|
|
The full moon hanging over the sleepy town of Sunnydale made spying
laughably easy, Spike thought.
Of course, it also made the risk of being discovered that much greater
so he would have to be careful.
He crouched down behind a leafy bush and peered through the leaves,
keeping the front window and
the walk leading up to the front door in clear view. She should
be getting home any minute now and he
wanted to be well out of sight before she got there. As he sat,
waiting, he heard a slight rustle from the
other side of the yard. “Damn,” he swore. “What is he doing
here? Why doesn’t he go spend time with
his little girlfriend?”
He started to emerge from the obscurity of the bush in order to head
across the yard when he heard the
unmistakable sound of the Slayer and her friend walking down the street.
Quickly he ducked back
behind the bush before they could see him. He would have an awful
lot of explaining to do if they
caught him here and there was no way in hell he was going to justify
himself to the Slayer. He watched
silently as the Slayer and the girl said their goodbyes for the evening
and then waited while the girl
entered her house and Buffy continued down her street alone.
<< Hmm, >> he thought. << Where’s
that idiot boy who always tags along with them? Has he decided
he’s tortured that poor girl enough?
>> Then he caught the direction his thoughts had once again taken
and swore. << Dammit! You do
not care about her! And you do not feel sorry for her.
She is the Slayer’s puppet and you don’t care.
>>
Then, before he could berate himself any further, he heard the noise
again and carefully made his way
across the yard, keeping himself out of sight. When he reached
the other end of the grass, he ducked
behind another bush and looked over at the man who crouched a few feet
away. “Angelus,” he
drawled, a wicked smile touching his lips. “What are you doing
here?”
Angel looked over at his peroxide-blonde nemesis. “I could ask
you the same thing,” he stated, trying to
evade the question.
“You could,” Spike smiled, “but I asked first. Why are you here?
Shouldn’t you be off following the
Slayer around like a lost puppy?”
“And shouldn’t you be off catering to a psychotic female vampire?” Angel
retaliated and then started at
the look of pain that crossed Spike’s face. “What happened?”
he asked, his voice carrying a note of
concern. He had created Spike and Dru after all. He still
felt some responsibility for them.
“It doesn’t matter,” Spike stated firmly, ending that line of discussion.
“You didn’t answer my question.
Since when do you spy on the Slayer’s little friend?”
“She’s my friend, too” Angel answered lamely. He didn’t want to
think about why he was really here.
He knew, however, that what he felt for Willow went far beyond friendship.
She had saved him, more
than once actually, and he felt an overwhelming amount of gratitude
towards her. First, she had
returned his soul to him. And then she had risked everything
to pull him out of hell. It was not an easy
spell by any means, and she had wound up nearly drained by the time
it was finished and Angel was
once again up on earth where he belonged. For that he was grateful,
and they had formed a powerful
friendship. Then he found himself falling in love with her.
It wouldn’t be fair to her or Buffy to admit,
though, so he remained in the shadows, watching from a distance.
“Do you always spy on your friends?” Spike asked.
“No, of course not. She had a rough day, though, so I thought I’d check up on her.”
“If you two are such good friends, why don’t you just go up there and
see her? I’m sure she wouldn’t
mind seeing you,” Spike’s voice had a wry note to it. “Wait a
minute. What did you say? What do you
mean she had a rough day? What happened?”
“That idiot Xander finally told her how he feels about her,” Angel growled.
“Confused her, did it?” Spike asked, watching Willow through the window.
He felt his heart constrict
when he saw her sitting next to the window. He pulled out his
cigarettes and put one in his mouth,
reminding himself that he didn’t really care about her. Then
he remembered where he was and
thought better of lighting it.
Angel watched with amusement as Spike put the cigarette in his mouth
then discarded it angrily. Then
he turned his gaze back to the window. “Yes,” he answered, finally
remembering that Spike had asked
him a question. “She’d pretty much convinced herself that he
could never feel that way about her. Now
he does, but I don’t think she’s sure about how she feels. The
fool just blurted it out right there in the
Bronze. She ran out of there crying and with Buffy running behind
her.”
“Did he at least have the decency to apologize?” Spike asked. He didn’t like that Xander boy.
“Did you see him come here with them?” Angel returned. “I told
him to go home and that he had done
enough damage for one night.”
“Good,” Spike said reluctantly. He didn’t want to admit that he
agreed with Angel, but he did. That boy
needed to get a brain in his head. Then something hit him.
“Why is she sitting in the living room by
herself? Doesn’t she have parents or someone to comfort her?” he asked
angrily.
“They’re out of town,” Angel explained, and then grabbed Spike’s arm
as he started to jump out from
behind the bush. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going up there to protect…her,” he hissed, his voice trailing off
to a whisper as he realized that
Willow would never allow him to do that.
“Do you think she’s going to let you in?” Angel asked. “I don’t think so. Now just sit back down.”
“What the hell are they doing leaving a tiny girl like her home by herself?”
Spike demanded. “Even if a
vampire, ghost, or random demon didn’t get her, a robber, murderer,
or rapist could. Why on earth
would her parents leave her here alone?” he repeated, anger and fear
gripping him.
“That’s why I’m here,” Angel answered. “I’m going to watch out
for her while her parents are gone.
Now why are you here? If you’re planning anything, I’ll kill
you.”
“No, I’m not planning anything. Willow saved my life last week
and I’m just grateful, okay?” Spike said
defensively.
“Willow saved your life?” Angel asked incredulously. “When? And why?” he added.
“It was about a week ago. She was walking home from the Bronze,
by herself, I might add, and she
saw this young one trying to kill me. He had decided that he
was sick of me being in charge and he
wanted me dead. He caught me by surprise and was ready to stake
me when Willow came along.
She killed him and let me go, saying that it was in return for helping
Buffy save Giles from you. Now, I
owe her, so I’ve been coming every night for the past week to check
on her,” Spike explained.
“Willow staked a vampire?” Angel asked, his voice full of admiration.
“Yeah,” Spike smiled, remembering the look on her face when the young
one had exploded into dust
particles. “It was pretty impressive.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, his mind lingering over the memory.
She saved his life, even after
all the terrible things he had done to her and her friends. She
was brave and strong and…sane, which
was a combination he had not seen in a woman in a long time.
He didn’t fall in love with her simply
because she saved his life, though. That would be ridiculous.
He loved her because she watched
cartoons at night in her living room and laughed at all the same places
Spike found amusing. He loved
her because she was smart, funny, sweet, and good. He loved her
because of who she was, and he
loved her even though he tried not to. His mind quickly flashed
through all of these thoughts and then
he opened his eyes again. When he did so, he saw something that
caused him to nearly jump out of
his skin. Willow was crying. She was staring out the window,
tears streaming down her cheeks. He
nodded his head at Angel, who looked in the direction he pointed and
sighed.
“Poor thing,” Angel said quietly. His heart broke for her, wishing he could drive the tears away.
“Go in there,” Spike said, his voice full of a pain that caused Angel
to stare at him. “She needs
someone to take care of her. I’ll stay out here and make sure
nobody gets in.”
“All right,” Angel said reluctantly, uncertain about whether it was
a good idea for him to be alone with
her. He didn’t want to say anything that would make her more
confused than she already was, but he
wasn’t sure that he would be able to stop himself.
He rose slowly to head for the door and was surprised when Spike followed
him. Throwing a look over
his shoulder, he gave Spike an inquisitive look.
“I need to tell her something,” Spike answered the unspoken question.
“What’s that?” Angel asked curiously.
“That Dru won’t be bothering her any more.” When he saw the curious
expression return to Angel’s
face he continued. “She’s dead,” he said quietly.
“What? How did she die?” Angel asked, the alarm evident in his voice.
“I killed her.”
Spike’s voice was cold and quiet, but Angel knew that he was hiding
a pain deeper than any Angel had
ever felt. “I’m sorry,” he said simply, unable to think of anything
more helpful.
“So am I,” Spike answered as they reached the front door.
Angel rang the doorbell and waited for Willow to answer the door.
When she did so her cheeks were
streaked by the trails of her tears. She looked so lost and forlorn
that it nearly broke the hearts of the
two men who loved her no matter how hard they fought against it.
“Angel?” she asked quietly. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to make sure you’re all right,” Angel explained. “I hope Xander didn’t upset you too much.”
“I’m okay. Thank you,” she said, bestowing the most beautiful
smile Angel had ever seen on him. “Do
you want to come in?”
Angel smiled, knowing how much faith she had to have in him to make
that simple offer. “Yes, I think I’d
like that,” he said moving forward, which caused Willow to see Spike
for the first time.
He was sitting on the front porch, waiting for Angel to finish talking
to Willow so he could have an
opportunity to tell her about Dru. He wanted her to know that
she didn’t need to be afraid of Drusilla any
longer.
“Spike?” Willow asked, her voice carrying a certain note that caused
Spike to spin around to look at her.
“Are you going to sit out here all night or are you going to come inside?”
“Are you sure?” he asked hopefully and then smiled when she nodded.
“Okay,” he agreed, jumping to
his feet. As he entered the door, he asked, “So what the hell
were your parents thinking, leaving you
here alone?”
“They weren’t going to,” Willow answered. “I was going to stay
at Xander’s, but then I decided a couple
nights ago that I would be safer here than anywhere else,” she added,
smiling knowingly and closing
the front door behind her.
Fan Fiction Chamber