Title: Bring Me Into the Light (23/?)
AUTHOR: Mistress Ace & Em
E-MAIL: rosewood@inreach.com & vicedragonv@msn.com
FEEDBACK: Is the butter on our bread. We write because the story begs to be told. Feedback lets us know if we struck a chord with you.
DISTRIBUTION: Our site, for the moment. When we post fully edited chapters, those can be posted elsewhere. RATING: NC-17
CATEGORY: Story: Romance, Angst
SPOILERS: As You Were
PAIRINGS: B/R/Sam, m/f, f/f
DISCLAIMER: Don't own the characters at all. (More's the pity) They belong to the Great God Joss Whedon et al. We are just borrowing them for a little bit. That's all. No BtVS characters were harmed in the writing of this fic. Well, maybe just a little.
SUMMARY: Not back for long enough. Not nearly long enough and there were too many things left up in the air. But isn't that the purpose of fan-fiction?
 

Chapter 23

Buffy's body arched reflexively and she couldn't help but make breathy, cooing noises of pleasure. Not that she was trying to prevent them. Pale fingers tangled in dark hair, just wanting to touch, to hold. Warm tongue, warm breath against her skin... nothing would ever compare to the feeling of warmth against her body, and she reveled in it. She watched Sam through half-lidded eyes, appreciating the beauty in her lover's every move.

And the look of love and tenderness in Sam's eyes left Buffy with such a feeling of safety and love that she could surrender completely to the sensations and never be afraid. And surrender she did, letting the sensations wash over her and sweep her away.

The taste was like nothing on this earth, something she would carry with her until the end of her days. Sweet and heavy, melting on her tongue. Sam closed her eyes and fell back on her instincts. Did what she knew felt good for her and the things she'd seen Riley do, all of which worked. It didn't register immediately that there were voices outside their door. Not one voice but two. She was too involved in Buffy to notice.

****

Triumph was sweet. Seeing the pain and rage on Spike's face did Riley a world of good. He wasn't a cruel man by nature but Spike had done so much damage, had hurt so many people, especially Buffy, that he didn't feel a twinge of remorse. All he felt was pride. Spike had lost and he had won.

"Your wife? Your wife is in there with my girl? Bollocks, Buffy's not the type. She doesn't go for birds." The bravado wasn't working, Spike's eyes kept darting down the hallway and he winced every time he heard Buffy. It was obviously Buffy, no one else sounded like her. And soldier boy was puffed up and proud, not acting at all like a man who was being cuckolded by another girl.

It was then that it hit Spike, the enormity of what was really going on. Buffy was in that room, there was no denying that, and she was having the time of her life. The other person with her had to be female, his nose never lied. And Finn was too damn smug for words. "Oh fuck. You shagged her. Didn't you? You come back to town with your bint and you grab my girl and you both shagged her. Didn't you!"

*****

At the sound of a shout in an all-too-familiar male voice with a British accent, Buffy froze. She heard the anger and possessiveness in Spike's tone and went completely white. She knew that with Riley out there, Spike wasn't likely to get into the bedroom let alone close to her. And even if he did, Sam was here with her. But part of her was afraid, because he was far too damn good at sneaky tricks and twisting people's words.

"Sam..." Buffy's voice was a soft plea, but she didn't know what she was asking for this time. Comfort, safety, love, help to ignore, help to forget... any of those could have been equally accurate. Spike was in a rage, and she was afraid she wouldn't have the strength to stop him if he got near enough to take it out on her...

Sam heard it too, her head snapped up the instant that voice rang out. She stilled Buffy with a hand on her chest, motioning for her to stay where she was. With deft, sure movements, Sam rolled out of bed and pulled on her clothes. "It's all right, we won't let him near you." Her baton was in her hand as she approached the door.

*****

"She's out of your reach now, Spike." Riley answered, leaning casually against the opposite wall. One hip cocked, his arms folded across his chest. Looking at Spike, hearing him brought home to Riley that Spike did love Buffy, in his own twisted way.

Pity for the vampire was beyond him though. He might have felt it if they'd had a different history with one another. If Spike hadn't taunted him when he was vulnerable and set him on his path of self-destruction, Riley might have been able to feel sorry for him.

But he didn't. "Remember that talk we had in your crypt when you decided I was the lucky one? You wanted to know what it was like to be so close to her and not have her. Guess you know now, don't you? You never had her, you might've used her body but you never had her."

"You right bastard… No. No, I didn't. But I'm not the one that left her. You up and took off and I'm the one that stayed." Spike was in his face, standing toe-to-toe and throwing every barb he had. Barbs that he knew would hit home and they'd fester.

"Helped her fight Glory, I did. And looked after the bit when she died. That's a damn sight better than you managed." Finn was the broody type, he'd take the hits and he'd nurse them and in a few months he'd be just as bollixed up as he'd been when he'd blown out of Sunnydale and left a devastated Slayer in his wake.

Riley didn't flinch, didn't even move. He continued to stare at Spike, contempt evident in every line of his body. "Nice try, Spike. Doesn't work on me any more. Buffy doesn't love you and she's never going to."

"She doesn't love you either, you monumental git. She's using you, just like she used me. Like she uses everyone." Spike shot back, vibrating with frustrated rage. He wanted to wipe the smile off his rival's face. Wanted to rip his throat out, drink his blood and dance on his grave. Better yet, drag Buffy along and screw her on his grave.

*****

Spike's words had Buffy on her feet in a heartbeat, anger sparking in her eyes and a deadly expression on her face. He was not going to trivialize her feelings for Riley and Sam. He was not going to belittle them in her hearing and get away with it.

She found Riley's sweater and pulled it on over her head; it fell well below her hips, but left her long legs showing. Covered decently enough for her tastes, she followed Sam to the door, the Slayer fully awakened. And the Slayer was pissed. She had the best backup the world had to offer and was going to kick Spike into next week before he knew what hit him.

Sam got to the door first, and had it open by the time Buffy reached her. Buffy slipped past Sam, not noticing her surprise at the sudden change in the Slayer's demeanor. Spike's back was to her, facing Riley who was leaning against the opposite side of the hall. Buffy grabbed Spike from behind and flung him into the wall beside the bedroom door. One hand trapped his wrists while the other went for his throat.

Her eyes blazed anger, but her voice was soft and lethal. "You didn't just say what I think you just said. Don't you ever say anything like that again."

Spike sputtered, trying to force words past the constriction around his throat. It's been a long time since he'd seen Buffy like this. Since the time he stuck her with a cattle prod and tied her up underneath his crypt. Damn, he'd missed this version of the Slayer. All fire and not a hint of softness, perfect compliment to his own nature.

Behind her, Finn was moving, dropping out of his indolent pose and pushing away from the wall. And there was someone else, the mysterious Sam. Who, to Spike's surprise, was a drop-dead fucking gorgeous brunette, almost as tall as Finn himself. She moved with confidence, head held high with one of those nasty batons clenched in her right hand and a little smear of something shiny on the side of her face.

Not what he'd expected of Finn. Had to give him points for his bloody brilliant taste in women. Strong, fierce and independent.

"I take this is Spike?" She asked, slapping the baton into her other hand. Dark, dangerous voice, deadly walk, adrenaline and Buffy's scent on her skin made him hard. Made him want. For a moment, Dru's mad eyes looked out at him from a stranger's face, glittering and dark and vulpine. Predator's body, predator's smile – all teeth and menace. Pain and power and contempt and Jesus why couldn't he be the one to ride between this one's thighs?

Riley nodded, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her. Buffy's. Slayer's toys, all shiny and new and they looked good enough to eat. Matched commandos, Jack and Jill decked out in olive drab. Running about Sunnydale and causing havoc. The Stevens' nest was obliterated last night in a rain of fire and he knew these two had somethin' to do with it. Half the vampire population had been wiped out in one night.

Fierce glare never wavering, Buffy tightened her hand on Spike's wrists until his attention returned to her. "I don't know what you're doing in my house, and I don't care. I want you out, and don't come back. I'm through being weak, and I'm through letting you abuse me and the people I care about."

Her grip on his neck loosened briefly, only to slam back against the wall again. "For the sake of all you've done to help us, you've still got your unlife. Take it and get out of my town. And don't ever let me catch you back here again. And unlike four years ago, I mean it this time. Don't come back." Her voice was laced with steel, body taut and ready to kick his ass if he said a word wrong. She slowly eased her grip on Spike's throat, then released him entirely and stepped back to stand between Riley and Sam, but a step in front of them.

A solid, defensive place to be.

They flanked her, Sam with her baton and Riley with his fists. Solid and implacable, not a hint of compassion on their faces. Riley knew Spike and Sam had seen the devastation that he'd left in his wake. He couldn't manipulate them any more than he could push Buffy.

Spike stood there, dumb-founded. Where was his vulnerable Slayer? The girl he loved? The one that needed him? This one didn't need him, this one had her balls back. She was stronger than he'd ever remembered.

Looking into her eyes, there were no shadows, no doubts. The specter of Angelus no longer held sway over her, her enforced exodus from Heaven was no longer a point he could use. Yes, he could hit her but the humans standing behind her were still inviolate. They could and would take him down.

His attention flicked to Riley, the one he'd considered the weak link. But there was no weakness there either. The boy was gone and the man that remained was strong and secure. More secure than he, himself, had ever been. Nothing he could exploit there.

The last one he didn't know. There were no holes that he could see. She might as well have been carved of the same granite as her husband. Big girl, tough as nails and, God, more beautiful than Finn deserved. The only thing he might be able to hit on was the fact that she was shagging Buffy while Finn was in the shower. But one look in her eyes told him that wouldn't work either.

Spike was defeated and he knew it. The best he could hope for would be a strategic retreat. There wasn't that much he could pack up, his place was destroyed but he still had the money from the Suvolte deal. It would set him up nicely in some other town. Buffy was lost to him, completely lost.

She wore their marks, both in her scent and on her body. The baggy sweater that hung to her knees was obviously Finn's and she smelled like him. Smelled like him and smelled like the other one. The one that still had a smear of Buffy on her cheek. Christ, they'd been shagging for days by the scent of them.

"Fine. Just fine. Why don't you set up house here with Mr. and Mrs. Commando? But when they get tired of you, when they get tired of being slapped around, don't come crawlin' back to me. I won't take you back." He straightened up and shook his duster down into place, clomped down the hallway wearing only one boot, the other was still on the bathroom floor.

A brief flicker in Buffy's eyes was the only clue that Spike's comment had struck, however glancing it might have been. But he didn't see it, as his back was turned at the time. She didn't react otherwise, and simply told him, "I wouldn't go back to you for all the tea in England. I'm strong enough to turn away from self-destruction."

With the Slayer still very much in the forefront of her mind, Buffy was able to dismiss any thoughts or worries until she had time to think about them. Spike would not get to her, not while he was still around to see it. But he always did see straight through to the heart of her insecurities, and she knew her struggle with self-doubt wasn't over yet.

Behind her back, Buffy reached back to touch Sam and Riley. She needed that bit of reassurance in order to win this fight. But she would win it, that she was sure of.

They both stepped up to the plate, placing their hands on her shoulders. Sam remained silent but watchful while Riley spoke, his voice loud and clear. "We won't ever get tired of her, Spike. We love her and she loves us." Out in the open and Buffy hadn't had to say it. He knew the admission was hard for her and he was willing to be the one to make it.

The smirk was back on Spike's face and his eyebrow shot upward. There it was, the weak point. Soldier boy thought that after a bit of rough and tumble in the sack Buffy loved him. Now there was a laugh. Buffy didn't love anyone, not that way. She loved the Nibblet, sure and her mum and her little gang but the big L wasn't in her game plan. That belonged to Angel and no one else. "You keep on thinkin' that, whitebread. Just cause a girl spreads her legs, it doesn't mean she opens her heart. Christ, you've still not the sharpest crayon in the box, are you?"

Buffy's eyes flashed and her fist flew. Instead of breaking his nose again, though, her fist impacted the side of his head hard enough to daze him for a few seconds. Those seconds were all she needed to have him in a death grip, his back against the wall again. "I told you not to say that again. Just because I don't love you doesn't mean the same is true of them. So help me God, if you say one more word about my feelings for them, I'll douse you in holy water and throw you out into the sun..."

Absolute fury simmered in her eyes and her voice. He had made the last mistake he would ever survive with her. "One more wrong move, and Sam will hand me the stake in the table drawer next to her and I'll be vacuuming dust off the carpet."

"Word of advice," Sam offered, stepping up next to Buffy. She fixed Spike with a stare similar to her husband's as the corner of her mouth quirked up into a smile. "Shutting up would be a very good idea right now. You have no friends here."

"Not a one, Hostile 17," Riley intoned, the stake Buffy had mentioned held firmly and ready for use. Nice to know she kept one handy. "You're done. Time to leave."

He would stake Spike. If Buffy gave the word, he would do just that. It was only the knowledge that Spike had helped her after he left that stayed Riley's hand. That and the feeling of kinship he had despite himself. Spike loved her, he did believed that was true. Spike loved her and she would never love him back and Riley knew that song by heart.

It was in his eyes as Spike looked at her. Looked at her and knew that whatever chance he had was gone. Time to admit defeat. "All right. Not another word. Just give me my Doc and I'll go. You'll never see me again, Buffy."

Buffy released him and stepped back. "Go ahead and get it," she replied, meaning his shoe. She saw the defeat in his eyes, and she believed him. He would leave and never come back, for his own sake as well as to follow her directions. In a way, she felt a little bad for him. Not many vampires felt much of anything, and here he'd had two hopeless loves. Having seen Dru, Buffy didn't think the psycho vamp had ever really loved Spike.

And now he was alone again.

"I'll get it," Sam volunteered, standing down from her protective position. Riley stepped up into her place, waving her back toward the bathroom. She found the boot just inside the door but didn't bother trying to figure out why it was there. Riley would fill them in later about it.

Spike accepted the boot, tugging it on while the trio watched. While he wished he could get one more kiss, some sign of affection from her, he knew it was a hopeless cause. Finn had won and he had lost and that was that.

Silently, they escorted him down the stairs and to the back door. Riley picked up his blanket and handed it to him, nodding when their eyes met. The sympathy he'd felt earlier was back in full force. He knew Spike was opportunistic and if he showed even a hint of weakness, the vampire would exploit it. He had to keep in mind that Spike was a vampire, his nature inherently evil and the only thing that kept him in check was the handy-dandy little chip inside his head.

Without it, he never would have fallen for Buffy. He would have followed through with his original objective, kill the Slayer. Riley felt no guilt for the chip, felt no guilt for the time he staked him. But unlike Spike, he was human. He understood loss and he knew exactly what Spike was missing.

*****

 
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