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Coercion 25 Reward of Service
By
the time they got to the apartments, it was dark and Spike had no need for the
blanket. They all picked up a box and followed Xander to apartment 222, who
unlocked the door and went through. With a smile, he looked back at Spike. The
vampire stood at the threshold as Oz hung back. After a minute of Xander
smirking at him as he waited for an invite, Spike scowled. “Coulda reminded me
it’s my place, too,” he said as he stepped in. “Nah. How many times will I ever get to play that
joke?” Between the three of them, they soon had the boxes all
in. Last was the orange chair of possible embarrassment. “Where do you want
it?” Spike asked, eyebrow raised, innuendo applied. “I’m going to move the van, it’s blocking the
steps,” Oz said and left. Xander considered. “Buffy’s coming over later.
Let’s… let’s put it in your room for now.” Spike nodded. “Yeah, that’s best.” Spike picked
up his end of it and lead the way to his small room. As soon as they set it
down, Spike pulled Xander down on it. He pressed his lips to Xander’s throat
from behind. “We don’t have to be as quiet here, Pet.” Xander shivered. “Or at least we don’t have to
take role before we aren’t.” “Mmmmmm,” Spike moaned, nipping his neck below his
shirt collar. “Can’t wait.” Xander felt Spike’s erection pressing against him
and pressed back. Abruptly, he cursed when there came a knock at the door.
“It’s the girls,” Spike said, wickedly not letting go. “Spike,” Xander moaned. “Don’t tease.” “Not a tease, it’s a promise.” Spike licked
along Xander’s shoulder, then let him go. Reluctantly, Xander got up and went to let his friends
in. Willow and Tara bustled in, with Oz in tow. Willow sat
down her book bag and Tara held out a cardboard tube with a ribbon on it to each
of them. “Ha… happy housewarming. From both of us.” Spike was quite surprised. Other than body parts from
Dru and the one hideous pair of unicorn boxer shorts from Harmony, no one had
given him a proper gift for… well, for as long as he could remember.
“Thanks, Loves,” he said, and uncrimped the end of the tube. He unrolled the
poster and a broad, genuine smile bloomed. “It’s Sid!” He held up the
poster of Sid Vicious screaming into a microphone for all to see. “Thank you,
it’s perfect.” Willow shrugged, “Now that you have a proper room…
it is proper isn’t it?” “Well, Spike’s not moved in yet, so, yes, so
far,” Xander answered, enjoying Spike’s smile. “Open yours,” Willow urged. It was a classic black
and white picture of a group of construction workers sitting on a beam high atop
New York eating their lunches. “Cause, well, construction workers,” Willow
needlessly explained. “Thank you.” Xander collected them both in a hug.
“I think I’ll have to have this one framed. “My gift was the sweat of my brow and the use of my
van,” Oz put in dryly with a twinkle in his eye. “And that makes it priceless.” Xander said with a
smile. “Come ladies, I will show you around chez Harris.” They were out on the balcony when Giles and Buffy
arrived. Giles brought a bottle of wine and Buffy brought a T-shirt for Xander
which said “Carpenters do it with tools.” She all but ignored Spike, but they had all expected
that. Tours were made, pizza ordered, and everyone went to
work helping Xander and Spike move in. Xander, finished with putting clothes up, returned to
his living/dining/kitchen room. Tara and Willow were helping Spike sort the
books and put them on a shelf. Oz was talking rather intently with Giles on the
balcony. Buffy was in the kitchen, sorting through boxes. “Xander, do you
really need three melon ballers?” “Considering I don’t even know what a melon baller
is,” he said loudly, “unless it’s some pervy thing a vampire would
do...” “Hey!” called Spike from across the room.
“I’ve no unnatural contact with a vegetable for at least forty years. And
you can’t prove that was me.” The girls laughed and went back to the books. “No,
Buffy. I just took all the kitchen stuff from the basement. I figured I’d sort
it out here and Goodwill the rest.” They worked in silence for a while, picking out the
best cookware. Laughter erupted from across the room again. “Hey,
Whelp!” Spike called, waving a yellow book. “Should your Nancy Drew books go
under mystery or erotica?” Xander laughed. “Those were my mother’s, I think.
We must have gotten a box we didn’t mean to from the pile. Put them with the
Goodwill stuff.” Xander turned back to Buffy with a smile, only to have it
melt to a frown when he saw Buffy scowling at Spike. “What’s up, Buffy?” “Let me see the bedroom again now that all the boxes
are out,” she said and lead the way down the short hall without waiting for an
answer. “What’s up, Buff?” “Why did you let Spike move in with you?” Here it
was, the question he’d been dreading. “I like his company. And he helps with expenses.” “His company? Xander, he’s a killer. And where
does he get money?” “He’s chipped, thanks to Cornboy and team, and
Spike has money. He’s made investments over the years.” “He
probably steals it. Tell me, why isn’t Riley welcome here?” This finally made Xander mad. “He and his team, who
you now work for, by the way, captured Spike and tortured him.” “They fixed him so he wouldn’t hurt people any
more!” “Spike wasn’t broken! Ask Riley. Ask him what else
they do to the pretty HST’s they capture. He’s not the all-American boy you
think, Buffy. Make him tell you true, then come back and talk to me again.”
Spike had not told him of any particular things done to him, but his friend had
seen plenty. Buffy teared up. “I can’t believe it.
You’re jealous, and picking on Riley.” “Buffy…” “You don’t know what Spike still does, what I’ve
seen him do.” “Buffy. It’s none of your business. Calm down.” “I… I think I‘d better go patrol.” Buffy left
at a run leaving the front door open behind her. Xander absently followed her,
closing it. “What was that about?” Spike asked. He stood,
stepping away from the book boxes. Xander wanted nothing more than to be held by his
lover, but they’d not addressed the issue of PDA’s in front of those who
knew. Oz and Giles had come back in while he was in the bedroom. “The storm we
predicted broke. She asked why you were here, I told her I liked your company.
That lead to her asking why Riley wasn’t welcome. I told her.” “I think the Initiative has become a danger to
everyone. We were just discussing it.” Giles said. He looked ready to launch
into lecture mode, but Willow interrupted. “Nope,” Willow said, getting to her feet. “No
gloom and doom. We have a present for you guys,” She extended a hand to Tara
and helped her to her feet. “With your permission, we’d like to do a house
blessing. It’ll clear out any bad energies left from past tenants, or…
Buffy, and possibly add a little protection.” “I’m not so sure about spell in my house, Willow.
What’s it do?” “It’s a general ‘let those who live and visit
here be happy’ spell. And, if you want, we can cast a ‘keep bad out’ spell
like we did at Giles’ place ‘cause his lock’s never worked right.” “What’s that one do?” Giles spoke up. “It makes any evil which tries to
gain entry think twice. And if it gets in, makes it very uncomfortable.” “That why I get the crawlies when I’m there?”
Spike asked. “No, that’s just my distrust of you.” “Hey! I’ve been good!” “Someone made purchases with two of my credit
cards I keep locked away recently.” Spike
just shrugged and straightened a book on the shelf. Xander gave him a ‘we’ll
sort this out later’ look. “What do you say, guys?” Willow asked. “I’m for it. Spike?” “What about the uneasy evil bit? I don’t want
that.” “You’ll be inside the spell, you live here, so you
don’t count as evil,” Tara explained. “Do so,” Spike said, pouting. “Very well, any
help we can get in this Hellmouth of a town.” The two witches lit some candles, and went through the
apartment with sweet-smelling smudge sticks, smoking out all the bad energies.
Then Willow had Spike and Xander stand back-to back in the center of the house
and clasp hands. “This will unify you against any forces that try to
harm you.” “What, is this some kind of bonding spell?” Spike
asked. Willow scoffed and Tara spoke up. “It’s purely
symbolic. You live together, you fight together. It has no emotional influence
at all.” “That’s good,” Spike said. “I wouldn’t want
to find myself mooning after the whelp, here.” Xander pinched Spike, drawing
chuckles all around. After the spells had been cast and the components
packed away, Giles addressed the group. “I wonder if you could all find out
what you can over the next week about the Initiative. Then, perhaps we can meet
again. Buffy could tell us much, but I fear her perceptions have been
colored.” They all agreed. Xander thanked them for their help,
and they parted for the night. Xander stretched and turned to Spike. “So, what do
you want to do this first night in the new place?” Spike grinned. “Hang up my new poster. Never had a
wall that I could use thumb tacks on.” Xander grinned back at Spike and tackled him, toppling them back onto the sofa.
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