Lonely No More

Chapter 14

She slept until it was just about time to land, resting against him. Spike closed his eyes and imagined her resting like this against him for eternity. Would it really be that hard to make her immortal like him? His Uncle risked a lot for Psyche—mostly because Aphrodite could be a jealous, territorial loon, but it'd been done. His mother had done it for his father. It wasn't unheard of in the least.

But that wasn't what he was here for. He was here to make Buffy strong and successful again. He was here to help her get her business back to the success it had been and mating up those singles out there.

However, Buffy couldn't be expected to be alone for the rest of her life could she? Well . . . maybe she could. Maybe she'd find so much pleasure in the business of helping others that she didn't NEED anyone. Yeah, that's right. She didn't need anyone but the smiling faces and happy success stories of her customers. Then, maybe a few would name their kids after her or she'd be a Goddess Mother to some and she'd be surrounded by happiness and love. It was enough to fulfill her.

Right?

Yeah, like his uncle would ever go for that. How unfair would it be to have the
matchmaker never make a match for herself? That wouldn't be right and he knew Buffy
wouldn't accept that. She wanted love, needed love, desired it and craved it with all that was in
her. She just didn't know how to express it because she was so afraid of being hurt once again.
And the way she felt about her clients . . . she had such a capacity for love that it'd be cruel to
have her not find that someone special she deserved to have. The question was: Did they
deserve her? Did ‘no' go with ‘way'? Of course they didn't deserve her. She was everything a
bloke could want minus the extreme stubbornness. Well, sometimes her stubbornness was
really hot. Though he preferred it when it wasn't directed at him.

"Spike?" Buffy murmured, burying her face in his shoulder.

He smiled warmly, "Kitten?"

"Are we there yet?"

"Almost, baby."

"How long have I been—God what was that?!" she bolted up in her seat, a panicked
expression on her face. "We're going down aren't we? We're going down in fiery explosion. I
can't believe I'm going to die here. On a plane. Of all the things—"

Spike pressed a finger to her lips, shushing her. "It was the plane descending a few
notches, luv. That's all; we're in the process of landing. No death to be had here. Do you think
the people on this plane would be so calm if we were going down?"

She relaxed a bit, but was still pretty much ramrod straight in her seat. "They could
have accepted their fate. How do I know?"

"We're fine, sit back and relax. No worries, yeah?"

She snorted.

"Well, that sounded promising."

"No, I'm fine…I am. I'm just fine…My life flashed before my eyes, but that's normal
right? Right?" Her voice was slightly high pitched and she looked pale.

"Don't you trust me kitten?"

"You're not flying this puppy are you?"

He grinned, opting not to tell her just how well he could fly. Without the plane. Instead,
he opted to get her riled up and yelling at him. That way, she'd be distracted.

"So, pet. Why don't you tell me exactly when you became such a chicken shit?"

Her jaw dropped in shock at first. Then her eyes narrowed and her hands balled into
fists. Her cheeks reddened immediately and opened her mouth.

This is going to be good, he thought. Was it sick that he was greedily anticipating her
reaming him out?

"I will have you know that I am NOT a chicken shit. I am a very brave woman as a
matter of fact. Oh sure there was that time I wigged out when I was forced to climb Mt.
Washington, but for crying out loud, I was only five years old and I really think I'm just
petrified of heights. I'm up on something high and I look down and all I can see is my body laid
out, dead and lifeless—"

"Lifeless means dead doesn't it?"

She poked him with her finger. "Stop being such a smart ass. I'm not scared of much
aside from death. . . and heights. But plummeting from a great height leads to death so in a
sense they could definitely go hand in hand. You know I started my own business!"

He grinned, "I know."

"And it wasn't easy. It took a lot. Especially in what I'm doing and let me tell you
something about fear buddy," she poked him again. "Do you have any idea what it's like to
match people up? I get this little spiral of dread through me everytime someone walks in that
door. They're putting their love life in MY hands. I'm responsible for setting them up with a
mate for life. Do you have any idea how incredibly daunting that is? It's terrifying. And yet I
still did it. I let people put their love life in my hands every day and – Jesus Christ, why DO I
do what I do? It's not like I'm any good at it anymore. Why are you exactly trying to make me
keep doing this?" She sat back in her chair. "I think I'm developing an ulcer—shit what was
that?"

"We've landed," he told her. "And you're bloody fantastic at what you do. You've just
lost your confidence is all. Don't worry, you'll get it back."

"You sound pretty sure of yourself."

"I'm sure of you."

"You've got serious problems then."

He shook his head. "Are you sure of me at all?"

She narrowed her eyes. "In what respect?"

"Do you trust me?"

She shrugged half heartedly.

"I'll say you do since you're on vacation with me."

"Still trying to figure that one out myself. . .and who takes a vacation after their first
week of work?"

He ignored her comment and her question. "And since you do trust me, then you should in turn trust yourself. I won't steer you wrong, my lioness."

She snorted again.