Title: One Slayer Too Many (4/13/04)

Season VII - this version would have made me happier....

Rating - G/PG

Word count - 1380

Disclaimer -Not mine, never were

Distribution – want it? Take it? Just tell me who you are.

Thanks to Kirsty for her beta help.

ONE SLAYER TOO MANY

by Slaymesoftly

“...thought I’d see what was going on down here” As Buffy finished speaking, still glaring back and forth between the embarrassed vampire and the brunette slayer, the temperature in the room went down several degrees.

Oh shit, Faith thought ruefully. He’s in total busted-boyfriend mode. Only been here a day and I’ve pissed Buffy off already. How the hell was I supposed to know?

She quickly commented on how Buffy knew all the cool vampires, and escaped to the upstairs, leaving Spike to explain. He kept his eyes turned away, head down, hand rubbing the back of his neck. When he finally looked up, he was shocked at the expression of dispair on her face.

“I was just flirtin’ with the silly bint, Buffy. We weren’t doing anything but bragging at each other.”

Buffy squeezed her eyes shut for a second, then turned to leave. “Didn’t say you were,” she mumbled as she headed for the stairs, shoulders slumped and fighting back tears.

“Slayer?” he said quietly. “Buffy?”

She stopped, but didn’t turn around.

“Come back here, love. Tell me what’s going on. There’s more here than jus’ you catchin’ me flirtin’ with a pretty girl.”

Buffy tuned around, sighed and walked back toward the cot. “It was Faith, Spike. It wasn’t just any pretty girl. It was another slayer.”

He gaped at her. “So? What - you think because she’s a slayer I’m gonna try to shag her in your basement?”

“Faith has a....history,” she said quietly.

“We all have history, pet”

“Yeah, well, hers is that she sleeps with my boyfriends.”

Spike raised his eyebrows at the “boyfriend” comment, but wisely didn’t pursue it.

“So, Angel? and Captain Cardboard? I’m not surprised at Angelus, but I’ve got to say I’m disappointed in the boy scout....”

“It was when she was in my body - but he should have known it wasn’t me. You missed that particular trick of hers.”

“Actually, love, I didn’t.” he said carefully, watching her reaction out of the corners of his eyes.

“What?” When did you...?”

“She was in the Bronze. Came right up to me and rattled my cage pretty good, I’ll tell you.”

“She had sex with you too? Is there anybody she missed?” Buffy’s voice was going higher and higher as she became more agitated.

“No, no. No sex. Not with me. She was just messing with me. Got me going, then laughed at me and walked away.”

“What did she do? To ‘get you going’, I mean. Did she...I... touch you? What did she do?”

“Forget about it, love. I told you, she was just baiting me. Wanted to see if she could get a rise out of me. And when she had me going, she left me hanging and laughed. You have no idea how I hated you right at that minute,” he added.

“You couldn’t tell it wasn’t me either? I can’t believe this! Super slut takes over my body, and nobody can tell it isn’t me!”

“Didn’t know you as well then, pet. I doubt it would fly now. I just thought you were drunk and feeling mean.”

“See what I mean,” she grumbled. “All my boyfriends...”

“Com'ere, love” he said, patting the cot beside him. She hesitated for a second,then sat down beside him leaning her head back against the cinderblock wall. They sat together, leaning on the wall in silence for a few minutes. Finally, she looked over at him and smiled ruefully. “Pretty stupid,huh? Apocalypse coming, and I’m worried about......”

He picked up her hand and kissed it gently. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Buffy. Don’t you know that by now? Yeah, I was flirtin’ with her. It’s what I do. Doesn’t mean anything. You know I’d never....”

“You did once,” she said flatly, laying her head back against the wall and closing her eyes.

He took his time responding. They had never actually talked about what happened between him and Anya, except when he’d tried to apologize shortly before trying to rape her. He took a deep breath and plunged in. “ Buffy, that was two very unhappy people, a bottle of scotch and a whole bloody lot of pain. She was hurting’ really bad - thought there was something wrong with her that the whelp would leave her like that. And I wasn’t in real good shape myself. The woman I loved didn’t want me anymore; and here was this sweet girl, who’d always been nice to me, cryin’ because SHE wasn’t wanted. It just happened. Neither one of us expected anyone else to know about it - or be hurt by it. It was just solace, pet.”

Her eyes slid to the side for a second. “That’s what Anya told Xander when he accused her of doing it for revenge. Those where her exact words - ‘it wasn’t vengeance, it was solace’. “

“That’s what it was, love. That’s ALL it was. And if I’d had any idea you’d ever know about it, or be....be hurt by it, it never would have happened.”

Buffy sighed again and turned her head toward him, “I know that. It just - it really hurt, you know? And when I came down and saw Faith here and you were laughing.... I’m sorry, Spike.” She gazed at him apologetically. “I didn’t mean to be a bitch –it just seems to be my modus operandi lately. I’m just too overwhelmed with everything that’s going on right now. I just don’t want.... I can’t take time to worry about us on top of everything else.”

“There’s an us?” he questioned, tilting his head at her.

“Everyone seems to think so,” she said wryly. “At least everyone except Faith, apparently.”

“Wish somebody’d told me about it,” he muttered half-seriously. Buffy just looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face. Then she shook herself and went back to worrying.

“You looked like you were having fun. We’ve never had fun. I don’t make you laugh”

“Never seen yourself drunk, have you, then?” he teased her. She swatted at him with her hand and he grabbed it and brought it to his mouth. He kissed her fingers, then turned it over and kissed her palm. “Buffy, I like flirting with pretty birds, you know that. Feeds my ego.” She rolled her eyes. “But it’s got nothing to do with us, or how I feel about you. I can’t believe you don’t know that.”

“I don’t think you realize how much I depend on you,” she said, almost shyly. “Giles saw it a long time ago - he told me I relied on you too much. And that you relied on me. That even if we weren’t being physical about it, we were together. When I saw you with Faith, I wasn’t just jealous. I was terrified.“

The vampire looked at her in shock.

“Terrified of what?” he asked. “That you could lose me to that.....”

“No,” she said, looking him in the eye for the first time, “Terrified that I was going to lose my support system. You - you’re my rock. My anchor. The source of my strength. I don’t think I can do this without you.”

The vampire pulled her over and onto his lap, his arms forming a protective barrier. “You don’t have to, love. I’m here for you, in whatever way you need me. I’ll always be here. You know you can’t get rid of me. You’ve tried to do it often enough.” He tipped her face up and smiled at her.

She smiled back at him, then put her head against his chest and just allowed the safe, cherished feeling to flow through her body. Too soon, Dawn ywas yelling down the stairs that the potential in the hospital was awake, and Buffy reluctantly sat up to go upstairs. She started to walk away, then turned back suddenly and leaned in to kiss him hard. “I’ll be back,” she whispered against his mouth. “Don’t go anywhere.”

The End

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