Spuffy. PG-13
Home
Spike was still asking questions to the real estate agent, and
Buffy let them walk ahead of her, listening only distractedly to the
conversation. She liked the place; it was spacious, well lit, and the
neighborhood seemed nice. But she had also liked the previous five
buildings they had visited and couldn’t really see what made this one
any different from the others.
At first, she had thought that she would hunt for the New Council
headquarters by herself, since so far, Spike had not seemed very
interested in her efforts to resurrect the Watchers’ Council under
Giles’ long distance guidance. But he had tagged along when she went to
visit potential buildings; and eventually, he had taken over,
dismissing building after building for obscure reasons. She had let him
do as he pleased, too glad to see him taking an interest in her job to
rebuke him. She had hinted more than once already that a place on the
payroll was his if he wanted it, but he hadn’t accepted her offer. He
had vaguely hinted at an offer Angel had made to him months before,
which had implied a lot more hand-to-hand action and much less
paperwork. It also implied frequent trips for either him or her, and
she wasn’t exactly pleased by the prospect; she couldn’t fault him for
being interested, though, she sometimes missed patrolling, as
incredible as it seemed. But so far, he hadn’t refused either to work
for the Council, so she still had hope.
“Luv? You want to take a few shots to email Giles and see what he thinks of it?”
The agent excused himself to take a phone call, and Buffy pulled out the digital camera from her purse.
“Go ahead,” she said as she offered it to Spike. “I’m sure you know what you want to show him.”
He grinned as he took the camera, and started taking what seemed like random pictures as he walked around, Buffy at his side.
“This would make a great training room. Mats on the floor, equipment over there, weapons on this wall.”
As he described it, she could almost see the ballroom through his eyes,
transformed and full of training Slayers and Watchers. A corridor led
them to a suite of several rooms.
“Offices. Shouldn’t be too hard to wire a network together.”
She rolled her eyes at that. Just because they had gotten a computer to
keep in touch more easily with the Cleveland crew, he seemed to think
he was some kind of computer expert.
Another flight of stairs took them to what had been, judging by the empty bookcases lining the walls, a library.
“That’ll be good enough for the beginning, seeing how we’ll have to
start from scratch. And when we get more books, we can extend into the
other rooms on this floor. Probably would be good to put them on
computers, too, be easier for research.”
Buffy couldn’t help grinning when she noticed he was saying ‘we’ and
including himself in what was to come. He hadn’t formally said so, but
she had a feeling she had a new colleague.
Room after room, he showed her what the empty building could become,
with some repairs and a lot of money. Good thing Giles had finally put
his hands on the defunct Council’s bank accounts.
They left the agent with a promise to call within a few days with an
answer, and Buffy noticed the last glance Spike gave the building
before he started the car. His intense look puzzled her – he had never
looked at their home like that, and she started wondering. The building
was old, older than Spike himself. Could it be that…
“Was that your home?”
Spike glanced at her, frowning, and asked with a rare eloquence: “Huh?”
“It’s just… you looked like maybe you had been in that house before, so I thought…”
His eyes back on the road, he shook his head and smiled ruefully.
“Never had a house that big. Though, I knew a couple of wankers who
did. Didn’t help them much in the end.”
Something in his voice warned her not to press this particular subject; so, she changed the topic.
“So, why this sudden interest in the Council’s headquarters? I thought you didn’t want to work with me?”
“Didn’t say that, did I? I was just… wary. Can’t say that the last Watcher I knew made much of a good impression on me.”
She had made her peace with Giles and his actions, but she didn’t try
to defend him. One day, he and Spike would need to have a talk to get
over a few things; there wouldn’t always be an ocean between them.
“But seeing how you’re going to make it less… wankery,” he continued, “I thought I could give it a try. You gonna hire me?”
She smiled, delighted. “You know I will. And as far as I’m concerned,
today was your first day. I’m sure Giles will agree, you found us a
lovely place.”
He glanced at her again, and this time there was a naughty turn to his grin.
“Now of course, if we do buy it we’ll have to celebrate properly.”
He waggled his eyebrows at her, and she couldn’t help it. She laughed.
His idea of celebrating a new house, she had discovered a few weeks
back, was to go from room to room and make love in each one. In a
mansion as huge as the one they might buy for the Council, the task
might be… interesting.
“Can you see us in ten years,” she chuckled, “having a formal meeting,
and both of us knowing that we shagged on that floor years before?”
His hand reached for hers on her lap, and he squeezed it, keeping his
eyes on the road. “Yeah, I can imagine us in ten years,” he said
softly. “Or even fifty.”
Her amusement died, replaced by a warm wave of love, and she leaned to rest her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.
They were both silent for a little while and Buffy was almost falling
asleep, lulled by the soft roaring of the engine when Spike spoke again.
“I’d never been in any of these houses before,” he murmured. “At least,
I don’t think I had. But… I don’t know. Being in London like this,
visiting old buildings… maybe it’s the style, maybe… It just felt like
home.”
Buffy’s throat tightened at his confession, and all she could do was
hold on to him to show him she understood. For months, they had drifted
between countries and continents, lost in each other but not really
living. It seemed that they had now found their place in the world
again.
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The characters and names used in these stories do not belong to me. All copyrights remain with Fox and Mutant Enemy. No profit is made from this fanfiction.