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 15
Twenty minutes later, the front door slowly opened a few inches as a feminine hand with pearly pink fingernails and sporting a bright red ring appeared and wrapped itself around the edge of the door. Buffy, with her bottom lip nervously tucked in her teeth, gingerly poked her head inside to see what was happening in the apartment. The influence of the ring had not abated overnight and she was still infatuated with Spike to an outrageously irrational level. Last night, she really had not wanted to leave, but it was only Spike's insistence and Willow's gentle but direct persuasion that got her out the door. She had not slept well and had spent a restless night, tossing and turning, her thoughts centered on her Spike. 'HER Spike', that's what she called him in her mind. Dutifully, and with no small quantity of resentment, she had gone to her first two classes that morning. Finally, when she could no longer handle being apart from Spike, she managed to talk another classmate to take notes for her at Dr. Walsh's afternoon class. Once that arrangement had been made, she made her way directly from the campus to Giles' apartment.
As she slipped in and silently closed the door behind her, she noticed that Giles was busy fixing breakfast in the kitchen with his back to the door. It was still a couple of hours until everyone was supposed to meet at Giles, so Buffy was hoping to spend them with Spike. She spied the platinum locks of her vampire love resting on the back of the sofa. As she drew closer, she pulled up her hand to gently caress the messy locks. Just as she was about to entwine her hand in his hair, she became aware that he was sleeping. "Poor thing! This whole thing with the creature had really been wearing on him." she thought, tilting her head as she looked down adoringly at his sleeping visage. She moved in a smooth silent stealth as she rounded the corner of the couch. A small smile came across her face as she looked at the unconscious vampire sprawled back against the sofa. Moving over to him, she gently sat down next to Spike. She leaned over and placed her head on his shoulder and curled herself up against him. In response and without waking, Spike lazily moved his arm down from the back of the couch to encircle Buffy's shoulders to her great delight. Spike rolled his head from the back of the sofa until his cheek was resting on the top of Buffy's head. Buffy thought she could happily stay there forever as she wrapped her right arm around Spike's waist.
About three minutes later, Giles happen to pass by the back of the couch and noticed the couple curled up on the sofa together. Giles opened his mouth but a glowing Buffy caught his eye and held a finger up to her mouth in a conspiratorially fashion. She then turned back to rewrap her arm around the sleeping vampire's waist and snuggled comfortably against him. Knowing the inevitable consequence of the scene before him, Giles thought it better just to leave it alone as he began to walk back to the stairs, shaking his head. The screaming would start again soon enough, and he really needed another cup of tea before that happened.
…..
A few hours later, Xander, Anya and Willow were standing at the back of the couch in stupefaction, peering down at the bizarre slumbering couple cuddled up there. The over tired Slayer and vampire continued to sleep contentedly despite the activity in the room. Buffy had fallen asleep in Spike's arms with a smile on her face. While Spike, who had never woken up, slept on unaware that he had the slayer wrapped in his arms. Giles, in an air of denial regarding the sofa, was busy back at the table sorting through the books, the trio had brought with them concerning the Crusades. Willow looked over at Xander and Anya, not knowing what to do next, hoping one of them would take action. Unfortunately, neither Xander nor Anya returned her gaze; they were too mesmerized by the unnatural display before them. No one really wanted to wake the couple because in some strange way that meant acknowledging what they were seeing was actually real. The clock on the mantle of the fireplace ticked slowly as the group waited to see if someone would garner enough courage to take action. Finally, Xander took a deep breath and looking over at the girls for support, gave Spike a few quick shoves on the shoulder.
Spike slowly began to wake up with the motion against the back of his shoulder; he opened one eye, blinked and then opened both. He became aware that his cheek was resting on top of a head. A small smile pulled at his mouth as he enjoyed the sensation as he closed his eyes again for a moment. After a few seconds, he rockily pulled his head back to look at the head resting on his chest. Still too sleepy to recognize who the head's owner, Spike turned his head to notice the Scoobies standing there behind the sofa. He groggily turned back again to study the long blond hair covering the head lying against him. Not feeling the pressure of Spike's head on top of hers and the motion on the sofa, Buffy woke and slowly turned her face up toward the vampire.
In the next instant, Spike recoiled back against the back of the sofa in horror as he saw Buffy's overly smitten face turned up at him. His whole body scrambled in the effort to disengage himself from her arms and to get off the sofa as quickly as possible. "Yaaahh!" he yelled as he finally got to his feet, staggering back as he breathlessly turned around to look at Buffy on the sofa with the Scoobies standing behind her.
Buffy turned her head to see the Scoobies standing there and she smiled, shrugging her shoulders at them. She thought it was adorable that 'Her Spike' was so shy about public affection. It had been so wonderful spending the last few hours asleep in his arms. She could have spent days in his arms. Too bad, everyone had shown up and her short-lived ecstasy had come to an end. It was amazing the way "Her Spike' made her feel, it was like he was her food and she was starving. Once she and Spike were married, she thought, there would be no way she would let him go until she had gotten her fill. Hopefully, that would be soon, she prayed. She didn't know how long she could control herself around him. She was beginning to lose the fight a little more every time she saw him. She turned back to Spike, giving him an infatuated smile while blinking her green eyes at him.
Spike, on the other hand, was totally discombobulated as he busily straightening his clothes and trying to look anywhere but at the Slayer. Frowning, he ran his hands over himself to check to see if there had not been a violation of his person while he was sleeping. He hastily gave a suspicious look over at Buffy for a moment and decided that nothing untoward had happened between them much to his relief. In the next instant, Spike was frantically searching his mind, trying to figure out just how he got into such a freakish predicament on the couch. The last thing he could recount was that he was sitting on the couch, remembering the visit to his grandfather's estate as a child. Smoothing back his hair with both hands, he tried to think how exactly had he and Buffy had gotten wrapped up together on the sofa?- Well, some things were too disturbing to think about….at least until after the first cup of blood.
"Alright, now that everyone is awake. Let's begin the research." Giles called from the table. " Willow, please see what you can find out about Spike's maternal line on the computer. Everyone else, grab a book."
No one was more motivated to break Buffy's curse than the vampire as he loped over to the table from the living room. Spike immediately sat down at the table and started dragging books toward him. As he was opening a gigantic tome in front of him, Buffy quickly pulled up a chair beside him and allowed as little airspace as possible between them. A brief wrestling match broke out as Spike tried to disengage Buffy's persistent hands from his person which escalated until Spike made a noise of pain and grabbed his head. A contrite looking Buffy looked at her vampire with concern as she gently put her hand on his shoulder in comfort. She nodded at the terse warning from Spike about respecting his person. Watching his face and looking into his bright blue eyes, she found him utterly endearing when he lectured her. Despite her best effort, Buffy's hands could not stay away from her vampire as they crept back around the vampire. Spike finally resolved himself to the idea that he would have the Slayer attached to some part of him while he was trying to read the book in front of him. She placed chin on his shoulder with her arms around his waist as Spike tried to focus on the text in front of him. Buffy was thoroughly entertained by what she considered Spike's apparent shyness about public affection. She smiled at the Scoobies that sat around the table who were busy trying to conduct research and keep their eyes averted from the strange couple.
After an interminable time, Spike made a break from the table to go to the kitchen for some blood. It also served purpose to find some relief from the constant pawing by Buffy which seemed to have no end. Mirroring the vampire's movements, Buffy got up from her chair to follow him. Spike stopped her with an upraised hand at the entrance of the kitchen and told her to wait there. Buffy countered Spike's movement into the kitchen from across the breakfast bar. Willow looked up as Buffy moved toward her and then went back to busily typing away at her laptop regarding anything about the family name of Brask. As Spike opened the refrigerator and pulled out a packet of blood, Buffy took a seat on one of the barstools to watch him. Buffy sat happily at the bar watching Spike fix himself a blood of mug in the kitchen. She placed her chin on hands as she leaned forward and devoured Spike with her eyes like he was a plate of Krispy Kremes at a Weight Watchers meeting. Once his mug of blood was ready, he remained in the kitchen to drink it, looking anywhere but at Buffy. Spike was doing his best not to acknowledge the Slayer's gaze. Every time, his eyes came close to the slayer, she would scrunch up her nose at him. With a sigh, Spike looked away while he took another sip of blood and rested his hand on the counter. Instantly, Buffy smoothly slid her hand across the counter to tickle the knuckles on the back of Spike's hand. At the merest touch of her hand, Spike made a sound of surprise and pulled back his hand as if he had been burned.
"Buffy, I thought we talked about this." Spike warned, stepping warily back from the counter.
"Well, you know, a girl's gotta try" she said as she raised her eyebrows and gave him a playfully devilish leer.
Giving a little satisfied giggle, Buffy playfully twisted back and forth on the bar stool as she watched Spike react to her latest advance. Her mind soaking in all the aspects of the vampire in front of her. She smiled as she thought, "Lord, he is stinking cute, all prim and proper, but underneath there is all that vibrant sexuality just waiting to be tapped. And I am just the girl to take up that challenge!" That whole bad boy persona was just an act. She could see the real sweetheart behind the vampire; 'Her Spike' was so sweet, so gentle, so innocent, and so friggin hot! Biting her bottom lip, Buffy looked at the vampire's disgruntled face. She thought that he was so fun to tease and make that little wrinkle appear when he drew his eyebrows together. "Oh Big Bad, what I plan on teaching you about being bad." she promised him in her head.
Spike on the other hand, was not so enamored of the entire situation. He wanted to end the clownish charade of this engagement with Buffy as soon as possible. He was more than willing to assist in the research. If Buffy had not been continually pestering him, he might have been able to get some answers. Instead he had been relentlessly pursued by Buffy, who could not keep her hands off him. Sure, Willow's help had gotten him out of an uncomfortable scenario last night, and it still seemed to be keeping the Slayer at bay for the time being. But how exactly was he supposed to keep up this pretext of being purer than a groupie at a Jonas brother's concert? It was going against everything in his nature, but as he thought about it, his alternatives were even more gruesome. He already had to head off the Buffy's ongoing attempts to deflower him on a minute by minute basis. He had to say that Buffy was a girl who was not afraid to go after what she wanted.
Just then, Willow made a sound of discovery from the table.