Slaindeer Games

By Larilyn Rating- NC-17 baby Summary- The morning after Life Serial…the geeks aren’t finished playing their reindeer games. Much Spuffiness ensues. Notes- Thanks to my Splendiforous beta Alana who is…well…splendiforous Disclaimer- Joss owns everything and everyone. I own some dryer lint.

Chapter Ten- Interventions Suck and Other Observations

As soon as Xander began his decent, he could hear the strange noise coming from the lower level of Spike’s crypt. It was a low, rumbling sound.

Buffy was wrapped up tight in Spike’s arms. She was unconscious and clearly suffering from the effects of the forced telepathy.

The strange sound seemed to be coming from Spike.

"Is that…? Are you purring?"

Spike shrugged at Xander and acknowledged, "Seems to calm her."

Xander turned his attention to the unblinking creature that was curled up on Buffy’s stomach. Its purr echoed Spike’s. "Is that an alien?"

"It’s a cat," Spike sighed, "What are you doing here?"

"Just came to let you know; Angel’s on his way with the cure."

Spike gave no visible reaction to the news. He concentrated on smoothing Buffy’s hair.

Xander pressed, "Angel? The guy you hate with an undying passion? Aren’t you gonna have a cowlet?

"Not if he can help her."

Xander took in Spike’s tone and his obvious concern for the unconscious Slayer. "You really love her."

Spike looked Buffy’s friend straight in the eye, "I really do. As soon as the cure gets here…"

"I’ll let you know." Xander turned to leave but felt compelled to add, "She’ll be ok, buddy." He paused for a moment and asked, "Did I just call you buddy?"

"I’ll forget it happened."

"Thank you ever so much."

***

"How’s Buffy?" Willow asked before the door to the Magic Box had closed behind Xander. "Is Spike behaving himself?"

"Yeah. He’s taking good care of her." Xander paused and said to Willow, "Except, he was doing something creepy."

"Creepy how? Kinky creepy?" Anya asked.

"No nothing like…" Xander shared the secret with Willow although in the quiet of the Magic Box, all of the gang could hear, "He was purring."

"Purring? Like a kitty? How cute!" Willow exclaimed.

The bell on the door rang out and a familiar voice asked, "Who was purring?"

"Cordy!" Willow gave her former nemesis a bear hug. Dawn also grabbed Cordy and hugged her tight.

Giles approached his former student and told her, "Cordelia, you look lovely."

"Well duh."

A tap on Xander's shoulder sent him spinning around. Standing there with a grin on his face was Angel. "Geez! We even have a bell and still you scare the hell out of me!"

Angel chose to ignore Xander’s rant, "Did you say something about purring?"

"Spike was doing it," Willow explained.

"That’s something vampires only do with their…oh."

"Oh what?" Tara asked.

Reluctantly, Angel explained, "Their mates."

Xander stammered, "Their huh?"

Loudly, Anya repeated, "Their mates!"

"Buffy and Spike and mates?" Tara spluttered.

Anya theorized, "Well that makes sense. I mean Spike is very attractive and Buffy clearly has a thing for the undead. Like a fetish!"

Xander and Giles stood there, shell-shocked, "Giles? Xander?" Willow waved her hand in front of Xander’s face.

"Selective deafness, Will. I heard none of that."

Giles muttered, "I should try it."

"You should."

"Wow," Cordy said. "Buffy and Spike bumping uglies. Who knew?"

Although Cordelia meant the question rhetorically, Giles turned his attention to the youngest person present, "Dawn? You’ve been awfully quiet. Did you…"

"I knew. But I’m totally happy about it. I mean Buffy loves him…well, she’s not sure she loves him…but I’m sure she loves him. So I say, if Buffy wants to be with Spike, that’s her pergative."

Giles corrected, "Prerogative."

"Whatever."

Xander exclaimed, "That’s it. I’m washing my hands of that girl. If she wants to get freaky with the undead, that’s her own business."

"Maybe I could do a spell! A de-lusting!" Willow volunteered. Tara’s face fell and she drifted away from Willow’s side. "Its unhealthy, this thing with Spike… and…"

Xander interrupted, "Willow, no magic. I mean, I don’t exactly approve of Buffy dating yet another bloodsucker, but I think we should let her make her own decisions. Even if they are insane, incredibly stupid decisions."

"But…"

"No magic. Okay?"

***

Spike looked up when Angel came in the crypt through the sewer, followed by Cordelia. Relief washed over him. "You got the cure?"

Angel nodded. Any animosity the elder vampire might have felt toward Spike was swept away by Spike’s obvious distress at Buffy’s condition. Angel instructed, "Hold her tight. She’s gonna fight this."

While Spike held Buffy, Angel coaxed the liquid down her throat.

***

Buffy listened intently for the voices in her head. They were gone. "Mmm, thank God," she muttered. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up into the face of a very concerned blue-eyed vampire. She smiled widely, "Hello lover."

"Ahem."

Buffy heard the familiar voice and her eyes widened in horror. Still cradled in Spike’s arms, she looked behind her to see Angel with a not quite happy smile on his face.

Buffy began to sputter an explanation, but Cordelia interrupted, "Please. Cat. Bag. Way out."

Cordy held Pitty in her arms and was rubbing its head. The cat was closing its eyes contentedly as little wrinkles appeared and smoothed out with the movement of Cordelia’s hand.

"Speaking of…" Buffy sat up and stretched her arms out toward the kitten. "Gimme my kitty!"

Cordy looked confused and then realized, "Oh. Its a cat!" She studied the kitten as she explained, "I thought it was a demon. But, you know, little and cute."

"How are you feeling, love?" Spike asked.

Buffy bristled at the use of the endearment in front of Angel but she assured, "I’m right as rain. Whatever the hell that means."

"Good," Angel was very business-like as he informed Buffy, "Cordy is going to walk you back to the Magic Box. Spike? A word?"

Buffy panicked. "Wait! No…no pummeling or beating up or…or measuring penises or whatever. Angel, Spike and I…"

"Buffy," Angel interrupted, "Its okay. Spike and I are going to go take care of the bad guys now." With a grin, he added, "You need to relax. Its not like I’m evil."

"Oh. Okay. Be nice."

***

Spike had to rush to keep up with his sire.

Angel stalked down the sewers, his coat swung behind him like a super hero’s cape.

Under his breath, Spike couldn’t help but mutter, "Ponce."

"You know, Spike. There’s one thing I regret," Angel said without turning to face him.

"Yeah? Whassat?"

"Promising Buffy that I wouldn’t beat the crap out of you."

"I love her."

This made Angel turn around.

"I do. I love her. And you know I’m capable of it."

"I do," Angel admitted grudgingly, "Which is why your present shape doesn’t resemble anything remotely shaped like a dustbuster. But if you hurt her, I’ll…"

"Stake me seven ways till Sunday. Got it."

Abruptly, Angel changed the content of their conversation. "Xander says you know the guy who’s been messing with Buffy. Some techno geek named Warren."

"Son of a…" Spike hissed. He shook his head in disbelief.

Angel suggested, "Shall we have a word with him?"

***

"You feeling okay?" Cordy asked Buffy as they strolled through the cemetery.

Buffy grunted in response.

"I’ll take that as, ‘No Cordelia. I’m in a pissy-ass mood.’ That about right?"

"Big talk at the Magic Box," Buffy mumbled. "Like I don’t know what that’s about. Stinking intervention." She kicked a dirt clod and felt a strange pleasure at watching it crumble under her blow. "I hate interventions."

Cordy shrugged. "Giles thinks its necessary. Mostly because of the whole dead thing."

"Really?" Buffy questioned. "I thought the whole ‘no soul thing’ would be the big."

Cordelia stopped walking. "As usual, I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Spike…being dead."

"Willow…bringing you back from the dead."

"Ohhhh." Buffy exhaled in recognition. "Intervention is for Willow. Too much magic. Bad Willow. Cool for Buffy."

Cordy shook her head and proceeded toward the Magic Box. "You just keep getting odder and odder. You know that?"

***

Angel burst into the room in full game face. He raced around the room and snarled like a rabid dog.

Calmly, Spike sauntered in, just in time to see Warren scramble on top of a filing cabinet. With a broom, the wanna-be super villain attempted to keep Angel at arms length. He whimpered to Spike, "What the hell…?"

With practiced nonchalance, Spike lit a cigarette. As he exhaled, he explained, "One of my minions. He’s a bit crazy."

With this, Angel roared like a jungle cat.

"We have a problem," Spike told the boy. "Seems you’ve been playing with my favorite toy. Don’t appreciate it."

"The… the Slayer? I’m not…"

Angel snapped the broom in half with his teeth and shook the pieces in his mouth. Then he lunged at Warren.

Spike took Angel by the collar of his coat. "Bad kitty. Down." Angel backed off, but continued to snarl at his prey.

Spike warned, "Stay away from the Slayer or…"

Warren finished, "You’ll let him eat me?"

"I’ll let him disembowel you and feed your insides to a Carakas demon while we parade your head all through town." Spike let his warning sink in for a minute and then added, "You can run away now."

Warren didn’t need to be told twice.

Angel shifted out of his game face and watched the super geek run away. With a wide smile he told Spike, "That was fun."

"Yup."

"Did you have to make me your minion?"

"Yup."

***

Willow took the lead with the intervention as soon as Buffy and Cordelia sat down. "Buffy, we called you here today because we’re concerned…"

Xander interrupted, "Actually…" He looked to Tara for permission to continue. When she nodded her consent, Xander told Willow, "We’re here for you."

Anya piped up, "We think you’ve gone wacky with the magic. We want you to cool it before you do something really crazy. Like bring mullets back."

Xander ignored his fiancee’s outburst. "Willow, I’ve know you all my life. I remember once, in kindergarten, you broke the yellow crayon and you cried and cried because…"

"I don’t remember that," Willow disagreed.

"I do!" Cordelia said with enthusiasm. "You broke the yellow crayon, and I told you that you should sue the school for providing faulty equipment." Cordy took in Giles’s bemused expression and admitted, "I know. Not the point."

"What Xander is trying to say, however ineffectually, is that you need to exercise more control…"

Willow interrupted the Watcher, "I’m in control!"

"N..no, you’re not," Tara said quietly. "That’s why we’re going away."

"Away?"

Cordy told the witch, "You’re coming to LA with Angel and me. You’re going to work with Lorne." She paused before she admitted, "You’ll have to sing."

The prospect frightened Willow more than a dozen vampires. "Sing?"

"Just don’t let Angel coach you and you’ll be fine. And don’t you dare sing The Greatest Love Of All or we will have a smackdown. That is my signature tune. In fact, Whitney is strictly off limits. And Manilow. Just because."

Spike and Angel chose this moment to come traipsing into the Magic Box. Everyone stared at the two vampires in shock. They were…

"Laughing?" Buffy asked Cordelia with an incredulous grin. "Are they laughing?"

"Looks like it." After a beat she added, "Kinda creepy."

"Uh huh." Buffy agreed.

Spike turned to the Slayer and greeted her, "Oh hey love, we were just talking about this time in Nice…"

"The French kill me." Angel smiled widely. "Hey, did I hear someone mention Barry Manilow?"

A little too quickly, Cordelia declared, "Nope. Not us."

"Because, you know, I could teach Willow some great tunes to sing to Lorne."

"Um…" Cordy took Angel’s arm and guided him toward the door. "You know, Willow’s taste might not be so…sophisticated. We should probably let her choice her own music." Over her shoulder, she bid farewell, "We’re heading back now. Its been fun. Willow, Tara, we’ll see you soon, ok?"

And then they were gone. Silence enveloped the Magic Box.

Xander, as usual, broke the silence, "You have to admire the way she handles him."

"She’d be a very good dominatrix."

The whole group shuddered and groaned at Anya’s comment.

"What? She would. Xander loves it when I’m submissive."

Willow croaked, "Suddenly, Buffy & Spike? Not so disturbing."

"Do you guys mean that?" All eyes were on her as Buffy sidled over to Spike’s side. "I want you to be okay with this."

Giles responded, "And if we’re not?"

"If you’re not, then we have a problem, because I’m in love with Spike."

"You are?" The vampire beamed down at her.

"I are."

"I are too!" Dawn declared. "Not in love with Spike, but okay with Buffy being in love with Spike. That’s what we’re discussing, right?"

"Right." Buffy nodded.

"I are too." Anya said with enthusiasm.

Tara nodded her assent.

"I refuse to use the grammatical travesty that the three of you employed, but I suppose I can bow to Buffy’s insight in these matters so… I am okay with this, provisionally."

"Xander? Willow?" Buffy asked the Scoobies.

"Okay," Willow agreed. But to Spike she threatened, "But if you hurt her, I’ll turn you into a toad."

"See Red, that would be a misuse of magic."

"No it wouldn’t," Xander muttered.

Buffy pleaded with her pouting friend. "Xander? Please? I’d like your blessing."

"You won’t get it." As Buffy’s face fell, Xander added, "But you will have my support, because I love you and I want you to be happy."

"Good. I’m very much in favor of Buffy happiness," The Slayer smiled at her friends and then up at Spike. She placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

"We could hold off on the PDA’s though, for the sake of Xander happiness."

Dawn elbowed Xander in the ribs, "Shut up Xander. We know more about your sex life than we ever would want to. You can deal with some smoochies."

"You are really stoked about this, aren’t you?" he asked.

"Of course I am." Dawn admitted giddily. "Everyone loves a happy ending!"

End