A Trunk Full of Trouble

Memory Redux needs your vote. guy guys, if you loved Memory Redux, you need to show it. Morbid Desires is having a poll and the story needs your vote. Go to: http://www.morbiddesires.com/MDarchives/home.html and vote!!!!!

Thanks to Mega for beta-ing this chapter. I need all the help I can get : )


Chapter 6 ¡V The Questions

Buffy parked the truck at the back of the parking lot of the Lost Pines Lodge. Spike couldn¡¦t have been happier. Not because she parked so far back to make them as inconspicuous as possible, but because she had finally stopped drivingƒ{ which had turned out to be out and out scary. The bint may be beautiful, but she couldn¡¦t drive worth a farthing.

Once inside, they headed toward the lounge which was connected to a louder bar. Both areas were rather busy this time of night.

Xander was already talking before Buffy and Spike could sit down at his table. ¡§I thought you were getting rid of her.¡¨

Holding his hands wide with palms up, Spike tried to appease his friend. ¡§Well, mate, the story is kinda funny¡K¡¨

Xander started jabbing a finger in Buffy¡¦s direction. ¡§I thought you were getting rid of her.¡¨

¡§I know but¡K¡¨ Not comfortable with Xander¡¦s hostility towards Buffy, Spike pushed Xander¡¦s fr awr away from her.

Before Xander could speak the same sentence yet again, a waitress interrupted. ¡§Can I get you two anything to drink?¡¨ She indicated Spike and Buffy since Xander already had one. Actually, he needed a double.

With no hesitation, Buffy answered. ¡§I¡¦ll take a Jack and coke.¡¨

¡§Can I see your ID, please?¡¨ The waitress smiled, trying to cover up her embarrassment in having to ask the question, but the girl did look underage.

¡¥You and me both,¡¦ Spike said under his breath. ¡§I¡¦ll take the Jack Daniels, and she¡¦ll have the coke.¡¨ He told the perky girl.

When the waitress walked away, Spike turned the tables and stuck his finger in Xander¡¦s face before he could utter a word. ¡§Don¡¦t say it! She¡¦s still with me, mate. Deal.¡¨

¡§Ok, ok.¡¨ Xander agreed but wanted to say the observation again so bad. ¡§But did you check out the news?¡¨

¡§Yeah¡K¡¨ Frustrated with his friend¡¦s doom and gloom, Spike looked down at the table and shook his head. It wasn¡¦t like he didn¡¦t already know that their circumstances were a cocked up mess. He had hoped Xander would talk about solutions instead of bitching. Silly him for being so optimistic, Spike thought.

¡§See the water front garage burning down?¡¨

¡§Yes, Xander, I saw it.¡¨

¡§And?¡¨

¡§And what?¡¨ He didn¡¦t know why he asked. He knew Xander was going to tell him anyway.

And Xander promptly did. ¡§They think we stole their money.¡¨

Buffy had thought the whole conversation up until the last sentence had been a throw away, but now she was interested since it sounded more ominous for Spike. ¡§Who is ¡¥they,¡¦ and why would they think that?¡¨

¡§Well, luv, ¡¥they¡¦ are the blokes that were buying the cars that are now crispy critters, and they gave the money to Xander up front, who gave it to me. And being paranoid as criminals tend to be, they now think we concocted a scheme to make off with their blunt, which is beyond idiotic because there was more value in the cars in the garage that burned than the two hundred thousands dollars. Daft wankers the lot of them.¡¨

Buffy barely heard anything after ¡¥luv¡¦ because he hadn¡¦t called her that since the motel. Luv! It certainly wasn¡¦t the first time he had called her ¡¥luv¡¦, but for some reason, when he had said it just now, it made her brain check out. Her thoughts returned to the kisses they had shared at the Starlight Motel, especially the last one, the dangerous one. That one had made her tingle all over and want to do nasty things to and with him. But regardless of her lusty, romantic thoughts, she did hear Xander.

Xander could barely stay in his seat. ¡§In a little squirrel¡¦s nutshell, give me the money so I can return it.¡¨

¡§I don¡¦t have it.¡¨ Spike fessed up and was now waiting for the explosion. Not surprisingly, Xander was so good at those.

¡§What?¡¨ Buffy had to admire the shade ed ted that Xander¡¦s face was turning.

¡§Her¡Ker¡Kuncle has the money, but she is going to help get it back.¡¨

¡§WHAT!!!¡¨ Oh, pretty, now Xander was purple.

After just a few more repeated ¡¥what¡¦s¡¦ and no more new different shades of colors, Buffy was bored and that meant she was antsy. That¡¦s when she spotted the dance floor and several people line dancing. That had possibilities.

The waitress sat the two drinks in front of Buffy and Spike while Xander saticatically thanked the waitress. ¡§Thank you. Thank you sooo much.¡¨ He dropped a credit card on the table to pay the tab.

As she was standing up, Buffy snatched up Spike¡¦s whiskey and downed it in one go. When she set the glass back down on the table, Buffy put her hand on Spike¡¦s shoulder. ¡§Relax, Xander. I¡¦ll get you your money. Now, boys, while you work the details out, I¡¦m going to a l a little.¡¨

Spike wanted to grab her hand and hold it on his shoulder, letting the warm and pleasant tingle from her heat spread through his whole body. He also wanted to just plain hold onto her, keeping her in sight, making sure she would be there instead of leaving in the truck. When had he become insecure about something? Anything? He knew. Since Angel showed up to take her away. It had been different for him, easier to leave her at the motel. His subconscious had known that he could have gone back to the motel, and she would have still been there. Whether that was true or not, he liked to believe it. But seeing her again had shifted something, knocked something loose in his world-weary feelings. It wasn¡¦t love. No. At least asn¡asn¡¦t admitting that yet. It was just something warm. Nevertheless, he ler har hand go and hoped for the best. He was somewhat comforted when she patted his shoulder before leaving. ¡¥Oh, yeah, you¡¦re not whipped,¡¦ Spike thought sarcastically while rolling his eyes before looking at his friend. Xander¡¦s mouth was still moving.

¡§Well, let¡¦s get rid of her now. Let¡¦s get out of here. We can take my car.¡¨

¡§No!¡¨ Spike didn¡¦t even want to let her out of arms reach, let alone leave her. No way he could do that now. He realized that there was no way he was walking away from this girl.


&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~

Slyly looking through her lashes while she was dancing, Buffy knew she had Spike¡¦s attention. Every once in awhile he would look at Xander, but mostly his eyes were on her. She wasn¡¦t sure what to do about him. Actually that was somewhat incorrect. She knew what she wanted to do, but wasn¡¦t sure she could have it. She wanted to ith ith Spike. On the carnal side of that thought, she wanted to drag him out on the dance floor with her and grind up against him for an hour or two. On the more philosophical side, she wanted to ¡§be with him¡¨ in the long run. Problem¡KNo, problems were that she was a slayer and he was a vampire, he didn¡¦t do commitments, and to tell the truth, neither did she. And last, he just plain might not be interested in her that way. Well, she doubted that last one considering the erection she was sitting on last night when they were kissing, and she was in his lap.

&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~

The details for how to get out of their present mess, never happened. Xander kept trying, but except for every tenth word, Spike wasn¡¦t listening. The other nine words, Spike¡¦s attention was on the golden light, the beacon, on the dance floor. What was he thinking even considering holding such a woman like that in his arms? Kissing her, feeling her, being with her and more? She was a glorious slayer (well, not ¡¥a glorious¡¦ one yet, but he had no doubt that she would be) and the only part of her slayer life for a vampire was as prey.

Another minor issue, to put a fine point on it, was that he was dead. Dead as a door nail, stiff as a board, pushing up the bloody daisies, and six feet under her feet. She was of the living. As he watched her on the dance floor, she was so full of life. Maybe she had life enough for the both of them, but was there enough life to animate his body and make him worthy of her? As much as he would like to forget, he still had years of killing and blood on his hands. But then he looked at her again and their massive differences shared a couple double scotchs and forgot their great divide. They sang their own composition of ¡¥they are meant to be together¡¦. And ¡¥together¡¦ was coming, Spikeughtught as he watched Buffy finish another song, laughing and smiling as she stepped off the dance floor, heading back to their table.

As she finished up dancing, Buffy could see a man approaching her. She knew his purpose without being told. They talked for a moment, long enough to see Spike stand up and take a step tds tds them, and then she politely refused his offer to dance. She wanted to thank the guy for getting such a positive response out of the vampire she was now trying to attract. When she started back for the table, she smiled an ¡¥I tho so¡ so¡¦ smile, and as she passed Spike, she rose up and kissed him on the mouth.

Spike had stood up when the wanker stopped Buffy from returning to the table. All that was holding him back was wondering what Buffy would do if he threw the bugger across the dance floor like he was a bowling ball, knocking human and demon pins over as the tosser went on his way. But then she was moving towards him and all was right with the world again. Next she unexpectedly kissed him. He ever so briefly felt the tip of her tongue touch where his two lips met, enough to let him know that the intent of the kiss was not platonic, but intimate. After shaking his shock off, he reached for her hand to drag her back, but she was still on the move.

Stopping at the table, y dry drank Spike¡¦s new drink and snatched up Xander¡¦s credit card. ¡§I¡¦m going to go get some toothpaste to freshen up and see about a room. Then make a phone call to Giles to get your money back.¡¨ffy ffy left Xander squawking.

Once up at the desk, Buffy didn¡¦t use Xander¡¦s credit card. She just liked pulling his seemingly short chain, which appeared to be awfully easy to do. Instead she paid for one of the larger rooms for two nights with the money Spike had left her in the motel, no doubt from the notorious bag. Who would miss that small amount versus two hundred thousand dollars anyway?

Once done, she dropped one of the two room key cards into Spike¡¦s shirt pocket, her hand enjoying the journey in and then out, and after that Buffy tossed Xander¡¦s credit card in his general direction.

¡§I¡¦m off to make that call.¡¨ Taking her back pack that had the remains of the Jack Daniels in it, she went up to the room. She started to mix herself a drink for courage but decided against it. Instead, she took out her cell phone and called Giles.

¡§Buffy, my dear, enough is enough. Come home.¡¨

¡§It¡¦s not home. It¡¦s a dorm. Homes are somewhere you want to be.¡¨

¡§I don¡¦t understand. We provide for your every need.¡¨ To his credit, Giles genuinely didn¡¦t comprehend what she meant.

¡§No, I don¡¦t think you understand.¡¨ Buffy wiped away a tear that had escaped down her cheek.

Buffy couldn¡¦t believe that fate chose that moment for Spike to come into the room. She swiped at the rest of her tears.

¡§Just forget it. Anyway, Angel has a bag of money that belongs to my friend.¡KYes, my vampire friend.¡¨ Spike turned to face her and was astonished that he and Buffy shared a smile over his nature of being. ¡§He didn¡¦t kidnap me, he hasn¡¦t bitten me, and he hasn¡¦t molested me in anyway.¡¨

¡§Buffy, he is a vampire and that sounds hard to believe¡K¡¨

¡§It doesn¡¦t matter how it sounds. It¡¦s simple. Give him his money back, and I will come back.¡¨ What Giles didn¡¦t notice was that she hadn¡¦t promised to go back to the academy. She was an adult now. She could go wherever she wanted after she made an appearance for Giles, and it just might not be the slayer academy.

¡§Buffy, that sounds like an acceptable deal.¡¨

¡§Ok. Meet us at¡Kuh¡Kthe Hollywood sign tomorrow night at midnight¡K.I¡¦ll be there¡KBye.¡¨ After disconnecting, Buffy turned to look at Spike who she knew had been watching her, and she gave him a tentative smile before walking around the room aimlessly. ¡§Can I get a drink?¡¨

¡§Jack and coke again alright?¡¨

¡§Sure.¡¨ She paused and watched him out of the corner of her eye. ¡§Can I ask you a question?¡¨

¡§Depends.¡¨ Spike was immediately suspicious. With women, this usually foretold a ¡¥do you like/love me¡¦ question. Good thing was they hadn¡¦t known each other long enough and most of that time was bickering. They didn¡¦t even like each other¡Kdid they? Wasn¡¦t it just lust? Who was he kidding?

She squinted her eyes as if to access him better. ¡§What¡¦s your real name?¡¨

¡§Not going to happen, luv. Pick another question.¡¨ Spike dismissed the question by turning his back and taking off his red, button-down shirt.

A skin tight, black t-shirt. Buffy had a hard time thinking while looking at him in that t-shirt. She wondered what his abs looked like without the cloth covering them. ¡§Uh¡Ker¡Kok, what do you want out of your life, or I guess I should say unlife.¡¨

¡§Now, kitten, that was a good question, but I¡¦ve got to tell a little story first.¡¨ Spike looked at his glass with interest, especially since it was empty. ¡§Lookthe the mini-fridge and see if we have any scotch.¡¨ When she threw one his way, he began at the beginning. He told her about his turning, about how he was different, how he went his own way, and how he became a car thief. The only thing he didn¡¦t tell her was about being a bloody awful poetore ore his turning and how he got his nickname. ¡§Don¡¦t get me wrong. I know that stealing cars is wrong. I know. But I am just saving up the money to start a used car dealership. Have something and somewhere permanent for once in my unlife.¡¨

Buffy fell out laughing. ¡§Used cars. As in hot used cars? And how is a vampire going to sell cars during the day anyway?¡¨

¡§Ha, ha, missy. No, I mean used cars that I buy and then resale. Expensive cars for resale. And as for the daylight, I would locate the business in Las Vegas. That town is twenty-four hours. Xander can do day, and I¡¦ll do night. See, that money I lost in Angel¡¦s trunk was my stake in the dealership.¡¨ Damn, his glass was empty again. ¡§Hand me another scotch.¡¨

¡§You drank all those already. How about Vodka?¡¨

¡§Vodka it is then, pet.¡¨

She sat up on the double sized bed next to his where he sat. ¡§Ok, so tomorrow I get your money back, give it to you, you give it to Xander, and then it finally goes to the paranoid block heads?¡¨

¡§Sounds like a plan, luv.¡¨ Enjoying her enthusiasm, Spike smiled at her across the gap between the two beds.

¡§What are we going to do next? Are we going to steal more cars¡K¡¨

¡§We? What we?¡¨ Spike looked at her with wide, blue eyes. Where had that come from?

Buffy wanted to crawl into a hole. ¡§Well, I meant¡Kwe¡K in a general sort of way¡Knot that you would want me¡Kas a we¡K¡¨

Spike swiftly moved over to sit on her bed. Not close enough to make it sexual, but close enough to be taken with sincerity. ¡§I¡¦m telling you, pet, ¡¥we¡¦ is fine. I like the ¡¥we.¡¦ I am not making a pass at you or anything. I am telling you flat out that if you want to come with me, help build the money up again and then go to Vegas, you are welcome to.¡¨ Her bright smile was making him melt that he had to move fast to not become a puddle on the bed. He used the excuse of refreshing the ice in his drink to walk away without offending her fees wis with a huge erection. ¡§So little girl, what do you want? Peace, win the lottery¡KOr to be more specific, why were you in the trunk of that BMW? Why the prank?

¡§Ok, the ¡¥short, to the point¡¦ version. Dad disappeared when I was nine. My mom was a crack head, got arrested, and I went through some foster homes. Then Giles came and got me and said that I¡¦m a slayer. I asked him ¡¥What¡¦s a slayer?¡¦ So to find out, I go to the camp and train. But, and it¡¦s a whopper of a ¡¥but,¡¦ my slayer gifts have barely developed. They tell me they will, but it makes me the odd man out. What I need is a place to belong. Not like the academy, but somewhere that I want to be that wants me.¡¨ Buffy thought for a moment. ¡§Or someone.¡¨

The last two words she spoke were spoken in the lowest of whispers and Spike had to use his vampire senses to hear her. Her words were very revealing and so were the tracks of tears down her face that he didn¡¦t think she realized were falling. ¡§And the tears?¡¨

¡§I guess I faked the kidnapping to see if I was wanted.¡¨ Buffy could feel his piercing blue eyes looking into her soul. ¡§What I found out was that I need a home. The place and the people type home.¡¨

Watching her closely, Spike could tell that she was almost at her breaking point and that he didn¡¦t want to see. Besides, he was too close to offering to be that someone and providing her that place. And he was rea ready for that possible heartache when it turned out that she couldn¡¦t be with him. Not to mention that he had real trouble with that kind of commitment. was was scary enough that he was even considering it. ¡§Well, enough of share time, more drink time. Do you want gin or tequila?¡¨

After new drinks, Buffy was ready to talk some more. The more they talked, the more that she was drawn to Spike. His movements, his voice, his beauty. ¡§Tell me some stories.¡¨

Spike was pleased by her change of subject to one a little less personal. He told her Drusilla stories. His crazy sire provided many good tales, but he chose lee least gory ones. There was the time she used vanishing lotion for freckles thinking that she could put it on, become invisible, and then go out in the sun safely. ¡§That was a crazy night trying to keep her from killing herself the next morning. Wasn¡¦t like we could make her look in a mirror and show her that she hadn¡¦t vanished when she had no reflection to start with. Now my personal favorite was when she tried to turn a frog. She drained it. Slit her finger and dropped blood down its throat. Then she walked around holding the frog for three days, kissing it. Why? She wanted the frog to turn into a prince.¡¨

In between laughs, Buffy was able to get out, an ¡§are you kidding?¡¨

¡§No. I finally had to steal the frog away while she was sleeping to put an end to it.¡¨ Spike too laughed at the memory. It was one of the only memories he could laugh at from back in that time.

Tilting her head to the side, Buffyked ked at him closely and saw a gorgeous man that she couldn¡¦t imagine Drusilla ever being stupid enough to let go. ¡§Did you love her?¡¨

That question out of nowhere caught Spike off guard. ¡§I¡KI did.¡¨ He could see Drusilla as if she were standing in front of him, standing next to Buffy. Dark next to the light. Both beautiful in their own way. But Spike had left dark behind. Was he now headed towards this light looking at him now? He hoped so, but wouldn¡¦t bank on it.

Buffy could read his face, tell his mind was with this past love. And she was surprised at how jealous she was. She had to remind herself of how much she hated commitment; so, she had no right to be jealous. ¡§And?¡¨

¡§And I couldn¡¦t live that life anymore, and the disgust I felt for those vampires around me slowly spread to her. But she will always have a soft spot in my heart.¡¨ Enough of that subject. ¡§I¡¦ve got a question for you, Goldie.¡¨

Preparing herself for the question, Buffy wiggled around on the bed to find the perfect spot before sitting with her legs crossed. ¡§Shoot.¡¨

Standing across the room leaning against the counter of the bar, his intense gaze held hers. ¡§That kiss downstairs. What was that? A thank you? A tease? A what?¡¨

&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~

TBC

How do you like that ending??