Fanfiction


Title: The F.G.U.
Author: Pattyanne
snapkik@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: None of the BtVS characters belong to me.
Feedback: Oh, pleeeeze!
Summary: Just a little whimsy. I was feeling kind of silly when I wrote it. Don't want to reveal too much.

 

Part 1 * Part 2 * Part 3 * Part 4 * Part 5 * Part 6

 

Part one....

~~~~~
"Suddenly...suddenly it happens

And your dream comes true..."
~~~~~

"Excuse me, dear? I really must have a word with you. Do wake up now, please. I AM on a schedule, you know?"

Buffy's eyes flew open wide, and she sat up so abruptly that the woman standing next to her bed was startled into taking a step back. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded. "And why the hell are you in my room?"  

"I know," the woman replied with a shrug. "I'm terribly late, but I've just been swamped lately. " She sighed deeply. I'm quite exhausted."

Buffy watched as the intruder sank back into a chair that she'd never seen before in her life, let alone in her room.  Wondering where on earth it had come from, she studied the woman carefully, in case she had to provide a description for Giles.

Her "guest" was on the short and plump side. There was a pair of half-spectacles hanging on a chain around her
neck. Her floor length dress was white, with tiny specks of silver glitter in the weave. It had long sleeves, buttoned at the wrists and a lacy collar.

The woman's cheeks had a rosy glow that accented her bright blue eyes, and her white hair was pinned up into a neat bun.

She looked like someone's grandmother, and despite the violent awakening she'd just had, Buffy couldn't sense any 'evil aura' permeating the room.

"Relax, dear," the woman urged, smiling slightly. "I left my evil aura at home tonight."

Buffy's jaw sagged. "How did you...?"

"It's part of my job. Now...let's get down to business, shall we? I don't have a great deal of time."

Buffy didn't respond to the words. Her eyes were riveted on something in the old lady's lap.

It was a rod, about fifteen inches long. Made of glass, she could see tiny gold and silver stars glittering inside of it.

"Is...is that a...?" she stammered. "That's not a..."

"A magic wand? Yes. Sort of a tool of my trade," the woman said matter-of-factly. "Quite emblematic, I can assure you," she added. "I don't need it, but people seem to expect it of me and they're always so disappointed when I don't produce one."

"Is that a fact?" Buffy asked.

"Indeed," the old lady confirmed. "I always feel so perfectly horrible, as though I've trampled all over their childhood fantasies, the poor dears."

With an amused shrug, she reached down and picked up a large tapestry bag....something else that Buffy was certain had not been there a moment ago.

Curious, she watched in expectant silence as the woman rummaged around in the bag, then produced a clipboard with a piece of paper on it.

The woman squinted at the paper for a moment, muttered, "Oh, bother" under her breath, then put on her spectacles.

"Much better," she said briskly. "Now...you are Buffy Summers?"

Buffy nodded. "Uh-huh."

The woman stared at her for a moment, shaking her head. "Uh-huh?" she repeated. "Apparently, they're no longer teaching proper grammar in school."

The comment made Buffy feel like a tenth grader failing English. "Yes," she amended. "I'm Buffy Summers."

"Much better," the old lady beamed. Using a pen that was chained to the clipboard, she began writing something down, speaking under her breath. "Yes.. yes...oh, definitely..."

It looked to Buffy as though items were being checked off on a list.

"Yes...yes...certainly NOT...yes...well, we'll fudge a little on this one..."

Buffy couldn't stand it. "What are you doing?"

"Hmmm?" The woman looked up. "You mean this?" she asked, indicating the clipboard. "It's tiresome, I know, but I'm required to fill out all the paperwork or things will be tied up forever in bureaucratic red tape. It's not like the old days, when all you had to do was check in for your assignment. Now, there are forms and everything is computerized, and I know nothing about those wretched machines except that using them always throws me off schedule."

"You sound like a friend of mine," Buffy said, unable to suppress a smile. "Giles...."

"Doesn't think much of computers either, I know." Pulling a lace handkerchief from her sleeve, the old woman dabbed her forehead with it. "So...here I am, dashing about the world all willy-nilly, and trying to keep up. It's difficult for a  woman my age."

Releasing a heartfelt sigh, she reached back into her bag and brought out a plate, offering it to Buffy.

"Have a cookie, dear?" she urged. "I made them myself."

It was at that precise moment that Buffy felt the last shred of suspicion slide away. Whoever or what- ever she might be, this jolly looking old lady wasn't a demon. What kind of demon bakes cookies for it's intended victim?

Besides, they smelled fantastic.

With a huge smile, she selected a cookie, and her eyes widened in surprise. "They're warm!" she said delightedly. "Like they just came out of the..."

The woman's eyes twinkled in a manner that could only be described as "merrily".

Taking a bite of the cookie, Buffy's eyes rolled in ecstasy. "Peanut butter with chocolate chips! This is my..."

"Favorite cookie. I know."

Buffy's brow furrowed. "How," she asked around a mouthful of cookie, "did you know?"

"My dear, it's what I DO," the woman replied. "I know all of your favorites. Just because it took me a while to get here doesn't mean that I haven't been keeping my eye on you."

Buffy swallowed and reached for another cookie.

The moment she had her hand on one, the woman said, "All right, then...but we shall keep the rest of them for another time. Eating this late isn't at all good for you."

Staring at the woman in dismay, Buffy immediately picked up three of the cookies instead of one. "Okay," she said, holding them as though they might be snatched back. "Go ahead and put them away."

"Really, Buffy," the lady scolded, replacing the cookie in her bag.

"But, I'm hungry," Buffy said in defense of her gluttony. "I didn't eat much dinner tonight."

There was a pause, then the woman shook her head. "Oh, fine...go ahead. But do NOT forget to brush your teeth again before you go back to sleep. Cavities are quite opportunistic."

~~~~~
"Wonderfully, beautifully it happens
And your world is new..."
~~~~~

Rummaging around in her bag, she handed Buffy a small package containing a toothbrush and a box of dental floss.

"Oh, I already have a..."

"It's time for a new one, dear heart."

Buffy examined the package, surprised to see that there was no indication as to which company had produced it. It was a plain white box, with only one line of small print at the bottom; Toothbrush/Floss inspected by #12.

"Um...thank you," she said, still chewing. "Listen, you never told me how it is that you know all my favorite foods."

"Oh, I know a great deal more than that," the woman replied. She saw a skeptical look on Buffy's face. "Do you require proof?"

Buffy shrugged. "Well..."

There was another deeply put upon sigh. "Very well, then...here are a few of your favorite things, and no, I do not intend to sing them to you; The cookies you are currently stuffing yourself with, pizza, nearly anything made with chocolate, hamburgers, tacos, ice cream sundaes, string cheese, sour cream and onion flavored potato chips, some dreadful concoction known as 'Kool-Aid'..."

Buffy opened her mouth to speak.

"Cherry," the woman said, answering the question Buffy hadn't asked. "Now, if I may continue...where was I?"

"Kool-aid," Buffy ventured, finishing the last bit of cookie. "Cherry."

"Oh, yes," the old lady agreed. "Well, suffice it to say that your tastes in food are decidedly...eclectic, to be precise."

"What's that..."

"Do look it up, dear. It's what dictionaries were invented for."

Buffy was about to reply when a light switched on in the hallway outside her room. "That's my sister."

"Yes, I do believe it is," the woman replied.

Typically, Dawn walked in without knocking. With not so much as a raised eyebrow, she looked around the room. "I thought I heard you talking to someone."

Buffy was surprised, and it showed on her face.

"Well, yeah," she said, gesturing at her late night visitor, but it was quite clear that Dawn saw nothing out of the ordinary. "I was...sleep talking?"

Dawn nodded slowly. "Uh-huh."

"There, you see," the old woman scolded. "Your atrocious grammar is influencing your sister."

Buffy hesitated, watching Dawn's face for a reaction to the words.

"She cannot hear or see me, dear. Unless, of course, I wish her to."

"So, are you okay?" Dawn asked, yawning.

"Yeah...YES!" Buffy said quickly. "I'm fine. You go back to bed."

"Mm-kay...g'night."

"Good night," Buffy pronounced clearly. When the door closed behind Dawn, she flopped back onto the bed. "This is the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me."

"I highly doubt that, dear," the woman said dryly.

********************


Part two....

~~~~~
"Magically, you're holding the
golden prize..."
~~~~~

Buffy sat back up. "Do you have a name?"

The old woman's eyes widened comically, and her mouth formed a perfect O. "Goodness! How dreadfully rude of me not to introduce myself. I simply don't know where my mind gets to at times." She extended one hand. "Abigail Potter.
Mrs. Potter, if you please. So very happy to finally meet you, my dear."

Buffy returned the handclasp, pleasantly surprised at the warmth and softness of the small hand. "I'm pleased to meet you, too," she replied, calling up the manners her mother had worked so hard to drill into her head. "Can I...MAY I ask you another question?"

"Why certainly," Mrs. Potter smiled sweetly.

"What...I mean who...are you?"

Mrs. Potter gave her an appraising look. "Don't you know, dear? You're a fairly perceptive and intelligent young lady...when you want to be...and I've dropped more than one hint tonight."

Buffy shook her head, not prepared to say it herself. "Please just tell me."

The old lady sighed. "Oh, dear. I was afraid of this."

"Afraid of what?" Buffy frowned.

Mrs. Potter studied Buffy's face for a moment, silently.

"My dear child," she finally said. "You have a lamentable tendency to not see the obvious when it is as plain as the nose on your sweet face. Which, considering your occupation, is an odd character trait. You demand to have things spelled out to you in excruciating detail, when you are perfectly well aware of what you are seeing and hearing. " She sighed again. "And even when they ARE spelled out for you...you ignore, and you deny, and you argue yourself into a state of positive inertia."

Standing up suddenly, she picked up her wand and waved it in a circle.

Buffy gasped at the sparkling and multi-hued rainbow thay was now arching across her bedroom from corner to corner. "Oh!"

Mrs. Potter snapped her fingers, and a shower of fragrant wildflowers cascaded down from the rainbow and
landed on the bed. A flick of her hand produced a diamond tiara on the slayer's honey colored hair.

"Hold out your hand and close your eyes," she instructed.

Buffy obeyed without thinking twice, and felt a light touch on her palm. When she was told to open her eyes, she saw a tiny crystal horse and an all too familiarly shaped carriage...something she'd seen in countless childhood story books...perched in the middle of her hand.

"Now," Mrs. Potter said. "Are you ready to see, and to accept?"

Buffy smiled, her eyes shining like a brand new star. "You're a...a.."

"I am," the old lady nodded. "Now...say it."

The slayer took a deep breath. "A fairy godmother?"

With another wave of Mrs. Potter's hand, the room returned to it's original condition. Everything disappeared
except for the crystal horse and coach. "For you to keep," she said with a smile.

The thing was so beautiful that Buffy's eyes nearly filled with tears. "Thank you," she said softly, placing it on her night stand.

"You're very welcome, dear," Mrs. Potter said. "Now," she continued, "any further questions?"

"Well...since you asked." **Only about a million....**

Mrs. Potter gave her an expectant look.

"Well, um...why were you assigned to me? I mean, was it one of those 'reach into a hat and choose a piece of
paper with someone's name on it' kinda thingys?"

The woman sighed. "She never learns," she mumbled. "Why do I even bother?" Leaning back in the chair, she closed
her eyes and massaged her temples. "Care to ask that question again, dear?"

Buffy's cheeks turned red. "Which question? The 'why were you assigned to me' one...or the 'kinda thingys' ?"

Mrs. Potter shook her head. "Never mind," she said wearily. "I'll save you the trouble." Sitting upright, she opened her eyes and pinned her gaze on Buffy's. "Make no mistake, my dear. I was NOT assigned to you. I requested you."

"How come? I mean, why?"

"Oh, I've been monitoring your case for quite some time now, and please allow me to say how very interesting it's been. Interesting AND entertaining as well. Such cliffhangers you have. Very exciting, dear. Very exciting, indeed."

"Glad I could help," Buffy muttered, picking at a loose thread on her blanket.

"My goodness, yes. Even I wondered what was going to happen next...and I already KNEW what was going to
happen next."

Buffy stared at the woman. "Well, you might have mentioned it now and then," she said huffily. "Do you have any
idea how many times I nearly died? That I DID die once? I drowned in a pool of dirty water. The world has almost
ended so many times that you need a program to keep the apocalypses in order..."

Mrs. Potter listened calmly to Buffy's rant. "And yet, you're alive...and the world is still standing."

"Well...yeah," Buffy stammered. "That's true. But, still..."

"Still nothing, my dear." Mrs. Potter waved one hand impatiently. "If you don't know by now that you've been kept a close watch on...then you are quite beyond hope and I'm obviously wasting my time with you."

She gathered her bag up and began to rise to her feet.

Buffy felt awful, as though she'd been insufferably rude to a beloved grandmother...an impudent, mouthy child
who needed to be set back a peg."

"Or two," Mrs. Potter murmured, straightening her sleeves.

Again, Buffy's cheeks flamed bright red. "I'm sorry. I really....I shouldn't have..."

Mrs. Potter cut her off with a sharply raised hand, then smiled sweetly. "I accept your apology, dear." Resettling
herself in her chair, she said, "After all, you haven't had an ordinary row to hoe. Things have been difficult for you...as
they were for all the ones who came before you. And you must know that there's only so much outside influence
available to help you along your particular path. You're quite fortunate in that you already have a great deal of help right here alongside you."

Buffy nodded. That was true. No other slayer in the history of the profession had ever been able to rely on
so many others, friends and family both.

"I know I'm lucky," she admitted. "My friends, and Giles, and....."

"Yes," Mrs. Potter said. "And HIM, as well. What a surprise THAT was, let me tell you."

"Oh, come on," Buffy grinned. "You didn't have a little bit to do with it? Being my fairy godmother and all?"

~~~~~
"Mystically, your castles begin to rise..."
~~~~~

"Well," Mrs. Potter said modestly, "not at first. Oh, after I was able to zero in on a few unexpressed feelings I picked
up on, I may have given a slight nudge here and there, but the majority of the credit really goes to your beau."

Buffy looked surprised. "What about me?"

"You?" The old lady was nearly laughing out loud. "My dear child, I've never seen anyone so stubbornly determined
to deny herself the very thing she wanted and needed most of all."

"Which was...?"

"Unconditional love, my heart. Complete, and total, and unquestioning...from someone who knows you to the very
marrow of your bones. Someone who can deal with you on your own terms. Someone willing to put your needs
first...which as you and I both know, no one has done before."

Buffy folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the headboard of her bed. "Someone who happens
to be a vampire?"

Mrs. Potter shrugged. "Well, nobody's perfect. Besides, as soon as I began to realize which way the wind was  blowing, I took care of that little problem...as best I could."

"Excuse me?" Buffy asked. "You...took care of..."

"I admit, I couldn't undo what had been done. That's simply not within my realm of power. So I...arranged for him to be
in the right place, at the right time, and that nasty little band of cub scouts did the rest."

"Hoo, boy," Buffy muttered, shaking her head. "If he only knew."

"If he only knew...what?" Mrs. Potter demanded. "Let me tell you something, young lady. If he knew, he would thank
me. He's extremely happy to be with you, and it's a trade he would make again willingly. You may depend upon that!"

Buffy knew the woman spoke the truth. Spike had said much the same thing many times.

"He most certainly has!" said Mrs. Potter, as though Buffy had spoken her thoughts out loud. "So, all's well that ends well. It was a bit of work for everyone involved, but that's always the way it is...because despite what they write in those stories for children, lasting love and happiness is never achieved by a mere snap of ones fingers."

She actually snapped her fingers for emphasis, and a Shetland pony with a large red bow around his neck
appeared at the foot of the bed.

"Oh, dear," Mrs. Potter exclaimed. "I do beg your pardon." An additional finger snap made the pony disappear. "That
wish was left over from your sixth birthday," she said. "I really must remember to update my files."

Buffy laughed. "So, it's YOUR fault I never got that pony."

"Yes. I'm afraid that, like most wishes, it was wonderful in theory but hardly practical in application." Sitting back in
her chair, Mrs. Potter gave Buffy an appraising look. "However...your latest heart felt wish is every bit as wonderful in
both theory and reality. In fact, it's so delightful that I had to come and deal with it personally."

Buffy's brow furrowed. Her latest heart felt wish? What could that be?

**What...stay alive a little longer? Hit all six numbers on the lottery? Not have to be the slayer anymore?**

No, it wasn't that. She'd come to terms with that long ago, and she hadn't wished that she was someone else
in ages.

But, no matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn't remember consciously making any wishes lately, heart felt
or otherwise.

"That's true, you haven't," Mrs. Potter said. "You've been very good about that. But I've been tiptoeing around in your SUB-conscious, and I found what I was looking for in a place so deeply buried inside of you that you have absolutely no awareness of it's existence."

~~~~~
"Suddenly, dizzily you're spinning
with the thrill of life..."
~~~~~

There was a long pause.

"Are you gonna tell me what it is?" Buffy finally asked. "Or are we gonna play twenty questions?"

Mrs. Potter winced. "No, I am not GOING to tell you," she said. "Although it would serve you right if I told you it was a wish for better grammatical skills." She wagged a scolding finger. "Fortunately for you, the FGU has an ethics code, and we cannot..."

"The who?"

"The Fairy Godparent's Union," Mrs. Potter said. "We have a mandate that we all strictly adhere to, and the first item on that mandate is 'No tampering with wishes'."

She frowned briefly. "Or is it 'No personal business on company time' ? No, no...perhaps it's..."

"You were saying?" Buffy interjected, trying to ward off what sounded like a laundry list of rules and regulations.

"Oh, yes...quite. As I was saying...we cannot tamper with a wish, one expressed or kept secret...just to please ourselves. I mean, if we allowed that sort of behavior, then we'd never get anything done. Do you see my meaning?"

Buffy nodded. "Makes sense."

"Mind you, I can choose not to grant a wish," Mrs. Potter added. "But I cannot alter it."

"Okay,okay." Buffy was becoming impatient. "But what about MY wish? This one I have that I don't know about?"

"Oh, you know about it, dear. You're just hiding it so well that you cannot find it."

"Can you give me a hint?"

Her fairy godmother gave her a tender smile. "A hint? Well, I suppose I can. And I shall....soon."

Buffy's face formed the pout that usually got her anything she wanted from the man who loved her, but the expression was cutting zero ice with the lady seated before her. "When?"

"You'll know it when you see it," Mrs. Potter assured her, then sighed and rose to her feet, bag in hand. "I need to be running along now, dear."

"Oh, no!" Buffy protested. She glanced at her clock, surprised to see that it was still showing 1:00 A.M. "Hey!"

"I've been holding time," Mrs. Potter explained. "But it always takes so much out of me."

Buffy got up on her knees and reached for the old lady's hand. "Can't you stay just a little longer? There's so much I want to ask you."

Mrs. Potter shook her head kindly. "There will be time for all that later, dear heart," she said, squeezing Buffy's hand.
"But, unless I'm mistaken...and I never am...someone will be here to see you very soon, and I certainly wouldn't want
to interfere in the course of true love." She gave Buffy a wink and a smile that almost made her look girlish. "Not tonight, at any rate," she added pertly.

 

Part three....

~~~~~
"Suddenly, thirstily you're drinking
in your fill of life..."
~~~~~

Mrs. Potter stopped Buffy's protest by pulling her slightly forward.

"Goodbye, dear," she said, placing a grandmotherly kiss on the slayer's forehead. "And try not to worry too  much.Things always have a way of working out, don't they?"

**Not always...**

"Always," Mrs. Potter said firmly, "You are going to have a long and happy life...and I shall be close beside you through it all. You may depend upon that."

Buffy nearly burst into tears at this gentle declaration. A long and happy life? Could it possibly be true...for her?

She had long ago resigned herself to the fact that it just wasn't in the cards she'd been dealt. Slayers didn't die of old age, or from wasting diseases. They died in pain...and in blood...and in battle. It was a fact. Not a pleasant one, but it was still a fact. A slayer died young, and a new one was called at the moment of her death.

There was even a fancy, five dollar word for the concept; fungible. Being of such a nature that one part or quantity may be replaced by another equal part or quantity.

Replacable. Interchangeable. That's what she was. What all of them were.

But as much as she knew this to be an inescapeable fact, she looked up into Mrs. Potter's kindly eyes right now...and she believed.

Buffy squeezed the old lady's hand a little tighter. "But...I WILL see you again...won't I?"

"Oh, much sooner than you might expect," Mrs. Potter said cryptically. "And if you need me before that day comes, just hold the crystal in your hand and wish for it." She indicated the tiny horse and carriage. "Go ahead and try it out."

Buffy released her hand and reached for the crystal. Holding it carefully in her cupped hand, she thought for a moment. She closed her eyes, for no other reason than it was always the way she'd seen it done in movies, and made a silent wish.

There was an electronic chirp, and she opened her eyes and saw that Mrs. Potter was holding a pager, peering at the message it carried.

"Oh, for heaven's sake," she grumbled. Dropping the pager into her bag, she searched around inside it and brought out an apple. Deep crimson and shiny, it looked every bit as tempting as the one Snow White had accepted from another strange old woman. "THIS is what you wished for?"

Buffy shrugged. "Not exactly. I wished for chocolate cake," she admitted, returning the crystal to her night stand.

"Really?" Mrs. Potter said. "Well, as a great many people currently wandering through this mortal coil might say...fat chance."

"It was worth a try," Buffy replied, smiling. "But I thought you said that you can't alter wishes."

"I altered nothing. Had you been paying attention earlier, you would recall me telling you that I can choose not to grant a particular wish, which I did. The apple was MY idea." She placed the fruit on the night stand alongside the crystal horse and it's pumpkin shaped coach. "I refuse to aid and abet your poor eating habits," she said sternly. "Cake in the middle of the night? Why, the very IDEA of such a thing is ludicrous. How can you even suggest it?"

"I was hungry?" Buffy ventured.

"Oh, I see." Mrs. Potter leveled a deadly serious gaze on the slayer. "A word of advice, dear; in the future, kindly do NOT summon me because you're hungry! You might not like the result."

Suitably chastened, Buffy mumbled an agreement.

The fairy godmother's cheery smile beamed forth once again, it's sweetness enveloping Buffy in a down quilt of warmth and love. "Go to sleep."

Like a marionette with it's strings suddenly severed, Buffy flopped back down on her bed in a deep and dreamless sleep.

Mrs. Potter tilted her head to one side when she heard the front door of the house open and close quietly.

"Right on time, dear boy," she murmured.

With one final look at her favorite godchild, she was gone.

~~~~~
"But secretly, you just can't believe
it's true..."
~~~~~

Spike closed the bedroom door behind him, grinning at the view he was presented with.

Buffy was stretched out in the middle of her bed, arms and legs splayed like a capital X.

It was a sight that never failed to tickle him. He'd never in his life slept with such a bed hog. She spread herself out all over the mattress as though she was claiming it in the name of Spain.

He stripped his clothes off and climbed under the blankets. Propping himself on one arm, he looked down at her.

**Beautiful...she's so beautiful...and she's mine...my girl...**

She looked so happy, so utterly peaceful, that he hated to wake her up.

But he had to. On his way here, a sudden and strong need to make love to her had come over him. The closer he'd gotten to the house, the more urgent that need had become, until it was a raging inferno inside of him.

After a brief debate with himself as to the best way to wake her, he leaned down and began kissing and nuzzling her throat.

Buffy's eyes fluttered open, and she smiled when she saw him.

"Mmmm," she said sleepily. "Where've you been all my life?"

"Waiting for you, kitten," he whispered.

She slipped one hand behind his neck, urging him down to kiss her. He accepted the invitation, loving the way she lifted herself to meet him, as though she was too eager to wait.

"I was having the funniest dream," she said when he pulled back. "It was...."

Her words trailed off when she glanced at her night stand.

Spike followed her gaze. "Pretty," he said, gesturing at the crystal horse and coach. "Is it new?"

She said nothing, still staring at the crystal and the apple beside it.

"Buffy? Sweetheart?." He gave her a gentle shake.

"Hmmm?" She turned to look at him. "What? Oh! Sorry," she laughed a little. "It was...a gift from my godmother. It came today." Technically, this was all true.

The feel of Buffy's warm body was causing Spike to rapidly lose interest in any other subject.

"It's nice," he said briefly, pulling and tugging at her until she was lying halfway beneath him. Catching her face in one hand, he held her still and began kissing her again, his mouth moving from her lips and down her throat, lingering at the soft curve of her breast.

"God, you smell good," he said, returning to her lips. "And you taste good, too." He licked his lips. "Is that...peanut butter?"

"Cookies," Buffy said succinctly.

Spike chuckled softly. "Lemme taste." Bringing his mouth to hers, he paused to enjoy the sensation of her warm, scented breath, then captured her mouth in a deep, drugging kiss.

She abandoned herself, as all her nerve endings began dancing just below the surface of her skin. He always did this to her, elicited this reaction. His lightest touch in just the right place, was enough to make her melt and ache with need.

His fingers moved over her, mapping familiar territory, lingering to play in her most sensitive hills and valleys.

Buffy's own hands were by no means idle. They trailed over him in a caress that alternated between light, delicate touching with the tips of her fingers, and firm squeezing as her nails dug in, leaving their mark on his skin.

Desperate for air, she broke the kiss. "I love you, baby," she whispered, staring up into deep blue eyes made glassy with passion. "I love you so much."

Spike needed to hear those words frequently, more so than most other men did. He'd waited so long for her to say them, and he thrived on the sound.  

He never tired of hearing them, and Buffy never stinted on giving them to him.

Pulling back suddenly, he rolled onto his back, bringing her along with him. "Love you, too, kitten."

Buffy moved down, rising to her knees. "What do you want?" she asked, attempting to sound coy.

He stared up at her, heat lightning in his eyes.

"Take it off," he said, gesturing at her nightgown.

Slowly...teasingly...she gathered the material in her hands, pulling it up and over her head. "Now what?"

He swallowed hard, his eyes roaming her naked body with lustful intent.

"Make love to me."

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