Readjustment 3/15

“I didn’t realize principals could be hot!” Dawn exclaimed for something like the fourth time that evening. Spike found himself strangely nostalgic for the days when her teenaged lust was directed his way.

“I don’t like it,” Spike voiced his frustration, not bothering to differentiate the various levels the statement encompassed.

“Nor do I,” Rupert echoed. “Our little charade will not withstand close scrutiny from a public official.”

“We’ll have to come up with something that will satisfy him,” Willow chimed in. “Unless we pull Dawn out of school, he has complete access to her.”

Dawn looked horrorstruck. “You’re not going to pull me out of school are you?”

Before Spike could say that he was seriously considering it, Tara piped up, “Of course we won’t.”

Spike still thought it was just one more reason to look into the concept of home schooling. Not only could they avoid nasty problems like the new, overly inquisitive principal but Spike wouldn’t have to curse the chip for preventing him from ripping apart the first boy that broke Niblet’s heart.

Spike realized he’d gotten so distracted that he’d missed part of the conversation. Xander talking caused him to tune back in. “I only saw him for the groundbreaking ceremony.”

“Groundbreaking ceremony?” Spike quizzed. “You’ve been working on that site for six months.”

“It was for the new freshman building. They’re in temporary buildings at the moment. We only get to build these things a piece at a time, Spike.” Xander looked up at him with such an endearing expression he took all the bite out of his words.

Spike waved away the explanation, indicating Xander should continue, which he promptly did. “Anyway, he seems like a pretty straight up kind of guy. He may just consider Dawn some kind of at-risk case. If we can put his mind at ease on that front we may be in the clear.”

“Well, a parent-teacher conference is out.” Spike was surprised to hear Willow make this pronouncement. Normally she was far more confident about her work. “The bot won’t stand up to questioning from someone as sharp as you say he is.”

“Would he settle for one of us?” Tara asked.

“I can ask,” Dawn offered. “But can we wait and see if he even asks to meet with anyone? I’m kind of enjoying the eye candy without the angst.”

Despite adult grumbling, no one argued with her.

#########

Life went along well for a few more weeks. The new principal failed to go stalkerish and they all started to relax. Spike considered himself a fool for not realizing that’s just when life bites you in the arse.

He and Xander had taken to patrolling together. Xander said he liked the chance to stretch his legs. Spike suspected he was just trying to give him a break from the bot. They had dusted a few fledges, and beaten back a minor incursion, more than likely all the action they would see, so they sent the bot on to scout ahead. It was handy in a fight, as a distraction if nothing else, but still felt off and wrong to both of them.

With no bad guys in sight and the bot out of earshot, the side of the nearest tomb looked very inviting for a little after fight action.

Spike pinned Xander up against the cement wall just to hear him gasp, as their denim-covered cocks crushed together. He imprisoned Xander’s hands lest they roam and distract him as he began nibbling along his neck. Xander moaned and let his head fall back. Spike was very evilly considered making him come in his pants when Xander’s eyes suddenly went from passion-filled slits to wide eyed fear and he threw Spike to the side.

Spike hit the ground and rolled to a crouch ready to have words with Xander about his methods. Xander was standing between him and a tall, good-looking man wielding a stake. All of Spike’s ire came home to roost. He’d let himself be so distracted by ravishing Xander that he’d allowed a human to sneak up on him. If Xander hadn’t spotted him, Spike might very well be dust at this moment.

“Stand aside, you don’t know what he is,” came the man’s smooth, entirely reasonable voice. There was a note of authority to it that might have even swayed some punk kid.

Xander eyed the stake in the man’s hand and replied, “If you mean the fact that he’s a vampire, yeah I know.” Xander raised his hands in a placating gesture. “It’s all right, nothing bad was going to happen.”

Spike put a hand on Xander’s shoulder. He didn’t trust this would be do gooder to recognize Xander as a white hat. He could just as easily decide he was a threat that needed to be eliminated. Xander was far too willing to give the benefit of the doubt to someone on no better basis than they were human.

“I’d heard better things about you than this, Mr. Harris.” The man’s dark clothing masked his movements, which was doubtless the intent. Even Spike was having a bit of difficulty keeping a bead on him. The fact that he knew who Xander was didn’t make Spike any happier.

“And I had taken you for a man who wouldn’t leap to conclusions without knowing all the facts, Principal Wood,” Xander countered.

That brought Spike up short. “This is Principal Hottie?”

“Spike, you’re not helping,” Xander groaned.

Spike surveyed the principal with a new eye. He had a proper fighter’s stance, even while his face twisted in confusion at Spike’s remark. He wouldn’t be an easy person to take by surprise. “By the looks of you, you just might survive being principal,” he allowed.

“Oh really,” Wood shot back, clearly eager for an opening.

“Our last two principals were eaten,” Xander supplied offhandedly.

There was the half-disbelieving look screwing up his face again, but he never took his eyes off Spike. There was a speculative look in the principal’s eye, as if he was trying to place where he’d seen Spike before. He could almost feel Wood’s eyes raking down his body and he didn’t like it at all. A sneer formed on Wood’s face as he seemed to come to a conclusion. “Nice coat,” he said in a neutral voice. “Where’d you get it?”

Spike didn’t think he’d ever laid eyes on Wood before, but the man was making his skin crawl. “Picked it up in New York,” he answered simply, not wanting to be drawn in to anything with this man. “Mind putting the stake away, mate? Not exactly proper for a friendly conversation.”

“I don’t have friendly conversations with vampires,” he bit out. Then, with a dismissive tilt of his head, he added, “or their pets.”

“Hey, I’m not a pet!” Xander protested.

“That bite on your neck says differently,” he insisted, which let Spike know he was doing his best to keep both of them in view.

Xander’s hand went to the collar of his shirt where it had fallen open during their earlier play. Instead of covering the mark, Xander pulled it farther back. “Do I look like some kind of junkie to you?” Xander demanded. “He won’t even bite me again until I eat a plate of liver.” Xander cast a murderous glare Spike’s direction. “I’m still trying to decide if it’s worth it.”

“You need the iron,” Spike told him with a smile. He noticed Xander had taken a step toward Wood with his little display of pique and Spike took a corresponding step to the side. If he could get Wood fixed a bit more on him, and Xander not quite in his line of sight, they could get this situation under control.

Wood seemed to tumble to the fact that he was being maneuvered and took a swing at Spike. He came a bit close for comfort to connecting, but Xander hit him from the side and Spike was able to kick the stake out of his hand with a minimum of effort. Didn’t even get a twinge from the chip over it.

Spike crouched down to speak directly to where Xander had Wood pinned to the grass. “As you can tell by the fact you’re still alive,” he began, conversationally. “We’re the good guys. We’re out here keeping the world safe for puppies and Christmas, and you interrupted our well-deserved break.”

Wood looked very much like he wanted to spit in his face but held his tongue. Looked like the name, rank and serial number routine, so he decided to forego questions.

“Now, there are a number of ways this can go. Xander here can let you go, we all shake hands and head our separate ways, no harm done. You can be a stupid hardass and we’ll have to do something nasty to you.” Wood looked like he could spit nails at that taunt. “Or, you can realize we’re all on the same side here and we can work together. You obviously know about vampires, you know about the slayer?”

That loosened his tongue a hair. “I was raised by a watcher.”

Spike nodded his head sagely as if he’d been expecting exactly that response. Xander was focusing all his concentration on maintaining the pin. Spike was proud of his ability to resist the temptation to engage in his usual witty banter. But Xander couldn’t hold the git all night and it was time to wrap this up. “Then you know all about slayers. That’s good. We work with the Slayer. Buffy Summers. Maybe you’ve heard of her?” Spike took the narrow eyed glare as confirmation. “Check with your watcher contacts, I’m sure they can verify everything for you.”

“We’re going to let you up now,” Xander said in a voice that hid the strain it was taking to hold the powerful fighter down. “Come talk to us after you’ve checked everything out.”

Xander and Spike backed away from Wood slowly. He scrambled to his feet with less grace than he would have liked, Spike was sure. Xander had pocketed the stake Spike had kicked away but Spike doubted that was his only weapon. They kept a goodly distance between them, backing off away from each other. Spike certainly had no intention of turning his back on the bloke.

“Let’s pick up the slayer and call it a night, pet,” Spike said as much for Wood’s benefit as Xander’s.

“Sounds good,” Xander agreed, then added almost on reflex, “and I’m not a pet.”