Buffy stood at the head of the stairs and debated about which way to go. To her right was her room and to her left was Spike's. Going to his room was not a foreign occurrence for Buffy, but tonight was different. Tonight if she went to him things would change. She entered her room, deciding a change of clothes might be in order. She found what she was looking for in her closet, still wrapped in tissue paper and inside the shopping bag from when she had purchased it over a year ago.

She hesitated only a minute before deciding to take a chance. She had taken little to no chance with Riley. Her last chance taking experience had ended badly, but it had been her fault. She was vulnerable and Parker played on that. Looking back two years later she realized how stupid she had been to fall for his lines. She did not even need to think hard to remember the time before Parker she had been Buffy the chance taker. But Spike was no Parker, Riley or Angel, he had stayed despite her repeatedly telling him to go away and leave her alone.

She walked down the hall toward Spike's room, pausing by the door leading to the nursery to make sure that Scotty was quiet and then turned out the hall light. She stopped in front of his door, her hand on the knob, hesitating between going in without knocking and knocking. She usually knocked, but she suspected he was expecting her.

"Are you going to stand out there all night, Slayer?" he asked from behind the closed door making her decision for her.

"I guess not," she said and then opened the door. The room was dark, but she felt his eyes on her anyway and she was nervous. He wore his human mask, but he still had acute vision even without the game face in place. The floor-length satin gown was a deep crimson, appropriate for Valentine's Day even if she had not bought it with the holiday in mind. She had bought it before knowing she was pregnant and was more than a little self-conscious about what she looked like in it. The bodice was tighter along her breasts than she remembered it being, but that was the case with most of her tops. A side effect of pregnancy and the whole childbirth gig from what she had read and been told.

"Buffy?"

She traced a hand along her hip and abdomen along the negligee's smooth satin as she pushed some hair behind her ear nervously with the other one. "Happy Valentine's Day," she said softly, suddenly feeling stupid.

"Happy Valentine's Day to you," he said, sitting up in bed to really look at her now. He raked a hand through his hair and seemed almost nervous. Bravely, she put her right foot in front of her left and walked toward the bed. "And here I thought you couldn't surprise me anymore."

"A surprise of the good variety," she said softly standing in front of him now. "I hope."

"Oh yeah," he whispered. "You can give me this kind of surprise anytime, honey."

She smiled brightly in part due to his choice of pet name. Pet or luv were things he called lots of women, but honey was not one he would address just anyone by. She was rather fond of Slayer truth be told, but it was nice to hear something a little more romantic and heartfelt. He placed his left hand against her right hip and her breath hitched at the contact even though it was expected. "I've never worn anything like this before," she said softly, shyly.

"You should do it more often, Buffy."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," he said with a tilt of his head. She could make out that he bit his lower lip and was studying her, looking at her as if she was on the menu tonight. "Do you have more of these numbers?"

"Why? You don't like this one?"

He shook his head with a scoff. "I love it, pet, I was just wondering if maybe you had different ones, you know, one for every day of the week."

She smiled and bowed her head. "Oh. No, this is it."

"Well, you certainly made a damned good choice," he said gently, his hand at her hip sliding along the fabric to the small of her back. He drew her to him suddenly, not violently but she had not expected him to just yet. Her hands went to his shoulders and she leaned down practically crushing her mouth to his. There was nothing violent about the kiss, but his response was powerful as if a year of pent up desire and need was on the verge of being released. She keened against his mouth and placed her arms around his neck, arching into him. The satin gown stimulated her breasts as she moved against his bare chest and she groaned, breaking the kiss gasping for breath.

"Spike," she murmured as she straddled him, kneeling over him so she was in his lap.

"Too much," he murmured as his mouth traced along her jaw.

"What's too much?" she asked, gasping violently as he swirled her earlobe with his tongue. This is what it was supposed to feel like, Buffy realized.

There had been passion with Angel but she had been an innocent and so nervous. She knew he restrained himself from unleashing all of the pent up desire that had built up in him so as not to hurt her. He was not a sixteen year old high school boy after all. Unfortunately, the aftermath had overshadowed any pleasure she had gotten from her experience with him. Parker had been a bumbling idiot, for a player he really needed to be taught a thing or two, even Buffy with her inexperience knew that. And Riley, well, he was a typical straight laced conservative. White Bread Spike had unfondly referred to him as, and had been right, Riley's personality extended to the bed. Kissing him never left Buffy breathless, never left Buffy wanting. Lovemaking left her feeling unfulfilled more often than not, resulting in her needing to hunt or a long hot shower if hunting netted her no slays to rectify that problem. She had just assumed that it was how it was going to be, even if she wanted more.

"Your warmth. This," he said his fingertips running over the satin negligee. "So soft on top of being warm. I don't deserve this," he murmured. His cool hands were setting her on fire. How was that possible? How was it possible to be warmed, to feel heat from a cold body that had not felt warmth in over a century? And yet she knew this was how it was supposed to feel even if she did not know how it was possible.

She silenced him with a searing kiss, not wanting him to talk like that. She had forgotten what kissing Spike had been like; kissing vampires was way different than kissing humans. And she liked the difference, had missed it. She no longer believed she would find in a human what it was she needed. Angel had spoiled her for others and then left. Who would have thought she would find another vampire to like? "Okay, more than like," she murmured as she broke the kiss. Her hands found his chest and rubbed, her fingernails teasing his cool flesh.

"More than like what?" Spike asked.

"What?" she asked not realizing she had said that aloud.

"You said more than like."

"Oh, I was thinking."

"I gathered that," he said, his hands caressing her and she moaned softly. He sure seemed to like touching her, not that she minded. "Though I'm not sure I like that you're thinking about things while we're kissing," he said with a wicked grin.

"Oh no, I was actually thinking good thoughts," she said, taking advantage of her Slayer strength to push him so he was laying instead of sitting on the bed.

"Yeah," he said, moving his hands up her hips to the small of her back. "Like what?"

"I was thinking how right kissing you seems, how good it feels, and that I think I might actually more than like you."

"Oh really, now, this wasn't brought on by Soldier Boy, was it? We had a good hunt tonight and if it's left you, you know, in the mood, I can accept that. No need to put on airs with me, Slayer."

"We've had good hunts before now, Spike, and I haven't come to you like this."

"Yeah, well, I know you two used to work off post-patrolling energy this way."

She did not bother responding to him, at least not with words. She leaned toward him, her knees still at either side of him, and kissed him. "This has nothing to do with Riley or patrolling or anything else," she said softly, finding his ear and nibbling on the lobe. "Honey," she whispered before taking it between her teeth and tugging on it.

He growled and she stopped her biting to look at him. "I didn't say to stop," he said. He was still in human form, which had been what she was looking for. She could deal with his being a vampire and might even have no problem doing all of the sex stuff with him in his true face, but not tonight. She wanted this face tonight. "Did I scare you?" he asked as if reading her mind.

"No," she whispered, kissing him again. She drew away from his chest, just enough to place her hands between them so that she could touch him. She needed to touch him, wanted to feel the cool smoothness of his skin in contrast to the satiny warmth of hers. She liked it, as deranged as others might find it.

She slid her mouth lower, kissing his neck and throat, nipping where his pulse point would have been if he had one. Both hands moved to his head, his hair, her fingers running through it, finding one curl that had escaped his gel and wrapped it around her pinky. She was burning for him and was of the mind to just rip the negligee off and ask him to take her. She traced her tongue along the length of his collarbone and the hollow of his throat, taking pride in the soft groans that she elicited in him. She was doing that, exciting him.

Her hands slid from his hair to his chest as she slid herself lower along his body. Touching him was of the good, so she took her time letting her fingers trace over his neck, his shoulders, and his chest stopping from going lower than that for now. Her mouth found a nipple and sucked on it greedily as her fingertips found and stroked the other one. He was growling again, softly but she heard it which only served to embolden her. She took his nipple in between her teeth and bit, glancing up at him as she increased the pressure.

"Buffy," he groaned, a hand finding her cheek and touching her. She slid her mouth to the other nipple, her tongue grazing his flesh along the way and repeated her actions. His other hand was at her hip, sliding along the bare skin of her thigh the slit in the gown allowed him access to. She arched into him and keened as his hand slipped underneath the gown to cup an ass cheek. Her sound was nothing compared to the one he made when he realized she was not wearing any panties underneath the gown.

Before she knew it he had moved them so she was lying on the bed on her back and he was on top of her. Her eyes were wide, but she smiled up at him. "Oh my," she said as she encircled his neck with her arms. "Is there something the Big Bad vampire wants?" Her voice sounded foreign to her, throaty and seductive, but she liked that he brought that out in her.

"You know what he wants, baby," he whispered as he placed kisses along her neck, throat, shoulders and collarbone. He did not nip even though she bared her neck to him. She would not let him go all fangy, but in his human form she did not mind. He pushed the gown up slowly, too slowly. "Faster," she ground out as she arched off the bed, wanting it off of her and her skin against his now.

"Easy, luv," he whispered as he slid lower, kissing her stomach. She moaned loudly as his tongue swirled her belly button.

"Spike," she whispered, tugging on the gown to bring it lower suddenly a little self-conscious of her figure. She had returned pretty much to her pre-pregnancy state, but she had a few stretch marks. It was to be expected she had been told, and she knew she had gotten off pretty easily probably due to her Slayer healing and training.

"You're perfect, Buffy. You look and taste perfect," he said as if reading her thoughts. He paused, though, his hand over her hand that still clutched some of the fabric. "Do you want me to stop, pet?"

"No," she said and after a moment's hesitation released the gown.

He pushed the gown just even with her breasts and smiled at her almost primal-like before taking first one nipple and then the other into his mouth. They were already hard and sensitive from anticipation, having his mouth actually on them was almost too much. He was gentle, but it was in a caring way. She sensed he was holding back, which was fine for now. She was not sure she was ready to deal with the full package tonight. He found the underside of her breast and bit her, hard enough for her to feel some discomfort and just when it bordered on the side of pure pain he stopped, causing her to groan and slide her hands to his head. She moved against him even though he still had his jeans on, her legs going around his calves, rubbing her sensitive pearl against him.

"Come for me, Buffy," he whispered as he laved the bite mark with his tongue. She should be embarrassed that he did not need to actually touch her to bring about her release, but instead it aroused her more. She came loudly in time with him biting the underside of her other breast. He rested his head against her abdomen and she ran her fingers through his hair.

"What are you doing," she asked softly, feeling very relaxed after her orgasm.

"Listening to your heart, and remembering what it was like to hear little one's heartbeat when you'd lay down with me while you were pregnant."

"Oh," she said softly. "Do you miss it?"

"Sometimes. All I have to do is go on down the hall to his room and I can hear it loud and clear, but it's not quite the same."

"No," she said with a shake of her head agreeing with him. It was not the same. She still remembered hearing Scotty's heartbeat for the first time at the doctor's office, seeing his form on the monitor during the ultrasound. It was not the same. "It's not," she whispered. He rolled onto his back. "Where are you going," she asked.

He turned to look at her, his hand pausing at the zipper of his jeans. "Nowhere, was just going to slide out of my jeans."

"Oh," she said, feeling the heat of a blush which he obviously saw by the way he looked at her.

"Is that all right?"

"Yeah," she said softly. "Or I could help," she said, kneeling above him once more. She took over his quest to shed his jeans, her eyes widened at the sight of his length. He was large, real large.

"Something a matter, Slayer?" he queried with a wicked grin. "You have seen one of those before."

"I, well," she said, blushing further.

"What?"

"I mean, well, um, no not really. I've touched, but never really gotten to see, no."

"In that case, look all you want, honey, it makes me hard as hell to have you looking at me like that."

Not that she needed or waited for his permission, but his words warmed her, gave her the courage to explore. And she did explore, not just intimately either. She utilized her hands and mouth to touch and kiss him everywhere from his face to his feet. She tasted him everywhere and watched for his reactions to her various touches and kisses. She drew the line at kissing his feet, but she rubbed them which brought a pleasurable groan from Spike.

When she knelt above him, taking a hold of his length once again she was a little surprised to find he was still so hard and ready for her. Her eyes met his briefly before she resumed watching her hand stroke him, rubbed his essence onto him when she encountered some at his tip. It felt cool to the touch and she wondered if she could warm it. Wanting to find out she slid her mouth over him.

"Oh god, Buffy," he moaned as he arched into her, startling her at first. She had just been sucking the head, darting her tongue around the tip and its opening, tasting his cool essence as it trickled out of him. And then suddenly he was deep in her mouth. She fought the urge to gag at the sudden intrusion, knowing it was just reflex on his part he was not trying to hurt her, and relaxed. Once she relaxed and he let her have the control she found that she liked it.

Spike apparently liked it, too. She had sort of tuned out what exactly he was saying, concentrating more on his physical reactions. But he sure was talking a lot, whispered words that probably should have been offensive. He seemed to find her mouth as hot as she thought it felt sheathed over him. He tasted, different, that was the only word she could think of. She did not know what she had expected exactly, to be repulsed by it maybe. Riley had never let her taste him. She had gone down on him a few times, but he always stopped her before she was ready to stop.

"Slayer," he groaned. "I'm going to," he said but she cut him off by sucking harder and sliding his length further into her mouth. He apparently forgot what he was about to say because he returned to his murmuring. His murmurs began to increase in volume and then he erupted. Her mouth stilled, but she drank all that he provided.

His hands found her hair as she inched up slightly, placing her head against his washboard abs. His physique was part of the reason she was so self-conscious about her own. He was perfect, even his pale skin was flattering. She tried to imagine a tanned Spike, but the two just did not go together. He was from a time where beaches and tanning were just not of the norm. She turned her head and placed a kiss against his stomach and groaned contentedly. She licked her lips and he must have seen her because he chuckled lightly. "What?" she asked pretending to be offended.

"Nothing, pet, just watching you is all."

"And I'm doing something funny?"

"No, your appearance of innocence sometimes just strikes me as amusing."

"Appearance? I'm really not all that experienced, you know."

"I forget. It's easy to forget, Buffy, when I work beside you night after night watching you kill demons and other evil beings."

"Oh," she said softly, crawling up so her face was even with his. "So, because I kill things I can't be innocent?"

"Slayer, you were with your Boy Scout at least a year before he ran off. And Scotty's proof you weren't playing gin rummy when you were alone together."

"Well, we didn't right away and that's not all we did. What between the Initiative, Angel, you, Adam, Dracula, Glory and Mom's tumor," she shrugged. "It's no wonder he left, really."

He placed both hands at the back of her head, the look in his eyes told Buffy he was angry. But she could not figure out why. "Don't ever say that, Summers. Do you hear me? If a bloke really loves you he's not going to leave because you're not spreading your legs for him whenever he wants you to."

"Don't be crude, Spike."

"I'll be crude if it means you'll listen, Buffy. No one is going to leave someone because their sex life has taken a nosedive when one or the other of them has hit a snag in their lives outside the bed. At least not if they're worth anything."

"I know."

"I don't think you do, Summers, or you wouldn't have said it."

"I do, but honestly the problem wasn't our lives interfering," she said, moving next to him on the bed. It seemed so strange to be lying in her old bed with Spike. Naked Spike lying in her bed. She had dreamt about it, even before the chip and Willow's spell.

"No?"

She giggled softly and buried her head in the space between his shoulder and the pillow. "No."

"Don't go all coy on me now, Slayer. What then?"

She did not really feel like talking about this right now. She used her Slayer strength to draw him on top of her, her hand slid between his legs. "You know for someone who has a willing, wanting woman in his bed you sure are talking a lot."

"Is that right?" he asked as her hand was producing the desired affect on his body.

"Definitely, too much talking. I realize you're up all night, vampire and all, but I have to sleep so that I can wake up when Scotty wakes up."

"A quick shag, is that what you're looking for, Slayer? Something to lull you to sleep?"

"Well, no, but I mean, he's going to be waking up in six or seven hours."

"Yeah, and your point is?"

"You couldn't, I mean, you can't, it's not possible."

He entered her and she wrapped her legs around his waist, her hands clutching his arms as she adjusted to him. "You want to put a little wager on that, Slayer?" he asked once he was completely inside of her.

"What kind of wager?" she asked as she found his shoulder and bit down. Not enough to draw blood or even really mark him, but she had to stifle a loud groan as he thrust inside of her, hitting a spot she never even knew existed before just then.

"You liked that, eh?" She merely nodded her head in response, not that she needed to because he already knew the answer. "I keep you up all night and as my reward you have to get one of your mates to take Scotty for a full night, so we can have a right proper date and the possibility of a right proper ending to that date." He grew quiet, his face tensed as she squeezed her inner muscles.

"You liked that?" she asked coyly. Two could play at that game. "And I agree to your terms," she said softly. "But what if you lose?"

"I won't lose, particularly with you as my partner. Vampire and Slayer stamina, we could go at it for days more than likely."

"Days? Did you say days?"

"Yeah, baby, days." She started laughing then and he drew back, but did not pull out of her. "What in the hell are you laughing at? Laughing at me out of bed is one thing, sweetheart, but in bed it's bloody rude."

"I'm not laughing at you. I was lucky to get minutes out of Riley."

"Oh well, that's a human for you. I always knew he was unworthy of you."

"Spike," she whispered against his ear. "Shut up or I'm going to nullify the bet because you were distracting yourself by talking too much."

"At your service, milady," he whispered before nuzzling against and kissing her neck.

Her head sank back into the pillow, her body bowed toward him, moved with his as if she knew what he would do even though she had never done anything like this before. He had not removed the negligee, but she did not mind, it felt good, she wondered if he thought so too. She had no idea sex could feel like this, like an out of body experience when she reached a climax, and he brought them out of her almost too easily.

At first she thought he had been joking or just talking to impress, or scare, her. But when he had to get up out of bed to close the curtains because the sun was about to greet his bed she realized the joke was on her. Her body ached, but it was a pleasant type of aching that she would not change for anything. She took it to mean she had experienced good sex and would not trade it for anything.

He came back to the bed, looking very pleased with himself and judging by the fact he was hard - again - ready to go. She covered her face with her hands and groaned, turning to face the wall. "I give in."

"So soon, Slayer?"

"So soon? Seven hours is soon?"

"So I win, right? You forfeited, so I win the bet."

"Oh my God, I can't believe you're talking like this. Do you actually want more," she said, rolling over to face him. God, he looked amazing, predatory and satisfied yet hungry for more. Hungry for more of her and her body reacted to that realization, tingling, wanting. "Stop it," she said frustrated, wishing her body would cooperate with her head.

"Problems, pet?"

"Yeah, I look at you and I want you, but my head knows that I won't be able to walk if I let you go until we physically can't anymore." He smirked, his scarred brow rose as he planted a kiss on the tip of her nose. "And stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"All sexy and proud because you've just gotten to know things about me no one else knows."

"I have?"

"What kind of a girl do you think I am?"

He ran a fingertip up the length of her arm and she shivered. "I don't think you're a girl at all. I think you're a woman, pet. My woman," he said and Buffy saw the look of question pass in his eyes, as if he had said the wrong thing.

"You want me to be your woman?"

"What the hell do you think I've been hanging around here for, Summers? Do you think I help raise some other bloke's kid out of the goodness of my vampire heart?"

She traced a path with a fingertip along one of the scratch marks she had left on his chest that led to his heart. His chest and abdomen were covered in them, and she felt the heat of a blush on her face. She scratched him when she was on top of him. Her negligee had been removed by that point and when they had finished she had collapsed on top of him, getting blood on her body from the scratches. Spike had lapped the blood off her like a cat drinking from a bowl of milk. She tried to be disgusted with the fact that it was his blood he was licking off of her, but it was sort of hard to be disgusted when they had tasted one another on themselves more than once during the night. What was a little blood thrown into the mix?

"Do I disgust you now, pet," he said as if he read were her thoughts were going.

She shook her head. "No, no disgust here. Are you? Disgusted with me?"

"Christ, woman, no. You're amazing, make me feel like a man."

"That's because you are one, William," she said softly before kissing him.

He rolled on top of her, her earlier protests flew to the wayside as he touched her. His thumb stroked her hardened nub as a finger slid inside of her. That was it, all it took, for her to give into him and he apparently sensed it because he chuckled softly against her ear as he slid into her. This time, like their first time, was gentle, soft, all about lovemaking. There was no scratching, no biting, no desperation, just two people expressing their love for one another in the basest, most primitive way to go about it.

Buffy's release came swift and intense, causing her to fall to the bed exhausted and spent. Spike was not done yet, but he seemed to like a non-participatory Buffy every once in a while. Her hands clutched the sheet beneath her as he reached his climax and collapsed on top of her. Maybe he was as exhausted as she was. She ran her hands through his hair, clutching her to him, not wanting him to move from on top of her just yet. "Spike," she said softly.

"Yes, luv," he said, placing a kiss against her jaw.

She pulled his head away and met his eyes, the eyes of a very sated man. Did she have that same look in her eyes, she wondered. Her inner muscles clutched around him still inside of her but no longer hard and he groaned softly. She had not really meant to do it, but instinct kicked in. "I love you," she said softly.

"I love you, too, pet, but you already knew that."

"Yeah," she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. "I did. You probably already knew it, too. I mean, that I love you."

"Well, yeah, knew it two years ago after Red's spell."

"Did you now, Mr. Arrogant?"

"Yeah, well, spell or no, your kisses were real."

"I haven't kissed anyone like that since then, until tonight."

"No?"

"No," she admitted almost shyly.

"Good, I like that. Like that your Nancy boy didn't turn your crank for you."

"Not even close," she said with a light laugh. "God, I feel so bad saying that."

"I'm certainly not going to tell him, pet."

"I decided something else today, too."

"Oh? I'm not sure how my day can get any better, but let's hear you out."

"I want you to be Scotty's daddy."

"I already am, pet. You know I treat him as if he were my own."

"I know, I just want it to be official like. You know, you don't have to ask me to discipline him or anything when he gets older. I don't want you to think of yourself as the nanny or a houseguest or anything."

"I'm saying yes, Buffy, but I want you to think on it," he said sitting up, his feet on the floor.

"What's there to think on?"

"Buffy, I love you and I love little Scotty like he was my own. I'd do anything for you, I'd go to Hades and back if that's what you needed from me, but as a man," he sighed softly.

"As a man what," she asked gently, even though she sensed she was not going to like or agree with what he was about to say.

"As a man, I try and identify with Riley as much as I hate to admit it. He's the lad's father, and I can't help but think that he deserves to know the truth."

"Ordinarily I would agree with you, Spike. I would, but I told you it's too risky. He could take Scotty away from me. I refuse to take that risk, and I can't imagine him letting Scotty stay with me knowing about me and that you're here. And I refuse to give you up. I'd quit slaying before I'd quit you. Especially," she said, sitting up to place a kiss on his shoulder. "After last night," she whispered before nibbling his ear, her arms going around him.

He turned his head to look over his shoulder at her. "You liked last night, huh? Was it worth losing the bet?"

"Worth it? I was hoping I'd lose," she said with a light laugh. "I didn't think I would, but I wanted to. And now I can't wait."

"I just want it on the record that I wanted you to tell him."

"The record is duly noted," Buffy said, kissing his shoulder. "I should get up and shower and do other Mom things before he wakes up and I can't for hours."

"But we already did do it for hours," he said with a smirk.

"I meant the showering and things. You know what it's like for me once he wakes up. And today's Friday, so you kept me up all night and I have class to sit through. You're evil."

"I didn't hear you complaining about that until now."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't thinking too clearly when you practically dared me."

She stood from the bed and walked to the door. "Going to join me?"

"Sure, I'll be in in a minute. I'll go down and get his bottle ready in case he wakes up while you're primping for school." He stood from the bed and stepped into a pair of cutoff sweat shorts he wore around the house at Buffy's insistence. They rode low on his hips, and looked about as old as Buffy was.

"Is he awake?"

"I heard him moving around in there, yeah."

"Okay, change him, give him his bottle and then join me."

"Don't wait on my account, pet. You've got class this morning. We can take one later tonight after patrolling if showering together is what you have a hankering for. I'll make you breakfast, you'll need to build up strength after all that energy you expended last night."

"You're entirely too proud of yourself."

"Hell yeah, I wore out the Slayer, through loving rather than fighting, but well, I can fudge the details a bit."

"Uh huh," she said, making her way to the bathroom. "Oh and Spike?"

"Yes, Buffy?"

"I meant what I said earlier. I love you."

"I love you, too, sweetheart," he said, kissing her lightly.

Story ©Susan Falk/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com