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 11
As the group returned to Giles' place, they made a loud commotion coming through the door. The noise coming from the Xander, Anya and Willow was offset by the eerily calm and quiet vampire and slayer that followed them. Spike and Buffy did not participate in the energetic conversation going on at the table around Giles. They were much too wrapped up in their own thoughts about the evening's events. Spike walked past the group at the table and made his way over to the living room. Buffy, on the other hand, lingered by the front door, lost in her own thoughts.
Spike ended up sitting on the couch, staring straight ahead, paying no mind to the frenzied discussion going on behind him. He and Buffy had started out the evening in their typical antagonistic fashion, sniping at each other and she even pulled her nasty little game on him. The last thing that Spike expected was for Buffy to save him. Spike slightly shifted his eyes to the area where Buffy was standing. He thought he was a lost cause when he felt the pull from the creature. Then, when she grabbed hold of him to keep him from being dragged toward the creature, that surprised him more than he could imagine. The slayer's behavior was puzzling to him. It left him with an out of sorts feeling that he couldn't define.
Buffy kept repeating the evening's events in her head. She and Spike had been engrossed in one of their typical arguments when that thing suddenly interrupted. They were volleying the insults back and forth in their typical rhythm Just when she was winning, that incredibly rude creature butted in. Where did it get off just butting in when she was arguing with Spike? As she rolled the thoughts over in her mind, Buffy rubbed her forehead. She didn't even want to think of what made her seize him when she saw that look appear on his face. It was just instinct she told herself. Spike was under her protection now, and nothing was going to interfere with that. Yeah, yeah that's it – it was strictly professional - Slayer wise, that is. Buffy shook off her mental thunderstorm and started to pay attention to what was going on at the table.
The remaining Scoobies had surrounded Giles, each trying to impart their own particular version of the night's encounter with the creature. Giles put up his hands and asked for quiet as he tried to piece together the evening's events.
"Just what exactly happened tonight? Giles patiently asked the excited people surrounding him.
"Well, it was like this." Xander spilled out. "There was this black cloud with a thing that was muttering some kind of bad coffee house poetry."
"I don't think he was muttering. I think he was chanting." Willow interjected.
"I couldn't tell. I couldn't see his mouth." Anya added. "In fact, I don't think he had a mouth."
"Well, what did it say? Do you remember any of it?" Giles asked.
"It wasn't really clear." Xander stated. "It sounded more along the lines of "wishy washa wishy washa"."
"He wasn't saying that!" Willow said
"That why I said he was muttering!" Xander exploded.
"Giles, Xander is probably not the best source for this information." Anya confided. "He can't even understand rap on the radio."
"Enough! Obviously, we're not going to be able to decipher what the creature said from that eyewitness account." Giles said, briefly putting his head in his hands. "Moving on. What did it look like?"
"It was a big thing. It was kinda tall but had really thin legs and arms, kinda like strange metallic Adrien Brody."
"Ooh. I like him." Anya burst in and then looking at Xander's face added. " The human, not the creature."
"It was more like an entity. It kinda had a look when your grandparents' old home movies are over-exposed, you know, all flashy and like that. Willow added.
"Please stop. Let's go over this step by step." Giles again tried to gain control of this discussion. "What was happening when this creature appeared."
"Spike and Buffy were arguing. Yeah, who da thunk it?" Willow said with a raise of her eyebrows.
"Hmm.. Yes, if that were a cause, we would have an portal ripped open in my living room."
"Anyway, all of a sudden, it got all whispery and that thing got a hold of Spike. It started to drag him away and that's when Buffy grabbed hold of Spike." Willow told Giles. "They were both being dragged toward the portal and then for some reason, the thing let go and disappeared."
"Did you see any reason why it let go?" Giles asked.
There was a moment of quiet around the table as the Scoobies stopped to think.
"Well, I did see a kind a red glow around Buffy and Spike" Anya said.
"I definitely heard a humming noise right before the creature disappeared." Willow stated
"I could have sworn I saw something shoot away from Buffy and Spike toward the creature." Xander added.
Spike had gotten up off the couch and made his way over to where Buffy was standing by the door. There was a definite unease about his person while he was standing there, the cocky vampire arrogance had momentarily disappeared. Not looking directly at her, Spike cleared his throat and said. "About what happened tonight…with the creature… Um.. thanks."
"Don't mention it." Buffy replied in a monotone voice, staring away from the vampire toward the group at the table.
"Yeah, okay. You really didn't have to…" Spike started to say but was cut off by Buffy's reply.
"Seriously, DON'T mention it." Buffy turned her head and glared directly at Spike's face.
"If you two would deign to join us. I believe I would like to hear from all parties involved about tonight." Giles called over to the pair.
Buffy walked away from the vampire and went to the far side of the table. Spike slowly followed and stood on the opposite side of the table. Giles began to put the incident together. He knew that the creature had appeared on the campus and had tried to abduct Spike and Buffy. The Scoobies witnessed a red energy surround the pair as they were being dragged. It shot off at the creature which made the creature and its' portal suddenly disappear. What could have caused such an energy to occur thought Giles
"Willow, you didn't perform any spells?" Giles asked the young witch.
"No, I have been refraining since our last encounter with the Diye guy." She said as she shook her head slightly.
"Hmm.." As Giles pulled off his glasses to clean them. He looked at the group surrounding the table.
"Spike, what about you? Are you wearing any magical charms?"
"Not my thing, Watcher." The vampire responded.
"There is absolutely nothing charming about Spike" Xander joked..
Silence filled the room as the group looked at Xander as if he had just dropped a number of IQ points
"Buffy, what about you? Anything new? Giles continued with his survey.
"Not really." Buffy said as she looked down. "Maybe you could think of this ring as new."
"Hey, that's my ring." Spike demanded. " Give it back!"
"No. You gave it to me and I want to wear it for a while." Buffy said with a profound pout. " I might give it back to you, but I don't know yet."
The whole room heard the grumble that came out of Spike.
"May I see the ring, Buffy?" Giles asked.
"Okay." As she held out her hand with the ring on it.
"Would you take it off, please?" Giles asked expectantly.
"I don't want to." Buffy said sullenly. "Spike may grab it back."
With a sigh, Giles took hold of Buffy's hand and examined the ring on her finger.
"This looks to be quite old. I can't tell what kind of stone this is. There seems to be an inscription." Giles said as he studied the ring. "Xander, please bring that lamp over here."
With the additional light and the use of a extremely powerful magnifying glass, Giles was able to decipher the lettering of the first words on the ring, the rest of the inscription was too worn away.
"Kalperan Merak" Giles said. "Willow, did you see anything in your research on a ring?"
"No, nothing came up about a ring." Willow responded. "I did find a brief mention of a wizard that used a staff in regards to the folklore about the portal."
"Look, Watcher. I realize that your little group puts great store in the childrens books that you've been looking at all day, but there was nothing valuable to be found in them in regards to this situation." Spike stated.
"Shut up Spike. Like you were such a great help throwing your great big morose all over the room today." Buffy growled as she pulled her hand from Giles' grasp. She walked a few steps until she was directly across the table from Spike.
"At least, I know when something is a futile effort. Those books wouldn't help anyone except to put a child asleep." Spike sniffed.
"Really, I have alternate method of putting someone to sleep." She said shaking her fist at Spike.
"Is that right? Well, I wish you and your Scoobies well on fruitless journey on finding out what Kelperan Merak means." Spike responded.
The ring suddenly went from a dark stone to a shining red. The glare caught the attention of everyone except the couple arguing across the table. All at once, Buffy reached across the table grabbed Spike by the collar and pulled him toward her as she crushed her mouth against his.
Giles and the Scoobies froze with their mouths open as they watched pair. It was reminiscent of people watching a car accident, you can't really stop it, but you know it is not going to end well.
"Love you, sweetheart." She murmured to him as she looked at him coyly.
Shaking off his shock, Spike responded with three little words:
"Oh, Bloody hell!"