dog would he have?" She wondered. " Yeah, He would probably have one of those annoying Chihuahua's that was mentally unstable and needed massive dental work; a one eared, three legged, evil smelling little dog that was continuously growling and snapping at people, a right fiendish little devil dog." She pictured Spike holding the miniature demon dog. "Yeah, just like Mickey Rourke" she snickered, "Ooh, now that's scary!"

She slightly tripped on a tree root sticking up in the sidewalk when she got to the street; her mind went back to the incongruity of Spike. "Spike seems a little high-strung for a vampire, I mean, from all the vampires I've met. However those relationships usually didn't last that long, you, know. Hello..battle..stake…You don't get chance to know them as people. Sensitivity seems a little outside their nature, if you ask me." She thought. She couldn't figure out why Spike was acting like an emotional tinderbox.

"Oh, great. Now I have someone else to add to the list of people to tiptoe around. " she snorted.

She felt a little sadness creep into her being. Spike was the one person she could let loose on. She liked that she didn't have to sugarcoat her conversation with him. He could handle their verbal sparring. Spike being upset, somehow, bothered her on some level….Oh well, she was supposed to meet Xander and Willow at the end of the block and she was already late.

Xander and Willow were standing together at the corner, each with their arms tightly wound around their waist and bouncing on their heels to keep warm. Xander was holding a stake in his hand and Willow had a oversized fake suede bag with her magic supplies clutched under her arm. Buffy started to run when she saw the two. She was feeling a little guilty that they had been waiting for her on this chilly evening.

"Hey, guys!" Buffy exclaimed as she finally reached them.

"Hey, what's with the delay, Buffster?" Xander said as he gave her an exasperated smile.

"Sorry, I'm late. Giles wanted to go over a new route for tonight's patrol.: Buffy said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Soooo, what's Giles' grand plan for the evening?" simpered Willow as she sidled up to Buffy.

"Giles wants us to loop around to the small park by the old refinery. Seems that there has been a dip in the vampire activity in that area. He wants us to find out why." She stated.

"Isn't a dip in vampires…. a good thing?" smiled Xander.

"We don't know WHY there's dip in vampire activity in that area. It may be that something worse is causing it." Buffy widened her eyes at Xander.

…..

Back at Giles' apartment, Spike was still brimming with anger. For the past hour, he could not keep still. He was moving from the couch to the living room, even going back to the utility room. Earlier, as he sat on the couch with his back to Buffy and Giles, he couldn't wait until Buffy left on patrol. But now that she was gone, it was worse than when he was purposely ignoring her. Although he still had that stupid chip and the commandos were still after him, he discarded all concept of taking care. All he wanted was to get to that Slayer, feel her bones crush his blows, to sink his fangs into that irritating throat….. He grabbed his coat and stormed out into the night. He paused at the street, he looked up and down, letting his vampire sense tell him what direction to take. The word Slayer slipped out between his clenched teeth when he could tell the direction and took off down the street.

When Buffy entered the park, she could hear the sounds of rapid feet running toward her and her friends. She pulled out Mr. Pointy and had him ready to plunge into any unlucky vampire that came her way. As they passed a copse of trees, a vampire leaped over a hedge and landed on his stomach in front of the trio. He looked up at Buffy and said "Run." He was then suddenly pulled back through hedge by his feet with great force.

Buffy motioned that Xander and Willow should stay there. She ducked down through the hedge and followed the path that the vampire had been dragged. Xander and Willow looked at each other anxiously and then looked around them. Xander leaned forward to see what was on the other side of the hedge. An eerie quiet settled over the area. Then all at once, Buffy was suddenly appeared over their heads. She had been flung twenty feet beyond them. She now lay unconscious on the ground.

Spike was sensing the Slayer much stronger as he neared the park next to the refinery. He saw Willow and Xander standing there, looking as clueless as that was normal for them. He saw the movement from beyond them. He realized that that was a body that had been thrown. As he came up beside Xander and Willow, he realized the body was Buffy's. Using vampire speed, he went over and knelt by Buffy's body.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Xander barked as he started to move toward the two, leaving Willow where she stood. Willow was standing stock still with her eyes wide and looking around with stuttering whiny sounds coming out of her mouth.

Spike looked at Xander with distaste, rolling his eyes. Looking back at Buffy, Spike propped up Buffy by the shoulders. Taking her chin in his fingers, he looked down into her face, and realized that she would not be waking up soon. At that moment, Spike's vampire hearing heard a call that sent a chill up his spine.

"Bahaankredilat Resssuanou Veyattji" a dark velvet voice cut through the night air.

"Get out of here! NOW!" shouted Spike at the humans. Spike felt the pull of the dark voice, but he was not as vulnerable as a young vampire to it. Concentrating his thoughts, he was able to pick up Buffy and run out of the park with the humans following closely behind.

The door burst open at Giles apartment. Giles looked up from his research as Willow and Xander came falling through the door. Willow fell on her knees as she turned to hold the door open. Spike came through the door with an still unconscious Buffy in his arms. He walked past the humans and gently placed Buffy on the couch.

"Lord, Buffy….Xander, what happened?" Giles asked, standing up and going over to Buffy.

"Buffy, park, vampire, hedge, Buffy flying….I don't know" Xander gasped out.

"I do." Spike said with his eyes like stone.