Getting Pumped (Part 3)
Kaz
********
Paths divide,
old skins are shed.
How skillful the means
that free you
to become more truly
who you are.
*********
For over fifteen minutes Buffy didn't say a word. She turned the heater on
and placed her hands on the steering wheel and proceeded to stare straight
ahead. Spike opened his mouth a couple of times to say something, but a
quick glance at the white knuckled fists gripping the streaking wheel
convinced him that now was definitely a moment best passed
over to silence.
Finally, the traffic jam began to move, and the car heater managed to
reduce them both from a soggy dripping heap, to a semi-reasonable
squadgy damp mess. Buffy continued to over concentrate on the road
ahead as she inched the car forward. She totally ignored the
blond man at her side. Finally Spike figured enough time had passed and
that instant death would no longer be the punishment for the crime of
speaking.
"So are you still going to this 'event' thing of your mother's tonight?"
Buffy turned a gave him a withering glare which would have sent lesser
men running for cover.
"You're not going to believe this Spike" she said, with her voice literally
dripping sarcasm, "but I have nothing to wear." That said, she turned her
head back to the road ahead and proceeded to ignore him once more.
Spike decided to forge bravely ahead. "What do you mean you have
'nothing' to wear'. I hate it when girls say that with a wardrobe full of
clothes."
For a moment, Buffy did not acknowledge him but then she turned to
look at him. In an infinitely calm voice that was much more worrisome than
her previous rages, she explained the situation as if he was a three year old.
"I said I have nothing to wear and that is what I meant. This 'event' as you
so aptly put it, is a black tie affair. I had nothing appropriate
to wear so my mother bought me this rig. Now this 'rig' is completely
ruined, as am I. My mum will kill me for being late, she will kill me for
wrecking the clothes, and she will even kill me if I turn up late and
inappropriately dressed. Does that explanation satisfy
you? Please tell me if it doesn't, because my one aim at the moment
is to make sure you are comfortable with what is going on here."
"How late are we?" asked Spike carefully.
"We, are not late. I am. I was supposed to be there early to help my
mum finish setting things up, and the actual event," she glanced at her
watch, "starts in half an hour."
"OK, so we could still get there almost at the start of this thing." said
Spike thoughtfully.
"Are you dense? We are about half a hour from my house, then I'd have
to shower, put on new make-up, and change....*if* I had anything to change
into!"
"Look, do you want a way out of this mess or are you just going to sit
there feeling sorry for yourself?" Spike snapped.
Buffy glared at him. "Don't start on me. It would NOT be a good move."
Spike ignored her pointed comment. "Well Slayer, do you want a
solution?"
Buffy sighed. "OK, give."
"All right. My place is just off the next offramp. We can get there in
about 10 minutes. You can take a shower and change there. I have
something you can put on."
Buffy stared at him as if he had lost his mind. "You think I'm going to
walk willingly into *your* home! Not a hope in Hell."
"Look Slayer, you are perfectly safe. If I had wanted to kill you, I already
have had plenty of chances. This is your only chance to make the event
and survive your mother's wrath semi-intact." Spike sat back and waited for
the reality of her situation to sink into her brain. Silence ensued.
"What exactly do you have for me to wear? If you are thinking about
passing me some of Dru's hand me downs, then you can forget it.
I'd go naked first."
"Don't tempt me Slayer" said Spike grinning at the thought.
"Spike!"
"OK, OK, don't go losing it again. I promise that I have something
appropriate for you to wear. And I promise that it never belonged to
Dru. Satisfied?"
Buffy stared at the slow moving traffic ahead. Spike's off ramp was
coming up on them. She had to admit that he was right, his plan was
the only one that would get her to this thing. Without comment, she
steered the car to the off ramp.
"OK, so where to now?"
Spike allowed a small grin to play across his mouth, as he gave the
distracted Slayer directions to his house.
Within moments they pulled up in front of a neat two story. Buffy took
a long look at the neatly presented two level house and turned a quizzical
eyebrow in Spike's direction. Spike merely shrugged his shoulders. "It's
home for now," was his only comment.
Buffy found those simple words unexpectedly saddening. For the first
time it hit her that Spike never got to stay in one place to long. By his
very nature, he had to keep moving and leaving everything that had
become familiar to him behind. She, herself, had a hard shot at fate,
but at least she got to stay in one place and had her family and friends
around her for support. It was a benefit that Spike wasn't able to have.
Buffy nodded her head in acknowledgment and moved to follow him
from the car and into the house. Once inside, she found the home
tastefully and comfortably decorated. It could have been anyone's
house. Nothing about it screamed "vampire" at you.
Without comment, Spike motioned her to follow him upstairs. She
hesitated only briefly, before following him up the stairs and through
a door into a bedroom.
"You can use this room, it's my spare bedroom though I don't get much
company staying over. They tend to worry about their blood levels too
much" he grinned at her.
"I can see how that might be an issue." acknowledged Buffy.
"Anyway, it has a shower just through that door there," he said as he
gestured to a small door just to the right of the bed. "Go ahead a take
your shower. I'll go get that dress and leave it lying on the bed for you."
Buffy nodded self conciously and waited for him to depart. She couldn't
believe this was happening. Here she was, in her mortal enemy's home,
preparing to get naked and take a shower. The funny part was, she
trusted him to behave and she didn't know why!
With Spike gone, Buffy shed her ruined clothing and headed for the
shower. All she wanted right now, was to feel the scalding hot water
on her back. And it was worth it. She emerged from the shower glowing
from the heat and feeling like a new person. Quickly, she wrapped a towel
round her and moved to crack the door to the bedroom just to make
sure that Spike wasn't in the room. He wasn't.
Buffy moved into the room and glanced at the bed. There lay two
boxes with ribbons round them. Her face creased in confusion.
He had said he could let her borrow a dress, he hadn't mentioned
anything about a present. She started to move towards the boxes,
but then changed her mind. First things first. Hair and face.
She had spied a hair dryer in the bathroom, so she went back to get it,
then plugged it in and flopped down on the bed. For a moment she though
about just laying down on the bed and giving into the warm, comfortable
tired feeling that was taking over her body. But then vision of her irate
mother swam into her brain. With a sigh, she reached out and
grabbed her purse and withdrew her hairbrush. Ten minutes later her
hair was dry and reasonably styled considering she didn't have her curling
iron with her.
That accomplished, she grabbed her purse and moved over to the
dressing table, and turned the contents of her purse upside down on it.
Various items fell out, and among them was enough make-up to manage
to do the job. Glancing at the wall clock, she saw that time was slipping
by rapidly. Better make short work of the cement, she thought to
herself. Minutes later, she stood up from the dressing table and surveyed
her efforts. Not to bad considering!
Buffy turned and surveyed the packages on the bed. For some reason,
she felt some apprehension at opening them. It felt like something would
change once she opened those boxes, but that was just a stupid notion.
What could be so important about two little boxes! Putting the notion from
her head, she marched determinedly to the first box and
pulled at the ribbon. Then, taking a deep breath, she took the lid off.
Inside lay the most beautiful material she had ever seen. It was dark, dark
emerald green. She reached out and touched it gently. Silk. It had to be
silk.
Almost not daring to breath, she took hold of the dress and lifted it
gently from the box. It fell like a whisper of the warmest air. For a
moment, all Buffy could do was look at the dress before her. It
was so beautiful. Then her attention was caught by another swash
of material still lying in the box. Laying the dress carefully on the bed,
she reached into the box and found that it
also contained underwear made out of the same beautiful material.
"Hope it fits" she said to the empty room.
Quickly she tried on the underwear. To her surprise, they fit perfectly.
"OK, now for the dress" she told herself.
Picking the dress up carefully, she lifted it over her head and felt it
run down her body like a perfect glove. Slowly, as if in a dream, she
walked over to the mirror and stared in disbelief at the woman who looked
back at her. The dress fit her form like a second skin.
One arm and shoulder was left bare, with a diagonal sheaf of silk running
across her breasts to cover her other shoulder and arm completely.
The skirt had along slit which ran up to almost mid thigh.
Still in a semi-daze, Buffy walked back to the bed and with one hand,
undid the ribbon on the second box and flipped the lid off. Inside were a
pair of shoes finished in the same green silk. With a feeling of
resignation to the inevitable, Buffy sat down on the edge of the bed and
slipped the shoes onto her feet. She was no longer surprised by the fact
that the shoes fit almost perfectly.
Just at that moment there was a polite knock on the door.
Raising her eyes, she called "It's OK to come in."
The door swung open and there stood Spike lounging against the door
frame. But it was a Spike she had never seen before. He was all
dressed in black, as usual, but this time he was in the sexiest tux
she had ever seen. Vampire or not, mortal enemy or not, he looked
good enough to eat!
"I said you couldn't come with me, damn it." But her voice held no
weight to it.
Spike moved slowly towards her and took both her hands in his and
pulled her gently to her feet. For a moment he just looked at her, before
reaching into his pocket and pulling out another small box. Opening the
box, he took out a white gold choker which was set with a stunning opal.
Slowly, he moved behind her and placed it around her neck. The feeling
of his gentle hands brushing the back of her neck sent involuntary shivers
along her body. If Spike was aware of her reaction to his touch, he made
no comment.
"You look beautiful" he said quietly.
Buffy lowered her eyes for a second, before raising them to his.
"Spike, where did you get this dress?"
"I was in London a while back during the Fashion Show week. Some
friends of mine dragged me along to the show. They said the models
were worth some attention." he grinned nonchalantly. "I saw this dress
and liked it,so I bought it."
"Why this size Spike? This wouldn't fit Dru."
Spike shrugged. "I don't remember. Maybe it was the only size they
had. But it doesn't matter now because it fits you perfectly."
Buffy nodded warily. She didn't accept his explanations. To many
coincidences, but her mind refused to accept the only logical answer.
Instead she reached for her pocket book and moved towards the door.
In a second Spike was at her side and offered her his arm.
For a moment, Buffy just stared at the arm. Then she turned fearful
eyes up to meet his.
The fear in her eyes was not because she was scared of him physically.
A good fight or a war of words were no problem. The fear in her eyes
was of this new Spike. A Spike she didn't know how to handle. It was
also a fear of her own reaction to this new Spike.
This night hadn't even started yet, and already it had been totally
unbelievable. Things like this just didn't happen. They just didn't!
Spike saw the fear and confusion in her eyes, and put out a hand to
stop her. Turning her towards him, he reached out a gentle hand and
took her hand in his.
"I won't hurt you. Ever. I don't ask for anything, just that you watch
and wait and make up your own mind. Trust me, even if just for
tonight."
Buffy contemplated him for a minute. His eyes spoke of sincerity.
Finally, she gave a brief nod and took his arm. Spike guided her
downstairs, but instead of heading to the front door and her car, he
changed directions and headed towards the kitchen door.
"Where are we going? My car is outfront." asked Buffy somewhat
warily.
"I thought we'd take my car for tonight." was his reply.
"But your car is at the gas station where you left it,"
"I have another car. I don't use it too much, because it attracts to
much attention."
Buffy nodded acceptance and allowed herself to be guided out and onto
the side driveway. And there sat a Jaguar XJ12 in the same midnight
emerald green as her dress. By now, the surprises of the night had
started to become common place, so she refrained from
comment and simply allowed him to assist her into the car.
The word car was an understatement. The interior was in the softest
pure pale tan leather, and the dashboard and accessories were in
polished oak. The car even smelled rich. Beside her, Spike lowered
himself into the car and started it. Pale green lights illuminated the dash
board, and an almost undetectable hum was audible from the powerful
engine.
Spike glanced over at her and grinned.
"Ready love?"
Buffy nodded, still unable to find any words.
Spike depressed the clutch and shifted the car into gear. The
automobile rolled forward and Buffy had the feeling that this "date"
would be one that she would never forget.
To Be Continued....
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