Tooth and Nail
Title: Tooth and Nail
Prompt: Christmas Shopping
Timeline: who knows?
Disclaimer: still not mine, alas
"I've got a plan."
Buffy and Spike were cramped knee to elbow in the jam-packed crowd. Tensions were high. Exhausted faces scowled above paper cups of coffee. It would be hours yet before the sun rose.
"We'll run along the South balcony while it's still open. Then we'll double back past the fountain, and cut through the arcade. And if anybody gets in our way--"
"I'll kill 'em." Spike nodded.
"No killing!"
"You take all the fun out of it, love."
"Spike, these are innocent people trying to do their Christmas shopping."
"I know a mob when I see one," he answered grimly. "That bloke," he tipped his head toward a bloodshot shopper in a denim jacket, "started drinking at Thanksgiving dinner and hasn't stopped yet." That bird over there," he shrugged at a business-suited woman talking into a cell phone, "Plans to scarf all the discount Italian shoes and sell 'em on eBay. This could get vicious." He grinned at the thought.
A security guard appeared inside the mall doorway, his head obscured by the BLACK FRIDAY SALE sign. The eager crowd surged forward.
"If someone's stealing can I kill him?"
"No."
"Cutting in line?"
"No!"
"Grabbing the last of those electronic do-dads Dawn wants?"
"N... Absolutely not."
"Guess I'll have to settle for eating Santa, then."
"What??" The doors opened and Buffy took a death grip on Spike's coat to keep from being separated.
"He's a demon, didn't you know? Nobody could be that jolly with brats peeing on his lap."
"Only if he tries to hurt one of them. And not in front of the kids!" Elbows linked, they barreled through the crowd toward the South wing. Spike eyed the Victoria's Secret window as they passed. There would be time enough to sneak back while Buffy waited in line. He knew just the thing to get her.
Prompt: Christmas Shopping
Timeline: who knows?
Disclaimer: still not mine, alas
"I've got a plan."
Buffy and Spike were cramped knee to elbow in the jam-packed crowd. Tensions were high. Exhausted faces scowled above paper cups of coffee. It would be hours yet before the sun rose.
"We'll run along the South balcony while it's still open. Then we'll double back past the fountain, and cut through the arcade. And if anybody gets in our way--"
"I'll kill 'em." Spike nodded.
"No killing!"
"You take all the fun out of it, love."
"Spike, these are innocent people trying to do their Christmas shopping."
"I know a mob when I see one," he answered grimly. "That bloke," he tipped his head toward a bloodshot shopper in a denim jacket, "started drinking at Thanksgiving dinner and hasn't stopped yet." That bird over there," he shrugged at a business-suited woman talking into a cell phone, "Plans to scarf all the discount Italian shoes and sell 'em on eBay. This could get vicious." He grinned at the thought.
A security guard appeared inside the mall doorway, his head obscured by the BLACK FRIDAY SALE sign. The eager crowd surged forward.
"If someone's stealing can I kill him?"
"No."
"Cutting in line?"
"No!"
"Grabbing the last of those electronic do-dads Dawn wants?"
"N... Absolutely not."
"Guess I'll have to settle for eating Santa, then."
"What??" The doors opened and Buffy took a death grip on Spike's coat to keep from being separated.
"He's a demon, didn't you know? Nobody could be that jolly with brats peeing on his lap."
"Only if he tries to hurt one of them. And not in front of the kids!" Elbows linked, they barreled through the crowd toward the South wing. Spike eyed the Victoria's Secret window as they passed. There would be time enough to sneak back while Buffy waited in line. He knew just the thing to get her.