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 13

Just when Spike was about to open his mouth to object to Slayer's announcement, Giles caught his eye. Giles stared at the vampire with a fearsome expression as he shook his head in a telling move. The Watcher was telling the vampire not to dispute the claim that Buffy had just made. It was obvious that Buffy was under some kind of influence and it would be better to just play along till they got things figured out. Giles was studying the Slayer with an intense scrutiny to analyze how deeply she was affected by this spell.

Spike stared back at the Watcher, trying to decide what to do. He decided to take the Watcher's advice as drew his lips back in a grimace. The vampire turned his head and glowered at the ebullient girl holding on to his arm. Buffy bounced on her heels with joy, giving his arm a playful squeeze every now and then. Spike, slowly and with great intent, brought up his right hand and gingerly attempted to pull her fingers from around his arm. For every finger he managed to pry off, it quickly resumed its place before he could move on to the next one. Spike slowly began to lean away from the slayer, still making every attempt to cautiously disentangle himself from the situation. The Slayer was acting oddly, so it could become dangerous very quickly for him. There could be no telling what her next move might be. He was torn between the options of not wanting to aggravate the situation and all out running away in terror. He decided that the best course of action was to treat the situation as if he had just had come across an angry swarm of bees- "No sudden movements" he kept chanting in head.

The Scoobies were still trying to recover from the jarring effect of the announcement they had just heard. They looked at each other in a staggering concussion of shock and revulsion. Willow stood there with her head turning back and forth between Giles and Xander. Her eyelids were blinking so fast, they might have been sending out some sort message via Morse code. Xander, on the other hand, was waiting for the punch line of this terrible joke. He hoped any minute an over-stimulated, ADD addled Ashton Kutcher would bust in and tell him that he had been punked.

Anya suddenly perked up when the word "engaged' sunk through the fog in her head. Anya's eyes brightened as she took quick breath of air when she grasped what had just been said. She broke out of Xander's arms with a squeal and ran over to Buffy. She clutched Buffy by the shoulders and brought her towards her for a quick hug. Upon releasing her, Anya gently cupped Buffy's face in her hands and leaned in to congratulate the newly engaged Buffy.

"You're engaged! That is wonderful, even if it is to Spike." Anya told the beaming Buffy. " I believe now it is customary that we hold each other's hands in front and jump up in down in excitement."

Buffy cheerfully joined Anya in the little ritual which gave Giles and the Scoobies time to recover their wits. Spike had been slowly increasing the distance between him and the Slayer once she had let go of his arm. He had not managed to get very far, when Buffy stopped jumping and pulled him back beside her. His face was a picture of pained disgruntlement as he was dragged back to her.

"Yes, we're so happy!" she said enthusiastically as she leaned her head on Spike's shoulder. Spike wrinkled his face in ill-disguised disgust. He looked over to Giles, Spike's eyes telling the watcher that the vampire needed assistance. In an effort to relieve the situation, Giles walked over to couple from his seat, taking a bracing deep breath of air as he came forward. He stood before the couple and put on a tremulous smile.

"Congratulations." He said to Buffy. "May I kiss the bride?"

"Oh, Giles!" Buffy blushed and turned her head so Giles could kiss her check. Giles leaned over and gave Buffy a quick kiss on the cheek. Buffy gave a little self satisfied giggle and rewrapped herself around Spike's arm. Spike looked up at the ceiling, tensely puffing our his cheeks and shaking his head at the situation. Giles straightened up and turned slightly to Spike.

"You're a lucky man, I mean vampire." Giles said as he held out his hand to Spike

Spike looked at the hand suspended in front of his and then looked up at Giles with a look of stunned betrayal. Giles nodded his head forward and looked over at Buffy with his eyes and back to Spike. He intimated that the vampire should just cooperate. Spike put his hand over Buffy's in an effort to loosen her grip before shaking Giles' hand.

"Thank you. I'm overwhelmed." Spike muttered, with a direct stare at Giles.

Watching Giles congratulate the couple, Willow was soon behind him in a show of solidarity. Willow approached Buffy, whose eyes were glistening with tears.

"Can you believe it?" Buffy asked her dear friend, wiping a tear of happiness that leaked out of one eye.

"It's absolutely unreal." Willow responded truthfully as she hugged her best friend. Buffy again grabbed hold of Spike before he had a chance to move away. Spike's mouth wrinkled in irritation and he let out a small snort of air through his nose. Willow looked over the beleaguered vampire and tried to give him a small boost of condolence.

"Spike, who would have thought?" Willow said with perplexed look at the vampire.

"Certainly, not me. I guess I really fell into it." Spike responded with a certain amount of irony.

Xander was dragged over by Anya and found himself in front of Spike and Buffy. Anya was standing behind him, whispering in his ear, prodding him to congratulate the couple. He stood there for a moment stormily regarding the couple, then a grin swept its way across his face. Watching Spike's cross expression, he decided to have a little fun with the situation. Turning toward Buffy, but keeping his eyes on Spike he said with an ingratiating grin.

"Buffy, this is so surprising, so sudden..You and Spike.. So when's the big day?"

Spike glared at Xander, narrowing his eyes and curling his lip at the idiotic dolt.

"Oh, we haven't discussed it yet but soon." Buffy said as she briefly looked over at Spike who was staring daggers at Xander.

"Soon, huh? I hope there's no shotgun involved." Xander said chuckling. "Am I to expect any little demon babies flying around here in the near future?" With a slow burn of anger going up his spine, Spike slowly shook his head at the Whelp. Xander was clearly enjoying himself too much to be distracted by it.

"Oh, no. Not yet." Buffy said demurely, but then she cuddled up to the vampire and said with a simper "But, soon"

As she finished that sentence, Spike's head suddenly whipped around looking for any avenue that could be used as an exit. He thought if he could get to the utility room, he was willing to even try the dryer vent. If the Slayer thought that he was going to play Daddy to a herd of half slayer/half vampire rug rats, she had another thing coming. He had spent way too much time perfecting his vampire personae just to become someone's old Da. He pictured a future filled with over-ripe smelling minivans, sticky strollers and overturned sippy cups partially filled with stale blood…Oh No, she definitely had the wrong vampire. Just then, Giles spoke up.

"Why don't we all move to the living room?"

Giles waved over the remaining Scoobies to join him over near the fireplace. As they gathered near, he informed them of his suspicions about Buffy and the ring. In response, they turned and watched the mismatched couple make their way to the sofa. Buffy who still had a hold of Spike, was dragging the resistant vampire toward the sofa. Spike was doing his best to stop the progress, but was unable to stop the bizarre procession to the living room. His steps were halting and stilted, but Buffy finally got them both to the sofa. Buffy pushed Spike down to sit on the couch and then situated herself on his knee. She pulled his arm around her waist and then arranged her arms around his neck. Spike's eyes were staring at the watcher through this entire process¸ brewing with ill contained anger. The only sound coming from the vampire was the sound of the heavy breathing coming from his nose.

Giles realized that it was only a matter of time before the vampire would lose control and the entire scene would take a drastic turn in mood. He needed to get information from the pair and it would be much easier if they were cooperative.

"So, you two, how long has this been going on?" Giles asked, wanting to know what Buffy's perspective was on the situation.

"It seems like forever." Buffy said as she started to free Spike's curls on top of his head from the gel that was holding them down and began playing with them with a small sigh. Spike pulled his head back from her irritating fingers and said

"Yep, I have to bloody well agree with that statement."

Willow spoke up. "So, Spike, that's an interesting ring. Where did you get it?"

"It's been in my Mother's family for generations. My grandfather gave it to me shortly before he died" Spike answered, watching Buffy suspiciously out of the corner of his eye.

"Really? How far back does it go?" Willow watched Buffy who began to trace Spike's ear with her finger.

"There's a family story that one of my ancestors brought it back from the Crusades." Spike said as he was pulling his head away from Buffy's hand. He reached up with his free hand and caught hers. "Would you stop? I am trying to have a conversation here." Buffy pouted for a moment in reaction to the scolding, then a slow evil smile crossed her face as her eyes flitted over the vampire.

Giles suddenly interrupted. "Crusades, you say? Which one?"

"I don't know. I didn't pay much attention. I was just a child at the time. The ring should have gone to my uncle, but he died unexpectedly." Spike looked over suspiciously at the Slayer. When she started to make a move toward him, he gave her a look of warning. Thwarted, Buffy leaned back against the vampire, putting her head on her bent arm on his shoulder. She was watching him as if every word he spoke was fascinating.

Xander got up and left the room, the little scene had gotten too much for him. He retreated into the kitchen for a respite from the peculiar little display of affection going on in the living room. Willow and Giles were intent on getting as much information as they could on the ring from the vampire. Willow and Giles sat there in thought, then Willow asked a telling question.

"Spike, what was your mother's maiden name?"

"Brask."

At that moment, Xander stood at the entrance of the kitchen and frantically waved over Anya, Giles and Willow. He had just about had enough of the entire absurd spectacle with Buffy and Spike. As they came closer to the kitchen, Xander wanted to know what the situation was on breaking the spell.

"Well? Did you find out anything to break up this freakshow? We gotta free Buffy from this spell! It's getting seriously psychotic over there." Xander asked desperately.

Giles held up his hands to Xander to calm down. "Okay, Xander. We got some information about the ring. We'll research it tomorrow to see what we can do about the spell on Buffy."

"I think we better be quick. Spike looks like he is about to lose it." Willow said as she was looking at the couple on the couch.

Spike sat back as Buffy wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as she started to feverishly whisper in his ear. She looked at his face with eager anticipation and nodded as Spikes slowly turned his head and looked at her with his eyes wide.

"No, no, no, no, no.." he said as he slowly slid Buffy off his lap. She looked at him with air of disappointment. He managed to slide over a few inches away from Buffy. Willow moved over behind the sofa where she could hear the conversation. Spike had obviously just been propositioned, and was trying to extricate himself very carefully.

"Oh come on! We're both adults. We're engaged, so what's there to stop us?" Buffy said advancing on the retreating vampire.

It's just…just..ah" Spike looked frantically around the room. He saw Willow standing there and appealed to her with his eyes. Willow mouthed the word "Wait" at Spike. It took a moment, but Spike finally became aware of what Willow was telling him. He sat up straight and using his little used Victorian background, said " I think we should wait."

"But, why?" Buffy said, tilting her head and then proceeded to close the gap between them again.

"Yes, Why?" Spike grasped Buffy's shoulders to keep her at arms' length. He looked again over at Willow with a questioning look.

Once again, Willow mouthed a word at Spike. With terror, he realized that he could not decipher what she was saying. He shook his head slightly at her with a desperate look in his eyes. Willow ran over to the table, grabbed a pen and wrote a word on a piece of paper. She came back and held it up behind Buffy's head. Spike saw the words and gave a sigh of relief.

"I want it to be special, luv." Spike said with a little triumph in his voice.

"But you were with Drucilla and Harmony…" Buffy said exasperatedly.

"Just passin fancies. I was never going to marry either one of them."

"Oh, It's not fair." Buffy sat back disappointed. " You know, we could pretend that we were just passing fancies…" Buffy offered with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh. Hmm. We could….but I don't think…well..uh….wait.." With that admission, Buffy was suddenly up against Spike. She was intent on seducing him, hovering just inches away from him. Again, Spike looked over beseechingly to Willow for help. Willow rolled her eyes and went back to the table. After a moment, she had returned and held up another piece of paper. In an act of desperation, Spike spoke the words aloud as he read them, his voice going up on the last word:

"I'm not that kind of vampire."