Nuts
By Ruby
Title: Nuts 1/1 (6th in the "Plagued--Why
Us?" series)
Author: Ruby
E-mail: [email protected]
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Joss owns all.
Summary: Another beast-ly encounter.
Archive: My usual haunts.
Feedback: Yes, please!
Dedication: For Gabrielle, who's suggestion inspired this part.:-)
"We can't go to the Bronze tonight," Willow said as she followed Spike out of her apartment.
"That was your suggestion, as I recall. What's changed your mind?" he asked her.
"Buffy and Xander are going to be there
to hear Oz play. That's almost everyone on our 'miss list'--all in the same
place," she
explained.
"Okay," he agreed. "Maybe we should just stay here."
Willow nodded, "Maybe we should."
"Or not," he said suddenly, taking her hand.
"Why? What is it?"
"Slayer, dead ahead and headed in this direction," he warned her.
Willow clasped his hand and pulled him
toward the far end of the apartment building. They disappeared around the side
as Buffy
stepped onto the sidewalk that lead to the door. Spike placed his hand on Willow's
back and urged her through the hedge of shrubs that
bordered the back of the property.
"We're okay, now," she said. "She can't see us."
"If I can sense her, she can sense me, pet," he reminded her.
"Oh. Yeah," she mumbled and scrambled through the scratchy shrubs.
They darted down a narrow side street that
lead out onto a row of houses, most of them in varying states of disrepair,
with porches and
lawns littered with the college students who resided in them.
"Damn," he hissed.
"What?"
"She's right behind us," he answered.
The couple helped themselves to several
front and back yards, Spike snarling softly at the wolf-whistles that followed
the little
redhead. She giggled in spite of the situation, and his hand reattached itself
to hers, and he pulled her relentlessly behind him.
Spike slowed his pace as they entered one
of Sunnydale's ever-growing cemeteries and looked down at Willow as she labored
to catch
her breath.
She took a quick look behind them, "Are we in the clear?"
"We've lost her," he nodded. "Even if she
does manage to find her way here, there have been enough other vampires roaming
through
this cemetery tonight that she won't be able to tell me from the others."
"Oh, that's comforting," Willow said dryly. "Can we get out of here, please?"
"You've got something against undead guys?" he grinned.
"You're the only undead guy I lo--like," she answered.
"What was that, little one?" he smiled smugly.
"Like, I said like," she snapped, silently cursing the red warmth that swept over her cheeks.
"Uh huh," he chuckled as they walked away from the cemetery.
"I'm starving," she announced, quickly changing the subject. "Let's get something to eat."
"How about that pizza place near the park?" he suggested. "You can have pizza, and I'll have a waitress."
She arched an eyebrow at him.
"No?" he asked, all innocence. "Okay. You can have pizza, and I'll have you."
Willow giggled and shook her head as she
dragged him down the street. ***
Spike reached down and took Willow's arm, tucking it through his as they walked
through the park. She leaned against him, and he
stopped, pulling her around to kiss her.
"We shouldn't be doing this here," she told him.
"I know," he agreed and returned to her mouth.
"It's dangerous."
"It is," he said and nibbled her lip.
"Buffy could be looking for us right now."
"I half wish she'd find us," he admitted, crushing her against him as her arms went around him.
Willow suddenly broke the kiss with a little yelp. She raised her hand to the top of her head and rubbed it softly.
"What the hell was that?" she asked, looking upward.
"What?"
"Something hit me in the--ow!" she cried out as another hard object smacked the top of her head.
She bolted out of his arms as something
scampered through the thick, leafy branches above them. Spike reached out and
grabbed her,
pulling her out from under the tree, his eyes following the trembling leaves
above them. The leaves on all the trees around them began to
flutter, though the night air was still.
Countless small, hard objects rained down
on them from above, and Willow pulled Spike toward a nearby picnic table. He
scrambled
under it after her and wrapped his arms around her, cradling her head against
his chest. Several of the little missiles rattled down atop
the table and rolled off onto the ground. Spike scooped up the closest and held
it in the palm of his hand.
"Acorns?" he spoke close to Willow's ear.
The sounds of the trembling leaves and
the plop-plopping of acorns were replaced by the sound of numerous, small footsteps
as
whatever was above them scurried down the trunks of the trees. Several of the
beasts literally flew out of the branches above the
picnic table, landing on it with small thuds. Willow shivered a little and clutched
more tightly at Spike.
The creatures that had made their way down
from their overhead perches joined those who had dropped onto the table, and
the witch
and the vampire found themselves peering out at dozens of pairs of beady eyes.
"Squirrels," Willow moaned.
Pulling herself slightly away from Spike,
she scooped up a handful of acorns from the ground and began pelting the furry
rodents with
them. The vampire followed suit, and they crawled quickly out from under the
table as their tiny attackers moved out of the way.
Willow hissed as one of the squirrels attached
itself to her leg, sinking its nails into her flesh. Spike reached down and
batted it off of
her, and another quickly replaced it.
"The fountain!" he shouted as another jumped from the table to his arm and skittered up toward his shoulder.
The squirrel tumbled off of him, and the
couple made a frantic dash toward the large, round fountain, with the army of
squirrels rapidly
gaining on them. By the time they reached their destination, their legs and
backs were covered with the animals. Spike lifted Willow up
and dumped her unceremoniously into the water and followed her in. The squirrels
let go and swam for the nearest side of the fountain
as the blonde vampire and his redhead splashed their way to the far side and
climbed out. Spike flung Willow over his shoulder and ran,
never slowing until they were half-way to his apartment, the park and the squirrels
far behind.
By the time they reached his doorstep,
the combination of wet clothes and frayed nerves had Willow shivering. Spike,
nearly as shaken,
but trying hard not to show it, opened the door and pulled her inside. He knelt
down and raised first her right foot, then her left, to
pull off her shoes. He unfastened her jeans, tugging them down, and she steadied
herself on his shoulder as he pulled them off of her. He
ran his hands over her legs, studying the marks left by the squirrels' nails
and teeth.
Spike stood up and drew her sopping t-shirt
over her head. Gently, he turned her to find her back in a state similar to
that of her legs.
He picked her up and carried her into the bathroom. He peeled off her wet bra
and panties before turning on the shower, allowing the
water to warm up as he pulled off his own wet clothes. Spike lifted Willow over
the edge of the tub and followed her under the spray
of water. He pulled her into his arms, and they stood wrapped up in each other,
allowing the heat of the water to warm and relax them.
He raised her chin to find her eyes heavy with tears, and he bent and kissed her.
"This isn't funny, anymore, Spike," she murmured.
"I know," he crooned softly. "It's gotten kind of nuts."
He was rewarded by her soft giggle at his awful pun.
"Okay, maybe it's a little bit funny," she admitted.
"Not when you get hurt, pet," he answered seriously.
"I'm okay, just a little shaky," she assured him. "Hold me for a minute."
He embraced her, and her arms clutched
his back as he rocked her gently under the calming water. He reached for a washcloth
and
lathered it with soap. Turning her around, he carefully cleaned the small wounds
on her back. She trembled, a soft sigh escaping her
lips, as his hands moved around her to run the cloth over the mounds of her
breasts. He placed one arm around her waist, holding her
against him as his hand traveled lower, washing her stomach in slow, easy circles,
then moving lower to the thick folds between her legs.
Willow moaned as his fingers parted her,
and he dropped the washcloth and turned her to face him, his thumb gently tickling
her clit as
their mouths connected. He raised her up, tucking an arm around her to keep
her wounded back away from the wall, and entered her.
Willow wrapped her legs around his waist, and their tongues slid over each other
as he thrust into her. Her lips fluttered over his
jawline and down to his neck, and Spike groaned and quickened his pace as her
warm lips suckled his neck, and her tongue danced over
his flesh.
She rested her head against the wall, and
her lips parted as hot sparks began to radiate from her core out through her
body. Spike
growled as her walls clamped around him, and he fought off his own orgasm, waiting
for her. She cried out, her hands gripping his
shoulders hard as she came, and his cold seed flooded her, seeping from her
channel to mix with the hot, steamy water.
He reached over to turn off the tap and
stepped out of the tub with Willow in his arms. Spike wrapped a thick towel
around her and
carried her into the bedroom. He dried her off, and then himself, and pulled
her naked body close against him.
"You don't think those squirrels were rabid, do you?" she asked, her voice small and muffled by his chest.
"I doubt it, luv. I think they're just evil."
"Why is this happening? If I were inclined toward paranoia, I'd think someone was trying to keep us apart," she admitted.
"Can't be," he answered.
"Why not?" she looked up at him.
He traced her jaw with a finger and pressed
his lips to her forehead, "First of all, these things aren't keeping us apart;
if anything,
they're drawing us closer to each other."
"True," she agreed.
"And second, those crows weren't just after us the other night. The watcher had sent the slayer out after them."
"That's right!" Willow nodded. "But you
have to admit, this can't all be coincidence, even if this is a Hellmouth. We've
blown off the
last two research sessions. Spike, we have to go to the next one and find out
what's going on."
"You talk to the slayer tomorrow and find out when they're meeting, and we'll be there," he promised.
"Okay," she smiled wearily.
Spike backed her up to the edge of the bed and lowered her down on it, "In the meantime--"
Her arms snaked around his neck and he
moved over her and kissed her. She whimpered softly as the tender wounds on
her back pressed
into the mattress. Spike moved over and pulled her up onto his chest, placing
a kiss on a small bruise on her shoulder.
"Nuts," he muttered, shaking his head.
Willow's eyes gleamed as she reached down between his legs, "I like yours much better."
He chuckled and pulled her over on top
of him, drawing her mouth down into a hard, deep kiss.
*******