Title: season IV – Sequel to Her Last Request -- Promises Kept
Rating NC-17
Word Count – 29,000
AU season IV – Incorporates some story elements from the show
Disclaimer – Everybody belongs to Joss Whedon and ME
Distribution – Let me know. Please don’t take it without its prequel!
Comments – Spike returns to Sunnydale to help Buffy defeat Adam. Will the Scoobies accept him? (This story is totally non-canon and will make much more sense if you’ve read “Her Last Request” first!)
Promises Kept
Prologue:
Buffy looked at the cell phone number written in beautiful script on the post card in front of her and bit her lip. The card with the phone number had come in the mail over two years ago, just a month after Spike had kept his promise to leave Sunnydale but to keep in touch with her. The message on the card was short and cryptic. It just said, “Anytime” and was signed with an ornate “W”. Underneath the initial was a drawing of a heart with what appeared to be a wooden stake through it. The “W” had puzzled Buffy for a minute until she remembered that Spike’s real name was William.
While she hadn’t felt the need to use the phone number on the card to call for help (until now, anyway), she did take it out and look at it occasionally. Usually after a particularly unsatisfactory romantic entanglement.
She dated when she could; had even tried seeing a souled vampire who came to Sunnydale to help her out for a while, but no one seemed able to hold her interest for long. She found that the men she dated couldn’t handle what she was if they knew. And keeping them in the dark about her slayer responsibilities didn’t work any better, as the strain of constantly lying about what she was doing, not to mention the frequent broken dates if there was a crisis, were hard on a relationship.
And, if she was honest with herself, none of them could compare with her memories of her first lover. She idly wondered if he had really been that much better than the two or three she’d tried since then, or if she had romanticized the experience until it bore no resemblance to reality.
Her latest boyfriend, a really nice guy from the Midwest, had accepted her calling, and in fact, seemed interested in it and so far, not intimidated. Of course, she could tell he didn’t really “get it” and thought she just was just a very athletic girl who knew how to dust vampires. Her friends liked him, but she could tell her watcher distrusted his interest in what they did and his apparent connection to the commandos they were investigating.
Just when she was beginning a relationship with a new boyfriend probably wasn’t the best time to be bringing Spike back to Sunnydale; but she was really not making much progress against Adam by herself and she knew she was going to need major help when she finally took him on again.
She sighed and put the card away for the time being and got up to go to the night’s Scoobie meeting.
Riley insisted on accompanying her to the meeting, which put a bit of a crimp in the conversation until he finally said with an exasperated sigh, “Look, I know there’s something going on here. And I know you,” he looked pointedly at Buffy, “think it’s your job to handle it. But there are other options. There are other people working on this. You can just relax and forget it.” He looked at Buffy again and then around the circle at her friends and watcher – clearly expecting them to be relieved. He was surprised when Giles just shook his head and took off his glasses to polish them.
Buffy laughed humorlessly, then said, “I’m afraid ‘relax and forget about it’ isn’t included in the Slayer handbook, Riley.”
The big man engaged in a brief glaring contest with her, then said, “Giles, surely you see the sense in it? She doesn’t need to risk her life. We – I mean, they – someone else can handle this thing, whatever it is.”
Buffy rolled her eyes and tried once more to explain about what a Slayer is, what she does, and that she is chosen. “Riley, my participation isn’t optional. Being the Slayer isn’t what I DO; it’s what I AM! “
Riley appealed silently to Giles only to find her watcher in complete agreement with Buffy.
“She’s right, Riley. Any activities that take place on the hellmouth are Buffy’s responsibility. She’s also,” he added, “probably the most qualified to deal with supernatural forces.”
Riley glared at Giles for a minute. “I thought your job was to keep her from harm’s way? What exactly do you do if not that?”
Giles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Unfortunately, it is my job to place her in harm’s way – on a nightly basis. With as much assistance as I can offer, of course. But meeting the Big Bads is what Buffy was Chosen to do. It is her destiny.”
“Destiny, apocalypse, supernatural – I’m sick of all this mumbo jumbo. These sub terrestrials are just particularly nasty animals and all it takes to find and subdue them is technology and firepower.” Riley paused for breath. “How can you possibly think you’ll do a better job with swords and pointed sticks?” He threw his hands up in exasperation.
Giles’ usually mild demeanor faded and the Ripper emerged for a second or two. In a calm tone, belied by his posture and the look on his face, Giles asked quietly, “How many ‘sub-terrestrials’ have you and your friends…” at Riley’s start of surprise, everyone laughed. “…killed this week?”
Riley puffed his chest out and said proudly, “We captured one demon and two vampires.” He looked confused and annoyed when everyone except Buffy laughed again. Buffy looked uncomfortable and when Giles asked her, “Buffy, how many vamps did you slay last night?” she look apologetically at Riley before mumbling, “Six vamps and a Thedr demon.”
Riley goggled at her for a second, then recovered his swagger. “Well, I’m sure that wasn’t an ordinary…” his voice trailed off as everyone snickered again.
He shrugged and admitted defeat. “Ok, so your methods work too.” He shifted his weight uncomfortably for a minute, then asked, “How did you know….?”
“We’re not stupid, Riley.” Buffy said coldly. “It’s our job to know everything going on at the Hellmouth; including the arrival of mysterious commandos who hang around campus pretending to be frat boys.”
Riley looked embarrassed for a moment, then heaved a sigh of relief. “Well, I’m glad that cat’s out of the bag. I’m just not cut out for this undercover stuff. More of a take ‘em on head first kinda guy.”
“Undercover?” Buffy asked carefully. “You are investigating us?”
Riley just barely picked up the dangerous tone in her voice.
“Is that why you’re dating me? To learn about us?”
Looking extremely uncomfortable by this time, he studied the toes of his shoes for several seconds before he could meet her eyes. “Well, yes, sort of, at first. But not now!” He paused and asked plaintively, “Could we talk about this somewhere privately?”
“I really don’t think I want to talk to you right now, Riley.” Buffy said coldly. “You’d probably better just go.”
After he had slunk out the door as best someone his size could, Buffy shook her head and said ruefully, “ Well, the Buffy Summers romance machine is in fine form again.”
The only one who didn’t groan in agreement was Xander.
“Buff? I think he really likes you – and it couldn’t hurt to have some help this time, could it?”
Giles nodded his head and said, “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Xander on this, but he may be right. Perhaps this isn’t something you should try to face alone.”
“I don’t plan to do it alone,” Buffy said softly. She offered no explanation for her cryptic comment, just picked up her jacket and walked out the door.
The small blonde girl sat beside the phone in her room, looking at the card in her hand. Then she let out the breath she had been holding and picked up the phone.
There were several rings on the other end and she was just about to hang up when a familiar British voice said “What?”
“Spike?” Buffy asked uncertainly.
“Slayer.” The reply was gruff, but she could tell he was smiling. “What’s up, love?”
“I…..I need you. I mean, I need your help wi—“ She was interrupted by his terse, “Two days.”
“What? To what?”
“Two days, love. I’ll be there in two days.”
“Oh – OK, I’ll see you then – in two days.” She paused, started to speak, then changed her mind.
“Somethin’ else, pet?” he asked gently.
“No, I guess….no, nothing. I just…. ” (I missed you!) “It’s good to hear your voice again. That’s all.” She was blushing furiously and was glad he couldn’t see her.
He didn’t reply immediately, then said quietly, “I missed you too, Buffy. (You have no idea how much) “I’ll be there as quickly as I can. Wait for me, love. Don’t do anything heroic and stupid before I get there.”
“I won’t.” she promised softly.
She carefully put the phone down on its base and gnawed on her finger. “This is either the smartest thing I’ve ever done, or the dumbest”, she mumbled. “Well, it’s done now. All I can do is wait till he gets here and see what happens.” She tried to ignore the feeling of anticipation and excitement that she felt knowing Spike would be back in Sunnydale soon, but her body was tingling all over and knew her face was flushed. “Great, at this rate, I’ll be a basket case by the time he gets here.”
Chapter One:
Giles tried several times to question her about her comments at the meeting, but she just put him off with an “I don’t want to talk about it yet. I’ll let you know when you need to know.”
She didn’t see Riley again and was grateful she didn’t have class with Professor Walsh the rest of the week. The second night after her phone call finally arrived and she was dithering so much over her hair and clothes that Willow finally said, “Buffy? Are you going patrolling or on a date?”
With a guilty start, Buffy stopped fussing with her hair and replied, “Oh, just patrolling. That’s all. But you never know who I might run into. I might meet a hot vampire, or…”
“Eeew!” Willow responded. “Do you think you might see Riley? Is that why you’re so nervous?”
“Oh! Riley! Yes, that’s it. I might see Riley and it would be good to see him, because….because….we need to know what they’re doing.” She was giddy with relief at having an acceptable explanation for her behavior, although the truth was, Riley hadn’t crossed her mind since her phone conversation with Spike. She wasn’t even sure if they were still together or not.
With a final coat of lip-gloss, Buffy dashed out the door and onto the campus. It then occurred to her that Spike didn’t even know she was in college now and might have a hard time finding her. While she worried over where he might be and if she should go to her home on Revello Drive so that he could locate her easily, she ran into Riley and a group of his commandos skulking through the woods around the campus.
“Buffy!” He seemed genuinely glad to see her and stopped immediately. “Buffy, I’m sorry about the other day. I really am. We need to talk, I need to explain-“
“It’s OK, Riley.” Buffy reassured him, while her eyes darted around the woods. “Hey, I’m patrolling here, so why don’t you guys go….somewhere else?” she asked brightly.
Riley studied her carefully. “So, we’re OK, then?” he asked hesitantly as he watched her look around nervously. “Cause, I could…”
“No, no, we’re fine. We’ll patrol – I mean, I’ll patrol and you’ll patrol, but in different places. And then, maybe later, or tomorrow, we’ll talk. OK?” she was practically babbling in her eagerness to get rid of him. She could feel her Slayer senses tingling and she knew it was Spike. He was somewhere nearby.
“Well,” Riley hesitated again, “we’re sort of tracking something. Probably a vampire – the heat sensors tell us it’s too cool to be human.”
Just as he finished speaking, Spike stepped out of the shadows and began striding toward them, his leather duster billowing out behind him. He was glaring at Riley, and, although he wasn’t in game face, his eyes were flickering yellow as he strode toward them purposefully.
“There it is, Finn,” shouted one of the soldiers as he brought a weapon up to point at Spike.
“Oh!” Buffy gasped. “Oh, one vamp – no problem, guys. I’ve got him. You go on.” As she spoke, she tackled Spike to the ground and hissed in his ear, “Stay down! Please!” He gave her a startled look, but relaxed and allowed her to sit up and turn to look at Riley. She raised a stake over Spike’s chest and said cheerily, “See? I’ve got him. He’ll be dust in a second. Why don’t you guys go find some other vamps or demons?”
The soldiers looked at Riley for direction, and after staring at Buffy where she was sitting on Spike’s stomach holding her stake over his chest (and frowning at the way her short skirt had ridden up her thighs), he said uncertainly, “OK, stand down, guys. Looks like the Slayer has everything under control here. Let’s go.” As they moved off, he kept looking over his shoulder and wondering why Buffy hadn’t dusted the vampire yet.
When they were no longer in sight and she couldn’t hear them anymore, Buffy relaxed and started to lean forward.
(Am I going to kiss him? Is he going to kiss me?)
Spike stopped her with a hand to her chest and whispered, “They’re not all gone, love, I can hear a heartbeat. Besides yours,” he grinned as his thumb caressed the area between her breasts sending her heart pounding.
She shook his hand off and grumbled, “Damn! How am I going to get out of staking you now?”
“I’m going to use my supernatural strength and speed to escape,” he smirked at her. “And you can try to catch me again. Ready, pet?” he asked and tensed his body. Instead of answering, Buffy became lost in the feel of his hard abdomen against her thong-covered crotch. Unconsciously, she slid backwards toward his hips and tightened the grip of her thighs to hold him still.
He groaned as he felt the heat from her body causing the familiar reaction. “Uh, uh, Slayer, none of that. I need to keep my mind on what I’m doing here. Don’t want to really hurt you, you know.”
She blushed hotly and relaxed her legs. “Sorry” she whispered. “I just…” Suddenly he was in vamp face and she went flying off as he bounced to his feet. He gave her a wink, then turned and sprinted off at a speed no ordinary human could match.
The Slayer jumped to her feet, sputtering in outrage, then took off after him. As she vanished from the area, Riley stood up from behind the bush where he had been watching and looked after them in bemusement.
This is the girl who stakes five or six vampires a night? Why didn’t she stake him when she had the chance?)
Buffy ran as fast as she could and eventually she spotted a bright blond head turning into an empty building. She stopped when she got inside the dark building and cast her Slayer senses around. She could feel him in there and knew he was close, but even her Slayer enhanced eyes couldn’t quite see in the pitch-dark room without time to adjust. Suddenly arms that felt made out of steel pinioned her and she felt sharp teeth graze her neck as he whispered, “The Big Bad has you now, Slayer.”
“Mmmmm” she murmured as her knees went weak and she allowed herself to sag against him. She closed her eyes and leaned into him as he continued to kiss and lick her neck and earlobe.
For several seconds he just held her, inhaling her scent, running his lips and tongue up and down her neck and growling softly. Buffy eventually roused herself enough to turn around in his embrace and nuzzle his neck. He slipped his arms down around her waist and sighed.
“Hey, Big Bad. I missed you,” she said shyly, snuggling into his embrace.
“I missed you, too, love.” He said, pulling her tightly against his chest. “I missed you, too.”
He planted a gentle kiss on her forehead and loosened his grip, stepping back a little and looking at her quizzically. “So, what’s got you hollering for help, Slayer?”
Buffy reacted with surprise and disappointment at his suddenly “all business” attitude, but hiding her hurt as best she could, she stepped back also and said, “I really hated to bother you, (liar, liar, pants on fire) but you said –“
“I said that you were to call me whenever you ran up against something that you thought you couldn’t handle alone. If that’s why you called me, then you did right.”
“Yeah, I know. But I’m the Slayer and I hate asking for help. I should be able to handle this.” She turned away slightly so he wouldn’t see the disappointment on her face.
(And what was I expecting? To be ravished on the spot?)
A voice in her head insisted that was exactly what she was expecting.
Using every ounce of control he’d developed in his one hundred plus years as a vampire, Spike resisted the urge to crush her against his chest and kiss her unconscious. As much as he wanted to hold her and make love to her, he also wanted to know what they were facing and who the man was she had been talking to when he found her. He was slightly embarrassed at his jealous reaction when he saw them talking, but their body language and what he heard of the conversation told him they had some kind of relationship. He wasn’t about to let on how much he wanted this girl (woman, she’s a woman now) until he had some idea where he stood with her.
“Well, there are two things, apparently. The one I called you about is a monster that seems to be part man, part demon and part machine. We don’t know where he came from but he is very powerful; much stronger than me. So far nothing we’ve come up with seems to hurt him. He is gathering vamps and demons in the caves under the town and we think he’s planning a take-over of Sunnydale as soon as his army is big enough. I’ve been slaying as many as I can every night, but they keep coming. I just can’t get them all.” She stopped and her shoulders slumped. For the first time, he noticed the circles under her eyes and how worn-down she looked.
“Not getting’ much sleep, are you, Slayer?” he asked gently.
She just shook her head “No” and tried to stand up straighter. “It’s OK.” She said in her perkiest voice. “I don’t need that much sleep. Really!”
The vampire put his hands in his pockets so as to resist the urge to fold her in his arms. Instead, he put on his most casual expression and asked, “And the soldier boys?”
“They’re the other thing,” she admitted. “It’s some kind of secret government agency sent here to fight demons. But they don’t kill them; they usually just capture them. We haven’t been able to find out where they take them or why they want them.”
“Just demons?” he raised his eyebrow at her.
“Pretty much – they usually just kill the vamps.” She looked at him apologetically.
“And Captain America?” he looked at her intently. Buffy looked away and stumbled over her words as she said, “Well, Riley, he’s..uh…we were…but we’re not…at least I don’t think….” She raised her head defiantly (I have a right to a life!) “He is, or was, my boyfriend. We just got him to admit that he’s part of that group the night I called you. It turns out he started dating me to find out more about me. But now…..”
“Now he’s in love with you.” The vampire said flatly.
“I guess. I don’t know. We need to talk about it.” She peered at him through her hair to see what his reaction would be. A pang of something she chose not to identify went through her chest as he just shrugged and said casually, “Well, makes sense he’d fall in love with you. I can understand that, Slayer.” He looked at her intently and held her eyes with his as he asked, “Do you love him?”
Buffy felt herself falling into those incredible blue eyes and tried to form an answer that wouldn’t make them go away.
“I don’t know. I guess I could. Maybe I was starting to – it’s complicated. He lied to me – and he was spying on us – and….”.(give me a reason not to love him) her eyes pleaded.
For just a second, Spike went into game face and snarled. He pushed the demon back and was quickly wearing his beautiful human face, but Buffy had seen the reaction and her heart skipped happily.
(He cares, he does care).
“So,” he said with a growl, “he lied to you, spied on you, and is involved with a secret military operation that’s trampling around on your territory. Want me to kill him for you, Slayer?” he asked, half-seriously.
“What! Oh, no. God, no!” her panicked response made him grin, and she punched him lightly on the arm. “Stop that! I thought you were serious.”
He stopped grinning and reached for her, pulling her close enough to touch her forehead with his. “If he ever hurts you….” he rumbled, “you’ll see how serious I am.”
(Ok, a vampire is talking about killing my boyfriend for me. Why is that making me happy?)
“Spike,” she said very seriously, “I want you to stay as far away from Riley and his men as you can get. To them you’re just another vampire. They’ll dust you or capture you, and I couldn’t…..” She stepped closer to him and looked up at him with fearful eyes. “and I couldn’t live with myself if I brought you here and something happened to you.”
“Why not, Slayer? What do you care what happens to an evil vampire?”
(Tell me, love. Please tell me.)
(Because it would break my heart)
“Well, it would be my fault. And that’s just…wrong. And I need you to help me fight Adam!”
A fleeting expression of disappointment flickered across his face as he stepped back and said coldly, “Well, don’t worry about it. Big Bad, here, remember? I can take care of myself.” Changing the subject quickly, he asked, “So, where’s this robot/demon/man hang out? And his name is Adam? Sounds like a right ponce.”
“That’s what he calls himself. We really don’t know much about him. But I think Riley does – he was really angry that I wasn’t going to back off and leave him to them.”
Pushing back his demon, Spike managed to say, “Well, you obviously need to get back into the soldier boy’s good graces so you can find out what he knows then.”
“Yes, I suppose I do. I’ll see him tomorrow and try to get him to tell me more about it. Now that he knows we know about the Initiative, maybe he’ll be more honest about what they’re doing there.”
They stood uncomfortably for several minutes, neither one wanting to leave, but both afraid to say or do anything that might invite a rejection.
(I guess he doesn’t want me any more – I probably wasn’t very good the first time. He’s just honoring his promise to help me).
Buffy tried to hide her disappointment behind chatter about the Scoobies and Giles.
(She’s grown up, moved on with her life. Got a boyfriend. Probably disgusted with herself for what she did with me. Just called me cause she needed muscle).
Spike tried to swallow his disappointment but his demon was screaming for Riley’s blood.
They talked as they walked back toward her dorm. The tension between them was so strong it practically vibrated the air. The vampire kept his hands jammed into the pocket of his duster; the Slayer kept hers busy twirling a stake.
Just before they got to the door they heard a scream and Buffy rushed into the darkened alley behind the building.
“Willow!” she cried as she waded into the pack of vampires surrounding her friend. She staked two of them and was busy fighting two others when she saw the two holding Willow begin to drag her away. She quickly kicked one of the vamps off and dusted the other as she flipped past him. Suddenly, the two trying to escape were stopped by the sight of a blond master vampire blocking the way.
“Spike!” Willow squeaked, sure she was going from the frying pan to the fire.
“Hi, Red,” he grinned. “How’s it going?”
“Um, can’t complain. Well, except for these two guys - ow!” she said as one of them tried to pull her around Spike. It hurt her arm because the vamp holding her other arm was frozen to the ground with Spike’s hand around his throat. The older vampire continued squeezing as he lifted him off the ground, until he had squeezed through the neck and the head popped off, leaving a drifting cloud of dust. The one holding her gawked at Spike, then shoved Willow at him. “Here, if you want her, you take her,” he said and ran off. The blond vampire caught her easily and set her gently back on her feet.
Willow was eyeing Spike warily as Buffy ran up to them and she moved quickly to put Buffy between her and Spike. She noticed that Buffy wasn’t surprised to see Spike and also didn’t seem inclined to stake him.
“Uh, Buffy?” she nudged her. “That’s Spike. Shouldn’t you be doing something about him?”
“Well, you’re the one he saved Will. I think you should be the one to thank him: She giggled at Willow’s expression then nodded her head at Spike and said, “I’m serious, Willow.”
“Er, um, thank you, Spike,” Willow sputtered out, shaking her head.
“Anytime, Red.” He smirked at her. “Anytime I’m not hungry, anyway….hey!” he laughed as Willow cringed away and Buffy punched his arm.
“Stop that! You’re scaring her. Willow, he’s not going to hurt you – he’s kidding.” She looked at him anxiously, “You are kidding, right? You aren’t going to eat any of my friends, are you?”
“No pet, the Scoobies are safe from me.” He assured her.
Willow was looking back and forth between the two blonds, trying to figure out what was going on and why Buffy and her mortal enemy suddenly seemed to be friends.
“Uh, Buffy? Am I in some alternate dimension? Why is Spike not eating us?”
Buffy and Spike looked at each other and he tilted his head and said softly, “You explain, pet.”
“He’s here to help me, Will. With Adam. I’ll explain it tomorrow, when we’re all together.”
“All?” he raised his eyebrow at her.
Buffy flushed and said, “I want everyone to see you with me. So they believe you’re here to help us.”
Willow watched in complete befuddlement. Buffy and Spike –not trying to kill each other. Spike snarking, but not in a mean way. Buffy hitting him – but more in play than like a Slayer. Shaking her head, she said, “I can’t wait to hear this explanation. But I’m going in now. Good night Buffy.” She paused, “Good night, Spike. And, thank you again.”
“My pleasure, Red. See you tomorrow night.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Here is the multi-chaptered story that grew out of my little pwp. You will notice that I've played a bit fast and loose with the season IV timeline so as to give Adam more time to grow into a Bid Bad. I'm sorry if that offends any purists...