The Wish
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Starlight Series: Story 12/12
AUTHOR: Ariane
EMAIL: ariane_five@yahoo.com
RATING: NC-17
PAIRING: Buffy/Spike
SETTING: Post 'The Grave' AU S7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miss Lillian Mintaka arrived
at 53 Orion in her '56 pink Cadillac on Thanksgiving morning. Mr. Nilam, wearing
very large and thick spectacles, sat next to her in the passenger seat examining
a large map.
“If you turn right on Sirius Street and then make another…” he wheezed.
“We’re here, you silly old fool. Put down the map and get that box out of the
backseat.”
Miss Mintaka stepped regally out of the car and proceeded up to the front gate.
She gazed around the front yard and gave a little sniff, and then muttered under
her breath, “Oxygen.”
* * * *
*
Buffy and Spike were arguing in the kitchen about what to cook for the holiday
meal. Spike had forgotten to pick up the turkey Buffy had ordered from the supermarket
and was explaining to her that the whole holiday dinner was a massive waste
of energy and wouldn’t she just like to spend the day in bed, with him of course.
Dawn, Rigel and Maisa were out in the back garden planting daffodil bulbs around
the spring. Rigel had bought a hundred pounds of the bulbs in bulk from
the local nursery. Maisa thought the whole exercise was one big game of hide
and seek. As soon as Dawn or Rigel planted a bulb, she’d gleefully dig it up
and then look around to wait for praise for her accomplishment.
“Bad dog!” Rigel shouted, finally frustrated at his fruitless attempts to keep
the bulbs under the ground. He chased her around the corner of the house and
then stopped short when he saw the pink car and its occupants. He dashed back
around to the back of the house and sputtered to Dawn, “I’m not here.”
“You look here to me.” Dawn shoved her spade
into the ground and turned over a large clump of dark soil. She dropped three
bulbs into the hole, and patted the dirt down firmly.
Dawn gave Maisa, who had slunk back around the other side of the house and was
now sitting next to her, a stern look, “Don’t even
think about it.”
Rigel glanced nervously around the yard looking for a place to hide. He decided
the attic would be the safest bet, and quickly scurried inside the house.
* * * * *
Buffy opened the door and invited Miss Mintaka and Mr. Nilam into the house.
Mr. Nilam was huffing with the effort of carrying the large cardboard box. Buffy
took it from him and held it effortlessly in one arm. She stared at the two
strange visitors.
The woman was dressed in a pale pearl grey silk suit; her white blonde hair
was caught back into a severe bun and held in place with three silver, star
shaped clips. Around her neck was a triple strand of plump, luminous pearls.
She appeared to be ageless-- thirty or ninety or perhaps even older.
The elderly man was dressed in an old fashioned suit complete with a long tailed
coat and a frayed and slightly yellow, formal white shirt and bow tie. He reminded
her a little of Rigel.
“Ah…who are you?” Buffy stammered as she put the box down on the floor.
“Tsk…Such manners,” Miss Mintaka turned to the old man. “Take that back into
the kitchen, please.”
Buffy picked up the box before the old man could get to it.
“Spiiike! Get in here!” she yelled. “Just a minute,” she said to the visitors.
She hurried back to the kitchen, rolling her eyes at Spike as she passed him
in the hallway.
“This is your problem.” She gave him a mischievous smile.
* * * * *
Spike recognized Mr. Nilam immediately, and greeted him affectionately.
“Al, my friend! What brings you and this lovely lady here so early in the morning?”
“Spike. It’s my very deepest, and decidedly wonderful honor to present you to
the most illustrious…”
“I’m your landlady, or employer, should I say?” Miss Mintaka interrupted. She
raised her hand toward Spike, palm down.
Spike gave Miss Mintaka a quick look and then, taking her hand in his, raised
it to his lips, and planted a discreet kiss on the top of her hand.
“My lady,” he said, “Please come in.” He ushered them into the living room.
* * * * *
“Who was that young ruffian who answered the door? Am I to believe that she
lives here with you?"
“You mean Buffy?” Spike smiled. “She’s my…ah…my friend.”
“Don’t lie to me young man. She’s sleeping with you. Who else do you have living
with you in my house? Other tenants weren’t part of your employment contract,
you know. Trying to make a little money on the side, were you?”
“No…No. It’s not like that. Yeah…oh, well hell…let’s see, there’s Buffy of course,
and her sister Dawn, and Maisa the dog. And Rigel. They’re not really tenants…you
see…well they’re my…my family.”
He blushed, realizing at that moment that that was exactly what they were. His
family.
“They’re my family,” he repeated, a little look of joy passed across his face.
“Rigel?” Miss Mintaka rose suddenly to her feet. “Blue? No teeth? White hair?”
“Well, yes. Do you know him?”
“I knew it! Send him to me immediately!” Miss Mintaka commanded.
She gave Mr. Nilam a withering look.
“Did you know this?” she demanded.
He shook his head and quickly followed Spike out of the room.
“Oh dear lord, it’s going to be such a fuss. She really doesn’t like to be crossed.”
“Well what’s the old bint doing here anyway? Why didn’t you warn me she was
coming?”
“It was all so sudden. She just showed up and demanded we come here immediately.
Something about a spring, and interfering around with other people’s fates.
And oh dear, is Rigel really living here with you?”
“Yeah…what’s going on here, Al?”
“Miss Lily and Rigel. You might say they were old flames…they had a little…falling
out.” He gulped. “I think I’ll just go help Buffy with that box.” He slipped
away towards the kitchen.
* * * * *
Spike searched Rigel’s room and the backyard. He went upstairs and searched
the second floor. Finally he crawled up the ladder into the attic and found
Rigel sitting in a corner on the floor.
“Come on Rigel. Take it like a man. What’s this I hear about you and the flashy
piece of skirt downstairs? And I had to listen to you for hours yammering on
about not running away from love!” He grabbed Rigel’s hand and pulled him to
his feet.
“You don’t know her! She can be very rough when she’s mad. She’s not what she
appears to be!”
“Tell me about it, mate. I know exactly how you feel. But you don’t see me running
anymore, do you?” He dragged Rigel down the ladder and downstairs and shoved
him into the living room.
“Here he is. I’ll leave you two alone.” Spike closed the door on Rigel’s pleading
face.
* * * * *
He found Buffy and Al in the kitchen unpacking Miss Mintaka’s box.
“Look, Spike!” Buffy exclaimed. “Food! It’s a whole feast! A huge turkey and
ham and every sort of vegetable, fresh baked bread and pies. A sack of soup
bones! Six bottles of Chardonnay and, what’s this?”
She pulled out a very large crystal decanter of thick red fluid.
“I believe that’s for me,” Spike laughed.
“She’s always very well prepared,” Al sighed.
* * * * *
They had a glorious Thanksgiving dinner. Clem and Willie showed up just as they
started eating and Xander and Anya wandered in during dessert.
Miss Mintaka thrilled them with tales of her travels and described in intricate
detail every observatory she’d visited. She sat next to Rigel, who glowed bright
blue every time she touched his hand.
“And Hubble,” she said. “What can I say?”
Rigel and Al sighed deeply.
“Of course it’s not as good as the view from…” she stopped suddenly. “Well,
I have been talking far too much here.”
“Not at all!” Rigel and Al spoke in unison.
She turned to Spike. “So Spike…what’s your plan? Are you going to let this lovely
young creature slip through your fingers again?” She nodded toward Buffy.
Spike looked nervously around the table. At his friends, his lover and ex-lover,
his partners in crime and his former enemy.
“You want me to announce something in front of this crew?” He turned back to
Buffy. Her eyes were soft and she gave him a little smile.
“Not much to say. I love her. She loves me. I plan to keep on loving her…well
forever!”
“Forever is a long time. And not everyone has forever, you know.”
Miss Mintaka stood up and looked down at Rigel and then over to Al. “Dishes!”
she said.
Rigel and Al scrambled to their feet. The three of them marched out to the kitchen.
* * * *
*
Rigel, Al and Lily, as Miss Mintaka had instructed everyone to call her, sat
on the back porch sipping wine and watching the others finish planting all the
daffodil bulbs.
“Isn’t it about time you came home?” Lily asked Rigel. “I don’t think they need
you anymore. Remember what I always said about interfering with humans?”
“Spike’s not human.”
“Human, demon, vampire…What’s the difference? I miss you. And your little dog.
I’m tired of all this gravity. And look at him.” She nodded toward Al, who was
sleeping in his chair. “Nearly burnt out in all this oxygen. Let’s leave tonight.”
“Next Orionid. I promise. You go back. You take Al with you now. Let me and
Maisa stay another year. I still have some unfinished business. What’s a year
to you?”
“Alright, a year,” she sighed. “That’s all. And If I have to come looking for
you again. Well…I hear there’s job openings in one of those southern constellations.”
* * * * *
They said goodbye to their guests. Before she left, Miss Mintaka handed Spike
an envelope.
“Don’t open it now. Wait until next October 20th. I’ll know if you open it sooner.”
She gave him a hard look.
“And you.” She went over and stood before Rigel. “You come back to me? Remember?
I’ll be waiting.”
* * * * *
Later that evening Spike found Buffy sitting by herself next to the spring.
“What are you doing out here all alone?” he asked.
“Just looking at this little pool. Sometimes you can see the reflection of the
stars. It seems so deep.”
Spike shook his head. “All the way down to heaven or hell, Rigel says. Come
on, love, come inside with me.” He knelt down beside her and ran his hand through
her hair.
“It was nice, you know. What you said at dinner.”
“What was that?”
“That you planned to love me forever.”
“Meant it. Truly.” He put his arm around her and buried his face in her hair.
“I’ll always love you.”
“But we don’t have forever, do we? At least I don’t.”
“Don’t think about it now, love. We have this day. Lots of days ahead of us.”
“Will you miss me? Miss me when I’m gone?” She turned to him and gazed solemnly
into his eyes.
“Buffy...” He pulled her tightly against his chest. She was suddenly fragile
and so very human at that moment. He gathered her in his arms, stood up and
carried her into the house and up the stairs.
* * * *
*
He undressed her in silence. As he removed each piece of clothing, he caressed
and kissed the soft skin that was slowly revealed to him. He carefully folded
each garment and placed them in the old bureau. When she was completely naked,
he gently placed her in the middle of the bed. He undressed and then sat down
next to her, his thigh nestled against the flair of her hips. He traced his
fingers along her face, over her lips, under her chin and down to the beautiful
curve of her neck, rich and pulsing with her sweet blood. Her eyes were wide
and heartbreakingly warm.
“So beautiful.” He slid his hand over her breast and cupped it lightly. “If
I could never see you again…I would go mad.”
He bent over and kissed her breast. His lips found her nipple, and he took it
between his lips, his cool tongue circling and teasing it until it stiffened
in arousal beneath his touch. She cried his name softly.
He stood up, walked over to the window and opened the curtains. Moonlight flooded
the room. He climbed onto the bed and, parting her thighs, he knelt between
them. He bent over and placed a kiss between her legs, his tongue lightly tasting
the musky wetness that glistened on the delicate lips, now flushed and swollen.
He inhaled deeply, and shuddered as the strong, wild scent of her arousal washed
through him.
He licked her contentedly, not rushing, but pleasuring her with long, slow strokes.
“Lovely, lovely cream,” he sighed, as he explored her moist lips with his tongue,
lapping and tasting each tender sensitive fold. He felt her shiver beneath him.
“Harder. Oh god. There.” She grabbed his head and held him in place.
He increased the pressure of his tongue and she began to tremble. He loved her
like this-- all abandoned in her lust and wantonness, the moment just
before she came. Her body tensed, her face flushed and her nipples erect and
swollen.
She moaned deeply and pressed her knees against his shoulders. Her hips undulated
mindlessly as she drenched his lips, tongue and face with the warm rush of her
come.
“There’s my girl, my sweet girl, coming for me.”
He raised his head, and sliding up her body, rubbed his face against her stomach
and the swell of her breasts.
He knelt back on his knees. She watched as his delicate hands and fingers slowly
slipped back up her legs and kneaded the soft and yielding skin of her inner
thighs. The moonlight fell across his body, calling into sharp relief, the subtle
beauty of his face, the strong curve of his chest, his long firm arms.
He slid several fingers deeply inside of her, and then, removing them gently,
rubbed them in languid movements down his long beautiful cock, which rose pale
and hard from the dark hair between his thighs.
She could feel him aching to possess her. She could smell the feral need
upon him, felt him holding back his animal, demon metamorphosis. She trailed
her hand down his chest, and dragged her nails across the hard muscles of his
stomach, and reached down to stroke him.
He clasped her wrist and pulled it away before her hand could reach its goal.
“Do you want me?”
“Oh yes,” she begged, and raised her knees and spread them far apart in submission.
She felt the deep ache rising again between her legs, moving swiftly up to the
center of her body. She could feel his longing in every movement of his limbs,
from the tips of his fingers to his pale, hard cock as he stretched exquisitely
above her. And she cried out again for him to take her.
He wanted her. Wanted her, his golden skinned love, so fragrant and ripe. He
wanted to lick and devour her, bathe her from head to foot with his tongue,
taste her, savor her, drink the liquid fire that poured from her womb. Wanted
to plunge inside her, fill her, make her cry out his name, feel her heat surround
him. Move inside her fast and hard. But he held back, shaking with the effort
of restraint.
He paused and stretched his arms and hands, in cat-like, almost predatory motions.
He wanted to keep this moment forever. This delicious moment on the edge of
ecstasy. Her wanting him, splaying herself before him, all wet and burning
for the relief that only he could bestow. Here time was suspended, was
non-existent.
He felt a sudden arc of electricity spring between them as she cried and arched
her back, ground her hips greedily against him. And he was lost.
She clasped his hips forcefully with her hands, pulled him down to her. She
closed her eyes as he plunged his cock inside her. She came again, gasping with
the sweet relief of him stretching her wide, and filling her so completely.
He rode her gently. He rode her wildly. He poured his cool seed inside her,
and became hard again for her, over and over.
This was his sweet girl, his woman. This is what she needed from him now.
For him to be inside her. Home, deep inside her. Deep inside her love always,
making her come endlessly, making her feel as if she would live forever.
* * * * *
Dawn and Buffy moved
into the house at 53 Orion. Maisa bore a litter of one on New Year’s Day.
They named the puppy Sirius. Sirius had grown quickly over the past months and
he now stood about two feet tall and was definitely no longer a puppy.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Spike complained. “Eats me out of house
and home. Do you think he’s really a dog? More like a wolf, I reckon. And who’s
his dad, I’d like to know?”
“Sirius is not a wolf. He’s a prince among dogs. A princely beast,” Dawn proclaimed.
“Would you ask his majesty to leave his bones outside, then?”
* * * * *
They became a family of sorts. A very strange family – the vampire, the vampire
slayer, the key, the mysterious water spirit, and two dogs of unknown origin.
Yet they had come together at this singular moment in time and space and had
found solace and friendship and love.
In early February through March, the garden was thick with thousands of daffodils,
all golden and creamy yellow, pale pink and deep orange.
Summer arrived and life was good, if not always happy. There were certain things
about living with a Slayer that Spike felt he would never get used to. But eventually
they came to an understanding that, though they loved each other deeply, they
were very different, and in some things would never be of one mind. For example,
he hated the way she expected him to pick up his things off the floor in the
bedroom. ‘This is not a crypt’ she’d yell at him and he’d slink off up to the
attic where Rigel would occasionally join him, especially if she’d gone on a
rampage about the state of the kitchen.
“I think it’s a mental illness, this obsession for putting things exactly back
where you found them,” Spike groused to Rigel, “An obsessive desire for control.
I blame Giles, myself.”
But all in all, their life flowed smoothly along and they found that one day
merged into another until October arrived. They noticed that Rigel was becoming
a little secretive; he would disappear for several hours and come back strangely
excited. They remembered the promise he’d made to Miss Mintaka and realized
their days with him were slowly coming to an end. Rigel, however, refused to
talk about his leaving. He’d quickly change the subject whenever anyone brought
it up.
* * * * *
October twentieth dawned crisp and clear. Buffy and Spike had spent a very long
night fighting some particularly nasty demons and were still asleep when Dawn
pounded frantically on their bedroom door.
“They’re gone!” she wailed through the door.
Rigel hadn’t said goodbye. Dawn was upset the most. Especially as he’d taken
the little dog Maisa. But he’d left behind the dog, Sirius, two letters and
a large package.
There was a brief note, attached to Sirius' collar, from Rigel in which he explained
that Sirius was to be Dawn's dog now. He gave Spike explicit instructions never
to bite Sirius no matter what he did... or chewed. He apologized again for what
Sirius had done to Spike's black leather duster.
The package was a gift for Dawn. It contained a telescope and a very old and
battered book entitled Phaenomena. The book
was in Latin, a translation of Aratus by Cicero.
“Guess you’ll have to learn Latin, Nibblet,” Spike smiled, "And get a job to
pay for dog food."
Spike opened the first letter and read it aloud.
* * * * *
My Dear Friends,
Time is not what you imagine. It’s like the water, which springing newborn from
the earth, rushes heedlessly down to the sea, is tossed and swirled in bitter
salt waves, rises hot and fevered to the stars, only to fall to earth again,
sweet and pure, sinking deep into stone and there, simmering beneath the surface,
it swells up once again, new and fresh. Time and water. If you understand
these two things you’ll understand the universe.
I believe we shall meet again one day,
Your friend,
Rigel
P.S.
My dear Spike and Buffy, please take the second letter and drive up to the hill
behind Sunnydale, you know the one I mean, Spike. It’s the one where we used
to go and hide from Buffy when she was in one of her moods. Be sure you arrive
before 10 p.m. and don’t be late. Inside the letter is a little surprise for
the two of you. Open it when you get there. No sooner.
* * * * *
Spike and Buffy arrived on the hilltop at exactly five minutes to ten. They
sat on a rock ledge and Spike opened the second letter and read it beneath the
pale flame of his lighter.
* * * * *
Elizabeth and William, this is a map for you, so you'll always
find your way back to each other. Forever together, not on this earth,
perhaps, but somewhere in the skies.
Name: Elizabeth, 20Psi Ori
Magnitude: 0.8
Right Ascension: 5h10m33.3s
Declination: -7° 11'4"
Name: William, 21Omg Ori
Magnitude: 0.8
Right Ascension: 5h10m44.4s
Declination: -7° 11'3"
Name: Rigel, 19Bet Ori
Magnitude: 0.12
Right Ascension: 5h14m32.3s
Declination: -8° 12'6"
Notes: Variable
* * * * *
At 10 p.m. exactly, the Orionid meteor shower began. The sky glowed and hissed
with a thousand streaks of light shooting down from the constellation Orion.
They gazed in wonder at the sight above them, and so entranced with the beauty
of the meteor dance, they didn’t notice two small, but brilliant points of light
moving in the wrong direction. From the earth to the heavens.
* * * * *
An hour later they stood together in the darkness, still looking up at the sky.
They saw a quick flash, much brighter than the meteor shower and watched as
a star fell to earth.
“We must make a wish,” she said.
“Not me, pet. I’ve given up wishes.”
“No, no. You must. You must.” She turned in his arms and gave him a kiss.
“I wish you were a natural blonde, so you would stop stealing my peroxide,”
he said.
She punched him lightly on the chest.
“That’s not a wish…that’s a…” She stared at him. “You were there. Snooping on
me! You heard my wish..es…”
“So what’s your wish, love?”
She thought for a moment.
“I wish... to fall asleep in your arms every night for the rest of my life.”
“Just sleep, love?” he laughed, and slipped his hand beneath her shirt.
She hit him again. “You are so very, very bad!”
He kissed her again.
* * * * *
The Letter from Miss Mintaka
Spike,
I’m giving you the house. No one would be fool enough to buy it. That very irritating
Miss Branch will handle all the details for you. And for goodness sake, see
to it that Buffy drinks as much water as possible from the spring. It’s surprising
what a little water will do for one’s longevity.
Affectionately,
Lily
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