Title: Bite Down
Author: Pattyanne
snapkik@yahoo.com
Summary: Buffy has a dental
appointment, but she hates going
to the dentist. Guess who gets roped
into taking her?
Part One: Wednesday evening.
"Hi..thanks for coming so soon."
Joyce smiled as she pulled the door open
wide.
"No problem," Spike replied, stepping into
the foyer. "What's up?"
"Come into the kitchen," she said softly. "Buffy's
upstairs and I don't want her to hear us talking."
Placing her hands on his shoulders, she
began nudging him in the direction she
wanted him to go.
After pulling two chairs away from the
kitchen table, Joyce sat down. "There's
beer in the fridge," she said. "Help your-
self."
"All right...you want one?"
Joyce declined and waited for him to
sit down.
"So," he said, popping the cap off the
bottle of beer. "What's with all the cloak
and dagger?"
"I need you to do me a favor."
Spike spoke without hesitation. "Name it."
The slayer's mother beamed at him, reminding
him once again that Buffy wasn't the
only Summers girl with a knock-out smile.
He liked Joyce, and he knew that despite
their initial introduction..when he'd found
himself on the business end of a fire
ax...she liked him too.
Joyce Summers always went out of her way
to be pleasant and friendly to him when-
ever he showed up at the door.
She had told him more than once how pleased
she was at the way his relationship with
Buffy had sorted itself out, and that she was
grateful to him for accompanying her on her
patrols of the cemeteries and back alleys
of Sunnydale.
Spike had spent a great deal of time and
a considerable amount of effort redeeming
himself in Buffy's eyes, and it had paid off.
Gradually, one baby step at a time, she had
begun to trust him, and they had become a
practiced and smooth working team, antici-
pating each other's moves and watching
each other's backs.
Of course, Buffy had downplayed their tur-
bulent beginning, and how fervently he'd
tried to kill her, figuring that the less her
mother knew about THAT, the better off
they would all be.
"Here's the thing," Joyce began. "I have
to go out of town for a few days, until
Sunday in fact, and Buffy has a dental
appointment on Friday."
"Mm-hmm," he nodded.
Joyce sighed. "The problem is that Buffy
hates going to the dentist, ever since she
was a child."
Spike grinned. The top gun slayer, one who
had gone toe-to-toe with more horrifying
monsters than you could shake a stick
at...scared to go to the dentist.
"The first time she went," Joyce contin-
ued, "the dentist had to extract two
abscessed teeth and she's never..."
"Forgiven him?" Spike ventured.
"Exactly."
"You want me to take her, then?"
"If it's not too much trouble." Joyce
favored him with another smile. "I'm
afraid that if I'm not here, she'll cancel
the appointment..or just not show up."
Spike tilted his chair onto it's back legs,
leaning against the wall. "You know I'll
do anything for you, Joyce, but don't you
think she'd rather have one of her friends
take her?"
Joyce pinned a level gaze on him. "You're
one of her friends..aren't you?"
He hesitated.
WAS he one of her friends..JUST a
friend..or was he something more?
He wanted to be something more. Wanted
it more than he'd ever wanted anything.
But 'wanting' and 'getting' were two totally
different things.
He'd WANTED for so long now that he
couldn't clearly remember NOT wanting,
as though it had always just been, and
always would be.
Wanting had become yearning..yearning
had become craving..and craving had
become needing.
Sometimes that need was unbearable,
almost physically painful.
These were the times when he had to isolate
himself from her, fearing that he might
buckle under the oppressive weight of his
need and simply take what he wanted..whe-
ther she offered it or not.
His desire for Buffy had been a constant
undercurrent when they had been enemies,
a secret he'd protected by burying it so
deeply into his subconscious mind that
even HE wasn't really aware of it.
Now that they were no longer enemies,
that desire had taken on a mind of it's
own. It was becoming difficult to control,
fraying at all it's seams.
**How long can you want and not have be-
fore you lose your mind, before you have
to turn your back and walk away forever?
How long can I put up with it?**
It was a valid question, and the answer was
as clear as glass; For as long as it takes.
Because there was no way that he could
EVER walk away from Buffy. No power on
earth could make him leave.
Not without her..
No matter how loudly his brain screamed
at him to put as much distance between
them as he could, his heart would never
allow it.
So, he would stay, and he would be her
friend. He would love her..and he would
protect her..he would do anything at all
for her.
Even if she never offered him anything
more than friendship.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Spike?"
He tuned back in to the conversation,
wondering how long he'd been gone
and what he had missed.
"I'm listening," he assured Joyce, setting
his chair back down on all four legs.
She gave him a doubtful look, then said, "The
reason I want YOU to take her is because..
well, because you're the only one strong
enough to MAKE her go...if it comes to that."
**MAKE her go? Strange way of putting it.**
"You aren't asking me just to drive her there,
are you?" he asked. "You want me to wrestle
her into the office, too."
"No! No, not at...um...yes," she finally
admitted. "But only if it's absolutely
necessary."
Spike paused. "You DO know that she's just
as strong as I am, don't you."
Joyce nodded.
"Well, what makes you think that I'll be able
to do what you want?"
"Let's just say that out of all her friends,
YOU have the best shot at it." She gazed
appealingly into Spike's eyes. "So, will
you help me?"
He looked at her, nodding his head in
surrender.
**Summers women...what is it about them
that makes me do anything they ask?**
"You know I will," he said. "Give me the
details."
Joyce reached into the back pocket of her
slacks and pulled out a business card.
"This is the address," she said, handing him
the card. "Her dentist has evening hours
on Friday so I made the appointment for
six o'clock."
"Sun will be down by then," Spike
said. "Good thinking."
"Even if it wasn't down, there's underground
parking and an elevator straight to the
office."
Spike's sharp ears detected the padding
of small feet coming down the stairs. He
slipped the appointment card into his
shirt pocket just as Buffy walked in to the
kitchen.
She looked surprised to see him, but
not displeased. "Hi," she said brightly. "How
come you're here?"
"I dropped in to see YOU, sunshine," he
replied, watching her open the refrigerator
door. "You patrolling tonight?"
Buffy sighed and opened a can of Coke. "What
else?" she shrugged.
"Fancy some company?"
"Sure," she answered without hesitating.
"Go and get your things, then," he said.
As Buffy turned and left the kitchen, Joyce
caught his eye and mouthed "Thank you",
giving him one last lovely smile.
**Oh, yeah...there's something about these
Summers women that gets me every damn
time.**
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mom...your cab's here." Buffy stood at
the bottom of the stairs, inspecting her
recent manicure. Without looking up she
hollered again. "MOM!!"
"I heard you the first time, Buffy," Joyce
scolded.
"Sorry." Buffy smiled, as she reached for
the suitcase in her mother's hand.
After stowing it in the trunk of the cab, she
threw her arms around Joyce and kissed
her cheek. "Have a safe trip."
"Before I go," Joyce said, pulling back to
look directly into Buffy's eyes, "do we need
to go over the rules again?"
"Nope," Buffy assured her. "Got all the rules
and regulations safely tucked away."
Joyce arched her brow, waiting.
Exasperated, Buffy rolled her eyes. "No parties,
no living on junk food, in bed by a reasonable
hour, remember to bring in the mail every day,
don't take candy from strangers, blah-blah-blah."
"Very amusing,"Joyce said, sounding anything
BUT amused.
"Mom...I KNOW the rules, okay? I'll be fine."
"I know you will, honey." As casually as she
could manage, Joyce added, "Don't forget about
your check up on Friday."
"Right. Like I even COULD forget with your
little hints every half hour. Not to mention the
big ' X marks the spot ' you drew on the cal-
ender. Kind of overdoing it, don't you think?"
"No," Joyce replied. "I don't." She opened the
door of the cab and got in.
"I'm not a baby, you know," Buffy said irritably.
"Don't worry about me."
Her mother smiled. "I beg your pardon, but
you're MY baby...and it's my job to worry
about everything when it comes to you..in-
cluding your teeth."
Buffy closed the cab door with a loud
clunk, hoping for a quick get away, then
sighed when her mom rolled down the win-
dow.
"I'm serious, Buffy. You're already three
months overdue for this check up."
"You'd better get going, Mom. You're gonna
miss your flight or something."
"Buffy..."
"I won't forget!" Buffy said loudly. "Geez, what
do I have to do? Slit open a vein and sign it
in blood?"
She leaned down to kiss her mother goodbye
again, then stood back and watched as the
cab pulled away.
When it turned the corner, she smiled and
pulled a cell phone out of the pocket of her
overalls.
"Hi, it's me..She just left..Play time, boys and
girls..What's that supposed to mean?..I said
that I KNEW the rules, not that I would FOLLOW
them..You worry too much for someone your
age..."
Still chatting, she went back into the house
and closed the door.
TBC....
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