One shot

“Where are we going, Slayer?”

“We are going nowhere, Spike,” Buffy growled.  Other than her words, she didn’t acknowledge the vampire. 

Spike fell in step beside Buffy, and he matched her pace.  He gave the Slayer a little pout.  “But I have nothing else to do.”

“Go terrorize the civilians?” Buffy muttered under her breath.

“But, Buffy…”  The pouty lip thrust out even more.  “It’s Halloween.  You know demons take the night off.  Rupert said so.”

Buffy shook her head, and she rolled her eyes towards the sky.  “Please save me from bored vampires.”

“So, where are we going, Slayer?”  Spike practically bounced around Buffy in a circle.

“Okay, fine.  I give up.”  Buffy threw her hands in the air.  “We’re going over to the Toys R Us store.  Giles got a phone call from the owner.  Apparently it’s haunted.”

“Only in Sunnyhell,” Spike muttered.  He looked around.  “Where’s the overgrown Boy Scout?”

Buffy narrowed her eyes at the question.  She knew she wasn’t in love with Riley, but when he told her that they were too young to be in a committed relationship and should see other people, it had really hurt her heart.  “What have you heard?” she asked suspiciously.

“Not a thing, Slayer.”  Spike noticed how Buffy’s heart rate accelerated at the mention of Riley’s name.  That was something that he couldn’t remember happening before.  She also seemed a wee bit brassed off at the young pulser.  “Just figured you’d be out with your sweetie on this fine All Hallows Eve.”

“Look, there’s the Toys R Us.”  Buffy dug a key out of her jacket pocket.  She rushed towards the employees’ entrance to avoid Spike’s further investigation of why she wasn’t out with Riley.  “The owner was kinda vague on what was going on though.”  She looked over her shoulder at Spike.  “So, if I accidently shoot you because we’re possessed by dead lovers, don’t take it personal.  I shot Angelus too.”

“Good to know,” Spike chuckled.  “Now about Finn.  Where is the git?”

Buffy shoved the key in the door’s lock.  “I’m not sure I want to tell you, Spike.  You’ll just make some comment that’ll end up with Mr. Pointy getting mad at you.”

“You named your stake Mr. Pointy.”

“No, Kendra did.”  Buffy twisted the key.  After she heard the clicking inside the lock, she pushed the door open. 

“Come on, Slayer.  You know you wanna lay it on me just so I can brass off Mr. Pointy.  What’s the point of livin’ if it’s not dangerous?”  Spike’s eyes swept up Buffy’s body, taking in the way her ass looked in her tight jeans.

Buffy looked over her shoulder with an exasperated sigh.  “Fine.  Riley decided after the heart chip scare that we needed to date other people for a while.”

Spike growled.  “Bloody pillock.”

“Yeah.”  Buffy stepped inside the toy store.  She pulled a small flashlight from her jacket pocket, and she turned it on.  “Now, if you were a ghost where would you haunt?”

Spike sauntered into the building behind Buffy.  “The ladies’ room, of course.”  He closed the door before he extended his senses.  “Hate to tell you, pet, but I don’t feel a thing.  You sure this isn’t a wild goose chase?”

“Why would anyone want to chase a wild goose?”

“People are weird.”  Spiked sidled past Buffy to survey the main storeroom.  He saw nothing out of the ordinary.  “Come on, Slayer.  Let’s go find some toys to play with.”

Buffy illuminated different focal points in the room until she accepted Spike’s assessment that the room was empty.  “I suppose we should check out the rest of the store.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Buffy strode into the main part of the toy store.  She panned the flashlight around, but the only thing she saw were rows and rows of silent toys.  “Hm, maybe this ghost actually listened to Giles and his ‘nothing ever happens on Halloween’ speech.  You sure didn’t.”

Spike ignored Buffy’s little dig with a smirk.  “Well, since neither of us have anything better to do, Slayer, we might as well hang out here.”  He strolled down the closest aisle.

“Oh, the excitement,” Buffy muttered sarcastically.  She walked past Spike who had stopped to look at a toy.  “Look, I need the little girl’s room, and you better not haunt it.  I’ll be back.”  She pointed the flashlight in Spike’s face.

“Watch where you shine that thing, Slayer.”  Spike shielded his eyes.  “We vamps can see very well without a torch.”

“If you break or steal anything, I’m sticking a stake in your ass.”

“Oh, kinky.  Always knew you were a Dom.”

Buffy stared at Spike in astonishment for a second.  She lifted her eyes towards the ceiling.  “Why me?”  She turned on her heel, and she marched away from the vampire.  Why did she find Spike’s snarky, flirty comments more amusing than she should?

“I can smell you,” Spike called out.  “Don’t think I can’t.”  After Buffy turned the corner at the end of the aisle, he whispered, “She so wants me.”

Buffy found the bathrooms easily enough. She made a quick job of doing her business.  She knew that leaving Spike alone for too long would be disastrous.  “He so needs a Ritalin or a girlfriend that’s not Harmony or Drusilla.”

The traitorous voice in her head said, “You told Riley you’d be willing to date Spike.”

“No, I said if I wanted to date the supernatural I’d date Spike,” Buffy said to her reflection.

“Same diff,” the voice replied.  “Bet he can last longer than twenty minutes and no visiting the bathroom to get yourself off afterwards.  The only time Riley lasted more than a few minutes was when you were possessed in the frat house. ”

“Shut up,” Buffy hissed.  “We are not going to think about the formerly evil undead like that.”  She grabbed the flashlight, and she left the bathroom.  Her mind was filled with all the nasty ways she could use Spike to ensure her pleasure was fulfilled.  Most of the ways would either disgust or break Riley Finn.

Buffy peeked down each aisle, looking for Spike.  The store seemed to be unearthly quiet until she reached the row of G.I. Joes.  Once she stepped into the actual space between the shelves, she couldn’t believe what she saw.

“SPIKE!”

When Spike heard the Slayer’s shout, he tossed aside the comic book he was reading.  He rushed towards the sound of Buffy’s voice, and he skidded to a halt when he found her.  “What’s up, pet?”

“Please tell me you see that.”  Buffy pointed her flashlight into the darkness.

Spike studied the illuminated scene with a puzzled look.  Then he looked at Buffy, and again he looked at the scene.  “I see killer Barbies attacking the G.I. Joe’s.  Kinda reminds me of the fight at the Initiative.”

“And anything else?”

“There’s several forts made of Legos.  Is that the Millennium Falcon attacking the Enterprise?”

Buffy gave a sigh of relief.  “I hoped it wasn’t only me.”

Spike took a step closer.  “Is that Barbie attackin’ or shaggin’ that Joe?”  He had a look of sick fascination on his face.

Both Spike and Buffy took a step backwards when the Barbie doll turned to stare at them with a blood stained face.

“Attackin’ it is,” Spike muttered.  “Must be a relly of Miss Edith.”

“Now what do we do?” Buffy gasped.  “Giles didn’t say anything about evil, possessed toys.”

“Retreatin’ sounds like a plan.”  Spike grabbed Buffy’s arm.  “Evil toys are not something to tangle with without a plan, and I speak from experience on that one.”

“Right.  I completely agree!”  Buffy grasped Spike’s sleeve.  “We can come back later with back up.”

Spike smirked.  “Darn tootin’.  We don’t have Harris here to be the bait.”

“Or Giles to get clobbered with his own crossbow.”

“Or demon girl to do her little dance to capitalism at the sight of this place.”  Spike waved his arm at the store’s contents.

The entire time Spike and Buffy were talking they had been stepping away from the evil toys.  Buffy felt a doorknob hit her in the back.  Grasping the handle, she pushed the door open.  She and Spike jumped inside the room they’d discovered.

“So?”

“So.”

“Now what?”

“I’m so sorry about that,” a woman’s voice said.

Buffy nearly jumped out of her skin.  Her hand slid down Spike’s sleeve to grasp his hand.  They looked around for the source of the voice.  In the corner of the room, which turned out to be the employees’ lounge, stood a ghostly woman in a long, old fashioned dress that reminded both Spike and Buffy of Drusilla.

“Those children of mine,” the woman continued.  “What imaginations.”

“Children?”  Buffy pulled Spike closer.  “I didn’t see any children.  Sure explains the mess the manager keeps finding though.”  One thing she couldn’t handle seeing in her line of work were the victims who were kids.  Once again she was glad she’d never had to stake the Anointed One.

The woman shook her head.  “They’re such playful little imps.”  She poked her head through the closed, wooden door.  “William.  Elizabeth.  Come apologize to these nice people.”

Buffy smirked at Spike.  “William?”

“Elizabeth?”  Spike leered in return.

Two contrite children glided through the door with their heads downcast.  The girl clutched a Barbie in one hand, and the boy had a toy soldier in his hand.  “We’re sorry we scared you,” they said as one.

“It’s her fault,” William grumbled.  “She keeps making her dolls be vampires.”

Elizabeth stomped her foot.  “All he wants to do is play soldier.  It’s so boring.”

“Not only did you two scare these two nice people.”  Their mother pointed at Spike and Buffy.  “But you haven’t been cleaning up after yourselves.  I thought you learned your lesson last year, but apparently not.  Next Halloween, you’ll be staying home with Aunt Gertie.”

“But, Mom, she smells,” Elizabeth and William protested.

“She can’t help that she lives at the dump.”  The mother turned to Buffy and Spike.  “Again, my apologies.”  She grabbed her children by the ears, and she dragged them out of the room, lambasting their choices the entire time.

Buffy let out a nervous laugh.  “Children playing?  Wait till I tell Giles.”

“It’s one for the history books, that’s for sure.”  Spike’s hand tingled where Buffy touched him, but he didn’t want to call her attention to it.  “The slaying part of the date is over, now what?”

Buffy looked down at their clutched hands.  She was surprised Spike hadn’t leapt away exclaiming that he had ‘Buffy germs or germs of Buffy’ already.  Maybe that stupid inner voice had the right idea.  “Dancing at the Bronze?” she suggested.

Spike contemplated the idea for a moment.  “Or back to my crypt for a night with the telly.  Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin special is on in a few.”

“You have any diet Coke?” Buffy inquired.

Spike shrugged.  “We can stop at the Minimart on the way back.”

“Okay, Charlie Brown it is.”  Buffy grinned at Spike.  “More fun than going to the Bronze and watching Riley mack on all the girls.”

A lopsided smile crossed Spike’s face.  “That plan has its merits, too.  Mocking of Captain Cardboard can be fun, but I want you to m’self, Slayer.”

Buffy studied the earnest look on Spike’s face.  Sure, he was evil and pretty amoral, but at least she didn’t have to worry he’d be different in the morning.  Still holding his hand, she led him towards the back of the store where they had entered. 

Spike let himself be guided by the Slayer.  Once outside, he glanced up at the sky, giving his thanks to whoever was listening that Buffy wasn’t giving him the slap down.  “So, pet.  Am I gonna get lucky tonight?”

“Only if you’re a good vamp boy and do exactly as I say.”

Spike licked his bottom lip.  “Oh, I can be a really good boy, Slayer.  Just you wait and see.”

“Promises, promises.”

Spike knew that whatever the rest of his evening held, it would be interesting to say the least.  Somehow it didn’t matter even if he ended up dust on the floor of his crypt.  He knew he was going to have a lot of fun first.

The End