New York, New York II
SUMMARY: After fighting the sect of Kaalan, Spike and Buffy finaly find each other. They decide to extend their stay in New York just a little while longer, trying to hold on to that little piece of happiness they know they can't have...DISCLAIMER: It's all Joss's fault. Everything. He created it all. Just don't sue me for using his creation to entertain myself and others.
SPOILER: season 5, kinda
RATING: Rated R... some violence, and some not too graphic sex.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"That's the place? Looks awfully quiet to me.." Buffy shifts uncomfortably in the car seat, buried under her bag of weapons.
"Yes miss Summers, without any doubt" The watcher James Hart turns the engine of his car off. "I've been spying on them for months now. This will be the site for the ritual."
"So what are we waiting for then? Let's just get this over with..."
"It is too early for that. If you go in now, you'll have to fight against the entire sect instead of facing only eighteen of them."
"Oh... right." She sinks back down in her seat, and stares out the window.
The car's door opens, startling the watcher and Buffy.
"Where were you! You've been gone for hours!" She gives Spike a pissed off look, waiting for an explanation.
"Missed me luv?" He asks with a seductive grin.
"You know you're a real pain in the ass? You're supposed to help me, and now, I had to get mentally ready to fight these guys by myself because I wasn't even sure you'd ever come back and.."
"Hey! Not my bloody fault it's so hard to find a butcher open at this time of the night and willing to sell me some blood! We're not in Sunnyhell pet."
"Oh... right." She turns in her seat and crosses her arms on her chest. "Well I'm still pissed off... for the form."
"Sure luv, whatever you say."
He extends his arm in between the two front seat, holding a bag.
"I brought you something to eat. Huh.. there's something for you as well Mr. Hart."
The Watcher shifts uncomfortably.
"Thank you, that's very thoughtful of you."
"Yeah, well, don't mention it."
Buffy's still staring at him.
"What? I heard you say you had a craving for a chicken burger and this fast food place was open. I just thought... Never mind."
He sinks back in his seat and pulls out his bag of blood.
"Thank you Spike."
"You're welcome luv.
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Spike and the Slayer are walking silently towards the old abandoned building on the docks. The place seems deserted, but they know better than to assume. Lot's of shadows out there that could be hiding trouble. The blond Slayer is holding a sword, and the vampire as an axe swung carelessly over his shoulder. As they approach the place, they hide and start moving swiftly from shadow to shadow, careful not to be seen. They're finally close enough to be able to asses the situation. The building is surrounded.
"There as to be a way in. There as to be a breach somewhere!" Buffy is starting to have serious doubts about the mission's ending.
"Don't worry, we'll find something. Let's go around the building and take a look at the water front."
Careful not to be seen, they go around and to the water side. From where they are, they can see the building goes all the way to the very edge of the dock. No guards on that side, but no need for guards anyway since there is no access. But Spike seems to think otherwise. He's looking down at the water, twenty feet below, lost in thoughts.
"Slayer, come here."
She walks to where he is standing, looks down, then back at him, not understanding.
"What? You want us to jump off, have a little swim, and do the Spiderman thingy? I am so not jumping into that! Not even to save the world."
Spike sigh, a little annoyed.
"No blondie, look. Down there. Don't you see the step in the concrete, just above the water? And the rusty metal steps to get down there? If you look carefully, you'll see that there are steps like that every 30-40 feet along the dock. I guess it's for small boats. That means we could go down, walk our way to the building, and go back up no problem."
"Ok then, let's go, we don't have much time left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike catches Buffy as she finishes making her way down. He holds her for a second, his hands unwilling to let go of her, then put her down on the narrow concrete step. The brown smelly water lap at their feet. Buffy makes a face.
"Eww! I bet you there is a couple of hundred corpses in that water... and other stuff I don't wanna know about.
"Well well, if it's not the almighty Slayer talking! Miss I kill nasty demons every night for a living..."
"Yeah well... I'm still sensitive ok? Let's go now. We have fifteen minutes."
They start making their way towards the building, but the path is so narrow that they have to move sideways. Spike is swearing under his breath.
"Bloody hell, this is taking way too long!"
"We still have eight minutes left, we can still make it."
They finally make it to the building, both dirty, wet and smelly. They both look up.
"You sure it's this one?" Buffy asks with her Slayer on a mission tone. "We don't have time to make mistakes..."
"Of course I'm sure. It's the right one, let's go up there and kick some demons ass."
"My guess, we won't have to kick any asses at all. We smell so bad they will all pass out"
They climb up as fast as they can. To reach the window, Buffy gets on Spike’s shoulders, then, she helps him up. They stand on the window sill for a moment, taking the scene in. Then, on a silent accord, they crash through the already half broken window and land on the floor in a crouch... ready to attack. In an instant, two of the human looking Gatashes demon are on Buffy. She easily cut the first one's head with her sword, while getting the other one in the stomach with a high kick.
But the moment of surprise is over, and they are being attacked on every side. Buffy's taking the fight away from Spike to give him some room to fight his attackers. Three of them are on him, but he seems to have the upper hand for now.
Buffy turns around just in time to see a punch coming towards her face and ducks. In a crouch, she swings one of her legs to kick the demons legs from under him, making him fall to his back. She then grabs her sword and plunge it into the demon's guts, effectively pining him to the ground. The Slayer then launch herself at another Gatash, hoping to take him to the ground with her, but he moves in time to avoid her, and she rolls to the floor. A handspring takes her back to her feet in a fighting stance.
With a quick look, she can see that Spike already killed three demons but is now struggling against four more. That leaves thirteen more demons. The only way out would be to get to that big ugly guy standing in the middle of the place. He's screaming what sounds like orders to his minions in a demon language she can't understand. He has human figure, but with skin more black than anything she has seen before. His eyes are a glowing red and his teeth seem sharp like razor edges. He floats above the ground, but stand still, his arms wide open.
She headbutts one of the demons, and punch him in the stomach, knocking his wind out. The Slayer uses the moment of surprise to start running in the direction of the master. But before she can reach him, she finds herself surrounded by demons. Not losing control of the fight, she start throwing roundhouse kicks at one of them, sending him to the ground, and as she turns, she is fast enough to grab another one's head and brutally break his neck. But then, she turns and look at Spike. He's still fighting, but he didn't notice the Gatash behind him about to shove a wooden stick through his heart. Buffy tries to scream, but just as she does, one of the demons smashes her left knee with a metal beam. The blow makes her fall, and her head lands on the concrete floor with a violence that most likely cracked her skull. She passes out.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike sense a demon behind him and swirl in time to stick the edge of his axe through the demon's skull. That's when he sees Buffy unconscious on the floor. Shoving another of the bad guys aside, he runs to her. His demons gets out of control at the sight of the woman he loves so much laying lifeless on the floor. In an instant, he breaks three gatashes necks, then leap at the master, and before anybody can stop him, Spike rips his head off. In a second, all the Gatash demons surrounding them burst into flames. The vampire rush to Buffy's side to make sure she's still alive. Buffy...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three o'clock. Only two hours and a half they've been there, but it feels like eternity. Eternity in Hell. Yeah, that's it. It reminds him of that description of Hell he has read once. It was by Sartre, a French philosopher. The man's idea of Hell was that everybody have their own customized for them. Not necessarily flames or physical torture, rather mental torture for eternity. At the time he read the short essay, he thought it was a neat, twisted, idea. But now that he comes to think of it...
"The bleedin' sod was damn right. That would be a wicked idea for Hell. And this hospital room would probably be my own personal Hell." Spike says in a low, angry, voice, not able to take his eyes from the blond woman in the hospital bed.
The Watcher left about forty five minutes ago. Spike wasn't paying any attention to his presence anyway. He was too busy staring at the pale, beaten face of Buffy. So after someone looked after Buffy and it was clear she was going to live, the Watcher decided he should leave the strange couple alone.
It took a while for the words to penetrate his mind.
"She is fine."
"Nothing too damaged."
"Nothing broken."
"Her skull is intact."
Spike's staring blankly. Then, as if waking up, he blinks, and gives the doctor a "don't bullshit me" look.
"She is fine?! Look at her! She's so pale she looks like a corpse! And believe me, I know what the bloody hell I'm talking about!.. And why is she not waking up?"
"Mr. Summers, please calm down. You're wife needs to rest. Her brain received a very hard shock, causing a concussion. But that's all she has. For now, she will feel dizzy, nauseous, and have a earth shattering headache, but all the symptoms will be gone by tomorrow night. For now, she's just sleeping. We gave her something so she could rest. We'll keep her under observation for a night or two, depending on how she feels."
"I feel great.. Really... just.. peachy." Buffy desperately tries to sit up in her bed, while giving the doctor an horrified look.
In a fraction of second, Spike's at her side again, trying to get her to lay back down.
"Buffy! What are you doing, you can't get up like that."
"Sure I can.. and.. and I will. I'm not staying here. Not two nights, not one night... not even one more hour. I'm going home. I HATE hospitals."
"There there Mrs. Summers, your Husband his right, you can't get up like that."
"My hus.. Oh. Right." Buffy gives Spike a look, but she plays along.
"Yes, I guess my husband is right.. as usual. But I do feel fine. I swear..."
Spike chuckles for a brief second.
Buffy lays her head back on the pillow, and take a deep breath.
"I think I'll rest a little more. We'll see later."
The doctor smiles.
"That's the spirit Mrs. Summers. It's the best thing to do right now. I'll leave you two alone and come to check on you later."
But as soon as the doctor closes the door behind him, Buffy is up again. Panic on her pale face.
"Spike, I can't stay here... I can't! You don't understand, it's, it's.. I know it's ridiculous, but I have a phobia of hospitals. I want to go home, please!" She stares at him with pleading eyes.
"I don't know Buffy. You really scared me tonight pet." he lower his gaze, and add with a pain filled voice: "I really thought I was going to lose you tonight Slayer. If I bring you back at the hotel and something bad happens..."
"Spike.. Look, I'm sorry I scared you, but I'm alright now. Slayer's healing powers, remember? Besides, the doctor said that all I need is rest. Don't you think I'll rest much better in a comfy hotel bed, with good food and giant TV and only you for company instead of all those sick people I don't even know?"
She knows he's convinced, but she still gives him a pathetic look just to make sure.
He hesitates for a second, pretending not to be sure, then gives up.
"Hell you can be stubborn sometimes! Come on, get dressed. We're out of here."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike walks into the hotel room carrying the Slayer in his arms. She was too unsteady to attempt walking. Making it out of the hospital had been painful. The petite blond Slayer had to get really mad at the doctor and nurses. After her last argument, the constitution and her right to freedom, they finally understood it was useless to argue with the stubborn young woman and they let them go, making her signing a discharge. Carrying her out of the building, he could feel her body tensed against his chest, but as soon as they were out, she relaxed.
He puts her down carefully on the bed, then looks at her seriously, frowning.
"Now, if something bad happens, what will I do? I can't bloody well do CPR on you. No breath, remember?"
"Relax, nothing will happen to me Spike. My head is pretty hard."
"Yeah, I noticed that already luv. I think it's the first thing I noticed when I met you. No, actually, it was the second thing."
Buffy gives him a curious look.
"What was the first thing you noticed?"
"Sorry Slayer, not telling."
"Hey! I'm sick, remember? Not supposed to upset a sick girl." She says with an exaggerated pouty lip.
"Your fire. That's what I noticed in you that first night at the Bronze. The passion burning inside of you. That's what I noticed first. Satisfied?"
He takes his duster off and throw it on a chair, not looking at Buffy, not seeing the stunned expression on her face.
"So, even back then..." she asks quietly.
"Yeah. Even back then." he answers, still not facing her.
Buffy clears her throat uncomfortably.
"I.. I'll go take a shower. I still carry that fish tank smell with me. The hospital people were probably wondering where the Hell we picked up that awful smell."
"No. Not the shower. What if you feel weak and faint. You might smash your head again. Take a bath instead."
"Ok then," Buffy says with fake exasperation. "Bath it is dad."
She gets up, unsteadily, and start walking toward the bathroom.
"Don't lock the door! If something happens.."
"Yeah yeah! God Spike, I'm not a child. And I am not dying!"
She closes the door behind her, laughing at him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She sinks deeper into the soothing hot water, and closes her eyes, hoping that will make the headache disappear. No luck there. She lets the thoughts slip into her mind, too tired to even feel guilty about them. Spike. Why in the world did she have to fall for him. Of any men she could have fallen in love with, it had to be him. She shudders briefly, realizing she just used the "L" word. She sinks deeper, water now up to her chin.
In a flash, she sees his panic stricken face, back at the hospital tonight. She knows he loves her. Even though he stopped saying it a while ago because of her reaction, it is still obvious that he cares. How could he? How could he care without a soul?
A couple of months ago, she would have laughed mercilessly and say that it's all bullshit, that someone without a soul can't feel, can't love. But he proved her wrong. He proved many times that he cares more than anybody else ever did. And he proved that he could indeed feel pain. And love.
She immerse herself under water for a second, getting her hair wet. Why does it have to be so complicated? Why is love such a pain in the ass? Why can't it be like in that stupid love movie, Pretty woman, where they live in two completely different worlds, but in the end, it doesn't matter anymore. The guy climbs the tower, rescues his princess, kisses her, and everything is good. No more barriers. What the world think doesn't matter. But that is not the way real life is. There is no happy ending in real life. Especially not for a Vampire and a Vampire Slayer living on the Hellmouth.
"All I want is one moment. To give in for one moment, without guilt, without worries, without fear." She says to herself in a faint whisper.
Feeling the water getting cold, she extract herself painfully from the bath tub and wrap an industrial size towel around her small body.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike put some music on, setting the volume very low not to aggravate her headache, then lay down on the bed, closing his eyes.
and I don't want the world to see me
cause I don't think they may understand
when everything is made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am..."Soddin mushy love song! As if I need that tonight..." Spike mutters, annoyed at the words of the song.
Don't think you'll ever know who I really am Slayer. Don't think you wanna know. Bloody Hell, she really turned me into a bleedin' wanker. But again, am I not always a pathetic poof when it comes to love? Yeah, pretty hilarious if you ask me. That I am. Guess I could write a book about who not to fall in love with.
and you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
all the moments of truth in your lies
when everything feels like the movies
yeah you're pleased just to know you're aliveThe Slayer. Buffy. My sun, my Heaven, my warrior. So beautiful, so full of contradictions, full of passion. Enough love in her to share with the whole world. Just not enough to love me though. But how could she. I'm everything she should hate. It's her job to hate me. She's the Slayer... I'm a Blood sucking fiend. No need to be a rocket science to predict the ending: Not so happy. But still. I love her so bloody much. If I could have just one moment. Without the barriers imposed by this world. Without the fear, the guilt.
Spike sigh painfully.
"Bloody pathetic pillock.." He groans before drifting off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy walks into the bedroom, her legs still shaky.
"Spike?" She calls softly.
He's on the bed, soundly asleep. So she turns the lights and the music off, and join him in bed... snuggling against his cool body.
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Spike wakes up about two hours later, something wet under his chin, and a weight on his chest. The sun is almost up. He carefully opens an eye and look down, only to see his slayer soundly asleep in his arms. Her hair is wet and she's still wearing nothing but a towel. He sigh and shut his eyes, trying not to be aroused by this sight. Changing his mind, he opens his eyes again to observe the woman asleep in his arms. She looks so peaceful, and so beautiful. He has never seen someone as perfect as she is. Even after a night of fighting for her life and for the world's sake, she still looks amazing. Her arms are wrapped around his chest, holding him tightly. He wonders if she knows who she's holding on to. She probably turned while sleeping and unconsciously grabbed whatever was next to her. She'll probably be pissed when she wakes up. He notices goosebumps on her arms and realizes the poor girl is probably freezing. Careful not to wake her, he reaches out to grab the end of the comforter, and cover her body with it. With a sigh of contentment, she snuggles closer to him, pressing her body against his. He bites his lower lip to contain a moan and shut his eyes tightly. If he was human, he'd take a deep breath, but, what's the use.. And just when he thinks he's never been more sexually frustrated then he is at this very moment, he feels Buffy's lips kissing the base of his neck.
"Buffy?.. Luv?" He murmurs, his voice hoarse with desire.
This is too hard. He has to wake her up to make her stop whatever it is she's doing. He wants her more than anything, but this is just wrong. She's sleeping, and has obviously no idea what she's doing. If he ever has her, he wants her conscious, and a willing participant. Not asleep and dreaming of some bloke...
"Slayer."
"mmm.. what?.." she asks in a sleepy voice, still kissing him.
"Buffy, are you awake luv?" Spike asks, very confused.
"... Yeah."
The lovesick vampire desperately tries to keep his cool, ignoring the flashes of pleasure shooting through is body at the feel of her warm soft lips on his throat.
"think you bashed you head harder than we thought Slayer. It pains me to do that, but if I don't stop you now, you'll probably stake me when you get your senses back..." he says, his voice not more than a whisper.
Buffy lifts her head and looks at him, a frown of confusion on her forehead.
"You don't want me?" She asks, hurt in her voice.
"Buffy, what are you doing? You hate me, remember?"
She puts her small hand on his mouth and stares deeply into his eyes.
"No. I don't."
Slowly, very slowly, she lowers her lips to his, savoring the moment, finally letting herself do what she always wanted to do. She kisses him. The deepest, most tender kiss she has ever had. After a moment that seems too short, she breaks it to look at him, to see his reaction. Confusion and love. Genuine, heartbreaking love. She has never seen feelings like that on any of her lovers face before. Seeing the effect the kiss has on him makes her heart swell and her chest tighten painfully. The only way to relieve the pressure would be to kiss him again.
So she does.Hesitantly, still unsure, Spike snakes his arms around her tiny waist. He pulls her close against his body as they lose themselves into that passionate kiss they have been longing for what seems like a lifetime. Buffy is breathless, but she refuses to stop for air. She doesn't want to stop that kiss, ever.
She lets her hands roam his body, exploring every muscles, and marveling at how good he feels under her touch. All this time, she had been secretly wondering what it felt like to touch his perfect body, to be close to him, to have him making love to her. Well it was nothing like she imagined in her fantasy. So much better. Oh God, so much better! She fells herself drifting away, lost in pleasure, incapable of thinking straight. But it doesn't matter anymore. Her reluctance at giving in to this, her fear of loving him, her worries about an impossible future with him... Nothing matters anymore.
Well, yes, one thing does matter. Spike inside of her, making love to her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy wakes up with the unfamiliar, but oh so pleasurable feeling of Spike's mouth on her ear lobe.
"Mmm. What are you doing?"
"Waking you up, sleeping beauty."
"That's a nice way to wake up. That beats my mom's pancake smell all the way to hell... Now, if I could only have both, that would be heaven!"
He laughs, then gives her a shocked look.
"You'd let me do that to you under your mom's roof? That's just sick. Shame on you Slayer."
She laughs too, and pull him to her.
"shut up smart ass."
They start kissing passionately, then Spike makes his way with a trail of soft loving kisses to her breast, then, her stomach.
Just when he's getting lower, the phone rings. Spike growls, deeply annoyed by the rude interruption. Buffy tries to push him aside to answer, but he stops her."Don't." He pins her to the bed, his mouth molding with hers, taking her breath away.
"Spike... it.. it's probably Giles.."
"Exactly my point luv." He whispers softly in her ear. "Don't answer. Please"
Then, he stops what he's doing for a second and looks at her seriously.
"Buffy, I don't want to leave. If you answer, it will all be over and.."
"Who said we're leaving?"
She grabs the phone and answers, letting herself sink comfortably in the pillows.
"Hello?" She says with an exaggerated sleepy voice.
"Buffy! Thank God! What took you so long to answer that damn phone? I was worried sick about you! Are you all right? What.."
"Giles! One question at the time, ok? It took me that long to answer, because I was asleep and the stuff they gave me at the hospital was strong."
Spike makes a face and she almost giggle, but manage to stay serious nevertheless.
"... and yes I'm fine. We're both fine in case you're interested in Spike's wellbeing as well."
"But, James Hart called me this morning to tell me you were at the hospital. What happened? You're sure you're alright?"
"I was at the hospital, but they let me out cause we were too annoying..
"Dear lord." Giles lets out a heavy sigh.
"All I have is a bad concussion and a very sore body. But nothing to worry about."
Buffy hesitates for a second, then asks:
"Did Mr. Hart fill you in on what happened last night?"
Spike decides to use her stomach as a pillow and is looking up at her, kissing her hot skin and sending shivers up and down her spine.
"No. As a matter of fact, he said he had no idea. He told me Spike was in a deep state of panic because of your condition, and couldn't say a word. Would you fill me in? Unless you are too tired and would want to rest some more."
"No, I'm ok."
Spike slid his hand on her inner thigh, causing her to inhale sharply.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! I'm sure. I just.. I just moved my head too fast. That's all. Ok. So, you won't be happy. Everything went just fine. We were fighting, we were winning... you know, like we always do. But then, something happened and, I guess I got distracted for a second cause something hit me behind the head and I passed out. All I know is that I woke up in an hospital, and Spike told me the master and a couple of the demons got away saying they would succeed and soon, the world would be history. Guess we'll have to stay a little longer huh?"
Spike looks up at her, a happy smile plastered on his face. And that alone, is plenty enough to justify lying to Giles.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, how long do you think we're gonna be able to stay here before they start getting suspicious" Spike asks, stroking Buffy's hair tenderly.
It's the middle of the afternoon. They finally decided to leave the bed, only to move the blankets and pillows and settle on the couch. They're now watching TV, wrapped in each others arms, and waiting for roomservice.
"Mmmm.. don't know. Couple of days at least. It's Tuesday. I was hoping to stay until Friday night."
"What? And miss the best night to go out in New York? 'you out of your bloody mind Slayer?" Spike looks comically offended.
"Ok, ok, we'll stay Friday, and leave Saturday night. God, keep your pants on.. " Buffy rolls her eyes at him.
"I'm not wearing any pants right now in case you haven't noticed luv."
They start giggling and kissing, but they're interrupted by a loud knock on the door.
"Food!"
Buffy's up and all wrapped up in a bed sheet in a record time.
"I'll get it!" she says with enthusiasm, and she hurries to get the door.
"You gonna answer the door dressed like that?"
"Well yeah... it's an expensive hotel, they've seen everything. They probably have rockstars running around naked all the time. A bed sheet covered Slayer won't impress them much babe."
As she say that, Buffy opens the door. Only to find James Hart staring at her, mouth gaping and slowly turning red. They just stare at each other for what seems like an eternity.
"Buffy, make sure they didn't forget the champagne" Spike yells through the room. "These wankers can't think of anything."
Now Buffy is the one turning bright red. But she finally steadies herself long enough to say:
"Hi. Did you want to... come in?"
"No! Uh, I mean, no, thank you. I just come back from the hospital and they told me you left early this morning. So I was just stopping by to see how you're doing. "
If he wore glasses, she thinks he would probably do the Giles thing and clean his glasses right now. But instead, he keeps shifting his weight from one foot to the other like a kid who wants to be anywhere but there.
"As I can see, you're doing quite fine."
"Well.. yeah. You know, Slayer's healing powers. Gets you out of hospitals real quick. It comes handy some times."
The comfort level is not increasing at all. And it all gets worse when Spike reminds them of his presence.
"Luv! What are you doing? Get your cute Slayer ass back here with that food. Technically I'm not hungry but.."
"Spike! Would you shut up for a sec? I'm coming."
She turns back to the Watcher who now seems in a hurry to leave.
"I guess I'm going to leave now. It was an honor working with you miss Summers. Mr. Giles is lucky to have you as his Slayer."
"Thank you for the compliment, and thank you for your help Mr. Hart. I don't know what we would have done without you."
"My pleasure. Take care of yourself and, huh, my salutation to your.. friend. Spike I believe it is."
"I'll make sure to let him know."
The Watcher turns to leave, but Buffy stops him.
"Mr. Hart?"
"Yes dear?"
"... I don't know how to say this, but.. could you.. not, I mean, never..."
"Mention this," he motions towards the sheet covering her "to anybody, especially not Rupert?"
"Yeah.. That, exactly."
James smiles and nods.
"Not a problem Miss Summers, it is none of my business anyway. I don't know a thing." He winks at her. "Good bye."
Buffy closes the door behind her and lean against it. She sigh in relief.
"What the bloody hell is taking you so long pet? I was all alone in that big living room. And where's the food?"
She's about to tell him what just happen, when a knock on the door makes her jump.
"Ok, this time, you answer it." She says, anger in her voice as she stumps towards the living room area.
Spike just looks a her like she's losing it, then opens the door to let the roomservice guy in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This feels good."
Buffy and Spike are walking slowly through Central park, holding hands, just enjoying the night together.
"What luv?" he asks after taking a drag from his cigarette.
"This. You and me, here, not fighting. Just enjoying each other's presence." She adds with a shy smile "It's actually a lot easier than pretending to hate you."
Spike laughs and suddenly pulls her away from the well lit path crossing the park. After a fierce kiss, he start walking between the trees, in the dark pulling her along.
"Spike, what are you doing?" she scolds him.
He takes a few step away from her and turns sharply to look at her, his duster swinging around him, grinning evilly.
"Looking for trouble. What else pet?" he flips what's left of his cigarette away. "Wouldn't mind some action, and Central park just happens to be the best place in the world to find some quality action."
He walks back to where his Slayer stands with her arms crossed on her chest and pulls her in his embrace.
"The woman of my unlife, and a decent spot of good none evil violence... I'm the happiest Vampire in the world. And bonus, we'll get to save some poor innocent victim from the nasties."
She can only laugh at that and kiss him.
"We'll look so attractive to the big ugly nasties crawling in that park... The blond and innocent harmless couple, walking hand in hand. C'mon pet, these guys kill for a 20$, they'll just drool over my leather duster."
"Yep, just one problem lover boy. The people who usually kill people for a 20$ and hang out in this park are mostly people. And I know a big bad vampire who's as harmless as a baby when it comes to people. Sorry to remind you."
"You're no fun Slayer. sides, you think monsters live exclusively in Sunnyhell? Pfff! None sense. I say, let's take a short cut and find the creepy crawlers that hide in the dark."
Giving up, Buffy shakes her head and grabs his hand.
"Ok then, lets go. I must admit I'm itching for a good fight."
It doesn't even take five minutes for their preys to show up. Three nasty looking guys, in desperate need of a shower, a good shave and some advises on clothing.
"Taking a midnight stroll love birds? Tss, that is not very wise you know, there is all kind of dangerous people around here at night." the guy in the middle, with the big beer belly, says. The two others giggle like idiots.
Spike frowns and takes a step back after giving a side glance at Buffy. She does her best to look frightened.
"Look, we don't want any trouble, we were just minding our own business..."
"Shut up and hand the jacket blondie." The one on the left with the greasy hair says, doing is best to look menacing.
Buffy hears Spike mumble under his breath: "So bloody predictable" but she stops herself from giggling.
"Sorry man, I'm keeping the jacket."
"Oh are you?" and the three frighteningly ugly guys get uglier as they put on their game face.
Buffy grabs Spike's arm, looking completely panicked.
"Baby? What's wrong with their faces? I'm scared!"
"S'ok luv. Let's not panic."
At this moment, a devilish grin spreads slowly across Spike's features.
"What are you smiling at you idiot? You and your bitch are about to die. There is nothing funny about that."
Buffy start smiling too.
"Nice fangs you’ve got there mate. But..." He puts on his game face "I think mine are longer"
Buffy takes a step away from Spike and assumes a fighting stance.
"Oh, and how exactly did you call me, bloodbreath?.. Bitch?" She turns to Spike "And I thought New York Vampires were smarter than ours back in California! I'm so disappointed!" She pouts dramatically.
"Can we fight now?"
The skinniest vampire attacks Buffy, but his face meets with her boot. He gets back to his feet, only to receive a series of blows to his chest and a spinning kick that connects painfully with the side of his skull. Seeing her vamp is temporarily stunned and wanting the fight to last, Buffy turns around and attacks the third vamp. She aims a drop kick at his back, but he moves out of the way and she ends up on the ground. Quickly, she handsprings back up and lands in a crouch. She ducks a few of the vampire blows, then, when pissed off he stops for a second, she brakes his nose with the palm of her hand. Holding his bloody nose, the vamp with the long greasy ponytail backs up right into Beerbelly who was fighting Spike, and they both get dusted at the same time. The Slayer and her vampire lover laugh at their timing and lean in for a kiss. Meanwhile, Skinny takes the opportunity to charge at them. Without even braking the kiss, Spike extends his arm, and the not so bright vamp impales himself on the stake.
"Well.. that was fun" Spike murmurs into the kiss "don't tell me that wasn't fun..."
They start walking away, Buffy twirling her stake in her hand.
"I'm bored now, let's go do something fun."
"Like what pet?"
"We could go look for trouble in a bar..."
"That's my girl!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They picked the bar cause it felt familiar. A little like Willy's back in Sunnydale, minus the demon customers. Dusty, smoky, with lots of drunk guys and a bartender who knows everybody by their names. They sat at a table away from the crowd, looking for intimacy. A lot of years of catching up to do. It felt so strange for Buffy to be siting there, listening to Spike telling her about his life. She was always curious about it, but always pretended not to be interested. She felt like she could listen to him for hours. He was a very good story teller.
"God! Please tell me you went back and ripped that Cecily's throat after that! She was a real hell bitch! And there I was thinking Cordelia was bad..."
"Yeah, maybe it was her great great grand mother. Anyway, I let her live. Don't know why. The silly twit bloody well deserved to have her heart ripped out, but we left town right away and it didn't seem to matter that much anymore." He pours himself and Buffy another drink.
Buffy shudders
"Hearing that story, I can't help but feeling awful about the way I have been treating you. I'm not any better than.."
"No. Don't. You had reasons. I'm a vampire who's been trying to kill you and your chums in the past. She was just mean. I don't mean to take any credit away from you luv, but there is no comparison, ok?"
She nods sadly.
"C'mon pet, smile. You wanna put some music on the jukebox?"
They stand up and he gives her some money to put music on.
There was a time,
when I was so broken hearted
love wasn't much of a friend of mine
the tables have turned, yeah
cause me and them ways have parted
that kinda love, was the killing kind
all I want is someone I can't resist
I know all I need to know by the way I got kissed"Wanna dance pet?" He pulls her in his strong arms, and they start moving slowly, oblivious to the people looking at them.
I was crying when I met you
now I'm trying to forget you
your love is a sweet, misery
I was crying just to get you
now I'm dying cause I let you
do what you do, down on me"Spike? I wish... I wish this could last forever."
"You know it can't luv." He hides his face in her hair, inhaling her scent, holding back the tears.
"... I know."
Now there is not even breathing room
between pleasure and pain
Yeah you crying when we're making love
must be one and the same
It's down on me
Yeah, I got to tell you one thing
it's been on my mind
girl I gotta say, we're partners in crime"But I love you Spike. It hurts."
Spike swallows hard.
"I know baby. I know, it hurts. I love you."
you got that certain something
what you give to me, takes my breath away
Now the word out on the street
is the devil in your kiss
if our love goes up in flames
it's a fire I can't resistShe clings to him and hide her face in his chest, trying to focus on the feeling of being in his arms and forget about the real world waiting to tear them apart.
I was crying when I meet you
now I'm trying to forget you
your love is a sweet, misery
I was crying just to get you
now I'm dying cause I let you
do what you do, down on me"They could never understand Buffy. They would destroy everything." He gently stroke her hair.
cause what you got inside
ain't where your love should stay
yeah, our love, sweet love, ain't love
'til you give your heart awayThey keep dancing slowly, even though the music's pace has changed. Around 3am, the bartender comes to see them at their table to tell them he has to close the place.
"Look," he says, feeling bad for kicking the lovers out "one more drink and that's it" And he leaves them alone to start tidying the place up for closing.
At 4am, they reluctantly leave the place and walk back to the hotel in silence.
They make love all night, never mentioning again that it is all gonna end soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"No Giles, everything is fine, I promise."
"But what happened? Could you be a little more specific?"
"We fought, Spike killed the big bad master demon, all the other demon guys went *pouf*, end of the story. I'll be more specific when we get home."
"You don't sound overly happy about that victory. Is there something bothering you?"
"No, nothing's bothering me. I'm just tired."
Buffy is laying down on Spike, his arms holding her tightly around the waist as she tells her watcher that they are ready to go home.
"So are you gonna take tonight's flight Buffy? I'm sure you can't wait to come back home. You have an open ticket. You may use it whenever you'd like..."
"Giles?.."
"Yes Buffy?"
"Could we... could we stay one more night, please? I just... It's just that..." Buffy desperately fight the tears that are threatening to spill every time she thinks of leaving.
"Of course Buffy. You're in New York for the first time, I assume you might want to take the day to visit and maybe go out tonight to unwind. It is understandable."
"Yeah.. that's it. To visit" Buffy says, sounding a little sarcastic.
"Are you getting along with Spike?"
"Yeah. We're getting along just fine." She lets out a short, humorless, laugh at the irony of that. Spike squeezes her hand in his.
"So I'll see you tomorrow Giles. I'll call you when we get to the airport."
"Of course Buffy, I'll be there. I.."
"Bye Giles."
And she hangs up before he can add anything. She turns around and snuggles in Spike's arms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sun's almost up."
"I know."
They just made love, and he's still inside of her. They hold each other so tightly they could break ribs. But they both feel like they could never be close enough.
"I'm not going back with you Buffy."
They both remain silent for what seems like hours. The only noise in the bedroom is the stereo playing softly in the background.
"What are you gonna do? Where are you gonna stay? You don't know anybody here..." She sounds like a little girl. Panicked, scared, sad.
"It will be easier this way Buffy. Knowing how it feels to be loved by you, and not having it... I just couldn't.. I'll be fine, don't worry about me." His girl is now sobbing silently in his arms. They can hear the music in the background. Axl Rose is singing, and he just makes things worst.
give me a whisper
and give me a sigh
give me a kiss before you tell me goodbye
don't you take it so hard now
and please don't take it so bad
I'll still be thinking of you
and the times we had.. baby"Is he ever gonna shut up" Buffy chokes in between two sobs.
Spike looks at Buffy, surprised.
"Who?"
"Axl! He just makes me cry ten times more with his stupid song."
"You want me to turn it off?" Spike start raising but Buffy stops him.
"No! Don't. Stay inside of me. Please, I don't want to lose you just now. Please... "
"Shhh, s'okay baby. I'm here."
and don't you cry tonight
don't you cry tonight
don't you cry tonight
there's a heaven above you baby
and don't you cry tonightSpike starts moving again inside her. Slowly, gently, just to remind her that he's there. She moans almost imperceptibly and claw at his chest, her nails drawing blood. But he doesn't care. Doesn't even feel it.
and please remember
that I never lied
please remember
how I felt inside now honey
you gotta make it your own way
but you'll be alright now sugar
you'll feel better tomorrow
come the morning light now babyHe keeps her close to him as he's moving in and out of her with more intensity. Their mouth are locked together, tongues dancing with passion. She let her hands roam his body, trying to memorize ever curve, every muscle, every plane of his perfect body. They're both standing on the edge, ready to fall at any moment. Staring deep into his ice blue eyes, Buffy whispers something he would have never expected to hear in a million years.
"Make me yours."
He frowns, unsure if he must interpret this the way he would want to.
"Are you sure luv?"
She tilts her head, allowing better access to her neck. He kiss her soft, warm, golden skin, then let his demon come forward and carefully sink his fangs in her. His intention not being to hurt her, the chip doesn't go off. He lets her rich warm blood fill his mouth. Her life. She offers him a little bit of her life, a part of her. The intensity of it makes them come. She's shaking in his arms, her body hot and slick with sweat.
"I love you"
"I love you too Buffy."
Holding her close to him, he cuts his wrist with his own fang. She grabs his arm and start sucking on it greedily.
"I'm yours Buffy, always will be."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She wakes up with a start. She take a quick look at the blond sleeping next to her, and decides that it's now or never. She has to go now before she changes her mind and decides that Sunnydale can go to hell, literally, and that she stays here with him forever.
Careful not to wake him up, she gets out of bed and starts dressing and packing as quietly as she can. She puts a pair of jeans on, and one of Spike's red shirt. She throw everything else in her bags.
When she's done, she walks up to the sleeping blond vampire, and leaning down, she kisses him. Deeply, passionately... giving it all she has. Still asleep, he answers the kiss, mumbling something she doesn't understand.
"It's ok. Go back to sleep. I just needed to kiss you, is all. I love you."
Fighting back tears, she turns around and leaves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When he wakes up, Buffy's not there. All there is is a note left on her pillow.
Please take care of yourself
I love you, never forget
BuffyThe lovesick vampire curls into a ball and weeps.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When she gets to the Sunnydale airport, her eyes are swollen and red, her face streaked with tears, and she is silent. They will never know what happened in New York. They will never know what she has given up because of them.
THE END
but of course, I couldn't leave it like that... For those who like me are real suckers for happy ending, I wrote a sequel Remember in New York?. I know, it's pathetic: I can't even accept what I wrote myself!!