Title: Buffy and the Beast
Pairing: Spike/Buffy, eventually
Rating: PG at the moment; will eventually be NC-17
Disclaimer: The usual–I don’t own them, Joss does, blah-de-blah blah blah…
Author’s note: In this ‘verse, Spike was never paralyzed by Buffy, although they did fight in the church. Drusilla was cured, Angelus did emerge, but Acathla was not found… however, Giles was kidnapped, for reasons yet to be revealed.
Buffy and the Beast, Chapter 3
Chapter 1 can be found here
Chapter 2 can be found here
Buffy and the Beast
Chapter 3
They stopped at a payphone and Buffy called Willow. “Get the Scoobies to my house as soon as possible. I think I have a way we can save Giles from Angelus.”
“Buffy, how? We can’t fight Angelus.” Willow’s voice came hollowly through the phone, but Buffy could still hear her fear.
“You’ll never believe it if I told you. See you in about fifteen minutes.”
They were silent as they walked to the house on Revello, each lost in their own thoughts about the devil’s bargain. Buffy wondered exactly what Spike thought they would do together for three months. There was no way she could ever be comfortable around him, knowing what he was. No way he could ever be anything other than the monster he was. She had promised not to stake him, had given her word on it, but only while he held her. Afterward, all bets were off.
Spike looked down thoughtfully at the blond beside him, and wondered himself what they would do. She’d effectively tied his hands, what with no biting, no beating, and no abuse. And he was definitely not about to tell her that rape went against his own moral code. If he couldn’t get a bint to give it up honestly, he would have to admit he was losing his touch.
They arrived at her house at the same time her mother pulled her SUV into the drive. She was out of the car running toward them at breakneck speed before the vehicle was fully stopped. “Buffy! Buffy, I have been so scared! The police were here, and the things they were saying…. Buffy, who is this?”
“Uh, Mom, this is Spike. We’re, uh….”
“In a band.”
“In a band.” Joyce crossed her arms over her chest, and looked skeptically at the two of them. “And what do you do in that band, Buffy?”
“I play…triangle.”
“Drums. She plays drums. You should see her bang the skins.” Spike didn’t sound convincing at all to Buffy’s ears, but Joyce seemed to accept the explanation.
“And what do you do?”
He looked confused for a moment, then said, “Well, I sing. We….”
They were interrupted by a vampire leaping from the shadows for Joyce. Spike extended his arms and grabbed the minion by the back of the neck and Buffy spun, stabbing it in the heart and stopping millimeters away from Spike’s chest. He backed up, his hand coming up to cover his chest, then noticed the look of the warrior in her eye. She could have slayed, but she chose to let unlive. He almost smiled, then remembered he was the Big Bad. Nothing could hide the surprised gratitude in his eyes, however. He just didn’t realize she saw it.
Joyce broke the spell that had fallen over them. “Who was that man? What happened to him? Did he just—turn to dust? What’s going on, Buffy?”
They ignored her. “That was one of his boys.” Buffy chewed thoughtfully on her already swollen lip.
“He won’t go tell him anything, now, though.” Spike touched her arm, inexplicably craving contact with this slip of a girl.
“We need to get inside, get your mum inside.” he jerked his head toward the front door.
“You really don’t think that I would ever, ever invite you into my house, do you?” her brow arched and she looked at him with complete disbelief. Did he think she was stupid?
“Well, unless you don’t value your life, at least get your mum in the house, all right? We can talk out here.” He reached out, and took Joyce’s elbow and led her up the stairs, giving her a gentle nudge toward the front door. “G’on, Mrs. Summers, you need to go into the house now.”
“Buffy, I—“
“Mom, much as I hate, really hate to say it, Spike is right, Mom. We need to go in the house.” She followed her mom past Spike, then turned, just over the lintel. “Please, don’t make me make you regret this. Come in, Spike.”
There was a pulling sensation rippling through him and he sensed the magical pulse cease. He crossed over the doorstep and had to brush by her to enter. “Don’t make me have to stake you,” she said in a quiet, deadly voice that only his ears could catch.
“Won’t give you a reason, Slayer,” he drawled. “Truce, remember?”
“I remember.” She followed her mom into the living room, smiling. “Are you okay, Mom?” she asked brightly.
“Buffy, I think that I need an explanation. What’s going on here?”
She knew that Spike was standing behind her; could feel his body reflecting her as she moved further into the living room. “Mom, that was a vampire.”
Her mom looked up at her, worry on her face. “Buffy, I thought that we were done with all that?”
Spike looked over her shoulder and down at her face. “You mean, she doesn’t know?”
“Doesn’t believe. Quit hovering. Mom, it really was. I am really the Vampire Slayer. Tell her, Spike.”
“S’true, Mrs. Summers. She is the Slayer.”
“And Angel? That boy that you told me not to let in the house anymore? Is he a vampire?” Joyce looked from one blond to the other, confusion twisting her features into a mask.
“Yes, and he’s evil now. That’s why Spike’s here. To help me with Angelus.”
“Angelus? I thought his name was Angel.”
“Trust me, Mrs. Summers, its Angelus. Angel is a shadow of Angelus.” Spike flipped his duster as he passed Buffy and sat down in the armchair.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door and Buffy led Willow, Oz, and Xander into the room.
Spike scoffed. “This is our crack team? This is what we’ve been waiting on?”
Buffy whirled. “I would suggest you shut up.”
Joyce stood. “Buffy!”
She glanced at her mom. “Please, Mom. Sit down, please. Angelus has Giles.”
Her mother sat down, her hand to her mouth. “Mr. Giles, the librarian? What does he have to do with the vampire business, Buffy?”
“He’s my Watcher, Mom. He helps me with the slaying. But he’s in serious danger now and Spike has offered his help.”
Her statement seemed to galvanize Xander. “Yeah, what is the Evil Dead doing here, anyway?”
“He wants to help us, Xan. I need someone on the inside, and he’s it.”
Joyce’s voice cut through the din. “Evil dead? Spike is a vampire?”
Buffy rolled her eyes. She didn’t want her mom to find out like this. “Yes, Spike is a vampire.” She turned back to her friends, to hear Joyce interrupt her again.
“He’s a vampire, and you invited him into our house?”
Buffy turned to look impatiently at her mom. “He’s a vampire. I thought very carefully before I let him in the house. He can help us save Giles. And we made a deal, one that I know he won’t go back on.”
“How do you know, Buffy? How do you know he won’t go back on it?” Willow asked.
Buffy looked down into those depthless blue eyes, and faced her friends. “He gave his word.”
Xander started to make another pithy comment, and Oz stopped him with his hand to Xander’s chest. “Buffy’s right. Let it be, man. If we’re gonna get Giles, we’re gonna need all the help we can get.”
Buffy outlined her plan, with Spike actually making some good suggestions. He drew them a paper layout of the ground floor of the mansion and pointed out key places to ambush the vampire minions. When they were done, Buffy sat back on her heels, unconsciously brushing against Spike as she did so.
“Okay, so that’s how it’ll go down tomorrow. Around noon. Spike, remember the color signals?”
He sighed, and rolled his eyes. “Red if there’s danger and it’s called off; blue for the go ahead.”
“Good.” She stood, feeling the kinks for the first time that night, and she said her final piece. “Meet me here tomorrow at eleven. Xander, you get holy water, as much as you can haul. Willow, have a couple of snazzy spells ready. Oz, you’ll do transportation?”
“What about me?” Buffy turned to see her mother, waiting patiently.
“Mom, I need you here and safe. Plus, we don’t know what shape Giles is in. I need you to set up a bed, bandages, anything we might need, including food. We don’t know what will happen after tomorrow.”
Joyce nodded and turned to head upstairs. Buffy escorted her friends to the door, bidding them goodnight, then turned to see Spike, still sitting in the armchair.
“Goodnight means leave, Spike. I’m going to bed.”
She started up the stairs, then thought better of it. “Come on, its closer if you go out the back.”
She led him out the back door, and stood against the lintel with her arms crossed. “You know, there’s one other thing, something I didn’t think of earlier.”
“And what would that be, Buffy?”
“When I’m with you, you cannot drink from humans. Not even the bagged stuff.”
He didn’t growl, he roared. “Now you’ve gone too far. Don’t do this, don’t do that, and by the way, you need to starve while I’m with you. Bloody hell, woman, what makes you think you’re so special?”
“Why, you did, Spike. Otherwise, you would have never asked for that in trade, right?”
He turned, his duster swirling around him, and stomped off through the back yard. Buffy watched him until he was a small figure in the distance, a small smile grazing her mouth.
Originally posted at http://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/120032.html
