Rest Period: Rest Period
by Painbow
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, though if Joss were trying to think of a Christmas gift for me...
A/N: For the lovely, kind, and caring nyangel. I hope you like your Christmas gift! I don't really write Spuffy anymore, but I was all filled with the Christmas spirit *g*
This story is un-beta'd. All the mistakes are mine.
Buffy dropped herself heavily into the armchair. Spike eyed her carefully. She looked exhausted.
“Tough shift?”
“These pre Christmas crowds should be banned,” she said, wearily.
“You know,” said Spike, grinning, “I could always get one of my poker buddies to attack the Palace.” Buffy frowned and Spike quickly finished his idea. “Just run around growlin’ at the humans so you have a chance to get off your feet.”
Buffy looked thoughtful for a second. She sighed. “No…”
Spike shrugged. “Just a thought, luv.” He walked over to the mini bar and grabbed himself some blood, tossing it in a mug. He wandered over to the sarcophagus, still watching Buffy. She looked really beat.
“You up for anything tonight, pet, or would you like me to walk you home?”
Buffy half-smiled. “I’m too tired to sleep, if that makes any sense. You…” she blushed a little, “you have any movies worth watching?”
Spike looked dumbstruck. If this kinder, gentler Buffy was what happened when she was exhausted then he should make sure she worked a double shift more often. Buffy started to turn to look at him and he fixed his expression.
“Not a lot. Mostly tapes of Nightrider that Clem made.”
Buffy made a face as Spike wandered over to a box in the corner.
“I’ve got the obligatory Monty Python, all three Die Hard movies, including the second one…must have been crazy to pick that up—”
“What’s wrong with the second one?”
It was Spike’s turn to make a face. “Besides the whole stupid plane thing?”
“I liked the second one. It was better than the third one, anyway.”
“All those meat fumes must have gone to your brain, slayer. The second one is rubbish. The third one has Sammie L.”
“Everything has Sammie L. They’ll unearth some mystical footage of some ancient ruin and it’ll have Sammie L in it.”
“Doesn’t stop him from being a quality actor,” Spike affirmed.
“Doesn’t stop him from being a movie-whore.”
“No, that’d be Christopher Lee.”
“Huh?”
“The movie-whore. That’s Christopher Lee.”
Buffy looked confused.
“Saruman in Lord of the Rings? Ring a bell?”
Buffy made another face. “Didn’t see it.”
Spike looked nonplussed. “You didn’t—”
Buffy shrugged. “I fight enough demony things. Don’t need ‘em in my movies. ‘Sides, it’s never as simple as destroying the ring.”
Spike took a calming breath. “First, it’s one of the greatest works of literature in the twentieth century—”
“And long!”
Spike continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “Second, the ring is a metaphor, and third, sometimes it is that easy. Rings have been destroyed before and stopped baddies, slayer.”
Buffy’s face froze and Spike cursed under his breath. He’d brought reality back. Wanker.
Buffy began to get out of the chair. “You know, I should really head home. Not that this…”
“Conversation?”
Buffy blushed and looked away. “Rest period. Not that it hasn’t been great, but I should really…”
Spike sighed. “Get home?”
Buffy looked relieved. “Yeah.”
“You want me too?…”
“No, I can take care of myself. Don’t need a chaperone.”
She hoisted her bag over her shoulder and made for the door of the crypt. She paused for a second before opening it and walking out into the night.
Spike waited for a few moments before following. It wasn’t that he thought the slayer couldn’t take care of herself. It was that she was so tired she might not be on her toes.
Spike followed her to Revello drive and watched her open the back door and let herself in. He turned and made his way back to his crypt. Unable to sleep himself, he picked up Die Hard With a Vengeance from where he’d put it down before Buffy had run off, again, and popped it in his VCR. Sipping on the blood he’d abandoned, he settled into his armchair, heaved a sigh and let Sammie L work his magic.
Buffy sat down on the couch. She was still unable to sleep. She stared at the blank TV screen for a few moments before tiredly heaving herself off the couch towards the movie cabinet. Her fingers paused on a title for a moment before taking it out of the cabinet and popping it in the VCR. She told her inner voice to shut up and allowed Sammie L to work his magic.
The End
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