June 22, 2007 6:15 PM
The car door opened and a blanket-covered Spike ran for the front porch of the
house. Following him were his wife, two children and their lawyer, Morgana.
As he reached into his pocket to get his key ring he heard something fall inside
the house. Quickly turning he put a finger to his mouth letting the others know
to be quiet then he motioned Buffy to follow him in.
“Stay out here with the children,” he told Morgana waiting until he received a nod in reply before he opened the door.
Raven giggled behind Spike and Buffy receiving a warning look from them before they noticed that she was wearing an expression of anticipation. They looked at each other briefly before they carefully made their way into the house,
The house was now silent as they made their way through the entrance hall to turn to go into the living room.
“Surprise!” Their family yelled out as they appeared. Everyone was there, including Clem.
The room was covered in brightly colored balloons and streamers and a table had been set up in the corner that was covered in food. The furniture had all been moved back so that the middle of the room had been opened up. A homemade banner was stretched over the fireplace that read “Congratulations Buffy and Spike”. Piled on the hearth were presents wrapped in birthday wrapping paper.
“Hey, everybody.” Spike smiled at everyone that was starting their way toward them but then noticed Buffy wasn’t saying anything. He looked over at her noticing the stunned look on her face.
Apparently everyone else also noticed because they stopped their movements toward them. Buffy stepped into the room looking quickly at her family before moving slowly toward a bunch of balloons tied to the back of an arm chair. One finger was slowly run over the gaudy purple balloon then followed a streamer to a red balloon next to it. Then without saying anything she walked over to the table checking over the food.
Spike looked from her to the others noting the hurt in their eyes.
“Buffy, we couldn’t get wedding stuff without it being obvious.” Dawn said with an edge of annoyance to her voice. “So, we went with the birthday theme.” She told her quickly before she saw the cake that said Happy Birthday Clem.
Buffy looked at the cake letting the tears fall that she had been holding back all day. Her hands ran down the front of the navy blue suit that was her wedding dress and turned eyes to Spike for reassurance. He was across the room in only a few strides wrapping his arms around her. His guilt for denying her the wedding she had dreamed of ripped through him.
“Baby, don’t be upset with them. They tried to do something for you, for us. It’s my fault,” he told her as her sobs got louder. His hand ran down the back of her hair lost as to what to do for her at this point. She didn’t even have a wedding band on her hand to let her know that she was married.
“Maybe we should just go.” Kate told everyone around her and they nodded as they turned toward the door.
“No.” Buffy said as she raised her head from Spike’s chest. Her hand ran over the spot on his shirt where she had soaked him and sniffled as she tried to regain her composure. A small hand was inserted into the comfort of a larger one as she turned to face her family.
“My life changed completely when I was called and there hasn’t been what you could call a normal day since then.” Buffy smiled as another tear made its way down her cheek. “If I had what could be called a normal day, I would probably run to Giles convinced that we had landed in an alternate universe.”
The others chuckled around her still not understanding what was upsetting her so much. Buffy looked at Spike and leaned against him slightly.
“I know that you think I have been disappointed in our wedding day but it’s not true. In all its abnormality it is actually normal for us. I have just been afraid all day that something else would go wrong but this,” she waved her hand around at the decorations, “is perfect for our lives. I will take all of this strangeness in all it has to offer because to us this is normal. So, thank you everyone.”
Spike turned to her so that he could pick her up and twirl her around as the cheers and clapping sounded around them. After he had set her down on her feet they were torn apart as their family hugged them, congratulated them and welcomed Spike back home.
Someone started the stereo playing typical wedding reception music as they started on the food that had been brought.
“So, you did it, Fangless. You married our Buffy. Do you feel any different?” Xander asked Spike after they had settled into some chairs in the corner.
“Yeah, now I don’t have to feel guilty for shagging her senseless every night.” Spike responded.
Xander laughed as he wondered if Spike was serious but then Spike laughed at him.
“Not yet,” Spike told him as he shrugged his shoulders. There was no way he could tell his friend that even though he could hear the decisive clink of a cage door being fastened nothing could displace the joy and pride that swelled in his chest at the fact that Buffy was his and only his.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The phone started to ring as Spike stacked his plate in the sink with the others.
Absently he reached for it as the plate clattered to the side.
“Hello.”
“You finally married her.” Angel stated without a hello or congratulations.
Immediately Spike began to feel irritation lick at him at his Grand-sire’s voice.
“Yes, we were married today,” he told him wondering why he was bothering obviously he had the news and already had an opinion on it.
“I also heard about your little indiscretion with Donna. If you ever hurt or do anything to Buffy again,” Angel started his lecture at the vampire he felt he had the right to criticize.
“Sod off,” Spike snarled hanging the phone up.
Buffy walked into the room at that moment.
“Who was that?” She asked as she added her plate to the pile.
“No one.” Spike answered taking her hand to lead her back to the other room just as the phone began ringing again.
Buffy hesitated turning to head for the phone.
“Leave it, Buffy.”
She looked at him baffled by his sudden bad attitude then turned toward the phone to check the caller ID.
Spike closed his eyes as he hoped that she wouldn’t answer the phone. That she wouldn’t choose Angel over him today. Hurt hit him as he heard the phone stop ringing and waited for her to say hello. But then her hand was in his.
“Come on. Xander wants to propose a toast,” she told him as she tugged on him.
In surprise he looked at her then at the phone, Relief flooded him when he saw that the phone had been unplugged. The symbolism that she had chosen him overwhelmed Spike in a surge of love.
As they stepped into the room they found the others waiting with glasses of champagne in hand and grape juice for the children. Two glasses were quickly handed to them.
“I guess if they had done it the normal way that I would have been the best man.” Xander started as he looked over at Spike waiting for an affirmation. Spike nodded with a smile indicating that Xander would have been the one he chose to stand by him. It seems in his apparent hesitation that he had denied more than Buffy the right to the ceremony. “So, it seems that I should be the one to offer the first toast. It really pains me to say this because it took me a long time to like you much less accept you, Spike. But when you gave us back our Buffy and you fought who you were to be a part of us, you did become a part of us. Today, well, all I have to say is, it’s about time.”
Glasses were clinked all around as the toast was taken. Then Willow stepped up to stand beside Xander.
“Okay, my turn. When I did that spell a long time ago, who would have thought that it actually would have come true but in a way we should have known because you were both so happy. Here’s to fate that brought two people together who should never be apart.”
After the applause had died down some, Xander raised his arms.
“Buffy, Spike, please come to the center of the room.”
They looked at each other then at Xander in suspicion as they did what he requested.
“It’s time for the first dance and Willow and I have chosen an appropriate selection for you.” Xander looked back at Willow with a grin and nodded. Willow pressed the button to begin the music with a mischievous smile on her face.
The first strands of ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ started to play as the ones who understood the joke began to laugh. The laughter was soon quieted though as Spike took Buffy into his arms to dance with her. When she tucked her head under his chin they became misty eyed at the love the couple had became evident for all to see. It was almost as if they had been transported back to the time of the spell and all the hurt had never happened.
~~~~~~~~~~
Steam had taken over the bathroom softly misting everything and blocking the mirrors from doing their job. A mountain of bubbles separated them from each other’s sight as it overflowed the tub onto the floor. Buffy leaned on one side of the tub while Spike was across from her. His toes slowly caressed her hips as he leaned back with his eyes closed. The clinking of glass broke the silence as Buffy poured another glass of champagne. She had been freely indulging all night knowing that she didn’t have to be responsible for the children.
“Do you want some more, Love?” Buffy asked then giggled as she realized she used a nickname that was part of his signature stable.
Spike reluctantly opened his eyes to look at her using his foot to clear a path through the bubbles. The steam had left a mist on her face that was barely above the water leaving her glass to drag through the water as she drank from it. A stray lock of hair that had escaped fell across her cheek. After draining half the glass she held it out for him. Not wanting to refuse the invitation Spike sat up hooking his hands under her knees and pulling her closer to him.
Not ready for his movements Buffy slipped almost all the way under the water but managed to hold the glass aloft. She came up laughing and sputtering bubbles out of her mouth.
“You okay?” He asked laughing at the sight of her.
“Trying to drown me on our wedding night? Drunken Slayer found drowned in bathtub with Vampire husband.”
Buffy held the glass up to his mouth so that he could drink some of the champagne. He willingly followed her lead draining all of it for her. She sighed in contentment as the last of it went into his mouth then she put the empty glass on the edge of the tub.
“Kiss me,” he asked.
Her hand reached behind him to tug him toward her. They met in a dance that was familiar to them, each of them giving to please the other. Their tongues playfully danced to create passion in their partner. Buffy broke the kiss in order to get air into her alcohol induced brain. A hand held her breast softly as his thumb teased at her nipple.
“Let’s go to bed.”
Buffy pulled back at this request until she was leaning on her side of the tub again. Thoughts of him with Donna kept repeating in her mind no matter how hard she tried to push them aside. Her own insecurities kept telling her that her body wasn’t enough for him, that she wasn’t good enough in bed.
“Do I not satisfy you?” The words slipped from her mouth before she could stop them. Earlier she had vowed never to bring it up. To just let them go forward in their lives. To be grateful that he had returned to her.
“Of course you do. Now come here.” Spike told her not really wanting to deal with this subject now. Not on their wedding night.
“What am I not doing that you want?” Buffy scrunched her face up as her mouth betrayed her again.
“Let’s not talk about it right now. I want to make love to you.” He purred to her shifting to come closer to her.
“Oh, that’s just fine. You can fuck me but you can’t talk about fucking me.” The hurt and anger started to lick at her bringing her back to sobriety.
“I don’t want to fuck you, Buffy, I want to make love you. “
“Is that what you were going to do to Donna? Make love to her.” Buffy’s voice was rising as her anger took hold.
“No, Donna I wanted to tie to the bed and do all the things I can't do with you.” Spike told her through gritted teeth trying not to shout at Buffy. He was angry with her for not letting it go and angrier at himself that he had let her emotions make him say things he didn't really want to say.
The hurt seared across Buffy’s eyes as she stared at him in disbelief. She watched as he closed his eyes then covered them with his hand.
“Buffy, please don’t do this. We made choices in our relationship to keep you safe. Some of them I didn’t like but I love you enough to keep my word.”
“You also said I was the only one you wanted.”
As Buffy stood water and bubbles splashed over him and the floor in a great wave. Reaching for her robe she pulled it on without drying off.
“Buffy,” he called to her as she left him alone.
~~~~~~~~~~
Spike walked into their bedroom to find Buffy sitting at her vanity brushing out her hair. Slowly he moved toward her letting the vision that she was wash over him. No matter what other urges ran through him, he would never get over how her beauty affected him. It called to him wrapping him in her spell and that scared him.
Stopping her in mid-stroke he took the brush from her so that he could finish what she had started. His hand stroked her hair as he worked the tangles from it when she sobbed softly. The tears ran down her face as she accepted this small gift of affection.
“Why am I not enough for you?” She whispered knowing that until she receives the answers she still won’t feel safe with him.
Sighing he leaned over to lay her brush on the vanity them came to straddle the bench so that he was facing her. His fingers turned her face to him as he wiped the tears from her cheeks. The talk last night, her actions that morning, had led him to believe it was over but he should have known that beneath this new strong Buffy was still the scared little girl afraid of being alone.
“Do not ever doubt my love and desire for you. They are yours for as long as you want them.” Then as she opened her mouth to protest he laid his fingers across her lips. “I have never stopped loving you or wanting you no matter what else I am doing or seem to want. Now they have been promised to you for as long as both of us are alive.”
His hand fluttered across her chin then lingered softly across her throat finally moving down her chest coming to rest on her waist. She sniffled as she tried to restrain her emotions that the champagne had loosened. His hands were as gentle as his words as he tugged her closer to him.
She leaned toward him as she focused on his lips that moved closer to her but they moved to her neck instead of her mouth. With a barely heard moan she opened herself up to him as his teeth nibbled on her, first as blunt then he changed and his fangs were there. Scraping across flesh but never breaking skin.
Then, oh so whispery, his voice was in her ear and he asked, “May I?”
Sometime, she wasn’t sure when, his hand had gone from her waist back to her throat holding it for him while he waited for her consent.
The last few times he hadn’t asked as it had been part of the sexual act and he had just taken what he considered his. But her throat hadn’t been part of it. The last time it had been pierced by him was the night she had tried to force him to kill her. Her consent would be a sign of trust and would give him honor that was his due as her mate.
“Yes.” She said without even an inflection of doubt or nervousness. Their relationship had to move forward. To live without him was not an option any longer with her. This creature was hers and she would meet him halfway if she had to. No matter what anyone told her.
His tongue licked her skin before his fangs pierced into her. Twice in one day he had drunk from her and the power surged through him as the blood flowed down his throat. So sweet it was. This time something changed as she opened herself to him. Her love called to him from her life force. It wrapped around his soul and held him tight. He wanted to lose himself in this, to bath in her blood, to drink from her until there was no more. When the thought danced through his mind he released her. Blood dripped down her skin and he wiped it with his finger then offered it to her.
Buffy looked at the blood on his finger and then up at him. The challenge was clearly there in his eyes. To take another step and participate in his feeding, to do something that was part of who he was. Her hand directed his wrist to her mouth and her lips took in his finger tasting her blood on his skin.
“It’s not about kinky fucking or needing someone else. It’s not that you aren’t enough for me or that I don’t love you. It’s about the call of power and freedom and the thrill of the hunt and the kill. It’s about the instincts that are part of my nature as a vampire.” Spike explained to her hoping that she would understand.
“Does this help you deal with that call?” She asked gesturing toward her neck.
“Some.”
“Does what you wanted to do with…?” Buffy hesitated feeling her heart ache at the thought of saying Donna’s name again. “I want to be the one to give you what you need.”
Spike eye’s opened wider at her offer but knew it wasn’t something that he could accept.
“I need you safe and happy.”
“Giving you what you need would make me happy. I don’t want to play it safe anymore.”
“Buffy…”
Her hand came to touch his face softly as he searched her eyes for what was making her offer to put herself on the line for him but all he saw was love and trust.
“No, we’ve played it safe for too long. We’ve run and hidden from the truths between us and we can’t do it anymore.”
“Is this something that you want to do?” Spike’s resolve was slowly weakening at her protestations.
“Yes, I don’t want you to hold back from me, to be afraid of asking for what you want and need. And I want to know more…I want to feel fully alive again.”
“Then you go back to Sara.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to know that you are safe. We made the decision not to push the limits before at her advice and I know that you will listen to her if she feels you are in…danger.”
This was something he wasn’t going to back down from no matter what she said. If she refused then he would keep things at the level they were at. There was no way he was going to risk losing Buffy to the depression she had been lost in years ago.
“Okay.” Buffy smiled at him with trembling lips. A part of her was frightened at the prospect of exploring this new territory but she made the decision to trust him. “So, when do we start the lessons?”
With a possessive smile Spike stood scooping her up against him. Buffy felt her stomach nervously clench but with his next words she relaxed.
“Not tonight. Tonight I want to make love with you.”
He laid her on the bed so gently that it made her feel like she was floating in air. The hands that pulled her robe off were filled with tenderness. Standing he quickly pulled his jeans from him as if he hated the loss of contact with her and once he was nude hurried back to lay with her in their bed.
When his hands and mouth touched her as if he was worshiping her flesh she felt her doubts slip away.
When his mouth and fingers brought her to ecstasy as he knelt at his altar at the juncture of her legs she knew that his love belonged only to her.
When his eyes unwaveringly stared into hers as he filled her so completely that it felt as if they became one being she knew that all of her tomorrows were safe with him.
And when he held her afterwards and the night called he turned his gaze into its inky blackness as the desire to run and to hunt begin to lick at him but he deliberately shut his eyes against it and burrowed closer to his wife.
