Mid July 2004:

“I spy, with my little eye, something that is blue,” Buffy sing-songed as Spike drove her, Annie, Dani, and Billy home from Disneyland. 

Willow, Tara, Giles, and Lorne drove together and Xander and Anya had their own car.  It had been a wonderful vacation, but everyone was ready to get back home and settle back into their routines.

“Papa’s eyes!” Annie guessed.

Buffy pouted. “How did you get that so fast!? No fair … you must be cheating!”

“At ‘I Spy’, luv? How do you cheat at ‘I Spy’?” Spike asked with a smirk.

“I don’t know …” Buffy rolled her eyes. “Ok, your turn,” she told Annie.

“I spy, with my little eye … something black!” Annie announced with a giggle.

“Papa’s t-shirt,” Buffy guessed.

“No fair!” Annie exclaimed.  “You must be cheating!”

“Ya know, I don’t stand a bloody chance at this … ya’ need to spy somethin’ other than me!” Spike complained in mock annoyance.

“Let’s play twenty questions,” Spike suggested. “I’m a bloody genius at that!”

**~**

It seemed to take forever to get all the luggage in from the car, but finally they had everything in and hauled back up to the respective rooms, the babies had been fed and put down for the night and Annie had her story and was tucked in tightly, too.

Spike reclined back on the sofa in the great room and Buffy leaned against his chest, both of them just relishing the feeling of being back home … safe and sound with their family.  Suddenly they heard someone yell “woo-hoo!” from upstairs; when they turned to see what was going on, Lorne was coming down the stairs, a huge grin on his face.

“I got it!! I got it!” he exclaimed as he walked quickly up to them, waving his hands in the air in celebration.

“What?” Buffy asked as she and Spike sat up and looked at the green demon.

“I got a job!!  They left it on the answering machine!!  I start Monday!” Lorne told them excitedly.

“Where?” Spike asked, wondering what kind of job Lorne could possibly qualify for.

“The Bronze! I’m the new manager!” Lorne explained, barely able to contain his excitement.

“Seriously!!??” Buffy asked, standing up and giving Lorne a hug. “That’s so great!”

“Yeah … you can stop those bloody disco theme nights … brilliant!” Spike concurred, standing up and shaking Lorne’s hand in congratulations.

“Awwwww … I like those nights – it’s so funny to watch all the John Travolta wanna-be’s!” Buffy laughed.

“It’s bloody torture is what it is …” Spike moaned.

“I have so many great ideas for the club! It’ll be like a grand opening celebration every week! You guys have to come!!” Lorne gushed. "I heard you two can cut a mean rug - I'll be counting on you to be there to tear up the dance floor... metaphorically speaking, of course.  You're the Fred and Ginger of the supernatural world!"

“Of course we will … we’ll be there every night if you want!” Buffy offered with a grin, happy that Lorne had found something that he would enjoy doing and would be good at.  Not that he didn’t love watching the babies, but after a while of nothing but that, you started talking in baby talk to everyone. She wondered how the owners that hired Lorne explained his horns and greenness to themselves and to the employees … but, since it was Sunnydale, seeing a green guy was probably not the worst thing that they’d ever seen.

“I’m gonna go over there now!  I can’t wait! I’m so excited!” Lorne exclaimed, turning away from them and heading for the door. “First thing, I need to teach that bartender how to make a decent Seabreeze …”

Buffy and Spike settled back on the couch after he left.  “I guess, since Willow and Tara are home, we should go patrol,” Buffy offered half-heartedly. “It’s been a while …”

“Suppose …” Spike agreed without enthusiasm. Neither of them made a move to get up.

“Of course, we did just help eradicate evil in one dimension … that should count for something …” Buffy offered.

“True,” Spike agreed, pulling her closer, leaning his head back against the arm of the couch, and closing his eyes.

“I guess we could skip it this one time … We could go upstairs and I could give you the present I bought you in L.A. …” Buffy suggested with a sly grin.

“Already wore the bloody mouse ears, Slayer … that ain’t happenin’ again …” Spike objected, not moving or opening his eyes.

“Oh, I think you’ll like this a lot more than mouse ears,” Buffy cooed, pulling out of his embrace, standing up, and pulling Spike up by the hand.

“Will I now?” Spike smirked as he stood up.  He knew that tone of voice … and it wasn’t for mouse ears.

“Pretty sure …” Buffy grinned as she headed for the stairs, Spike following closely behind her.

**~**

In their room, Spike stripped quickly, getting ready for his ‘present’.  When he turned to Buffy, she was rummaging through the suitcases and hadn’t gotten undressed yet.

“Whaddya lookin’ for?” Spike asked, lying down on the bed.

“I told you … your present,” Buffy responded as she kept looking through the cases.

“Seems to me, my present is rummaging through the bloody clothes …” Spike told her, settling down on his side facing her, his head propped up on one hand as he watched her.

“Ah-ha!” Buffy exclaimed with a smile, pulling a shopping bag out of one of the compartments in the last suitcase.

Buffy turned to Spike with a mischievous grin on her face.  She reached in the bag and pulled out a pair of handcuffs and held them up to him.

Spike’s eyebrows shot up. “For you?” he asked, hopefully.

Buffy shook her head. “For you,” she informed him, moving to the bed and fastening one wrist in them before wrapping them around one of the uprights in the headboard, pulling his other hand up and capturing it, as well.

“I bloody well hope these came with keys …” Spike complained, pulling on them lightly – they didn’t give.

“Don’t you trust me?” Buffy asked as she held up the key, which was on a lanyard, and hung it over the edge of the headboard, far out of his reach.

“With my soul, my heart, yeah … Not so sure about m’ body … I’m delicate …” Spike teased.

“Uh-huh … I promise I’ll be gentle.” Buffy licked her lips and gave him a saucy grin before pulling out a blindfold from the dresser drawer and tying it over Spike’s eyes.

“This is your idea of a present, is it?” Spike continued to complain. “Remind me to get you a bloody lump of coal for Christmas this year …”

Buffy giggled but didn’t say anything.  Spike could hear her moving around, pulling other things out of her shopping bag … he could hear wrappers opening and then, finally everything went silent.

He could feel her climb onto the end of the bed and his whole body tensed, unsure of what she was going to do next. Thumbscrews, perhaps?

Buffy crawled up his body like a panther stalking her prey and Spike held his breath … not that that was such a big deal, but still… 

When her hips were over his, she leaned down and dropped a soft kiss on his lips then began covering his face with more sweet kisses. He could feel her body on his … she’d gotten undressed while he was blindfolded and her skin felt like silk where it touched his.  When her long hair fell across his neck, it felt like a thousand downy feathers caressing him; he moaned and let his body relax under her. 

“I love your face,” Buffy whispered to him.  “Have I ever told you that?” she asked, but didn’t give him a chance to answer.

“Your eyes mesmerize me … so blue; your cheekbones cut to my soul … so sharp; your lips hold me under their spell … so sweet; your scarred brow reminds me of the warrior within … you’re just like me,” Buffy continued between kisses.

Buffy moved down across his jaw to his chin and licked a line from behind one ear to his Adam’s apple. “I love your neck, too. So bitable! If I was a vampire, I’d so bite you right now …”

“Would you now?” Spike smiled from behind his blindfold, tilting his head to the side to give her access to the other side of his neck.

“Mmmm hmmm …” Buffy murmured, circling his Adam’s apple then trailing her tongue over to the side of his neck that he’d exposed for her. She licked a small circle over the scar on his skin from their bonding ceremony, then bit down gently on it.

Spike’s cock had come to attention when she crawled up his body, but when she bit down on his neck, it jumped and twitched.

“Mmmmmm … someone likes that,” Buffy observed and bit down a little harder, making his cock jump again and a moan escape his throat.

Buffy trailed a line of soft kisses and licks down to his collarbone, moving across it slowly then traveling down further, across his pecs, before circling one nipple with her hot tongue, sucking it into her mouth and nibbling on it with her teeth.

Spike’s hips jerked up against her when she did that and his arms pulled against his restraints, wanting to touch her, but they were secure. Only she could reach the key and let him out of the handcuffs.

Buffy’s hair trailed across his chest then down his abs as she continued to slowly kiss and lick down along his hard torso. Everything she was doing was driving him crazy … her warm, wet lips and tongue on his body, her soft hair teasing and tickling his skin, her skin against his, her body covering his … it was almost more than he could stand.

“I love your body …” Buffy started again between kisses. “Have I ever told you that?”

“Not in … so many … words …” Spike told her, trying to maintain his composure as she licked and sucked and kissed his six pack abs, causing him to suck them in as bolts of electricity seemed to jump off her tongue and shoot through his body.

“So hard … so strong … so perfect,” Buffy told him between kisses as she started to trail her hands softly up and down along his sides, from his slim hips up to his strong arms and back down again.

Buffy continued to crawl backwards down his body as she trailed her tongue down from his abs, placing a kiss on each hipbone before outlining the “V” between them with her tongue.

“Fuck!” Spike exclaimed when she trailed her tongue over his balls – his hips jerking up against her involuntarily.

“No…not yet,” Buffy replied with a smile as she continued down his legs with her mouth.

“I love your legs,” Buffy said with a grin. “Have I ever told you that?”

“Yeah… I think I recall that…” Spike answered, hoping she’d stay away from that ticklish spot on his inside thigh.

“No, I don’t think so…” Buffy replied as she dropped her mouth right on that spot as if there was a big bullseye tattooed there.

“Arrrghhh!!” Spike screamed and jerked his leg away from her and Buffy laughed.

“I love that ticklish spot … such strong legs – capable of inflicting so much damage with a hard kick … but so tender, too – so perfect,” she opined as she continued down to his calves … letting the tickling wait for another time.

When she got to his ankle, she started slowly back up the other leg, taking care to bypass his ticklish spot this time, trailing warm kisses and her soft hair all over his silky skin and making him totally insane with desire.

When she got back to his raging hard-on, she licked slowly up from his balls, along the underside of his thick shaft to the mushroom head and circled it with her tongue.  Spike moaned and his body tensed in anticipation of her mouth wrapped around his sensitive glans … but Buffy just teased the head with her tongue, holding the thick shaft still with her hand so she could lick the pre-cum from him, flicking her tongue lightly over his cum-slit.

Spike again tired to pull his hands down to touch her, to do anything to get her to go further … go harder, but he couldn’t move them.

“Bloody hell…” he moaned, pressing his hips up against her mouth.

“Ah...ah...ah,” Buffy admonished him. “Stay still or you won’t get your present … and I know you’re gonna want your present.”

“Fuck, Slayer … you’re killin’ me!” he begged her.

“Oh, I thought you knew … I’m Buffy … you know, the Vampire Slayer?  That’s what I do … it’s kind of a thing,” Buffy teased him.

“Bloody hell, woman!” Spike yelled at her, raising his head up to look at her, but he couldn’t see anything with the blindfold on, so he dropped his head back down heavily on the pillow in frustration.

Buffy grinned and picked the rest of his present up off the bed and slid it down his cock.  Spike couldn’t tell what it was exactly … it almost felt like that time they’d used the condoms as it slid down over his thick shaft.  He was still trying to figure out how a condom could be considered a present when suddenly what she’d put on him started vibrating.

“FUCK!” Spike exclaimed at the new sensation, his hips jerking and his cock jumping as the vibrations engulfed him.

“Noooo…I told you, not yet,” Buffy teased again as she dropped her mouth down hard on his cock and began sucking and licking his shaft as the pliable cock ring vibrator continued to work its magic on him, as well.

“Arrrrghhhh! God, Buffffyyyy!” Spike exclaimed when her mouth came down on him, adding to the fantastic sensation of the vibrator. It overwhelmed him … he couldn’t hold back another second and his cum shot up from his balls and exploded into her mouth as he screamed her name and soared through the heavens.

Buffy sucked and licked and swallowed his nectar down, pumping with her hand that of his cock that wouldn’t fit in her mouth as Spike screamed her name and lost control.  She loved hearing him scream her name … she loved knowing she could drive him crazy – that she could still, after three kids and over five years, make him completely lose control. She could still take him to heaven.

“What was that about a lump of coal?” Buffy teased as she finished licking every last drop of cum off his cock.

Buffy crawled up Spike’s body slowly and laid her body on top of his, her hips straddling his, her breasts pressed against his hard chest. She pulled the blindfold off him and leaned down to take his lips in a ferocious kiss, her hand slid under his head and pulled him to her as her pussy pressed down against his now semi-hard cock and the vibrator that was still there.

“Well, diamonds are made from coal …” Spike pointed out with a smirk when Buffy released his lips to breathe.  Spike pulled on the handcuffs again, but they held firm … he wanted to wrap his arms around her … feel her skin, her hair, her heat under his hands.

“Let me go and I’ll give you a present right now ….” Spike offered, looking over at the key hanging on the headboard.

Buffy smiled and shook her head slowly, her eyes dancing with mischief.  “Nope … you have to earn your freedom.  You’re my prisoner … I may not let you go for days.”

Spike’s eyebrows shot up. “Days? You harlot!  Keepin’ a me as your sex slave!! … tsk, tsk … what would the children think?”

“Hmmmmm… I’d just explain that we were playing a game … and it’s waaay better than twenty questions! I’m sure they’d agree that everyone’s entitled to a toy. A life size, anatomically correct Ken doll – that’s what you are.” Buffy waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively, then she began tracing her tongue back down his throat as she’d done before.

By the time Buffy had traced down his body to his ankles and back up with her tongue, Spike was moaning and writhing under her again.  His cock at full staff as the cock ring continued to vibrate around its base.

“Looks like Ken’s ready to play again …” Buffy murmured as she straddled Spike’s hips with hers and lowered herself slowly down onto his thick rod.

They both moaned as she pressed down on him. The feeling of him filling her, of her pussy encasing him, always gave them both a feeling of completeness that they never felt any other time.

The vibrator pressed against her clit as her hips came down against his and bolts of red hot lightning shot out to all parts of her body. Buffy began moving her hips in a slow circle on him, rubbing her clit against the vibrator as her inner muscles quivered and trembled around his cock.

Buffy laid her hands on his hard chest and began moving up and down on him and Spike’s hips moved in rhythm with her, thrusting up against her as she came down. He watched her above him … her body and face flushed, her long hair flowing softly over her shoulders she moved, her eyes closed and mouth open slightly with pleasure as she rode him.

Buffy’s pussy tightened around his cock as small orgasms passed over her and it was all he could do to keep from cumming again with her sugar walls clenching him and the vibrator pulsing around his shaft.

“God, Buffy …. So good … so fucking tight … ahhhh Christ woman! What you do to me!  Fuck! Yes ... Buffy!  God yes!” he breathed as he watched her move on top of him. He wanted so badly to reach up and touch her skin … cup her breasts … suck on her nipples …

As if reading his mind, Buffy slowed her movements and leaned forward, arching her back and pressing one breast towards his face.  Spike lifted up as far as he could and sucked it into his mouth, swirling his tongue over the hard nub and nibbling on it with his teeth as Buffy moaned in pleasure and pressed her clit down hard against the vibrator.

“Fuck! Yes! Ahhhhhh…God, Spike! Yesssssssss!!!” she screamed when his mouth touched her as a strong orgasm rolled over her.  Her body stiffened and her pussy convulsed around his cock, pulling him deeper into her until her cervix kissed the head, trying to will his cum out.

“Fuck ,Buffy! Bloody Christ!” Spike exclaimed, releasing her nipple, as his hips began thrusting up against her at a frantic pace. 

“Cum for me, Buffy! Scream for me! Fuck yes! Buffy!!!” he half-begged, half-demanded as he felt his control slipping again. 

Buffy began matching his thrusts into her – their bodies crashing together violently as they both lost control and let their need and desire take over.

“Yes, Spike! Fuck me! Harder! More! Fuck yes! Yes! Yesssss!” Buffy screamed as she felt herself take flight. Words lost all meaning as fireworks started exploding in her mind and filling her body with cascading sparkles of colorful lights. Each spark seemed to be filled with pure, undiluted ecstasy and they filled her entire being with their blissful treasure. A long primal scream escaped her throat as the fireworks continued like the grand finale on the Fourth of July … exploding in rapid succession within her.

Spike continued pumping into her hard and fast as he felt her go over the edge and her scream of utter ecstasy filled their room – he wanted to take her as high as he possibly could … to the moon, to the sun … to the end of the universe. 

As her body convulsed and stiffened atop him and her pussy tightened around his rod again, Spike’s command over his body unraveled. He let go of the last thread of control and his cum filled her tight channel as he slammed a final time up against her – driving his cock deep within her heat. His roar of release joined her screams and bounced loudly off the walls of their room as the brilliant sparks from Buffy’s fireworks poured over him, as well.

As the sparkling lights that filled her mind and body began to fade, Buffy found the ability to start breathing again as she collapsed down on top of Spike.

“Oh God … Spike … God …” was all she could say as she gulped air and tried to regain control of her muscles. She laid her head on his shoulder, keeping his cock buried in her heat, and waited for her body to start functioning again.

Finally, she was able lay her hands on his chest and raise up a bit to look into his eyes. She saw pure love, unabashed lust, and unbelievable happiness there and she knew that was just what he was seeing reflected back at him from her eyes. 

Buffy slid a hand between them and switched the vibrator off before taking the handcuff key off the headboard. She reached over Spike’s head and unlocked his hands and he immediately wrapped his arms around her and began running his hands up and down her body … he’d been wanting to feel her skin under his hands for what seemed like the days that she’d threatened … or promised.

“What happened to a few days, luv?” Spike smirked, slowing his hands and just wrapping his arms around her and pulling her body tightly against his.

Buffy shrugged and laid her head back down on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Some toys earn their freedom better than others, I guess. I think Barbie would’ve been a lot happier with an anatomically correct Ken than that convertible and Malibu dream house …”

“Would she, now?” Spike laughed. “I think Ken woulda’ been a lot happier, too … in fact, I think it’s his turn for some fun …”

Before Buffy could say anything or react, Spike had flipped them over and was pulling Buffy’s hands from behind his neck and up towards the headboard … and the handcuffs.

“Oh no…” she protested, trying half-heartedly to pull her hands away.

“Oh yes…” Spike growled devilishly, his eyes dancing. “Turnabout’s fair play.”

When Spike had her cuffed to the headboard, he sat back on his heels, his hips straddling hers and pursed his lips together in thought … Where to start, hmmmm…

“You are sooo gonna pay for this,” Buffy protested, pulling at the handcuffs.

“Am I, now? Do you take credit cards? … ‘Cause I think I still have the info for the wanker’s Amex here somewhere…” Spike told her with a smirk, patting his body as if looking for his wallet in an invisible pocket while Buffy rolled her eyes.

Spike curled his tongue over his teeth as he removed the cock ring vibrator, slipped it over his fingers, and turned it back on.

“What are you gonna do with that?” Buffy asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out …”

“I never understood that saying … that’s what I’m trying to do … so if you just tell …” Buffy started to protest and Spike leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss, effectively shutting her up.

“Shhhhh …” he whispered to her as he pulled away. “Be quiet as a churchmouse …”

Buffy opened her mouth to say something else but Spike cocked a brow and gave her a disapproving look and she snapped her mouth shut.

Spike dropped his lips down to her neck and trailed his tongue up to her earlobe, swirling circles on the sensitive spot behind her ear. 

“If I was a vampire, I’d bite you right now,” Spike told her with a smirk … mimicking what she had told him earlier.

“Oh wait! I am a vampire … mmmmmmm,” he moaned as he nibbled on her neck and bit down lightly with his blunt teeth on the spot where his scars adorned her skin.

Buffy moaned and wiggled under him as chill bumps chased down her body, emanating from the spot where his mouth touched her. 

“Churchmouse…” Spike reminded her in a whisper as he began dropping kisses across her collarbone.  He trailed is tongue down to one hard nipple and circled it before taking it in his mouth and flicking his tongue across it.  He switched on the vibrator that was wrapped around his fingers and touched it lightly down on her other nipple and Buffy’s body jerked and her back arched up against him as another moan escaped her throat.

“Shhhhhhh….” Spike whispered again as his tongue traveled down to her stomach and the hand with the vibrator did the same with a light, barely there touch against her skin.

“So beautiful you are, Buffy …” Spike told her softly. “I love your body … have I ever told you that?” Spike asked her, again mimicking her words to him.

“Yeah …” Buffy answered just as softly, half moaning the word. “Once or twice …”

Spike continued to move down her abs, dropping a kiss on each hip before settling between her legs. He lifted her legs up and settled her feet on his shoulders, opening her dripping pussy to him. Spike dropped his head down and pressed his tongue against her clit and Buffy’s hips jerked up against him.  He could taste both their juices on her … their cum mingled together and covered her sweet, pink pussy with a succulent ambrosia that seemed like heaven on his tongue.

Spike moaned as he licked down from her clit to her throbbing hole and brought the vibrator up to replace his tongue on her clit.

Buffy moaned louder when the vibrator hit her sensitive nub and her body tensed and trembled as Spike’s tongue dove deep into her hole.  “Oh God …” she whispered as he began twirling his tongue around inside her and sucking hard against her channel.

When he pressed down harder on her clit with the vibrator her whole body jerked and she pulled involuntarily against the restraints on her wrists, using the leverage to lift her hips up off the bed and press harder against his face and hand.

“Shhhhh…” Spike admonished her again, pulling back and replacing the vibrator with his tongue again on her clit.

Buffy bit her lip to keep from making any more noise as she looked down her body and watched him lavish her pussy with languid licks of his tongue, up from her hole to her clit and back down again.  She could feel her orgasm building as he continued his slow and relentless feast and wondered how a churchmouse sounded when it came …

“Oh God… Spike … aaaaaahhhhh, God…” she murmured as quietly as she could … she couldn’t stop the words and moans from coming out of her mouth.  It felt so good … everything he was doing felt like heaven; like angels had given him the keys to the kingdom … and he was about to open the door for her to enter.

“Shhhhhh,” Spike admonished her quietly.  Buffy would’ve put her hand over her mouth, but … handcuffed, so she turned her head and pressed her mouth against her arm as Spike went back to his mission … which was apparently to drive her bug-shagging crazy and make her explode from within since he didn’t want her to make any noise.

You’re killing me! Buffy sent to Spike silently through the bond.

Shhhhhhh! Church mice must be quiet!  he sent back to her as he sucked on her clit and nibbled down lightly with his teeth.

Spike pulled his mouth off her and slid three fingers into her aching hole, stretching her and filling her tight, slick channel. He allowed the vibrator to hit her clit as he slid them in and Buffy’s hips jerked up against him. She buried her mouth against her arm to keep from yelling out as Spike slowly turned the key in the lock to the door to heaven. 

Spike lifted up and pressed Buffy’s legs up and out, opening her to him completely. He began pumping his fingers in and out of her faster, pressing the vibrator down hard against her clit with each stroke.  Buffy’s hips moved in rhythm with his fingers as he fucked her and she bit down on her arm to keep from screaming his name as he pushed against the heavy door that led to the clouds.

As Spike slammed his fingers into her … allowing the vibrator around them to work its magic on her clit, Buffy could feel her orgasm start to ripple out from her core and begin to engulf her body. Suddenly, the door to heaven swung open wide and she was blinded by the brilliance of the light on the other side. It filled every cell in her body with pure bliss.  Each molecule felt like a balloon that had been filled past its capacity… on the verge of exploding at any moment, if she didn’t let some of it out.

Buffy tried to hold the flood back…hold the explosion that she was sure would come and burst her into little, ecstasy filled pieces of churchmouse.  The light in her body was dazzling in its intensity and pureness – it burned every cell with a fire hotter and brighter than the sun. 

Just when she thought that she was going to burst into flames, she felt Spike move over her and suddenly his fingers were replaced with his cock and he thrust into her with all his strength.  “Scream for me … now, Buffy … NOW!” he demanded as he drove into her feverishly. “NOW!!”

Buffy pulled her face away from her arm as every cell in her body exploded like a million little H-bombs and she screamed out with the force of her orgasm.  Spike continued slamming into her as her back arched and her body tensed and trembled under him.  The scream seemed to come from every cell in her body and allowed the energy that filled her to escape before it ripped her apart at the seams. 

She wanted desperately to wrap her arms around Spike’s back and cling to him so she didn’t simply evaporate into thin air from the heat that engulfed her, but her arms were secure. She was at his mercy – he would have to keep her from vanishing; he would have to hold the door to heaven open for her to come back from.

Spike roared and came as Buffy’s channel tightened and finally held him so tight, drew him so deep, that he couldn’t have pulled out even if he wanted to. He ground hard circles against her clit to keep her in heaven as his body stiffened, his cock pulsed, and his cum filled her again. He’d never felt anything as ultimately perfect as that moment when he was buried in her heat, her screams filled the room, her body quivered and trembled under him, and she lifted him to heaven with her.

Buffy’s scream faded and her body sucked in oxygen … but couldn’t quite figure out how to exhale again, as she floated in the clouds on the other side of the door that Spike had opened. All she could see, all she could feel, was pure, white bliss as she tumbled through the clouds, head over heels, soaring and plummeting … turning and rolling … and then Spike was there and he took her hand and spun her around and pulled her against him. The blue of his eyes the only other color that seemed to exist at that moment and Buffy wrapped around him and held tight as he continued to spin them in a slow circle as they danced on the clouds.

Spike waltzed them back towards the heavy door … spinning them both around gracefully on the other side for as long as he could before stepping back through with her in his arms.

“I love you, Buffy …” he whispered as the door closed behind them and they began floating back down towards earth.

When Buffy re-entered her body, she realized that sometime during that dance, Spike had unlocked her hands and she was wrapped around him, arms and legs clinging tightly to his hard body … his blue eyes hovering over hers – full of joy and passion and love.

“I love you too, Spike …” she whispered … quietly as a churchmouse.

**~**