Feeling an enormous amount of writer's block for the past several months but I HAVE so much stuff written in my drafts, it's just all disconnected bits of things, so I might just start posting them here so I feel like I'm doing something
From a S6 au where Buffy comes back part angel (Working Title "Slayer Wings"):
***
“Well,” Spike murmured, running his fingers through the ends of her golden locks. “Demons and monsters, at any rate. Your friends, maybe, if I can talk my way out of it. Wouldn’t be much use against other humans, though.”
She pulled back, tilting her head at him, her eyes confused and her brow all furrowed.
He pointed to his temple. “Chip.”
“Oh,” she said. She closed her eyes, and held her hand out, palm up.
For the life of him, Spike had no idea what she was waiting for. But then she… she sodding glowed, only for a second, and in the next second, a tiny piece of metal was lying in her palm.
Spike tried to speak, only to find that his mouth was already hanging open. He closed it, since words didn’t seem to be coming, and reached forward a shaking hand to pluck the thing out of her hand.
“There,” she whispered, and leaned into his chest. “Safe now.”
“Buffy, how—”
But she was yawning, and nuzzling his chest, her fists clutching the back of his shirt, and suddenly she was just a little girl, falling asleep in his lap, and she’d trusted him to let her do so.
Pulled some ethereal mojo to make sure he could do a damn fine job at protecting her too, apparently, but that wasn’t the point right now. After sliding the chip into his pocket, he scooped her up, and carried her downstairs, tucking her safely into his bed, but watching her shrewdly all the while, to see if she did anything else… odd.
She didn’t. She was still his Buffy, hair all soft and long, spilling out over his pillow, bathing it in her scent. With her little upturned nose, her fair eyelashes caressing her cheeks… the dark circles under her eyes that confirmed how badly she’d been sleeping lately.
Her heartbeat sounded like it should, beating away steadily, keeping her alive, her chest rising and falling slow and relaxed, as she pulled in deep, sleeping breaths.
He cupped her cheek in one hand, and felt the fire underneath. She was always warm, but this… this was new. Her skin was burning, or felt like it, anyway. She wasn’t feverish, not that he’d seen, and she hadn’t complained of being too hot.
And after a moment or so of keeping his hand there, he could feel some of the heat start to leech away, until she was back to her normal Buffy warmth. Which was still higher than most humans, or at least he’d always thought so. But it was cool enough for him to bend down and press his lips to her forehead, without fearing he would burst into flames.
“Sleep well, my perfect girl,” he murmured. “I’ll keep you safe, don’t you worry.”
Snippet from a S6 au WIP where Buffy comes back part angel. My working title "Slayer Wings":
***
She was in her pajamas. A silk blue tank top and cotton gray pants, with her hair tied back in a loose ponytail. She’d taken off her makeup, and her earrings, but tilting her face to the sky with her eyes closed, she looked immaculate. Radiant. Effulgent.
She was wearing flip flops, and he could see the sparkling pink on her toenails, that matched the color of her fingers.
Still just a girl. A strong, otherworldly girl, but a 22-year-old California girl all the same.
“You just gonna stand there and stare at me forever?” she murmured.
He smiled faintly, even though her eyes were still closed. “Thinkin’ about it.”
She looked at him then and smirked. “You’d get bored.”
He shook his head, and stepped forward. “Never. The sight of you is… it’s enough, to last me to the end of eternity.”
“Careful,” she said. “I might fall in love with you if you say dumb crap like that.”
He stepped forward again, and lowered onto his knees in front of her. “You’re already there,” he whispered, leaning towards her mouth.
“Oh, yeah,” she whispered back, and caught his lips with hers. She kept leaning forward, until she’d left the porch step entirely and had tumbled into his arms.
She giggled as he caught her, and laced her fingers with his.
“Feel better?” he asked.
“I don’t think so,” she said, all casual and matter-of-fact. He almost hated when she got like that. Because it meant she was touching that part of her inside, that didn’t belong here. The one that was always calling her back home.
He tightened his hold on her, and said, “No?”
“I think I’m going to cry, in a second,” she said, and tilted her head back to look at him. “I was just waiting for you.”
He swallowed. “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“Yeah, well.” She shrugged, and gave him a sly grin. “You’re worth the wait.”
And just like that, she was back to being his. Or maybe she’d never left. Maybe… that part of her that didn’t belong… liked having him around, too. She almost never brought that side of her out around anyone else.
“Might fall in love with you if you say dumb shit like that,” he said.
“Mm,” Buffy said. “We’re pretty perfect for each other, huh? We’re too stupid not to have fallen in love.”
He chuckled, shifting so she was sitting on his thighs, instead of the damp grass. “Don’t care,” he said softly. “Don’t care how stupid I am or how much crap I’ve said to you, if it got us here.”
Buffy nodded, and then sniffled, and a second later tears were slipping down her cheeks. A correctly predicted forecast, Spike thought idly, and hugged her tight, letting her have her cry as he rested his chin on her head.
“Spike,” she said quietly.
“Yes, my dove?”
“I, um… I can beat the First.”
“I know you can, sweetheart.”
“No, I mean… I can beat it. Not its army. Not its influence. I can take it on and win.”
The way she said it… like she was telling him a dark, dirty secret… made his blood freeze, all the way through.
She was still sniffling, but she kept talking as if she wasn’t. “Remember when I took your chip out?”
“Should bloody well say so.”
“Well… obviously I was still adjusting and didn’t even notice why that was weird. I just knew I could help you, so I did. And… everything I’ve done since, with my power boost, it’s been like… a test. To see how far I could go.”
“Right,” he said slowly. “With you so far.”
“But I was never sure,” Buffy said. “Every time I’ve used it, I’ve tapped in to a little more of it, and I can still feel more juice left over. I have no idea how much is actually in there. And the thing with Jasmine… it took a lot of juice. Like… a way lot. I think… I’m crying now just because that’s the only way I know how to react to… using that much power.”
He pressed his face into her hair, holding her even closer still. She was here, she was his, she was still Buffy. He wasn’t going to lose that, no matter what she said next.
“So now I know,” Buffy said quietly. “That I have enough, to fight the First, to conquer it, to touch it even, maybe. But that’s the thing. I’ve never tested that much power. I don’t know if there’ll… be anything left, after I’ve done it. It’s not like Willow and Tara’s magic, which, as I understand it, grows the more they practice. It’s like… I’ve got a limited reserve, and I might max out my credit card fighting this thing.”
Spike swallowed.
“But it’s enough,” she said quietly. “It’s enough.”
“What if it’s not?” he blurted out, immediately hating himself for it.
“Well,” Buffy said slowly. “I’ve thought about that, too. I might need someone… giving me a little extra strength in the battle, just to make sure I don’t tap out before it’s over.” She traced her finger over his chest, and said, “So what do you think? You wanna be my champion?”
His soul immediately jumped for joy in delight at being called such a word. But he tilted her chin with his fingers, turning her to face him, and frowned.
“Not sure that’s how that works, love,” he said gently. “I don’t have the power you have. I can’t lend you more.”
“You can,” she said. “You can by loving me. It won’t drain you. I just need you there. Supporting me, backing me up, being my strength. The way you always have been.”
“Then, yes.”
“But, Spike,” she said. “It could be a one-way ticket. For either of us. Or both of us. I’m not gonna let any of my other friends come anywhere near it.”
“Still yes.”
Her face crumpled, and she clutched the lapels of his coat in her hands.
