With a Little Help

Help! The Spuffy awards have started their voting so I could really use your help. I will put the link below. We you get there, you might want to read the rules carefully. I had to.
I know the ballots are a little hard to read so let me help in which categories the stories are in.

Nominations
Best General Saga – Who is Who/Relentless Revenge
Best General Fluff – With A Little Luck
General “We missed the Bed Again.” – Memory Redux . Relentless Revenge is also nominated but I love the scene in Memory Redux
Best General Humor – With A Little Luck

Thanks for your support: http://www.flesh-for-fantasy.com/SpuffyAwards/index2.html

Chapter 18: So Cool

Spike settled Buffy into her bed and started to dry himself off with the towel Dawn had thankfully handed him. Buffy didn’t have the heart to tell him that she too was wet now and thus ruin his manly man effort. Since others started coming out of the bathroom, which as he dried his hair Spike was now referring to as the demon birthing room, Buffy decided her wet predicament could wait until later. But she had a few words that couldn’t wait. “Spike,” she reach out and grabbed his had to get his full attention. He looked down at her, and she kept her voice low and private “Spike, thank you.”

He sat down in the chair next to her and tilted his head to the side. “For what, luv?”

“For not killing Xander.”

“T’is nothing.” Spike started rubbing his towel down his jeans, vainly trying to soak up some water and also trying to cover up how much her thank you meant to him. He valued her acknowledgement of his restraint.

Buffy pulled on his hand again. “But you wanted to kill him, didn’t you?”

She smiled when he smirked at her. “Yes, slayer, I did. So much so that I could taste the blood lust.” His eyes briefly flashed yellow for a little overly dramatic emphasis.

Knowing that he was kidding about the tasting but appreciating his vampire joke about tasting Xander, Buffy rolled her eyes and stayed on course. “But you didn’t. Xander is still here.”

‘Oh, how this woman could turn me all nastily noble.’ Spike moved her hand that he was still holding so that he could kiss her palm. “No, pet, I didn’t. The boy’s still walking and yapping.”

She pulled him even closer so that their faces were only a few inches apart. “Secret time, blood breath. I wanted to beat on him a little myself.”

“Not surprising, luv. He did almost kill you. I still have your blood on me to prove it.”

“No, I wanted to because he nearly killed you.” She kissed him quick while he was still in shock and turned her attention back to her friends. But she did smile; it was always satisfying on few occasions to shock Spike into silence.

Xander came out of the bathroom both dripping and apologizing. A few apologies were directed to Spike, which was astonishing all on its own, but most of the apologies were directed to Buffy. The usual groveling, “I am sooo sorry…I didn’t mean to…You know that I would never…blah, blah, blah.” But the blah, blah, blah was very much needed and had to be said. As it turned out, all the Scoobies seemed subdued and embarrassed by Xander’s actions.

Not surprisingly, everyone but Spike was subdued. He was still raring to rant. “I don’t mind that you tried to kill me, whelp, but see this fucking hole,” he pulled the fabric away from his body so all could see the damage to his t-shirt, “that’s where the arrow hit me. Oh, I’m sorry. Did I mention that the bleeding hole was made when the arrow ripped completely through Buffy before hitting me?”

Buffyoiceoice may have been somewhat weak from her exertions, but her words were clear. “He may not mind, but I DO. It wasn’t entirely the demon’s fault that you shot me, but whether you like it or not, Xander, I care for him. Really care, so if you hurt him, you hurt me.” After Buffy was done, she couldn’t believe what she had said. She meant every word, but she may as well have yelled to the world, “I love Spike!” True, she was coming out of her Buffy made closet, but she thought she should tell Spike how deeply she felt about him before she told the world. After all, she wasn’t sure how he would react. It could turn out to be some major rejection action. Seriously *not* the reaction she was looking for. And to make matters worse, she remembered that when their relationship became physical, she had made him promise to not fall in love. Keep things light and fun. Maybe he would consider breaking that promise. She knew she would. Actually she already had.

The fiancé of the villain of the day spoke up. “Maybe Spike deserved to get killed. He *is* a vampire.” Anya shrugged, but then took a step back from the slayer’s lethal look, which was now coming her way.

Spike was stunned by Buffy’s words and that she cared enough to tell the Scoobies so that much that he wasn’t offended by Anya’s comment. In fact, he feared that he would melt into gooey mush on the floor as his own emotions for Buffy heated his body. But he was the Big Bad, and he had an unwanted audience for mush, so he pulled out the trusty bravado. “You know, whelp, the only reason I am not beating you all the way into the emergency room is that you puked up that tasty little morsel. How about a repeat performance, Mr. Magic? I choke you and you puke up a rabbit. ”

The bickering stopped when Giles came out of the bathroom. “Astounding! I believe we are looking at our first Hungkin demon.”

Spike whistled. “Not exactly a Kodak moment, Rupes.”

Giles cleared his throat. “Yes, quite. As we all saw in the bathroom…”

“Not *all* of us. You were blocking my view.” Dawn interjected with a humf at the end. “I missed all the good, bloody, demon up chucking stuff.”

Spike smiled at her with appreciation shining in his eyes. ‘Blood and guts. The chit really could grow on a vamp.’

Anya took a step closer to Giles. “Yes, I didn’t get to see either, and if anyone saw anything, I should have since I’m his fiancé. See my ring. Have you seen my ring?”

Feeling sorry for him, Willow tried to help Giles out. “Anya, that would mean you wanted to see your husband-to-be nearly get killed in a bathtub.”

“Well…yeah, I guess so, but Xander was just so uber-male and yummy to watch. And as much as I don’t want to ruin the testosterone moment, Spike did have a right to vengeance as Dawn pointed out. But not kill Xander, of course.”

All Willow could do was roll her eyes.

Giles tried to begin again. “As I was saying, *almost* all of us witnessed Spike simultaneously choke and drown Xander.”

“I think Spike’s ugly human face scared the demon out of me.” Xander volunteered.

“…When Spike let him up, that was when the demon forcibly expelled itself from its host.”

Xander interrupted again. “Great, I was a dinner host for a demon. Will that be a table of two?”

“Or a table for one to eat one?” Spike made loud, slurping noises. “Maybe the whelp tasted too bad for the demon to stay inside.”

“And I didn’t even like the movie Alien, the original or my version.” Xander added as he darted for the bathroom thanks to Spike.

Giles’ voice conveyed his ire. “As I Was Saying, my hypothesis…”

“Oooh, Giles, extra ps fos for the word of the day. Hypothesis.” Buffy was next up to bat on the Scoobie Interuptus Baseball Team.

Now Giles resorted to uhm’s and glares before beginning again. “My working hypothesis is that the demon left its host because…”

“Oh, oh.” Giles’ shoulders slumped in defeat from this latest interruption by Willow. “I know. The demon left due to lack of oxygen. The host must provide oxygen for the demon.”

Giles put his glasses back on after some habitual polishing. “Right, that is *my* theory had I been able to say it in its entirety.”

And yet again, Giles was unable to say anymore. A staff member of the hospital interrupted this time with Buffy’s dinner tray. The motherly type woman gave a pointed looked at everyone in the room, and if that didn’t work, Spike glared at everyone except Buffy. He reserved a wink for the Bit. Giles took the hint to leave, savoring the thought of leaving the day’s frustration and interruption behind. “I believe I will take this Hungkin demon with me for more study.”

Dawn looked nauseated as Buffy spoke up. “Yes, Giles, feel free to *not* leave that thingie here. I like my dead demons *not* staring back at me.”

“Speaking of the demon leaving, the hard part in the near future will be how to get all the demons out without choking or drowning their hosts. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the homework for the night. We will reconvene back here tomorrow and decide how to proceed with the elimination of these creatures.”

Ignoring Giles’ long speech by Buffy’s standards, Buffy peeked under the metal bowl covering her dinner. Spike smiled as her cute little nose wrinkled up. “Come on, Nibblet. Time for one of our search and sieze food missions.”

Dawn hopped to attention. “Gotcha, but do you think I could seize a pepperoni pizza this time?”

“We’ll keep an eye out for an unsuspecting delivery man, Bit. Wouldn’t want to deprive you of pizza.”

Buffy wasn’t exactly sure what Spike planned to do with the delivery person, but she did suspect that Spike wasn’t a proper role model for a teenage girl. When the rest started to say their good byes, Buffy felt more than happy to see Xander leave. Not because he had made her a human shis-ka-bob but because she thought he had exceeded the recommended apology limit for the day. Willow and Tara gave her hugs and promised to bring her a goodie basket the next day. Giles was Giles, which meant he found it hard to express his emotions, but he didn’t need to, Buffy could see how he felt and how serious he had taken her injury.

Before anyone could actually make it out of the door, Willow turned back. “Buffy, can we have that Q and A about the chip non-workage issue now?”

“Uh…See…uh, it hasn’t worked for a while and I meant…”

Having heard, Xander stepped back in the room so he could look at everyone. What he said surprised everyone. “Well…uh…While having that demon in me, stalking Spike, and now being back in my right mind, I have actually changed my opinion of Dead Boy. I may choke on this, but what I saw was Spike helping us with the demons and not taking money, no evil hidden agenda. And I saw that he never was a danger to you, Buffy, where he easily could have been. The only scary part was seeing Spike doing the dirty with you.”

Buffy shot up right in her bed. “Xander, you are so dead…”

As Willow held an extended “eewww,” Tara held out her hand for Xander to stop. “More info than needed. Thanks.”

Anya pulled on the sleeve of Xander’s shirt. “Was it good sex? I bet Spike’s a good lover, lasts long, gives long orgasms, and have a long...”

Giles just left with his little bundle, bound for any sanity outside of Buffy’s hospital room.

*****


Buffy smiled as her sister and her vampire returned to the room. Just saying good-bye, Willow and Tara still happened to be in the room and laughed at Dawn, wearing a huge grin and indeed carrying a pizza box. The pizza turned out to be pepperoni and mushroom. The teenager wasn’t so thrilled with the mushrooms but declared it was still good enough to scarf down. Then Dawn kept Buffy laughing as she told how Spike had found a delivery person in the maternity wing and convinced, that is Spike’s type of convincing, the boy that the pizza was actually meant for them. Dawn’s description included an imitation of Spike’s version of an expectant father. No matter his acting, the money Spike offered was the high point of the story. ‘Well, at least they paid for it,’ Buffy thought.

As Dawn began to eat, Buffy turned her attention to Spike. She sighed when he gave her a long, sweet kiss on the lips, scant passion, just emotion. She glanced over at the remaining day’s sunlight coming through the hospital windows facing west. It hadn’t been until the last thirty minutes that the sun began sending its deadly rays directly into her room. What worried her even more was the sun would continue moving through more dangerous angles, sending more direct rays into the room. Even though she did enjoy looking at his pecs in his clinging t-shirt, but his clothes were still damp. “Spike, don’t you want to leave by the tunnels and go get some dry clothes? You could come back after night fall.”

Spike knew what Buffy was really trying to say in her adorable, supposedly hidden way. “Clothes dry enough, pet. As to me taking a stroll to the crypt…I almost lost you last night. So sorry, luv, I’m not leaving you just because some nasty rays of sunlight that has the nerve to pay a visit to your room. Besides, easy to avoid the little buggers when I want to. When it’s worth it.”

Buffy felt her insides warm and goose bumps rise up on her arm. ‘Gotta love a vampire that would rather go roasty-toasty than leave a girl’s side. Of course that’s if the vampire wasn’t sucking the side of the girl’s neck at the time.’ Buffy laughed to herself. But damn her promise, she did love the vampire. The words were on the tip of her tongue so many times during the day so far. However, no time had been “the right time.” Translation – she was scared. Scared that she would mess up what they now had together. Scared he didn’t love her back. She knew he always claimed that Dru was the love of his life. Could he or would he love that way again? Before her thoughts got any further, Spike was pulling out of a bag a large chicken ceasar salad, a hair brush, and bonus, massacre and lip gloss. What a vampire. What a man.

*****

Over the intercom came the call for the end of the visiting hours. Shortly thereafter, Buffy’s nurse entered the room to personally say that visitors should leave. When the nurse returned fifteen minutes later, Spike was still sprawled out in a chair up against the bed, watching TV with Buffy, and Dawn was lying on her side on the second bed with her head propped up, leisurely thumbing through a magazine. The nurse focused on Spike first with a fierce frown. “Sir, you *have* to leave now.”

Spike opened his mouth to tell the nurse that there was no soddin’ way he was not going to leave until Buffy could go with him, but the slayer beat him to the punch with just one clear, firm word. “No.”

Startled, the nurse shifted her frown over to her patient. “I’m sorry, Miss Summers. He has to leave. Hospital rules. You have had surgery, and to help your recovery, you need a good night’s rest. As it is, you have had too many visitors in the room today.”

Spike looked between the two women and recognized a good row building. So he sat back in his chair, getting comfortable to enjoy the show. Bossy cow versus vampire slayer. Spike glanced over at Dawn. “I’ve got a ten spot on your sis.”

“I don’t know what a ten spot is but no bet. I think Buff’s going to wipe the floor with her.”

Spike focused back on the pair. “Ding, round two.”

With her eye brows knitted together and hazel eyes flashing, Buffy was more than happy to stare the woman down. “No, and I mean no. He stays.”

Looking back at the determined slayer, Spike realized how stupid the smile on his face must look, but he didn’t care one wit. Spike was stunned but insanely happy that the slayer wanted him to stay. Not that he was planning to leave anyway, but it was rare for him and nice to be wanted, especially by Buffy.

Crossing her arms over her chest, the nurse wasn’t going to take this slip of a girl’s orders. “He has to go. Rules are rules. Only a family member can stay with the patient overnight and that would only be in a private room which this is not. I am sure you have noticed the second bed so no one sleeps over.”

Pointing a finger at the vampire to emphasize her words, Buffy did some of her own bossy cow imitation. “I. Don’t. Care. WHAT the rules say. Spike *stays* here!” She looked over at Spike and then back at the old biddy. “And dig him up a shirt so he can get out of this blood encrusted one.”

Dawn giggled at the “dig him up” and taking away blood from him comments. Unfortunately, that brought the nurse’s attention to her.

Spike was the one to speak up this time. “Don’t even start on the Bit with your sergeant sounding pipes. This room is private enough, and she’s Buffy’s little sis so she isn’t going to leave either.”

The nurse opened her mouth to argue but then snapped it shut before storming out in a huge huff.

Getting out of his chair when the nurse closed the door behind her, Spike stepped up to the bed and leaned over to give Buffy a kiss on the lips. “Thanks, luv.”

“For what?”

“Trust! As I told you before the attack of the whelp, I want the “we” part of us to last much longer, and trust is a part of that.”

*****

After another hour of talk and then watching some television, Dawn had fallen asleep in the other bed in the room. For the last ten minutes, Spike had laid his head on the bed, forehead to the mattress, lightly touching Buffy’s side, and she was lightly scratching the hair on the back of his neck.

Spike was still trying to get a grip on himself. He had been through so many events during the last thirty-six hours: playing in a pool with her, racing to his death on a natural made water slide, having desperate, fast adrenalin rush sex, holding her as her life flowed red across his crypt’s floor, sitting in the waiting room feeling helpless, relief seeing her alright and recovering, uncertainty from her friends reaction to him being there, awe on how she stood up for him, the high of beating the whelp who caused her injury, and then hearing her trust in him. All these events were spinning, spinning around one single emotion, love, for this strong woman and fierce warrior.

As she methodically moved her fingers through his hair, Buffy enjoyed being alive and being with him. She was relaxed and feeling the need to chat. “Spike, are you asleep? It’s not often your mouth stops moving this long.” Buffy was surprised that he still stayed silent. “Spike? So getting spooked here. Since you are already dead, I can’t tell if you’re asleep or what.”

She could feel him chuckle. “I’m awake, love, or I would be by now if not for all your blathering.”

“Good. We haven’t had a minute alone since I got in this hospital.”

“No, we haven’t. Want me to throw Bite Size out. We could check this mattress out good and proper.” His heart wasn’t in the wise cracks but tried to get a laugh out of habit.

“Ha and eeww. Dawn stays here and the mattress stays untried.” Buffy bit her lip. “Spike, I thought I was supposed to use crossbows on vampires, not have the pointy end used on me.” She expected a laugh but only heard silence. “Hey, it wasn’t that bad of a joke.”

He sat up straight so that he could look into his hazel eyes. “I am so sorry, pet. Not big on the laughs right now. That bleedin’ arrow was meant for this undead body, not your alive…”

She swiftly placed her fingers over his lips. “*Don’t you dare* apologize for that, vampire. Where I got shot, I can heal, but if you had been shot, you would have been dust. It scares me just thinking that the arrow pricked you above your heart.” Buffy rubbed his chest over his heart where the arrow had pricked him. Any cut on his skin didn’t existed there anymore, but she still rubbed the place anyway. With each circle she made, she thought about how she had almost lost him. Her voice came out as a whisper. “If I needed to, I would take the arrow for you again. I just don’t want to have to brush your dust off my shoes.”

Buffy smiled when Spike finally chuckled. His voice was low and gruff with emotion. “I certainly don’t want to be swept away by the crypt’s next tenant, but *don’t you dare* die. We have already had this discussion about one of us dying. Besides, I’m evil remember so people hunt you. I need to be watched at all times, preferably by you, which means you have to be here to watch my sexy arse.” With that said, Spike wiggled his eyebrows, trying to lighten up both of their moods. Otherwise, he feared that he was going to be a grade A ponce and start with the water works. “So, I’ll watch your back if you watch mine, and I don’t mean on a temporary basis.”

He put his head back down and enjoyed the feel of her fingernails scratching his scalp again. Long minutes passed before Spike asked, “Did you mean it? What you said to your mates, to Xander?”

“I meant everything, but my mouth was running laps around the hospital at the time. Which ‘thing’ do you mean?” She had a good idea which “thing” he was referring to and she wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t know what he was referring. She said it and was going to stick to it with her friends and him. She just needed confirmation if that was what he was referring to, but she could delay as long as she could, couldn’t she? Calling Ms. Chicken!

Spike thought this was the perfect way to bring feelings into the conversation. Earlier, she had said that she cared for him, “really” cared for him. What he wanted to know before he admitted his own feelings was if she loved him. Didn’t everybody feel that way, knowing how the other feels before confessing their own? Maybe this talk of caring could lead to talking of love. But, he also remembered his promise to not bring love into their relationship. Spike wanted to admit that he had broken said promise, but he wanted her to do it first. “You told Xander and the others that you cared for me. Did you mean it?”

Buffy twirled a particular curl around her finger as she felt butterflies flutter in her stomach. “Yes. So…what do you think?” Ok, back in his court now. Buffy crossed her fingers that he cared for her, or better yet, loved her.

Keeping his head down so she couldn’t see how anxious he was. “I won’t lie to you. This is hard for me because I’ve hated slayers for over one hundred years.” Spike picked up his head so that he could look into her beautiful hazel eyes. “But you. Your under my skin, bones, and nerves for that matter.” He paused, preparing himself for his admission, not the big “love” one, but enough for her fight or flight instinct could possibly kick in. “I think I have already proved this with my actions at the pool and later when you were shot. I care for you, and I don’t think I have ever been as afraid as I was last night.”

Buffy had caught the lift to cloud nine. He cared for her, but she just couldn’t bring herself to admit her love. Care. That’s good for now. Promise breaking later. “This is the kiss me part.”

When Spike pulled back from their kiss, Buffy smiled up into his face. “Just don’t let it go to your head, bleach boy. Your ego is as big as the Pacific Ocean as it is.”

Shortly thereafter, from the warmth of their shared emotions brought out into the open, Buffy relaxed and her eyes started to droop. Spike dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose and settled in to watch over her through the night. Across on the other bed, Dawn appeared to be asleep, but she wasn’t fooling him. The Nibblet was an eavesdropper through and through, and her heart rate increased when he and Buffy had discussed their feelings. So Bite Size knew everything and that was just fine. “Open the book” seemed to be the motto for the day. But he was interested to hear what the little chit thought about big sis and fangy vampire.

Dawn had been pretending to sleep but thought she was fooling Spike and Buffy. She was so happy for them. Stick-up-the-ass Riley had only been holding Buffy back, more of a pain in the ass than help. Pain ass. Stick ass. Just an all around ass. What her sister needed was someone equal to her, someone to help her fight and help her stay alive. Spike was all that plus he adored her, and Buffy was obviously hooked on him. Geez, subtle much?

After a few moments of complete silence in the room, Dawn hazarded a peek and looked straight into Spike’s blue eyes. Busted. From the looks of it, she didn’t think Spike was mad. She gave him a sheepish smile and didn’t bother to pretend she hadn’t heard their intimate moment. “I knew Buff was hooked on someone by the way she was hogging the bathroom so much lately, making sure her hair and makeup were just so perfect. And since she wasn’t in sharing mode, when she dressed up for slaying and came home grinning, I suspected it was you.”

“Nibblet, I think…” His sentence trailed off as Dawn’s expression changed from a smug grin to eyes popping with shock. Spike followed her line of sight, and his jaw joined Dawn’s on the floor. Spike shook Buffy awake without ever taking his eyes off of the two small, blue demons that were slowly flying into the room, heading straight for Buffy’s bed.

Dawn recovered fast. “Geez, Buffy, you know the coolest demons.”


TBC

Thanks again for your vote in the Spuffy Awards.
Dana