Summary: Spike is Buffy's swimming coach. He has been hateful to her since day one, a fact that hurts her because she is in love with him. Little does she know that his behaviour only serves to hide his own feelings. Tragic circumstances bring them closer together.
Even the ceilings in this hotel were spotless, Buffy noted as she lay on her bed. This beautiful, extravagant, expensive hotel that Spike had organized just so they could have a lovely weekend together. A weekend that had been magical and perfect until some crazy, jealous, resentful bitch ruined it. It wasn’t that Buffy wanted to hide anything from Spike, but she desperately needed to protect him. And with all these people around constantly, she couldn’t really explain the precarious situation they were in.
Which lead to her lying miserably on a single bed, dreaming of the comfy king sized one she could be in. Her dejected thoughts were interrupted by Harmony bouncing through the door and racing to her suitcases.
“Oh, Buffy! You’ll never guess what. Riley Finn just asked me out! God, he’s so good looking! I haven’t even spoken to him at all but he obviously noticed me. We’re leaving in five minutes so I have to get changed quickly. Oh, its just so exciting!”
Buffy stared at the blonde in shock. Was she kidding? Did Harmony not remember blackmailing her just this morning? Was there some way in which she failed to realize that she had ruined somebody’s life today? What the hell was wrong with her?
Harmony didn’t seem to notice Buffy’s silence as she chattered on about where they were going and what they were doing. She did stop at the door on her way out though, and look pointedly at Buffy. “I expect to find you in your bed when I get home.”
Buffy didn’t blink for several minutes as she stared at the closed door. This had to be a dream. No sane person in the world acted like that, surely? She jumped in alarm when there was a sudden banging on the door that she had been gaping at. Opening it up and finding Spike, she looked quickly up and down the corridor searching for Harmony before swiftly pulling him into her room. She remembered him doing the exact same thing to her the day before.
Buffy decided it was up to her to apologize before she could start explaining everything. “Listen, Spike I –”
“Buffy stop. I don’t want to hear any more until I tell you why I’m here.”
Uh oh. This didn’t sound good, especially as he was sitting wearily on Harmony’s bed and running his hands roughly through his hair.
“I rang your mum.”
That was unexpected. “What?”
“Well, I assumed considering the mood you were in that you wouldn’t be, so I rang her to tell her how fantastically you swam. She was extremely proud of you.”
Buffy bit her lip at the thought of her mom in hospital, and felt a few tears beginning to form.
“She kinda surprised me there for a second. Seemed she knew about us.”
Buffy looked up guiltily. “Uh, yeah I – ”
“She seemed happy about it actually, always knew I liked her for a reason,” Spike went on. “So I told her how you’d been acting today. Wanna know what she said?”
Buffy shrugged in resignation. He was obviously going to tell her. “Sure.”
“She said not to believe a word you said about being nervous for the races. That the second you gave me that excuse meant you had something more serious on your mind. And that’s why I’m here. I wanna know what it is.”
“Spike, you don’t understand. I want to tell you, I do. But if Harmony comes back and you’re in here – ”
Spike cut her off again. “Harmony won’t be back for a while.”
Buffy’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, you heard about the date, huh?”
“Actually, I created the date.”
“Huh?”
“I paid Finn an obscene amount of money to take her out. Dinner. Club. He gets a bonus for every hour past midnight. Sorta killed two birds with one stone – get Finn’s mind off you in the process.”
“Don’t you think that’s kinda… immoral?”
“Don’t care. He’s not telling anyone and neither am I. Harmony wasn’t exactly complaining either.”
Buffy nodded. Well, that was that problem solved.
Spike spoke up again. “So Buffy, I wanna hear it. What made you act like that today? ’Cos as confused as I am right now, after last night I refuse to believe you don’t love me anymore.”
Looking up at him with the stirrings of hope shooting through her veins, Buffy said, “Well, now that we know Harmony’s not coming back, can we go to your room to discuss it? Its much comfier.”
“Not what you said this morning,” he grumbled, but followed her out anyway.
The two lovers were back in Spike’s living room within minutes, Buffy blushing as she glanced at the bathroom and bedroom doors. God, what had happened behind those doors…it just made her shiver.
They both sat down on the couch simultaneously.
Buffy started. “Okay Spike, I’m just gonna come out with it. Honesty is the best policy and all that. Uh, okay. This morning I got back to my room, and Harmony was awake. She knew where I’d been somehow, and she knew we were together. Basically, she said if we kept seeing eachother she’d make it known and you’d get in a lot of trouble. I’m not just talking about losing your job, I mean the possibility of jail Spike.”
“Why is it her business? Why would she do such a thing?”
“Yeah, the crazy keeps on coming. It was the old, ‘if I can’t have him, nobody can!’ line. Such a cliché, don’t you think?”
Spike looked at her in exasperation. “Glad you can find this funny, pet.”
Oooh, score one for Buffy – pet names were back in use.
“You wouldn’t believe just how unfunny I’ve found it. Couldn’t think of anything else all day.”
“Ah, so now I know. You poor baby, having this on your mind.”
“Yeah, so now you know. But that still leaves us in this mess.”
“Hmmm.” He looked deep in thought.
Buffy decided to voice her thoughts. Unfortunately her voice came out kind of weakly. “Uh, Spike? I just want you to know, if there’s no other way, I’ll stop swimming.”
He looked shocked. “What? No Buffy, you’re not giving it up. Its the only professional swimming squad in Sunnydale.”
“Spike, I don’t care. I couldn’t even think today when I was swimming. It means nothing to me if I can’t have you too.”
“Buffy, that’s it!” He jumped up as if he’d discovered the meaning of life.
“Uh, what’s it?”
“The whole problem here is me being your coach. So, as long as I’m no longer you’re coach there’s no issue here. But you need to keep swimming and I want to keep coaching. So, voila, you become my assistant coach!”
Holy shit. That was brilliant. Buffy smiled in amazement at his logic.
“Think about it, kitten. You get the official title, but can still keep swimming every practice. Harmony has no proof that our relationship has already started, and when people find out its just two colleagues finding love at work, right?”
“Spike, you’re a genius! Let’s announce it tomorrow on the bus home, okay? Then we don’t have to hide anymore.”
She leapt over onto his lap, bringing their lips together in a long awaited kiss.
Spike pressed his face into her neck, feeling the fluttering of her pulse against his cheek. He pulled the soft bit of skin into his mouth and sucked on it, reveling in her breathy moan.
“Buffy, I felt like dying when it sounded like you didn’t want to be with me anymore. I could barely think straight.”
She looked down sadly at him. “I know Spike, and I’m sorry. It hurt so much to do, but I just couldn’t lay it on you when you had a team full of people to encourage for the whole day. It wouldn’t have been fair on you.”
“Hmm, and instead you carried it all. You’re good at that, taking things on your own shoulders so that others aren’t burdened. It makes you a very special person.”
Buffy looked mischievously at him. “Spike? Do you still have those things you ordered from room service last night?”
He looked hopeful. “Yeah pet, I put them in the mini fridge. Why?”
She twirled a lock of hair round her finger and stuck her bottom lip out in a pout, silently giggling at the way his eyes glazed over. “Well, we’re here all alone, for hours now. Maybe you could show me just how special you think I am?”
Spike’s eyes were fixed on the succulent bottom lip that was mocking him with its juicyness. He nodded dumbly at her suggestion, suddenly rehearing it in his mind and jerking his head up. A slow smirk appeared.
“Oh baby, you don’t know what you just asked for.”
Buffy was fairly certain she knew alright, but she didn’t bother to correct him.