PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT
14/40
Author: BmblBee
Paring: What else? S/X of course.
Rating: Adult for language and M/M activity.
Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story belong to the Bee.
and she makes no money off them, or anything else. The Bee is broke.
Summary: The Rosebud Murders took an emotional toll on
everyone involved. Is love enough for a happily ever after or does
it take a hell of a lot of work and compromise to build a life together?
Spike and Xander struggle to find out.




Thanks to Petxnd for the lovely banner


Spike was stunned. He was hard and horny as hell, he had
cum dripping off his chin, and from the sheepish apologetic
look on his lover's face, Xander knew that phone was going to
ring before Spike's turn on the pony ride came around.

"You knew that phone was going to ring! That's why you came
so fast! Damn! That's cheating!"

"Sorry, babe, but we use what we got."
Xander tried to suppress his grin. Not in humor at his lover, but
instead because he knew who was on the other end of the still
ringing, vibrating cell.

He grabbed a paper towel and dabbed his sensitive shrivling cock.
"Just answer the damn thing. Hurry up."

Spike stumbled to his feet on cramped, locked knees and threw
himself in the direction of the bar, spitting into the sink as he passed.
He could smell his own breath bouncing off his cell and resolved to
spray it with Lysol later.

"Detective Pratt."

"Good morning detective William. This is Doctor Ahn. You left the
message for me, yes?"

Spike's brain immediately shifted from deprived teenager to professional
lawman and he pressed his hand to his crotch willing it to deflate.
His cock was slow in getting the memo.

"Yes, good morning Doctor Ahn. Thanks so much for returning my call.
I have a bit of a problem, Doctor and I think you can help me out. As you
know, until I complete my psychologicals I can't return to full duty on homicide.
In the mean time I'm assigned to clean up work on basic accidents and
suicides. Simple interviews and paperwork. Kind of embarrassing but
there you are. Anyway, I understand you have a female, an elderly victim
of an accidental drowning there. She probably came in about a day and
a half ago."

"Yes, I have her. I gave the body a cursory exam yesterday. Nothing
out of the ordinary. Victim had water in the lungs. No signs of struggle,
no indication of defensive wounds, no skin cells under her nails. She had
advanced stage arthritis in both knees and hands which would have prevented
her pulling herself upright to regain her balance when she toppled forward
into the water. I was actually only waiting on your report in order to
sign off and release the body."

Spike blew out a sigh of relief. He wasn't too late. There was still time.

"Listen, Doc. Can you hold off for another day or so? Maybe just buy
me some time? I have reason to believe that this was more than a simple
accident but I need a day or so to try to come up with something solid.
And, as much as I hate to ask, can we keep this ankle high? You know
low key, under the wire? Just between us?"

Akhmed Ahn was delighted. He had been frustrated lately. Stuck in his
hum drum life of test tubes and lab coats and wondering if any thing new
or exciting would ever come his way.

He loved the power and influence of the position of county ME and the
big money that came with the job. It was more than a boy growing
up in a small village in India could ever have aspired for But the
trade off was the boring life of a basement dweller.

Tucked away from the excitement of the police station and all the
active cases going on over top his head, he often wished one of his
bodies would jump to life on the table and give his life a startling new twist.
Now here it was, tossed in his lap like manna from heaven and he was
going to make the most of it.

That, combined with the opportunity to fuck over that prick Jacobs, and
this was turning out to be the best morning Ahn had seen in a long time.

"YES! I do it for you William. We will keep just you and me. I tell you
what. I say I don' like the way she look and I do the full autopsy.
Can no one challenge me and that give you another two days. You like?"

Spike was thrilled. It was exactly what he needed. He was glad he was
not in the doctors lab or he may have kissed the little Indian right on the
mouth and frankly, till he brushed his teeth, he didn't think that was advisable.

"Doc, that's fantastic. I owe you big time."
"No problem, William, we keep this hush hush. We use a code word
so nobody knows, yes? I know! Code word is "turtle" it rhymes with
Myrtle, victim name. Yes, we be just like Crocker and Tubbs. Yes?"

Spike laughed. There should be a law against unauthorized personnel
watching old 1980's tv cop shows. At the same time he was not surprised.
When Xander had said "turtle", Spike couldn't imagine how an anphibian
could possible figure into this. Now he knew.

"That sounds great, Doc. I'll be in touch with you later today and
let me know if anything funny turns up in the autopsy. Do you want
me to call the next of kin?"

"No! I will do that. I spoke to Mr. Jacobs, her nephew, yesterday
and I would like to give him the good news before you interview him."

From the chuckle in the doctor's voice, Spike had the sinking feeling
that this was not going to be one of his more cooperative interviews.

"Thanks, Doc. I'll be in touch."
"Turtle, William, Turtle."

Spike hung up but couldn't fight back the huge grin. As usual, Xander
hit the nail on the head. His new partner, the one that would help aim
him in the right direction had just said the key word. It validated the
importance of Dr. Ahn's role in this investigation.
He was off and running.

He was still salty as hell over the one sided shag, but, at in a small way
this made up for it.
A very small way. Minute. Minuscule.

Spike rushed off to brush his teeth, Xander directly behind him.
He had a great feeling about this case. It was exactly what Spike
needed. He trailed as Spike rinsed, spit, snatched his briefcase,
cell phone and darted for the door.

He stopped, turned and gave Xander an extra long good by kiss.
"You owe me. And I expect to collect."

Xander laughed and quickly groped Spike's ass.
"I'll pay. Hey don't forget I'll be at the new house later today.
We'll have dinner there. Won't that be great?"

Spike frowned. He couldn't clutter his brain right now with such
unwelcome trivial matters.

"Yeah, whatever, love you."

Spike rushed out waving his hand as he sailed down the long
stairway to the alley outside, calling back.
"I'll phone you. I might be late."

Xander watched till he was sure Spike was long gone, out of sight
and on his way. He then darted back in to the tiny apartment and
gleefully snatched up his phone.

Tapping his foot impatiently he waited till he heard it picked up.

"Hi, yeah, it's me. I got the house. Yeah, I know. I can't wait
till you and the rest see it. It is absolutly perfect. No, I didn't tell him
yet, it's complicated. Things have been rough for him lately. Hey!
That's unfair. O.k. O.k, look we can talk about it later. Go ahead
and call the others. I'll meet you all at the house in about an hour.
No. No. Don't bring anything like that. I don't want Spike to suspect
anything. Good. Good. See you there. Bye."

Xander hung up and danced toward the shower.