Buffy looks around and decides she's annoyed. Like she needs another Slayer dream after the day she's had. Didn't the first Slayer give her enough life-changing information already? Ugh, she's getting majorly of the tired not feeling like her life is her own. For some reason, she has a feeling this isn't a warning about the next big bad. She looks around and sees she's in a plain white room.

"Hello?" She asks, making sure it sounds as annoyed as she feels.

"It is not enough." She hears from some disembodied voice but she knows who it is, it's the first Slayer.

"What's not enough?"

"I tried to show you but you don't seem willing to see. Time is running out, going slow isn't an option. Why do you fight what you know must be done, what you want to do?"

If Buffy was the type, she'd blush for being called out. She knows what the first slayer is speaking about but she doesn't understand what's so wrong with taking her time. It's not like it's permanent or anything, She rolls her eyes. Something as important as a decision to bind yourself to someone forever deserves to be thought out and not rushed into. She's being mature Buffy by taking her time.

"You do not have the time to take things slow, you must move before it's too late and the beast wins."

There she goes again, making Buffy feel like she's reading her mind. "I still don't see how this claiming business will help me win against Glory."

"You will be able to see what the vampire sees, you'll take each other's strengths for your own. You will need all the power and advantage you can to win. Take this information as the gift it is, no other Slayers have gotten my intervention."

"Oh yeah, and why am I the lucky one that gets with the extra chosen out of the already chosen ones?"

"You weren't raised by the watchers, your mind is more open than your ancestors. In the past, you've already shown you're willing to be with a vampire. But most importantly, not only have you already met your vampire, you have shown your willingness to work with your other half."

"Oh… So what are you saying, I'm just supposed to take your word for it? Just forever bind myself to Spike because you said so?"

"No, you will do it because you know in your bones what I say is true. You know he is yours just as you are his, no matter how much you try to fight it."

Well, no matter how much she might want to, she can't really fight it because she's right. The vindictive part of Buffy doesn't want to give her the satisfaction though, so she won't. "Okay, message received. Can I wake up now?"

"Do not wait, slayer. You will regret it if you do. She is coming for you, and soon."

Those words send a shiver down Buffy's spine and she feels the truth in them.

Buffy wakes up the next morning a little confused, she was somehow both uncomfortable and very comfortable at the same time. She has a crick in her neck because of the way she's partly sitting up but she's leaning against something that's both hard, comfy, and inviting. That's when yesterday all comes rushing back to her. She sits up quickly, she didn't mean to fall asleep in the living room, she doesn't want Dawn to see her like this. It's not like any of her newly made convictions have changed since last night, and she knows that Dawn would be happy, if not a little jealous when she announces that she and Spike are a couple. But that doesn't mean she wants her sister to see them sleeping together so fast, even if nothing groiny happened. She's the mom now, she has to set a good example for Dawn, and sleeping with a guy the first night you decide to date them is not with the good example being.

Her abruptness must have woke Spike up because when she looks at him she realizes that he's looking at her worridly. She gives him a small smile and reaches over to grab his hand to let him know everything is okay. She sees his body which must have tensed when she moved loosen. Buffy looks away thinking over the dream she had. She knows it was a slayer dream and she knows she has to take it seriously. Something is holding her back though, some part of her just isn't ready to do this claim thingy. She thinks it has to be the girl in her because, after everything she's learned in the last day, the slayer in her is all for it. Maybe is just societal standards that are holding her back. She knows everyone would judge her for jumping into this so fast and Buffy isn't known for being good at ignoring what her friends think of her. She shakes her head, yesterday she made the decision not to let her friend's opinions dictate how she lives her life and she has to stick to that.

"Slayer?"

She looks at Spike and sees he's staring at her, she can tell that he's trying to figure out what is going on in her head. She wants to laugh, heck, maybe he can help her understand because she sure doesn't. Actually, maybe that's not such a bad idea. "I had a slayer dream last night."

"A slayer dream?"

"Yeah, it's another lucky side effect of being a slayer," She says hoping to portray just how incredulous she feels about her words. "Most of the time it's just some creepy, cryptic, not-so-helpful dream warning me of some big bad to come that I don't understand until after the Big Bad is here. This one was different though. I guess the first slayer thought I wasn't doing a good enough job with the information she gave me yesterday."

"If the bint has so many opinions, she can come here and handle the problem herself," Spike says with a scoff and Buffy can't help but smile.

"I know, right?" Then she realizes that wouldn't work because that would mean she would be the one to claim Spike and Buffy was not about to let that happen. "Wait, no, you're mine!"

She feels a blush come over her cheeks when she realizes what she said and Spike is looking at her with his signature leer on his face but she can see something more to the look, something in his eyes, love and happiness if she had to guess. "That right, Slayer?"

"Well yeah, we talked about it last night, didn't we?"

"We did at that. Right then, what does the bird want you to do?"

"Bird?"

"You know, the one that came to you in your dream."

"What? There was no bird, Spike. It was the first slayer, have you even been listening to me?"

"Course I have, bird is just another name for a lady."

"Oh, right, I knew that. Anyway, she said… well, she said that." Buffy is flustered, she's not really sure how to say this. "Ugh, so you know with the claiming and stuff, and you know how I said I wanted to give us a chance but we have to take it close before we get all with the bitey? Well, I guess she thinks that we don't really have the time to waste and that we have to do it soon so that Glory doesn't win because she's going to be ready soon and we won't win right now. Which is majorly of the worrying because I have no clue how to beat her right now other than this vague notion that tying myself to you forever will do it. And like it's a little intimidating because it's forever and it's like the biggest of commitments, it sounds more binding than marriage which I didn't even think I'd live long enough to be able to do. And like I know I can trust you and I care about you and have this connection to you that I've worked hard to ignore but does all that equal more than marriage? I'm not the type to take a commitment like that lightly so if we do it then it's going to be you and me forever but like I always thought I'd love whoever I committed myself to, if I had the opportunity and I know I have… feelings for you but I don't know if I love you. I know I don't feel the same about you that I did about Angel but I also know now that wasn't real love so I don't know. I'm just one big ball of confused Buffy." Buffy is almost panting when she finishes talking. She didn't mean to let that all out but once she started to talk it all just came pouring out. Buffy thinks ruefully that this was one intense babble session. She looks at Spike worriedly she knows he loves her and she doesn't want to hurt his feelings by saying she doesn't love him but she doesn't want to lie, this is all happening really fast for her, and for a second, Buffy wishes she could go take a trip to Egypt for a while.

Spike on the other hand isn't sure what to say. He feels hope for him and Buffy and if she said she was ready to do the claiming today, he'd do it but he can see how confused and worried she is, he doesn't want her to regret it, regret him. He also doesn't want the only reason that she decides to enter into a claim with him to be because she feels like she has to, to save Dawn and the world. He wants her to want to be with him. Then again, he can admit that he's a selfish sod, and no matter how noble he wants to be, he knows he'll take Buffy anyway he can have her. He reaches over and pulls her into his arms. He smiles goofily when she sinks in gratefully, he is still getting used to the fact that he can do this without being worried about getting staked.

"Buffy, kitten, not really sure how to help you right now. It has to be your decision. I can say that I'll do whatever you want. I'd love to claim you and be claimed by you, but don't want you to feel forced into it and then start to resent it, resent me."

"No, I don't think that will happen. The first slayer was right, I know this is right, I've just been fighting it for so long. A part of me knew it was right since the beginning, when we were enemies, when you were with Dru and I was with Angel but there was so much telling me it was wrong that I just ignored it. I guess now I'm passed most of that, it's just like there's something holding me back and I don't know what it is."

Spike feels like he's on top of the world after hearing those words. He knew it wasn't only him. He knows that it was daft how he tried to force Buffy to admit it before by tying her up but he knew he wasn't the only one feeling what was between them. Though, he gotta admit, he had no clue that they were meant to be together. Most of his life he thought soul mates and the like were utter rot. Well, his unlife anyway, you could have pointed William to a woman and told him she was his soul mate and he'd have believed it and started spouting off poetry about their great love. He loved Drusilla with everything he had but he knew they weren't the only ones for each other or meant to be, especially after Angelus came in and made sure the point was bloody well beaten into his head.

This though, this is different. He's being told the slayer, his slayer, the sodding love of his unlife is his and he's going to get what he's always wanted. He's going to claim her and have someone with him, someone to love and be loved in return for bleeding eternity. It's almost too much to believe. It is too good to be true. Spike has no problem admitting he's a selfish sod though and he's going to take what he's offered. He mentally shakes his head, Buffy is still looking at him with confusion. He wonders why she's confused, what were they talking about before he went off on his own little tangent in his head? Oh right, she's confused because she knows she wants this but something is holding her back and she doesn't know what. Seems pretty clear to him.

"It seems pretty clear to me," He decides to inform her, "It's one of three things. More than likely a mix of all o' them."

Buffy is trying really hard not to be short with or lose her temper on Spike anymore but he doesn't make it easy. "And those are?"

He realizes that's Buffy's 'you better get on with it or you're getting a punch in the nose' face, he knows that face really well by now so he decides it's best to stop messing around. "Right then, I know you don't like or trust the council but you've still been taught their beliefs for years, part of you probably still believes them a little bit and that must make this feel wrong. Another thing, you might know you're not gonna let your friends run your life anymore but that doesn't mean that their opinion doesn't mean rot to you anymore. You still don't want them to judge you or be mad. And this is all happening kinda fast, yeah? Thinkin' back to when I was human, don't rightly remember anyone entering into courtship than marrying the day after, not unless they got caught in bed together and they wanted to save their asses or there was a baby out of wedlock. Probably isn't sitting too well with your human sensibilities."

Sometimes Buffy kinda hated how easily Spike could get to the heart of the issue. Like she knows he's right and she's happy now that she understands what the problem is but still, it's her head, why isn't she the one that figured it out? Whatever, she thinks she's just going to move past it for now and think about what he said. Now that it's all laid out there it's kinda clear that the thing that's holding her back is other people's opinions and Buffy doesn't want to live her life that way. She wants to do what's best for her, her sister, and the world. She doesn't want to worry about what people will think about what she has to do.

That settles it, she's ready, or at least, she's ready enough. She knows she cares about him, she knows he loves her, that she can rely on him, that he won't ever leave her, and she knows now that she settled all her Angel baggage, she's ready to open herself up to the chance of falling in love herself. Buffy is so not mixey with words so she decides to be done with the talking. Instead, she crashes her lips onto Spike's. After a second of shock, he joins in enthusiastically. It isn't long until she's straddling him and grinding herself against him. He groans and can't help but thrust his hips up.

She breaks the kiss, "Take me upstairs."

He looks at her surprised, even a little unbelieving, "Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

He doesn't need to be told twice, he stands up and she wraps her legs around him. He kisses her again and starts to make his way upstairs. Buffy is surprised when she's thrown on her bed. Only because they hadn't broken the kiss the whole way upstairs and she didn't bump into anything even once.

When Spike pulls away from the kiss to look at her he sees her face looking surprised and he can guess why. Spike didn't need to be able to see, with the number of times he's been searching and snooping around the Summer's house, he knows where every nook and cranny is. He's not going to bring that up right now though, he doubts the Slayer will see that as a good thing. He decides it's best to occupy her thoughts with other things so he leans down and uses his teeth to bite her shirt and slowly trail up her body. By the time he gets to her breasts, she sits up so that he can take it the rest of the way off. She isn't wearing a bra under her shirt so when she lays back down Spike can't help but to take a minute to look at her. She's beautiful, a goddess, more than he imagined any of the many times he's imagined this same situation.

Apparently, he's been staring too long because her look started to become worried and Spike was too busy ogling to notice. He did notice when her arms moved from her sides to cover her breast. "Oi, what's this? Covering up those perfect tits of yours."

Buffy rolls her eyes, "Oh stop I know they're not perfect. You're staring at them like they're weird or something."

"Fucking hell! I wasn't gawking, I was entranced. You're perfect, Buffy, a bloody goddess, you are." He doesn't give her a chance to say anything else, nothing coherent anyway, he leans down and takes one nipple into his mouth and uses his other hand to slip in between her pajama waistband and starts rubbing her over her underwear. Buffy isn't the type to stay idle though she went to his jeans and unbottons them. She can't really see what she is doing because Spike is blocking the view but her eyes open wide when she wraps her hand around his member and feels the size of it. It's definitely bigger than she's ever had before but he's so responsive, even just pumping her hand up and down once had him moaning loudly. She's surprised when Spike pushes her pants down and starts his crawl down her body. She's partaken in oral a few times before but it was few and far between. With Angel there was no foreplay, it was slow and sweet but straight to the main event. She went down on Parker but he didn't return the favor. She and Riley did it now and again but he didn't seem too interested in it, and even less interested in pleasuring her that way, and when he would, he'd do it for a few seconds and that was that, she never got off that way. So she just kind of thought people really didn't do it as much as the media made out.

She has all intentions of telling Spike not to worry about it but when he inhales deeply and groans in this sensual way that sounds as if he is more excited for it than she is, she decides to let him do as he wants. It only takes a few seconds after he starts until she's moaning loudly and happy she didn't try to stop him. She has a feeling he might be enjoying this as much as she is, the groans and moans coming out of his mouth are almost as loud and visceral as hers are. It doesn't take long until she has her first orgasm. She's surprised when Spike covers her mouth with his hand but a second later she's grateful because she remembers Dawn is in the room next to her.

Spike doesn't stop going down on her after she comes down from her high but she doesn't think it's fair that she's just lying here getting all the pleasure while he's doing all the work so she sits up and scoots back so he has no choice but to stop. She holds back a laugh when she sees his disappointed face, he looks like she just took away his favorite treat. She smirks at him and nods her head to the bed, "Lay down."

He still pouting but he does what she says. He lets out a happy sound when she crawls on top of him and sits on his face. Buffy enjoys the sensations he brings in her for a few seconds before she opens her eyes ready to return the favor. Her eyes open wide again getting her first real look at his package and is worried for a second about whether it'll hurt when he enters her, she hasn't been with anyone since Riley which was months ago, and well, let's just say she's going to be much more full when this time around. She decides to worry about that later, she knows Spike won't hurt her so she has nothing to worry about. She moans when Spike wraps his lips around her clit and sucks hard. It reminds her that she wants to do the same for him so she bends down, grabs his member with her hands, and licks it from base to tip. Spike groans onto her and instinctually thrusts his hips once. Buffy takes his head into her mouth and sucks while circling her tongue around it which elicits another moan from Spike. It doesn't take long until they're both lost in the motions and haze of pleasure.

Buffy hears Spike's praises of her and it makes her feel womanly and talented, and even though Buffy isn't as verbally vocal as he is, he knows she's enjoying it by her moans. Buffy can't help but think of the possibilities when Spike cums and a few seconds later is hard and ready to go again. After he's hard again she pumps him one, two more times before sitting back up and moving off of Spike. She can't help but blush when he licks his lips and his eyes roll to the back of his head. "Christ, Buffy you're bloody magnificent, you are. Never be able to get enough of you, could eat you up forever."

She opens her mouth to reply and is surprised when she's all of a sudden on her back and kissing Spike with his tongue down her throat. She thought she'd find her own taste in his mouth wiggy but she doesn't, it actually makes her wiggle in anticipation. Spike doesn't leave her waiting for long, he nudges his leg between hers to have her open up before lying on top of her and adjusting himself until she feels his member nudging at her entrance. He's looking at her like he wants to make sure this is real and that this is what she really wants. She doesn't have to think for over a second before knowing it is. When he enters her he doesn't move for a second, to him, it feels like this has to be a dream, when he realized he loved her those months back he never really thought he had a chance with her, she's so bright and good and he's just so far beneath her. To be here right now, he can't help but think that that Glory bint might have actually dusted him or he's just so beat up he's living some fever dream.

He feels her tighten her muscles around him and he groans in satisfaction. It's enough to bring him back into the moment so he looks down at her and leans down to kiss her deeply while starting his thrusts in and out of her. It doesn't take long before they both become lost in the rhythm. Spike grabs Buffy's leg and puts it over his shoulder.

"Christ, Slayer, you feel so bloody good, so hot, so tight."

Buffy is having a hard time paying attention to his words because he keeps using this twist at the end of his thrusts that hits a spot inside her that makes her see stars. She feels an orgasm building inside her and she can tell that he is getting close as well. Buffy decides she's ready so she leans forward to kiss Spike again, she slowly moves her lips down his face, his chin, and then his neck. She thinks for a second that she should have gotten directions before they started but it's like the Slayer part of her takes over and she knows exactly what to do. She bites his neck as hard as she can, she thought she'd be wigged at this but she isn't, when she bites him she hears Spike groan loudly and thrust hard twice before she feels him pulsating inside her. She pulls back and with satisfaction, she says, "Mine."

"Jesus, pet. Of course, yours, always."

Spike knows it's his turn to bite her and he doesn't want to hurt her so he moves his hand down to her clit and starts playing with it getting her worked up again. Her sounds and the tightening on his prick make him harden again, so he thrusts slowly, bringing her to her peak. As she's about to fall over the edge he changes into his game face and looks at her, he wants her to see him as he really is because he wants her to accept all of him and know who she's agreeing to spend the rest of her life with. She looks into his yellow eyes for a few moments before moving her head to the side, giving him better access to her neck. Spike growls lustfully and hungrily before thrusting faster, just as Buffy moans her climax Spike bites down as gently as he can on her neck. The taste of her blood is enough to send him spasming and filling her with his dead seed.

They both stay like that for a few moments, coming back down to earth before Spike gently detaches from her neck. When he speaks it sounds reverent and almost disbelieving, "Mine."

"Yes, Spike, I'm yours."

After the words are out of her mouth, they both feel something change, something solidify inside them. It's a feeling neither of them encountered before and they both know something is profoundly different. Buffy feels closer and more connected to Spike than she's ever felt with anyone else but that's not all, she also feels stronger, more powerful.

Spike leans down to kiss her again and just as their lips touch someone twists the doorknob, once they realize it's locked there's banging on the door. They hear Dawn fretfully yell, "Buffy, is everything okay? I heard you scream."

Uh-oh, Buffy thought ruefully, they kinda forgot they weren't alone in the house. Buffy feels upset that there won't be any after-sex cuddles but realizes it's for the best, Dawn won't be the only person she's going to have to reassure of her total okayness. So with a sigh full of regret she gets up and heads to her closet, "I'm fine Dawn, we'll be down in a minute."

"We?"

"In a minute!" She hears Dawn sigh and stomp down the stairs. She looks at Spike "Are you ready for all of this?"

"Told you love, I'm with you, always."