Buffy Flashfic-athon

[gilascave]

for sunlit5 and I forgot to say, thankee to mpoetess for the typo-hunting and title assistance. Or, actually, "for the title". And for saying that yes indeed this fic does fit in mid S6 Buffy, and told me actual eps it would fit inbetween and if I remembered what they were I could say which ones now.



Grandma's House

The doorbell rang, and Buffy sighed. She was comfortable -- sitting on the couch, her favorite blanket wrapped around her, the one grandma had made years and years ago that still smelled like grandma's house. Or maybe grandma's house had just smelled like yarn.

Buffy had spent a long evening searching for something she couldn't really pronounce, but it was a demon, and ugly, and not-quite-dangerous enough to warrant staying out all night. She'd searched for hours and found nothing, so she'd come home and made herself hot chocolate -- just like mom would have made -- and settled herself down to not think about demons for awhile.

If Giles were here, he might have been able to tell her where she should look. He might also tell her that she didn't need to be sitting on the couch when demony things were out there, wandering around town being demons.

But this one wasn't actually killing people yet. It wasn't due to start until the new moon was over, and that wasn't for two more nights. Willow assured her that she had two more nights, and Buffy had exhausted herself, and her resources for tonight.

Which was why she really wanted to ignore the doorbell.

It rang again. Dawn wasn't even home, so she couldn't yell for her sister to come downstairs and answer the door even though Buffy was only a few feet away from it. She tried glaring at the door, but it didn't work. Now whoever it was, was knocking. Loud, and hard, like they weren't going to stop until she answered.

"Fine! I'm coming!" she yelled, throwing the blanket aside and getting to her feet. What was wrong with taking a night -- part of a night -- off?

Maybe it was Willow or Xander with a pizza, she suddenly realised, and she felt better about opening the door.

Until she had actually opened it.

She blinked. "Spike?"

He smiled at her, and kicked a big lump that was lying at his feet on her porch. "Brought you something."

She looked at it. Blinked again. "What is it?" She had no idea why she was asking, but this was the way her life went. She had to ask vampires what dead thing was lying at their feet, at least once a month. She'd even marked it on her calendar.

"It's the Rugriagogog you were looking for." He was still sort of smiling, and he sounded proud of himself in that 'weren't nothing' sort of way he had.

It worried her that she knew what ways Spike had. "You found it?" She stepped outside onto the porch, and looked the thing over without touching it. It was definitely a demon. It looked dead. "Is it really dead?"

"Of course! Chopped its toes off myself!" Spike sounded insulted.

"OK, ok." Buffy didn't want to touch it -- and it occurred to her that now she would have to figure out some way to get rid of the body. Did she have any demon-sized trash bags? "Spike, why did..I mean how..I mean... Er, thanks."

"It was nothing," Spike said, again in that tone that meant he was happy and satisfied with himself and would deny it heartily if anyone but Buffy mentioned it. "Found him wandering about, knew you were looking for him, looking to kill him before he started his rampage."

"Thanks," she said again, this time looking him directly in the eye. He hesitated, then nodded. His eyes seemed to change -- not gold, not even gold-flecked. But she would almost say they softened, a little, as she looked at him.

She looked down at the body. She couldn't just put it on the curb for the trashmen, could she? She tried to remember what Willow had said about the disposal, if there was anything special she should know.

"Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you just bring me a dead thing, and put it on my porch?"

"Er....yeah?" Spike sounded like he was worried. Like maybe she'd been hit by a magic spell while he hadn't been looking, and had lost all ability to remember things for more than a couple of minutes.

"Couldn't you, maybe, just bring a dead bird next time? Or a mouse? Or even a dead pizza?"

Now Spike was looking at her like she'd lost her mind. Before she could tell him to forget it, he suddenly smiled.

It transformed his face, making him look like a young boy.

Making him look human.

"I can purr, if you scratch behind my ears," he offered.

Buffy jumped back, grabbing for the doorjamb -- snatching her hand back which had been drifting towards Spike's inclined head. "No, thanks. Just get rid of it someplace, OK? Thanks."

She stepped back again and slammed the door closed, heart pounding. She spun around, leaning against the door.

There was no sound from the other side of the door. She wanted to close her eyes and wait, listen for the sound of Spike dragging the thing away. Or she could go back to the couch and her hot chocolate and her night off, and turn on the TV and not listen at all.

She shifted, but didn't move. Didn't move until she turned around, facing the door again. Moved her hand to the doorknob and slowly turned it, and opened it.

Spike was still standing there, looking at her. She swallowed, and had no idea what to say. She couldn't say 'come in'.

"Thank you," was all she could force out. But this time, when she closed the door, Spike had nodded at her, and his eyes were back to that almost soft expression. She'd caught a glimpse of him leaning down to grab the demon's body and take it away before the door had closed, and she heard the sounds of the body dragging, then of Spike's boots on the steps as he left.

She went back to the couch and sat down, and drank her hot chocolate, and tried to remember a time when going to grandma's house was the most exciting thing of the year.

the end