Chapter 16

Buffy shifted her weight and lifted her eyes to William's reflection in the elevator doors. The adrenaline of seeing him again had sobered her up a little more, so she was now embarrassed about her behavior downstairs. She was also incredibly horny, which was going to be a problem.

"Hey." Buffy smiled. "I'm sorry, I think I goofed this whole thing up. I wanted to be relaxed when you got here, because earlier I was shredding cloth napkins and damaging my shirt from nerves. I overdid it a little with the relaxing alcohol."

Spike chuckled, the last of his irritation melting away. This was the Buffy he'd been talking on the phone with all these months, the one who was straight with him and didn't make excuses for her behavior. "'S alright, luv. If I hadn't had Pen and Tom policing everything I did on the flight, you'd probably have a tipsy person to deal with yourself."

"Aww, poor guy, did you have to travel with the behavior police?"

"I probably shouldn't have told Tommy all those stories about Dru and I traveling across the pond over the years. Even without fangs I think he was half-expecting he'd have to rescue some bystander from me." Spike snorted. "Either that or he thought I might take advantage of that stewardess who was flirting with me."

Buffy's eyes narrowed. "Oh, was she cute?"

He shrugged, knowing better than to answer the question. "She wasn't you, so it doesn't signify. Flirting's fun, but I'm not about to betray you."

Buffy turned to meet his eyes directly, not through the mirror. He looked nothing but sincere, and she felt guilty for being jealous. No less jealous, but now with added guilt. Finally the elevator stopped on their floor, and Buffy led the way out of the elevator.

"Nick's not here? Or was he just out with his Da?" Spike followed her down the hall, keeping half an eye on the signs and turns so he could find his way again later.

"No, Nick's still in St. John. They had a Slayer arrive on their doorstep right before I called them for help, and he stayed behind to do the Watcher thing while Amber and Chet came to help with the Council stuff."

Spike snorted, "What happened, she went on vacation and stumbled on them in a bar or whatnot?"

"Actually, she's from St. John, but she's going to Brooklyn College. She ran into Vi on the subway a few weeks ago, who told her there was a Slayer and a Watcher back home if she wanted to introduce herself. Jacinda's 19, and her Mom's got some power, too, but isn't as strong. Dad's dead, so who knows, but it seems like he was the one with the big Slayer genes. Amber says Jacinda's really good. Like, they could probably send her to Cleveland to train with Faith after college, if she wants to go."

"Is that what you're doing with them? Sending them to Faith until they're ready to strike out on their own?" William arched a suspicious eyebrow at her, even though she couldn't see it. "Wasn't Faith the one that killed a man before she was legal?"

Buffy sighed and stopped, turning to face him again. "Yeah, Faith has a checkered past, sure. I do, too when it comes down to it. The thing is, I have management duties that keep me from getting to know most of the girls. And, in case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of bad at dealing with challenges to my authority. There was some…Concern, that I might beat the girls down, rather than giving them the space to exercise their own instincts and abilities. Faith's really hands off, she gives them the rope to hang themselves. I can't do that, not yet, and maybe not ever. So, I get the ones who haven't decided what to do yet, and the girls who want to learn self-defense and how to control their power so they can go off and have careers outside of slaying. Faith gets the future Generals."

He shook his head. "I'm not sure that's the best way to deal with it, but if you're comfortable…"

Buffy smiled and squeezed his shoulder, turning to continue down the hallway. "I'm more comfortable with that than when Giles pulled the senior Slayer who was supposed to take over the Rome Slayer Center and transferred her to Bath. I'm more comfortable with Faith training the older girls than I am with Kennedy teaching witches in Rio. I'm certainly more comfortable with it than I am with Xander working on his own, half a world away from us." Buffy stopped in front of a door. "Why don't you try to open it, make sure you can work the keycard and get in without me and everything." Buffy stepped aside and let him roll himself close to the door.

William's eyes lit up with interest when he saw the blue button with the wheelchair icon next to the door. "What's this?"

"Try it." Buffy encouraged.

First Spike pressed the button, but all it did was beep at him. When he pulled out the key card and scanned it first, he had better luck. As soon as the door unlocked, the button lit up. This time when he pressed it, the door opened, allowing him to wheel himself through. "That's brilliant!" He smiled as he maneuvered deeper into the room, looking around with interest. "I'd love to put something like that on the door to my room at the Hyperion. Getting in and out has been a bitch, let me tell you."

"Glad you like." Buffy grinned, relieved that he wasn't insulted she'd gotten a handicapped room. "Maybe we should suggest it to Jezebel. Not for you necessarily…Or, not only for you, but a few handicapped-friendly rooms for staff and students would probably be a good call. You never know when someone's gonna break a leg on patrol or their back in an apocalypse. If people still want to help in whatever capacity after a bad injury, we should make it easy for them to do so."

William turned to look at her, smiling hugely. Buffy felt her heart thump. "I'm damn proud of you, Summers. You keep saying that you're scared of screwing up, but it seems like every time I talk to you, you've got some new plan to make people's lives easier, or simpler, or safer."

She felt herself blush. "No, not really. And a lot of my ideas don't work out. But I need to take care of them, you know? All these Slayers…And now it's not just kids, we discovered some of them are senior citizens, who are suddenly healing injuries faster; which is great, except we had one who was senile, and that was just heartbreaking. So many women, and a lot of the men in their lives, their fathers or brothers or whatever are also a bit stronger…It's so many people to worry about. People who'll attract vampires for the rest of their lives whether they want to fight or not. We don't know what happens to someone who had MS or cancer or something before we broke the geas on them…" Buffy stopped and took some deep breaths, and William wheeled close enough to take her hand.

"Buffy," He squeezed her hand. "You're amazingly caring, and because you are I know you'll do the best you can for our people." He kissed the back of her hand. "Because I love you, I worry about you when you're busy worrying about others. Why don't you get some water, I'm gonna have a quick wash-up, and then we can take a nap before dinner."

Buffy smiled, even though she could feel her cheeks heating again and the flush spreading down her neck and chest. "That sounds perfect." And hopefully she could keep herself from mauling him so she didn't end up banished to another room.

By the time William rolled out of the bathroom, Buffy had plowed through a package of salt and vinegar crisps and a bottle of water, and she was sitting in front of the minibar studying candy packages as though they held the secrets of the ages. God, he wanted to kiss her.

"I've never heard of a single one of these candies. What's the difference between a Flake and a Crunchie?" Buffy looked up, and blinked at the look on his face. "What? Do I have crumbs or something?" She brushed at her face and shirt somewhat frantically.

William felt himself blushing. "Umm, no, I was just thinking that I really wanted to kiss you."

"Oh." Buffy's face lit up in a blinding smile. "That sounds perfect, I'm ready for kissing and cuddling." She stood. "Also, it's hard to nap in the wheelchair, and you did want a rest. Need help getting into bed?" She batted her eyes dramatically, and William laughed.

"If you can turn down the blankets for me, I should be able to manage it myself. I'm getting pretty good at getting in and out of this thing." He rolled himself over to the left side of the bed, and proceeded to slide himself into some specific position.

Buffy fussed over the sheets and pillows, and nearly bit through her lip trying not to say anything or wince as William locked the wheels and lifted himself out of the chair. At one point he overbalanced, and Buffy reached out to grab him. William turned on her with a glare. "And how am I supposed to be able to do things alone without practice?"

"Sorry if I don't like the idea of you falling on your face." She snapped, then took a deep calming breath. "That was wrong of me. I don't want you to feel dependent on me, I know you hate that, and it's gotta feel worse when you're injured. That was insensitive, sorry."

William flopped back against the pillows, lifting his legs so he could maneuver around just on his torso and arms. "Luv, I don't need you walking on eggshells, over my injuries or my attitude. Honestly, if you think I'm being a twat you gotta say it. I'd rather fight with you than have a polite conversation with most anyone I've met over my life." He settled himself, then reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a playful squeeze. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, pet. Can't promise it'll never happen again, though. I can be a berk when I'm in a bad mood. That's when I need you to tell me to mind my manners, right?"

Buffy sighed and squeezed back. "Yeah, you were kinda being a jerk, but I know where it came from, and I'm not holding it against you." She reached behind her, slipping her shoes off and tossing them to the floor. "Now, can we get to the kissing?"

Then they were, and it was exactly what was needed. Buffy found herself curled up on the bed, her head on William's upper arm and her hands in his hair. His lips were so warm where they touched hers, Buffy found herself opening her eyes over and over to make sure she was kissing the right person. It was her Spike, her William, every time she opened her eyes. She'd get used to warm lips, she was sure of it. At least he felt the same, and tasted pretty damn similar, and no one else's lips had been able to make her heart pound like this. As they continued to kiss, Buffy relaxed, and her eyes stayed closed more and more.

Part of Spike couldn't believe he was here. Sure, he was still in pain, and his legs were itchy where the braces hadn't been moved for the entirety of his trip. But, he was also kissing Buffy, and other than a few gentle pecks in Los Angeles, that hadn't happened since before he'd died the last time. It felt amazing, she tasted just like Buffy always had, and her fingers digging just a little too hard into his skin did things to him he couldn't begin to describe. Okay, he missed feeling the zing of a vampire's Slayer-sense, but he wasn't anywhere near ready to talk about that. As Buffy's tongue coiled around his more aggressively, William threw any unnecessary concerns aside and focused on making Buffy feel loved.

When Buffy tried to roll on top of him, William pulled back with a gasp, sparks of pain lighting up across his legs. "Oh, shit, I forgot." Buffy pulled away, drawing another gasp of pain from him as she bumped against the braces. By the time Buffy was disentangled and sitting up next to him, William's legs were throbbing and they both felt about to cry. "I'm so sorry, Spike, I got all lost in the moment and forgot I need to be gentle for now."

He wanted to be indignant, but honestly he was in too much pain to be worried about his pride. "Yeah, as sweet as that was, think we may be getting a little ahead of ourselves." He sighed. "Can you grab me the backpack off the chair, luv? The pain pills are in there."

Buffy winced and hopped up, eager to do something helpful and hopefully feel less guilty. "Did I hurt you that bad?"

William grimaced. "Nah, I'm overdue to take 'em. I always try to push it, don't wanna get dependent on the damn things. Hard to skip them when I've just had a bunch of pressure on the bones, though." Buffy handed him the large green backpack, and he grabbed her hand and kissed it. "No hard feelings, luv. We gotta figure out how to deal with sharing the space. Now we know, kissing's maybe gotta wait a bit. Or, at least the intense kissing does."

"That wasn't even supposed to get intense!" Buffy gently sat on the edge of the bed beside his legs. "I just wanted to make out with you a little, enjoy spending alone time with you. I wasn't supposed to be a giant horndog when you got here!"

He honestly tried to continue having a reasonable conversation, but between Buffy's words and the sad, frustrated look on her face, William couldn't help but laugh. Which made her pout, and then he laughed harder. By the time Buffy started chuckling, realizing the humor of the situation, Will had tears rolling down his face. Eventually they calmed, and William sighed, carding his fingers through her hair. "Ahh, we're a pair, aren't we?"

"Well, I certainly hope so." Buffy smiled at him crookedly. "Is there anything I can do for you right now? That hopefully doesn't involve further injury?"

"Grab me a bottle of water, and one of those Porters from the minibar?" Will nodded in the direction. "Then maybe we can try the cuddling thing again?"

Buffy took a deep breath, mentally slapping her hormones into shape. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan."