The Holidays in Sunnydale

Thanks everyone for the great reviews! I decided to add this before the actual Valentine’s Day chapter to try to ease in what had been taking place over those 6 weeks they had been living in the same household together....
If it reads a little rough, I apologize. It hasn't been beta'd. My beta is having a busy time right now and I don't want to bother her with it til she gets settled. ;)


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On the way to Valentine’s Day
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It had been around 6 weeks since Spike had been living there at Buffy’s
in the basement. The first day had been a rough one. And that was
describing it lightly. Giles had been floored when Buffy came to him and
told him what was going on. She had left Spike at home with Dawn while
she went to talk to him. She had been afraid he would react badly. He
didn’t let her assumptions down, either.
“Have you lost all control of your facilities?” he had asked in
exasperation, “Spike? William THE Bloody? In your HOME? WITH
DAWN? ALONE? Think about this Buffy...I implore you. You know
what happened with Angel...”
Buffy’s mouth flew open in surprise,
“Huh? What? Giles! It’s nothing like that!”
“Then explain this to me, please. Why on God’s green earth would we
want Spike on our side and WHY would Quentin agree to making him a
part of the team? He murdered....Buffy...they don’t call him Spike
because of his HAIR!”
Buffy took his hand and pulled him down onto the couch with her so that
they could talk without it feeling like a confrontation...even though it was
turning into one quickly.
“Look, Giles....first of all Travers will do what I want him to because he
knows that I mean business. Second, Spike has been chipped. He can’t
hurt humans anymore and I honestly don’t think he even wants to try to
get the chip out. No, no...wait, Giles, I’m serious.”
Giles sighed. He had been about to point out that Spike had tried to have
it removed with no luck.
Buffy resumed her pep talk, determined to make this work.
“There is a demon doctor named Teruksha. Willy knows him. He could
preform the operation with magic. No botching it...just make it
disappear as though it were never there to begin with. Willy told me
about him months after Spike got chipped...”
Giles interupted for a moment with a raised hand,
“Why were you at Willy’s? I do believe you mean the man who runs
‘Willy’s Bar’? Where demons and humans alike go? This IS the Willy
you are referring to?”
Buffy sighed with an aggravated look and rolled her eyes. He really was
clueless sometimes...
“Well, duh!!! Where do you think I get some of my best information?
Now, as I was saying.... Teruksha had even sent word to Spike that since
he owed him a favor he would do it for free. Evidently Spike had helped
him one night when Teruksha was attacked by the Initiative himself. He
helped Teruksha get away through the tunnels. If Spike wanted to go
back to his old ways he could. I don’t think he wants to.”
Giles looked puzzled and got up to pour himself a brandy. It was still
early in the day but it was happy hour SOMEWHERE in this miserable
world....
He frowned and asked, “Is that all?”
Buffy shook her head,
“No. He has helped me numerous times on patrol for nothing. Not
asking for payment, I mean. There was one night that I was way out
numbered. He showed up and took on half of the bunch. Afterward, he
just went on his way. I know you could say that he just did that because
he likes to kill but Giles...I’m sorry... I trust him. I would have never
invited him to live with me and Dawn if I didn’t. He’s good to Dawn.
He’s good FOR her. She’s never had an in-house male role model...”
Giles couldn’t help but let out a sharp laugh and she frowned,
“I’m serious, Giles...I want you to call Travers and then I want you to
make an effort to get along with him and trust him. If you don’t trust
him...then trust me. I would never, ever put you or the rest in danger
like I did with Angel. I learned my lesson there.”
Giles poured yet another brandy and smiled a knowing smile at her.
“Buffy...what if you develop... feelings... for Spike? He can be quite the
charmer, you know.”
“Well...I....hmmm....” how was she going to do this? It was now or
later...either way...
Giles shook his head and laughed dryly.
“It’s already happened, hasn’t it?”
“WHAT has already happened?”
“You’ve already become romantic...”
“We have NOT had sex!”
Buffy turned red and her pulse started to race. This was just so damned
embarrassing! Why did it always come down to her sex life being laid
bare to everyone around her?
“That’s not what I meant, Buffy. I meant that you have developed
feelings towards him. Has he developed....feelings...for you?”
“Yes,” she nodded in a hushed tone and looked down at the floor. She
suddenly found the beige carpeting fascinat ANY ANYTHING to keep
from looking him in the eye. He could reduce her to feeling like a 5 yr
old little girl who had gotten caught in the cookie jar. All he had to do
was give her one stern look. THAT look. The one he reserved for times
like these. She was NOT looking up at him unless she absolutely had
to....
“Buffy...look at me.”
She looked up at him grudgingly, with tear filled eyes and he smiled,
“All I have to say...because that’s all I CAN say...is that at least the
poncy prat doesn’t have a damned Gypsy curse.”
A smile spread across her face and she threw her arms around Giles’
neck sloshing his brandy.
“Thank you! Thank you! I KNEW you’d understand!”
She released him and he gave an irritated look to the brandy on his
carpet before shaking his head,
“No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand how he can have feelings of
love or loyalty, with him being the souless creature that he is. However,
I do know his history. I know he loved Drusilla and he defended her
with his own life for over a hundred years. Well...you know what I
mean. Life...un-life....whatever it may be. The point is... I suppose you
could do worse.”
“Like Angelus.”
“Like Angelus.”
An uncomfortable silence grew and then Buffy broke it, confusing Giles
even more.
“Giles, I would appreciate it if...you didn’t tell anyone about what we’ve
talked about. With Spike and me....personal-wise. We’ve agreed to take
things painfully slow to make sure we know what we want. We’ve gotten
a trust built and a friendship developed and neither of us want to take a
chance on losing that for the sake of just a physical relationship. We just
want ....to be sure. Totally sure. We both just got out of crappy
relationships that we didn’t really want a part of to begin with. Then
there was the whole Drusilla thing for him and the Angel thing for
me...We want to do this right. Ya know?”
Giles had never felt more proud. His slayer was thinking like a slayer.
Two steps ahead; and so far, none back. She really was growing into a
fine young woman.
“Alright, then. I won’t say anything. I’ll act like I’m totally in the dark.
Which I should have no trouble at, because I usually am, when it comes
to your personal life....”
“Thank you....now call Travers.”
Buffy had wandered around the apartment while he went through all
the secretaries and personal assistants trying to reach Quentin. Once he
finally got him on the phone he had talked until he was blue in the face
and Quentin wasn’t budging. Buffy, pressed for time and irritable to
begin with, took the telephone. She promptly announced who she was,
what they would do, and how they would do it. He agreed right then and
there and she hung up.
“Sometimes ya gotta be a little bitchy, ya know?”
“Right then...” Giles chuckled. He never tired of Quentin being put in
his place and Buffy was just the woman for the job.
Buffy smiled lovingly at Giles. He was her only real father-like figure.
Her dad had basically dis-owned her, as well as Dawn, and she hadn’t
pressed the matter. There was no real need to. She had learned through
Giles what fathlerly love was and she knew down deep that her
biological father was not capable of that.
She hugged a very surprised Giles and kissed hheekheek.
“Thank you for being you. I wouldn’t be me if it weren’t for you.”
Giles looked at her through eyes that threatened to cry and smiled. He
gave a small, very English nod and coughed nervously.
“Well, I gotta go. Spike is making some kind of fancy chicken thing for
dinner...”
“Spike cooks?” he asked, while polishing his glasses for about the 15th
time since she had arrived there.
“Yeah! He’s an amazing cook, actually. Why don’t you come to dinner?”
“Oh...I don’t...maybe another time...after I’ve adjusted to all of this....”
Buffy smiled, “Yes, ok, I suppose it will take some time, won’t it?”

Weeks later and coming back from a study date with Willow, Buffy smelled the aromas coming from the kitchen and smiled. Spike really was a wonderful cook and he had taken on that
chore of cooking all the meals, as well as taking complete charge of the
kitchen and shopping. He had said it was to “do his part”. She got the
suspicious feeling that he just simply didn’t like her cooking. That was
all right by her. She didn’t like her cooking either!

“I’m back...smells good. Where’s Dawn?”
“Ello, Luv...she’s upstairs in her room obsessing on the phone
with...ummm...Janie, is it? Something about the new boy in school is
soooooo cute! And did Janie see how BLUE his eyes are? Oh my gosh!
She could just DIE! It’s unsettling, is what it is. Thank you, Pet. I think
it’s about done. Probably enough time fou aou and I to have a glass of
wine out on the porch?”
Buffy chuckled. Sometimes it took a special kind of concentration to
understand Spike, but she was growing used to it.
Spike handed her a glass of chilled white wine and she followed him ont onto the porch. She kicked off her sandles and sat down beside him on
the steps. They had toyed with the idea of buying a swing or some other
porch-type furniture to go out there, but they had sat on these steps for a
long time together under all kinds of different circumstances. It had
become comforting to them both.

Spike sighed, “Ya know...I think we’ve been slow for a long time
now....”
Buffy almost choked on her wine. THAT had just come out of no where, now hadn't it?
“What do you mean?”
“I haven’t kissed you. You haven’t kissed me. We’ve barely brushed
against each other and THEN on accident since I moved in here....”
“But that was what we planned, wasn’t it?”
Spike was quiet and she knew he was struggling for the right words.
“Buffy....I want you. I want you so bad it hurts. I dream about you.
You’re all I bloody well think about. All I’m asking for is a kiss.”
Buffy smiled. She had missed kissing him.
“Well, I don’t want you to be unhappy...” she smiled and then yelped as
he pulled her onto his lap.
“Buffy...I’m serious. I need to taste you. Even if it’s only for a minite...”
Buffy raised her lips to his and instead of feeling the crushing, bruising
kiss that she expected would go along with the intense look in his eyes
felt the soft, gentle brush of his mouth on hers. His mouth played with
hers. Capturing her top lip between his and tugging playfully then
kissing the corners of her mouth lightly. His tongue gently ran along her
bottom lip in a silent plea. She opened her lips to him and his tongue
slipped inside to stroke along side hers in a slow, hypnotic dance. She
moaned and tangled her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck and
felt her nipples harden against his chest. The heat spreading from
between her thighreatreatened to overtake her. She was starting to ache
with need of him. One of his hands slid slowly up from her waist to cup
her breast and rub his thumb against her nipple through the cotton tee
shirt she wore, while his other hand slid between her thighs to cup her
possessively. She broke away for air, panting for control, and looked
into his eyes. They were glazed over with passion but the amber glow of
his demon flashed there too.
In a way it scared her. That fear was lessened by the knowledge,
however, that even his demon wanted her. It feuled her with even
more want for this man she had grown to .....what? What was it that she
felt? Was it only want? She was beginning to think that wasn’t all it was.
Spike smiled at her, feeling her turmoil. He put her off of his lap with a
chaste peck on her lips. The want she felt was almost to a desperate fever pitch and her body cried out at the loss of contact.
“That MAY hold me over for awhile, at least. I think dinner is ready.”
He went back inside and she took a deep steadying breath.
What was she going to do?
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Next chapter is the Valentine's Day chapter and DEFINITLY NC17!!!!
Thanx for reviewing! Makes me want to keep writing! ;)