Because Cavemen Have Fire, the Sequel. Chapter 3.
Apparently I can update really frequently when I keep the chapters short. (And have a rough draft in place...) Previouslies here, and - as always - thanks to kathyh for the look-through. (All mistakes mine btw.)
Summary: There are always consequences.
Setting: Post-NFA.
Rating: Mild R.
Pairings: S/B/A.
Word count: Just under 1600 words.
Feedback: Would be brilliant! Ta!
Disclaimer: I am not Joss and do not own these characters! [/obvious]
Chapter 3
The next morning Buffy spent a good while just observing her sleeping vampires.
It felt like a weird kind of déjà vu, her memories of the morning she'd found them overlapping with the now. But the sheer shock of finding both had overshadowed any other considerations, and she’d not wanted to upset the delicate balance they maintained, by poking around where they didn’t want her, figuring they’d open up eventually.
Well that strategy sure had worked out great.
When Spike - as usual the first to wake - slowly came to life, blinking against the brightness, she was sitting on the sofa above him, a cup of tea cradled in her hands and her face as expressionless as she could make it.
Seeing her he smiled, sleepy-eyed but happy, since mornings had by default ended up as ‘their time’, and more often than not she’d bring him a cup of blood. Well this morning was going to be different.
“Good morning... Special Boy,” she said, pointedly, and for a few seconds he stared at her completely blankly.
Then he took in Angel’s still sleeping form, noting his arms around him, before his hand flew to his neck and the still visible bite marks from last night.
He looked back up at her, unable to find an expression to fit.
“Oh bollocks,” he whispered. “Did you see...”
“Oh yeah,” she replied.
Looking horrified he started to shake his head, and then winced in pain.
“Fuck, my head hurts.”
“Good,” she said callously, and smiled.
Then, after taking a thoughtful sip of her tea, she asked, “Does he often call you William?”
He stared at her, trying to work out where she was going with this, and then understood that just answering questions was his job for now.
“Mostly just when he’s very drunk,” he answered, sighing. “Things... names... the past and the present... they... blur.”
She considered this for a moment. “Was that what happened last night - too much drink?”
He held her eyes for a second, before suddenly lowering his eyes, swallowing.
“It always blurs... with the two of us. Ever since the first time, it just...” He stopped, studying at his hands, obviously trying to find the right words and wishing that he didn’t.
“We are different than we were back then, but the things we do... the things we want... they’re the same. We didn’t - we didn’t want you to have to deal with that.”
As he tried to sit up and get a bit more comfortable, Angel grunted and tightened his hold, before mumbling a very distinct, “Stay!”
“Sorry Peaches, but...” Spike was unable to continue, and instead shook Angel’s shoulder.
Angel grimaced, his head obviously in as bad a state as Spike’s, but with great effort opened his eyes. And froze.
Looking from Buffy to Spike and back again, Buffy could not remember seeing him more bewildered and worried (which was saying something). He sat up, quickly letting go of Spike, who just shrugged.
“Don’t bother. Apparently she saw the whole thing last night.”
Angel stared at him. “She... saw?”
Spike nodded carefully.
“What do you mean saw?”
“I mean front row in the Vampire Sexcapades.”
It was good that vampires couldn’t hyperventilate, because otherwise Angel would probably have passed out.
“And... she wants some answers,” Spike continued, “What with the-” he lightly touched the bite mark, and Angel closed his eyes.
“Oh God.”
Buffy took another sip of tea, but it didn’t seem to have the same steeling effect it did on Giles. But they didn’t know that...
“Yeah, don’t think God’s listening. Spike? You once told me that you seduced Angel, but you wouldn’t tell me how. Or why. Or anything about you two. And last night...”
She folded both hands around the cup, suddenly feeling very small and lonely. “You didn’t want me - you just wanted each other.”
Angel opened his mouth, but she cut him off.
“Apparently Spike is your ‘special, pretty boy’, care to elaborate on that?”
“I... he...”
Angel looked from Spike to her and back again, clearly contemplating the benefits of a stroll in the early morning sun, which caused Spike to roll his eyes and, ignoring Angel’s mute protest, finally started talking.
“Right - you know when I ran away before Christmas? The reason behind it - what I almost...”
She nodded. There was no reason to name it. Spike sighed.
“Well... he nearly ran away when I first tried to get him into bed. You see...” he shot Angel a look, and the other looked back, pleading. Holding Angel’s eyes Spike kept speaking.
“The thing is that with him and me it wasn’t just one time, and it wasn’t just almost... There were years of fucked-up mess that we had to deal with...”
Buffy looked from one to the other, trying to fit her head around what Spike had said. And then it hit her.
“You... Oh. He rap-”
Her hand flew to her mouth, and Angel was obviously near to running away, judging by the expression on his face. Spike shrugged, and turned back to her.
“Worst vampire on record - you don’t get that reputation by asking for things nicely. You take what you want and you use every trick in the book to make sure you’re top dog. And... I didn’t make it easy for him.”
He smiled, lifting an eyebrow, but Buffy wasn’t able to meet his grin with a smile of her own, and apparently neither was Angel.
Spike sighed again. “You asked. And don't go feelin' sorry for me, I was killing people for fun and deserved far worse than I got. As for how I seduced him, then it’s very straightforward - I quite simply gave him permission to do anything he wants.”
He stopped briefly, studying Angel, blue eyes unflinching and contemplative.
“No safewords, no holding back, no disobedience. As ‘m sure you’ve noticed he’s a domineering control freak.”
She nodded, remembering the rope. It all made sense, finally.
“Goes both ways of course,” he continued, the look on his face once more inscrutable. “Let’s just say that living with the kinda sins we carry around makes us somewhat gluttons for punishment.”
“I... see.”
Oh she saw. Saw Angel waiting for the sunrise; saw Spike begging her to stake him; saw the flip side too - the near-uncontrollable passion that lay so close beneath the surface.
Add the two together and... you got everything squared. Lust and guilt and pain feeding off each other in a never ending circle... It brought up deeply uncomfortable memories from Christmas, and the sense of betrayal raised its head again. She’d thought they’d taken a step forwards then.
“But - why didn’t you tell me before? I mean it’s not like I’ve been holding back, and I asked you to share. Why... why didn’t you?”
There was a long pause.
“Because it’s nothing to do with you,” Angel said, tight-lipped, and the urge to kill things suddenly returned with a vengeance.
“Oh you have got to be kidding me! I mean, I know that none of us is exactly brilliant at sharing, or relationships, but we are all in this together and that means that what happened between you two has everything to do with me. Especially now the elephant in the corner got drunk and trampled all over the flat... You know last night was, like, the single worst way I could have found out, right? So from now on I want everything out in the open, understood?”
She shook her head angrily.
“God I thought we were over this.”
“Buffy-” Angel began, in that calm, lecturing voice that always grated, and she immediately cut him off.
“Don’t ‘Buffy’ me! Remember I told you that I want it all. That includes you two... y’know... which, by the way, is really, really hot. Well apart from the bite-y thing, but we’ll... work on that, OK?”
Angel looked like continuing his lecture, and she held up a hand.
“Unless the next words out of your mouth are ‘Yes Buffy’ don’t bother answering.”
“Yes Buffy,” Spike deadpanned, and she had to bite back a smile. They would make it work, because she wasn’t willing to accept any alternatives.
“Look, what Angel was tryin’ to say-” he added, but before he could get any further the phone rang.
Caught between relief and annoyance, Buffy picked it up.
“Buffy?” Dawn’s voice was almost vibrating with excitement, “Faith’s back!”
“Huh? But... I thought she was in South America?”
“Willow teleported her back. And she and Giles are totally having a huge fight in his office!”
The glee was so palpable that Buffy could almost touch it, and she grinned.
“I’m on my way.”
Putting down the phone she looked from vampire to vampire.
“We’ll continue this later, OK?”
“Yes Buffy,” Angel said, and she smiled.
He didn’t smile back, but she was too busy calling a cab and finding her purse and coat to notice.
When she left shortly afterwards, Spike and Angel still hadn’t moved.
But she deliberately pushed them out of her mind. She needed a break, and she was sure they could work things out. After all, if she and Spike could forgive each other - if she could come to terms with Angel’s actions as CEO - then surely it was possible to overcome this latest obstacle too, right?
***
The door closed behind her, and for a long moment silence reigned in the flat.
“We shouldn’t have come here,” Angel finally said.
Spike looked away, avoiding Angel’s eyes, and didn’t reply.
Bloody absinthe.
Chapter 4.
Summary: There are always consequences.
Setting: Post-NFA.
Rating: Mild R.
Pairings: S/B/A.
Word count: Just under 1600 words.
Feedback: Would be brilliant! Ta!
Disclaimer: I am not Joss and do not own these characters! [/obvious]
Chapter 3
The next morning Buffy spent a good while just observing her sleeping vampires.
It felt like a weird kind of déjà vu, her memories of the morning she'd found them overlapping with the now. But the sheer shock of finding both had overshadowed any other considerations, and she’d not wanted to upset the delicate balance they maintained, by poking around where they didn’t want her, figuring they’d open up eventually.
Well that strategy sure had worked out great.
When Spike - as usual the first to wake - slowly came to life, blinking against the brightness, she was sitting on the sofa above him, a cup of tea cradled in her hands and her face as expressionless as she could make it.
Seeing her he smiled, sleepy-eyed but happy, since mornings had by default ended up as ‘their time’, and more often than not she’d bring him a cup of blood. Well this morning was going to be different.
“Good morning... Special Boy,” she said, pointedly, and for a few seconds he stared at her completely blankly.
Then he took in Angel’s still sleeping form, noting his arms around him, before his hand flew to his neck and the still visible bite marks from last night.
He looked back up at her, unable to find an expression to fit.
“Oh bollocks,” he whispered. “Did you see...”
“Oh yeah,” she replied.
Looking horrified he started to shake his head, and then winced in pain.
“Fuck, my head hurts.”
“Good,” she said callously, and smiled.
Then, after taking a thoughtful sip of her tea, she asked, “Does he often call you William?”
He stared at her, trying to work out where she was going with this, and then understood that just answering questions was his job for now.
“Mostly just when he’s very drunk,” he answered, sighing. “Things... names... the past and the present... they... blur.”
She considered this for a moment. “Was that what happened last night - too much drink?”
He held her eyes for a second, before suddenly lowering his eyes, swallowing.
“It always blurs... with the two of us. Ever since the first time, it just...” He stopped, studying at his hands, obviously trying to find the right words and wishing that he didn’t.
“We are different than we were back then, but the things we do... the things we want... they’re the same. We didn’t - we didn’t want you to have to deal with that.”
As he tried to sit up and get a bit more comfortable, Angel grunted and tightened his hold, before mumbling a very distinct, “Stay!”
“Sorry Peaches, but...” Spike was unable to continue, and instead shook Angel’s shoulder.
Angel grimaced, his head obviously in as bad a state as Spike’s, but with great effort opened his eyes. And froze.
Looking from Buffy to Spike and back again, Buffy could not remember seeing him more bewildered and worried (which was saying something). He sat up, quickly letting go of Spike, who just shrugged.
“Don’t bother. Apparently she saw the whole thing last night.”
Angel stared at him. “She... saw?”
Spike nodded carefully.
“What do you mean saw?”
“I mean front row in the Vampire Sexcapades.”
It was good that vampires couldn’t hyperventilate, because otherwise Angel would probably have passed out.
“And... she wants some answers,” Spike continued, “What with the-” he lightly touched the bite mark, and Angel closed his eyes.
“Oh God.”
Buffy took another sip of tea, but it didn’t seem to have the same steeling effect it did on Giles. But they didn’t know that...
“Yeah, don’t think God’s listening. Spike? You once told me that you seduced Angel, but you wouldn’t tell me how. Or why. Or anything about you two. And last night...”
She folded both hands around the cup, suddenly feeling very small and lonely. “You didn’t want me - you just wanted each other.”
Angel opened his mouth, but she cut him off.
“Apparently Spike is your ‘special, pretty boy’, care to elaborate on that?”
“I... he...”
Angel looked from Spike to her and back again, clearly contemplating the benefits of a stroll in the early morning sun, which caused Spike to roll his eyes and, ignoring Angel’s mute protest, finally started talking.
“Right - you know when I ran away before Christmas? The reason behind it - what I almost...”
She nodded. There was no reason to name it. Spike sighed.
“Well... he nearly ran away when I first tried to get him into bed. You see...” he shot Angel a look, and the other looked back, pleading. Holding Angel’s eyes Spike kept speaking.
“The thing is that with him and me it wasn’t just one time, and it wasn’t just almost... There were years of fucked-up mess that we had to deal with...”
Buffy looked from one to the other, trying to fit her head around what Spike had said. And then it hit her.
“You... Oh. He rap-”
Her hand flew to her mouth, and Angel was obviously near to running away, judging by the expression on his face. Spike shrugged, and turned back to her.
“Worst vampire on record - you don’t get that reputation by asking for things nicely. You take what you want and you use every trick in the book to make sure you’re top dog. And... I didn’t make it easy for him.”
He smiled, lifting an eyebrow, but Buffy wasn’t able to meet his grin with a smile of her own, and apparently neither was Angel.
Spike sighed again. “You asked. And don't go feelin' sorry for me, I was killing people for fun and deserved far worse than I got. As for how I seduced him, then it’s very straightforward - I quite simply gave him permission to do anything he wants.”
He stopped briefly, studying Angel, blue eyes unflinching and contemplative.
“No safewords, no holding back, no disobedience. As ‘m sure you’ve noticed he’s a domineering control freak.”
She nodded, remembering the rope. It all made sense, finally.
“Goes both ways of course,” he continued, the look on his face once more inscrutable. “Let’s just say that living with the kinda sins we carry around makes us somewhat gluttons for punishment.”
“I... see.”
Oh she saw. Saw Angel waiting for the sunrise; saw Spike begging her to stake him; saw the flip side too - the near-uncontrollable passion that lay so close beneath the surface.
Add the two together and... you got everything squared. Lust and guilt and pain feeding off each other in a never ending circle... It brought up deeply uncomfortable memories from Christmas, and the sense of betrayal raised its head again. She’d thought they’d taken a step forwards then.
“But - why didn’t you tell me before? I mean it’s not like I’ve been holding back, and I asked you to share. Why... why didn’t you?”
There was a long pause.
“Because it’s nothing to do with you,” Angel said, tight-lipped, and the urge to kill things suddenly returned with a vengeance.
“Oh you have got to be kidding me! I mean, I know that none of us is exactly brilliant at sharing, or relationships, but we are all in this together and that means that what happened between you two has everything to do with me. Especially now the elephant in the corner got drunk and trampled all over the flat... You know last night was, like, the single worst way I could have found out, right? So from now on I want everything out in the open, understood?”
She shook her head angrily.
“God I thought we were over this.”
“Buffy-” Angel began, in that calm, lecturing voice that always grated, and she immediately cut him off.
“Don’t ‘Buffy’ me! Remember I told you that I want it all. That includes you two... y’know... which, by the way, is really, really hot. Well apart from the bite-y thing, but we’ll... work on that, OK?”
Angel looked like continuing his lecture, and she held up a hand.
“Unless the next words out of your mouth are ‘Yes Buffy’ don’t bother answering.”
“Yes Buffy,” Spike deadpanned, and she had to bite back a smile. They would make it work, because she wasn’t willing to accept any alternatives.
“Look, what Angel was tryin’ to say-” he added, but before he could get any further the phone rang.
Caught between relief and annoyance, Buffy picked it up.
“Buffy?” Dawn’s voice was almost vibrating with excitement, “Faith’s back!”
“Huh? But... I thought she was in South America?”
“Willow teleported her back. And she and Giles are totally having a huge fight in his office!”
The glee was so palpable that Buffy could almost touch it, and she grinned.
“I’m on my way.”
Putting down the phone she looked from vampire to vampire.
“We’ll continue this later, OK?”
“Yes Buffy,” Angel said, and she smiled.
He didn’t smile back, but she was too busy calling a cab and finding her purse and coat to notice.
When she left shortly afterwards, Spike and Angel still hadn’t moved.
But she deliberately pushed them out of her mind. She needed a break, and she was sure they could work things out. After all, if she and Spike could forgive each other - if she could come to terms with Angel’s actions as CEO - then surely it was possible to overcome this latest obstacle too, right?
***
The door closed behind her, and for a long moment silence reigned in the flat.
“We shouldn’t have come here,” Angel finally said.
Spike looked away, avoiding Angel’s eyes, and didn’t reply.
Bloody absinthe.
Chapter 4.