A PERFECT FIT, CHAPTER FOUR 4 of 19

[dawnofme]

Title: A Perfect Fit.  Chapter 4 of 19
Genre: General, Romance, humor, bit of action
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel: the Series
Pairing: Spike/Other, Buffy/Angel
Rating: R for sexual situations and language.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Buffy and Angel. Candy is my own original character and I do own her. This story is for entertainment purposes only. I'm not making any money off this.

Summary: Begins three months after the final battle in the alley in Angel, Not Fade Away. What's left of Angel's crew has moved back to The Hyperion, including a restless Spike. Someone interesting comes to LA, when Faith suggests that only Angel can help her. Many characters from both shows will make appearances. Angel, Harmony, Gunn, Illyria, Lorne, Buffy, Giles, Dawn, Angelus, Willow and others.

(Previous Chapters Here)

Many thanks to my wonderful, hardworking betas raynedanser and leiadiana 



   Chapter 4 ~ The boots stay on!

He opened the door for her and sprinted around the car to his side. He turned the engine and got the top to go down. "So, where to, luv?"

She didn‘t hesitate. "We're not far from the beach, are we? I'd like to see the Pacific."

"Right then, to the beach. I just need to make one stop first," he said as he pulled out in to traffic and cut off a few cars. She laughed when he put up two fingers and yelled obscenities that would most likely not offend her fellow Americans. She leaned back and enjoyed the ride. The warm summer air made a mess of her once neatly styled hair, but she loved it. She usually wore a scarf when she drove her own little convertible with the top down. Soon, he stopped the car at a liquor store and came bounding out with a bottle of wine. Then they were off again with "The Clash" blaring out of the speakers.

She was torn between looking out at the Los Angeles lights at night and watching Spike sing along to "London Calling.” He was slapping the palms of his hands on the wheel in time with the beat. She couldn't help but tap her feet as well. She hadn't heard "The Clash" in a long time, but the words came to her and she sang along low at first, just mouthing the words, but when he smiled at her, she upped the volume. When the song was over, he turned the radio off.
"So you like "The Clash" then?”

"Well it’s been a long time since I heard that song, but yeah. Although my favorite group will always be, O.M.D."

"That stuff's just fluff. I thought you'd be more into The Andrew Sisters or The Glenn Miller Orchestra," Spike said.

"Well, if we are going for that logic, I would think you were more into classical or opera. Although I never tire of hearing ‘Moonlight Serenade’,” She admitted

She had a dreamy, far off look at that confession and Spike couldn’t take his eyes off her. He swallowed past the lump in his throat. She was a vision even in profile with her dark hair whipping about in stark contrast to her creamy white complexion. He needed to be careful here. He turned his eyes back to the road, but his mind was on the beautiful woman beside him. He’d never really gotten over Buffy and while he professed to the world at large that he’d moved on, it was far from the truth. He knew himself enough to know when he was starting to fall for someone. He was such a git. The last thing he needed was to fall in love with another beauty who would just string him along. Sure, he’d play tour guide and a momentary distraction for her, but he was going to fight this attraction. Angel would do what he does and give her the answers she was after and she’d be on her way back to Cleveland in no time.

It was a nice summer night, but the wind off the water was a bit cool. The parking lot was deserted like he’d hoped it would be. He’d come to this spot a few times in the past months. It was quiet at night and no one bothered him, even with the beach houses right up to the sand. He grabbed the wine and reached back for one of the blankets they left there for sunlit emergencies. He then reached across her lap to open the door for her.

“You’re going to leave the top down?” she asked him.

“Yeah. Nothing to steal in here, but the car itself. Angel would love that.” He chuckled as he slung the blanket over his shoulder and grabbed her hand. The small parking lot faded into the soft damp sand. Candy stopped and took her sandals off. That was better. She looked down at Spike’s boots.

“Why don’t you join me and take those things off? The sand is nice,” she told him

“Nope. Not gonna happen. Not ready to take these boots off yet.” He gave her his trade mark smirk.

She rolled her eyes and took hold of his hand again. “Lead the way then. “

To the left the land curved a bit, but she could see the shore stretching for miles. To the right far off she could just make out a pier. Spike stopped a few feet from where the water came rushing up. She helped him spread out the blankets and sat down.

“We can take a walk later if you’d like,” he said. He was doing his best to get the wine uncorked. The popping sound was almost drowned out by the loud crashing of the waves just in front of them. “Some wine first?” he asked. His eyes wandered, looking for something. “Bugger.”

“What?” She looked around as well.

“I forgot to bring glasses.”

“Who needs those?” She grabbed the bottle from him, tipped it back and took three big swallows before lowering it and offering it to him.

“Oh, I like you,” he said with an evil grin, before taking the bottle. He twisted the bottle into the sand and made sure it would stay up before he leaned back on his elbows and looked out to sea. There was just something about being near the edge of the world at night. The white capped waves were pounding relentlessly and shining bright against the light of the mostly full moon. The darkness that was ocean before them met up somewhere with a black sky.

“I wonder what it’s like in the daylight,” she tried to image it like Anzio so long ago. The landscape was so different that she just couldn’t picture it. Even the sand felt different. It smelled the same though. Like rain, salt and baby oil.

“I don’t know. From what I’ve seen on TV, it’s crowded and noisy. I like it like this.”

Later, they walked towards the pier hand in hand and for once he was silent. Dru wasn’t one for the touchy-feely unless it involved some pain. Buffy would never let him touch her in a casual manner. This girl though, she accepted his hand without hesitation. It felt comfortable and yet tingly at the same time.

Candy stopped. “I’ll race you to the pier.” And just like that she was gone. He took off after her, but it was hard to laugh and run at full speed and avoid the sand she was kicking up with her funny way of running. She was leaning against one of the posts that held up the pier when he caught up to her. “Gee old man, I thought vamps were supposed to get stronger and faster as they aged,” she told him flippantly.

He glared at her. “Just for that,” he scooped her up in his arms and stomped towards the waves. “I’ll teach you to mess with a master vampire.”

It was really nice to be in his arms, but when she realized what he was going to do…”Hey! No!” She struggled to get free. She did not want to go the rest of the night in damp clothes. “Spike!”

Just as he reached the water where it touched the sand, she was able to get herself out of his arms. He wrapped them around her waist and pulled her against him. She looked up at him then. His hair had gotten loose from the gel and was a mass of gorgeous curls. His blue eyes practically glowed in the moonlight. He had a serious look and she wanted to kiss him. So she did. He hesitated, but then kissed her back. It was a slow, lazy, sensual kiss that neither was in a hurry to end. Her hands went up into his hair and he lowered his hands to lift her up closer.

When they pulled up apart, she placed her hands on his chest and looked into his eyes. She said aloud the only thing going through her mind, “Wow.”

“Yeah.” He blinked slowly and slightly shook his head. Then turned his head in the direction where they had come from. “Right. We should go back then.”

Spike sat down on the blanket and pulled her down with him, between his legs. They faced the sea, and he absently rubbed her neck and shoulders. “So tell me, how’s the rogue slayer doing?”

“Who, Faith?” Candy was in heaven. His hands were magical and made her feel all kinds of good. She closed her eyes in ecstasy as he rubbed a spot by her shoulder blade with his thumb. “She’s five by five.” She had to smile when he did his little laugh. He had a great laugh.

“I guess you did spend some time with her then,” he said. “How did you two meet and how is it that you aren’t dust?”

She had been walking in the cemetery one night. She had been restless and very bored. The bulk of her time was spent in her basement apartment watching television with her cat. Most nights she would walk and end up in the cemetery. It just seemed the right place to be. She had no purpose and was just existing. Sometimes she’d watch fledglings rise and see these young girls turn them into dust. She managed to stay hidden when she watched and it was more exciting, she told Spike, than anything on TV. That night she was backing away from a vamp vs. little girl fight when she bumped into Robin. He’d had this gleam in his eye and a stake in his hand.

It wasn’t easy, but she convinced him that she was harmless. He wasn’t going to let her go off into the night so he and the slayers he was working with that night “escorted” her back to head quarters. There she met the tough-as-nails slayer in charge of the only active hell mouth left in the US.

“It was strange, but we hit it off right away. After we’d talked all night, she let me stay in her basement because I couldn’t get home.”

She remembered going up the next night and opening the door to a room full of slayers. Faith could tell that she wasn’t very comfortable around so many people-especially slayers, which she had just learned were extra strength humans with one goal: eliminate vampires. So Faith shooed away the others. She sat at the table with Robin and Faith and they told her how they were pretty sure that she had a soul. She had been very confused, but as least she knew what was wrong with her now. They argued that it wasn’t a bad thing and that they would love to have her work with them. They told her about Angel in LA, and about a certain other vampire who was supposedly not among them any more, who also helped in the fight against evil.

“So I came every night and helped to train the newer slayers,” she said. “I patrolled with Faith and Vi most of the time, after training.”

“Vi.” Spike said suddenly. “She’s in Cleveland?”

“Yes. They talked about you a few times. Vi told me how much she admired you. She said that I fight like you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I went a bit crazy in the beginning. I had a purpose now and I was a hero, ridding the world of demons. Faith said you reveled in the violence, too.” She turned to look at him.

“It’s true. It makes sense that you’d enjoy it. We may have souls, but we’re still creatures of the dark. Gotta get in our violence where we can.” Spike was proud to know he wasn’t forgotten. Vi was his favorite Slayerette. Mostly because he could always get a squeak out of her when he went into game face.

“It would be great to see Vi again.” Spike had complained during those last months in Sunnydale, about so many girls in his space. Truth be told, he had loved all the attention with all those potentials in awe of him. In Vi’s case, as with all most all of those girls, he was the first vampire they'd ever seen in person. She had been terrified and fascinated in turn. She was meek and mild mannered and he had worried about her, but she showed her true colors in the face of battle. That chit had nerves of steel when it counted.

“You should go see her. She would have fits of glee to know you made it.”

“Can’t, luv. Robin and I are better off in different States. Remember I told you how I had killed two slayers? His mother was one of them.” He looked away from her then, but wrapped his arms around her.

“Robin told me about his mom. He didn’t say what vamp had killed her.” She turned back around and leaned against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist.

“I was the slayer of slayers. Had no soul then. I can’t bloody well take back what I did. She was the slayer and I sought her out. She was ready to die. Back then there was only one at a time and it’s a very hard and lonely life. She’d had enough.” He stopped for a minute. “I won’t apologize for what happened, but I certainly don’t intend on showing up as a reminder of his mother’s death,” he said wistfully.

“Is that how you met Buffy? Were you trying to kill her?” She looked forward as she asked and he couldn’t get a read on her mood.

“Well. Yes and no. I was in Sunnydale trying to help Drusilla get better. A hellmouth can have that affect on a vampire. Also, I knew that Angel was there and I was planning on using him to get her well. I, at least, succeeded at that. I found out that the slayer was on the hellmouth and I did try to kill her. Many times. I couldn’t kill her and she couldn’t kill me.”

“So you fell in love with her instead. She must be pretty special,” she remarked slowly.

“She was. She was stronger and better than all the others I had fought with. Buffy made me what I am today and for that I’ll always be grateful.”

It’s probably not a good idea to bring up past girlfriends when trying to get with a guy, but she had to ask. If he was hung up on someone else, she’d just have to get out of the way. She’d been alone for a long time and could continue that way if she had to. “And you have no desire to be with her again?”

“A part of me does, but after being away from her, I realized how bad we were for each other. I got a bit of my old self back when I ended up with Angel’s crew. Besides all that, she has moved on and has already found someone new.” He shifted a little and took a swig from the bottle and passed it to her.

“What about you, pet? I’m gonna assume there is no one waiting for you in Cleveland.”

She turned slightly so she could see his face. “Why would you think that?”

“Two reasons,” he said dryly. “First, if you were my bird, I’d follow you out here to L.A. No way I’d let a girl as beautiful as you wander about alone. Second, if you had a bloke back home, I doubt you would have kissed me like you did back there.”

“I don’t know about your first point, but you're right about the kiss. I don’t have a guy waiting from me back in Cleveland,” Candy said and turned more to face him. “The only real relationship I had was before I was turned. My boyfriend and I got married before he went off to war. I got the dreaded telegram five months later. By then I started my nurse training and was preparing to go over myself.”

“So after you were turned, you didn’t have anyone?” Spike asked.

“Well, through the years I have had a friend here and there. Some human and some vampires, but I don’t fit in either world and it never lasts long,” she said quietly. She didn’t want to feel sorry for herself, but that’s the way it was. She shook herself out of that mood and kept going back to that word, ‘beautiful’. “So you think I’m beautiful?”

“You know darn well how beautiful you are, luv.”

“Haven’t seen my reflection in a very long time,” she said matter of factly. She was leaning back on her knees now and the moist wind was blowing her hair back. She placed a hand on his shoulder and studied his face.

“Well, you are drop dead gorgeous and what’s more, you fit perfectly in my world.” He was throwing all caution to the wind, but he’d always followed his blood. He leaned forward and kissed her. She made a noise in her throat that spurred him on. Soon he had a hand in her sweater trying to undo her bra while leaning her to the side. His other hand knocked the wine bottle over. What was left of the contents was soaking the blanket. They jumped up together.

“Perhaps we should go back,” she smiled at him. He looked as frustrated as she felt.

Chapter Five: Action Hereos & Showers