Bewitched, Chapter 28/37
Jan. 23rd, 2010 12:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thismazTitle: Bewitched, Chapter 28/37
Pairing: S/X. I promise it will get back there... eventually.
Rating: This chapter PG-13
Summary: Valentine's Day arrived and Dru dipped her finger in the brew, giving it a stir. That was two years ago and the fall-out is still falling.
Word Count: 4,220
Betaed by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sparrow2000 and DJ, for which, many thanks. Thanks also to Sparrow for conflabbing on plot twists and forms.
Comments: Are greatly appreciated, loved and cherished.
Disclaimer: here.
If you want to start from the beginning, the prologue is here, with a link to the other chapters, or you can find the whole thing, in reverse order, in tags, or in the correct order, in memories. There's a menu of links on the right hand side of my main journal page.
For anyone who doesn't want to reread, but can't remember exactly what this story was about, I've done a recap of the plot to date. That can be found here
Many thanks tomwrgana for the beautiful banner.
Chapter 28
Xander sat drinking his tea, across the desk from Giles, while Willow had her books spread out on the sofa behind him. He was supposed to be researching too, but since his research technique in this case was limited to scanning the pages for a particular combination of squiggles, he didn't think that slacking off for fifteen minutes would seriously hamper the search. Buffy, meanwhile, was in the bathroom, attempting to grill Spike for information on the commandos.
"Tell me again why you decided to chain him up in your bath tub?" Xander asked.
Looking up, Giles sighed and the way his lips twisted was more of a grimace than a smile. "Because the alternative was having him chained up in here and he was driving me crazy."
Xander nodded. "Yeah, okay. I get that."
Buffy was quite audible down the length of the short hallway and she was beginning to sound exasperated. The interrogation didn't seem to be going her way. "So... you saw their faces but you can't describe them," she stated (loudly).
Giles went back to his book, resting his elbows on the desk on either side of it and placing his hands over his ears. Xander sympathised.
In contrast to Buffy, Xander had to strain to hear what Spike said. The tone of his voice as well as his words seemed to indicate that he was enjoying himself. "Well, they were human," he said. "Two eyes each, kind of in the middle."
There was a crash and Xander half started from his chair, but Giles held up his hand. "Don't bother," he said, shaking his head. "That would be the other reason for the bath; it's difficult getting blood out of this carpet."
"She's beating him up? But he's chained, he can't fight back."
"No, I don't think it's deteriorated that far yet, but I’m fast running out of mugs. I'm simply grateful that the bath is enamel; I don't think plastic would stand up against the impact of crockery, let alone crashing chains. If those two don't kill each other soon, I might be tempted to lend a hand."
"Which one would you take out first?" Xander asked, and Giles' eyes crinkled in real amusement.
Any reply he might have made was forestalled by Willow standing up and coming over to the desk. "What about a truth spell?" she suggested. "I'm not positive it would work on a vampire, but we could try." She laid a book in front of Giles and pointed at a section of text that looked to Xander like a recipe in a cookbook.
Scanning the page, Giles began to smile more widely. "Yes," he breathed. "A truth spell, of course. Why didn't I think of that? Well done, Willow."
Studying Willow's face, Xander missed the happy glow she used to get whenever she received praise for her work. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her smile that happy-Willow-smile.
"Looks pretty simple," she said, craning her head around to read over Giles' shoulder. "Do you have everything?"
"I believe I might be out of motherwort," Giles replied, his voice preoccupied as he read, "but I think I have everything else to hand,"
Willow looked at her watch. "The Magic Shop's closed today, but I have no classes tomorrow morning. I could come back then. I'll get some on the way?"
Giles placed a bookmark on the page before closing the book. "If you wouldn't mind. That would be most helpful."
Picking up her bag, Willow nodded. "Alright. I'll be back in the morning with donuts and motherwort. I'd better get going."
Giles got to his feet. "I'm sorry, do you have a class? You shouldn't have stayed, but I am very grateful to you for finding this; I would never have thought to look in Philbert's."
"No problem." She slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder and walked to the door, saying, "Bye, Xander," over her shoulder. Giles followed her to see her out and she turned, leaning around him to add a shouted, "Bye, Buffy! I'll see you at home."
"Wait," Buffy yelled back. "I'll come with you."
A moment later, both girls were gone and the apartment was quiet. For approximately five seconds.
"Hey, someone come and put the telly on," Spike yelled. Xander looked around the room and sure enough the TV wasn't there any more. "You gave him the TV when you chained him in your tub?" he asked.
Giles shrugged. "It keeps him quiet," he said, taking his glasses off and laying them on the book. Xander took that as his cue to leave too. With a sympathetic grin at Giles, he made his escape.
Wednesday nights were always slow in the pizza delivery business and he spent much of his shift reading the paper. The construction project for the new cultural centre at UC Sunnydale seemed to be starting up again, after what the paper described as 'the unfortunate incident that befell Professor Gerhard, the original driving force behind the project'. The article skimmed over that, concentrating on the facilities that the new Cultural Partnership Centre would include, under its motto of 'Bringing Cultures Together To Learn From Each Other'. He wondered if the editor was on the payroll of the mayor. There was nothing obviously evil about their latest elected official, but there was no doubt that the Sunnydale cover-up was still in place, whether through design or habit.
The rest of the time he spent wondering what Buffy thought they were going to do with Spike. He could understand the need to get whatever information he had out of him, but what would they do after that? The idea of killing him when he was helpless felt wrong, but the alternative appeared to be keeping him chained up in Giles' bath tub and he couldn't see that working either.
The next afternoon, when he opened the door to Xander, Giles looked rumpled and tired. "My blasted house guest kept me up half the night, yelling," he explained. "Goodness knows what the neighbours think. Listen, Xander, do you mind keeping an eye on him for a while? I need to go to the magic shop and possibly to the university to pick up Willow. For the truth spell. She said she'd come over, but.."
"Sure, no problem," Xander said, although the prospect was strangely troubling. He'd been very carefully avoiding any contact with Spike, unless buffered by either Giles or Buffy.
"Great, thanks. There's blood in the fridge, mugs in the cupboard and straws on the side, if you would take him some?"
Giles didn't wait for a reply, he was out of the door before Xander had even opened his mouth. With a sigh, Xander went and found a clean mug. It had 'Kiss the Librarian' on the side and he'd never seen Giles use it, which was probably just as well. Pulling a carton of blood out of the fridge, he poured some into the mug and added a straw.
Pushing open the bathroom door, he took one step over the threshold and paused. Spike was indeed a sorry sight. His t-shirt and jeans were stained with what Xander assumed was blood. His hair was a mess, he had heavy chains around his ankles and wrists and Xander could see broken shards of crockery in the bath under his legs.
He didn't look up when Xander entered. "About time," he grumbled. "Hope you got it warm enough, this time." Then he did look up. "Oh," he said.
"No one said anything about warm," Xander replied. It was odd seeing Spike like this. He didn't look anything like the slick and sexy vampire who'd haunted Xander’s dreams in high school.
"Of course I want it bloody warm. What? You think it's not shit enough, that you have to feed it to me cold, as well?" He stared at Xander as if waiting for an answer, but Xander didn't have one. "What are you looking at?" he snarled.
Xander had waited years to be asked that question. For once his brain connected to his mouth and he felt a thrill of satisfaction. "Not sure, I think the label fell off."
Spike pulled a disgusted face. "Ha, bloody ha,” he replied, sarcasm dripping from each syllable. “That my lunch? Gimme it here."
Xander cocked his head to one side. With Spike being snarky, the momentary sympathy he'd felt, fled. “Here,” he said, thrusting the mug towards Spike.
Spike raised his arms as far as the chains would allow, demonstrating that he would not be able to lift the mug to his mouth, even if he could reach it. Xander let out a put-upon sigh and placed the mug between his hands, straightening the straw so that he could get his lips around it. Spike looked up at Xander from under his lashes as he drank making what Xander was convinced were deliberately disgusting noises – like a kid with a milkshake. When he’d finally finished, he released the straw. “Why are you here, pet?” he asked. “Where’s the Watcher?”
He didn’t sound snarky any more, but Xander wasn’t going to walk into any verbal traps he might be laying, so he made sure to sound disgusted when he replied, “I got to babysit, while he goes shopping.”
Spike frowned and the viciousness returned to his voice. “You didn’t go to college, did you? Got nothing better to do with your day than hang out with an old has-been librarian?" He sniffed. "Loser!”
Xander’s hackles rose. “He's not. And I’m not! And yes, I do have a job.”
Spike was their prisoner; there was no need to be cruel, but sometimes it wasn’t a matter of need. “You're one to talk about losers; I hear you’re impotent now,” he taunted, grabbing the mug out of Spike's hands and beating a strategic retreat.
Giles didn’t get back until almost six o’clock and Xander spent that time in the living room. Spike was quiet for the first hour and somehow that made Xander feel worse about being mean to him. After a while, though, he started yelling, wanting the TV on. Xander wrestled with himself for about two minutes, then obliged, casting the apartment back into glorious peace and giving Xander a direct demonstration that Giles had not moved the TV into the bathroom so he could watch his favourite shows whilst having a soak.
When Giles returned, he was alone. It was time for Xander to leave to go to work, but he hesitated, unsure what was wrong, but recognising that something was. Giles waved him off. “No, no, I’m fine. Maybe a little tired. And a little concerned about Willow. She seemed... Well, she’s usually so reliable. I’m afraid I didn’t really help.”
“I’ll look in on her tomorrow,” Xander offered, gathering up his jacket and stealing Giles' newspaper.
He didn't spend any time that evening thinking about Spike. Not a moment.
He also didn’t need to seek Willow out the next day, because she came to him. It was great having a place where friends came to visit. Xander poured them both a soda and ushered her into the living room. What wasn’t so great was that she was obviously upset, although it took a while to get to the reason she had decided was her problem. “I’m mad at Buffy,” she explained. “We were in the middle of a very important conversation and she ran off. It just shows – Spike's more important to her than me. She really should marry him and clear the air already."
“Spike?”
“Yeah. Giles called. He escaped, or something. I told her not to worry; she’d find him in no time. And she did.”
“He escaped?”
“Yeah." She looked up at Xander and her eyes widened. "Oh no! Not you too? Can we stop talking about Spike? I’m sick of talking about Spike. I’m sick of talking about Spike and soldiers and demons and not knowing what to do and not knowing how to make things right again. I just want everything to be right again.”
Xander put his soda down on the floor, got up from his seat on the end of the recliner chair and joined her on the sofa. He put an arm around her and pulled her into a hug, although she resisted. “Hey,” he whispered, “I know it's hard to see it right now, but I think what you're feeling is because of you and Oz, not because of Buffy or Spike, or anyone else." He gave her another squeeze. "I know it’s hard, but eventually you'll meet somebody else, and then it'll be better.
Willow had begun to relax into his embrace, as he’d hoped she would, but towards the end of his motivational speech she stiffened again and pushed away. “Yeah, ‘cause most relationships are so wonderful," she said scornfully. "I don't think so. I think we're all doomed to badness.”
“We're not doomed.”
“Oh, yeah? Where’s your evidence? Look at your bio. You’re alone. And when you do get a date it’s either an insect or a Mummy. Or Larry. And I know he's dead and I shouldn't say things like that, but he was a jerk too. Face it, you're just as doomed as the rest of us, except you’re a demon magnet.” With a sniff of disgust she got to her feet.
The thing about Larry was way harsh and Xander bristled. “Sorry I said anything," he snapped. "I was just trying to help.”
It was like Willow hadn't heard him. She started to pace. “You’re as bad as Buffy," she said. Xander could hear the angry tears in her voice. "All she thinks about is Spike. Oh my god." Spinning around she placed both fists on her hips and glared at him. "You dated Spike, too, in junior year.
Xander glared back. “I didn’t date him! It was a spell. A spell that went horribly wrong." Feeling foolish sitting down and having to look up at her, he stood. "And Giles got rid of it," he added. "All of it.”
As if she'd only just noticed his irritation, Willow abruptly wilted. “Yeah, I know," she said. "I’m sorry. I, I guess I’m cranky girl today. I, I... tell you what, I’ll just go.”
Xander tried to persuade her to stay, but it was clear she could tell he was having trouble meaning it. She put down her glass, which she had held on to all through their argument and gathered up her bag. Xander could read the signs: having vented at him, she was now determined to indulge in a fit of guilt. Although he felt bad about it, he was relieved to see her go. She was his friend and he ought to be able to be there for her, but a Willow who had decided that she'd done something wrong, was even more wearing than an angry Willow. When full of remorse, she had a tendency for over-the-topness. Xander let her leave and hoped for brownies. He knew he’d been right in his advice, but he also knew that that didn’t matter, if she didn’t want to help herself.
It was only in hindsight that the rest of the day made any sense. While he was running down the street, chased by half a dozen growling, scaly and occasionally snot firing demons, he had no time to think up reasons for why he found himself ambushed every time he turned a corner. He assumed it was a Sunnydale wide phenomenon, so he headed to Giles', to raise the alert and set the awesome Scooby machine in motion.
Arriving to find Buffy deep in quiet conversation with Spike whilst holding a pair of cake decorations, caused him to pause, but he still didn’t appreciate the true awfulness of the situation. With some difficulty he managed to get her attention and gasped out his news. In response, Buffy was characteristically blasé, but more so. And then it turned out that Giles was blind.
"Blind?" Xander asked, aghast. "Where is he?"
Buffy waved a careless hand and a small plastic man. "I think he went to bed. Said he couldn't take it anymore. I told him I'd get the Tagas Root tomorrow."
Her attitude was all wrong, more than verging on the weird. She set the plastic figurines aside and Xander saw them clearly for the first time. Before his brain could process the fact that the girl figure was wearing a long white dress, Buffy broke his brain. "He's really not getting into the spirit of our wedding," she said, walking over and slipping an arm through his, hugging it to her. "I asked him to give me away and he said yes, but..." She trailed off as a new thought apparently occurred to her and she almost bounced in her enthusiasm. "Oh, oh, Xander." She grinning up into his face. “Will you stand up for Spike?”
Spike took a step forward and for a moment Xander thought he was going to grab Buffy. “Hey!” he objected. “Don’t I get a say in this?”
She released Xander's arm and turned around. “But honey, you don’t have any friends, so who would you ask?” Spike stared at her, at Xander, then down at the floor. He muttered something, too soft for Xander to make out. Not that it mattered, because Xander was incapable of thought. Buffy apparently took it as agreement, because she was all smiles again and went on to her next point. “And we need to talk about invitations. Do you want to be William the Bloody, or just Spike? Because either way, it’s gonna look weird.”
Spike raised his head. “Whereas ‘Buffy’ has just that touch of classic elegance,” he suggested sarcastically.
Drawing herself up to her full height, Buffy glared right back. “And what’s wrong with Buffy?”
“It’s a terrible name,” Spike snarled.
Buffy threw a punch at his shoulder that didn’t look completely like fun. “Hey! My mother gave me that name.”
“Your mother. Right, well that explains it.”
“Don’t you dare start on my mother.”
“Like you show her any respect.”
“Well who was your mother, anyway?”
“My mother was a saint.”
“She’d have to be, to put up with you.”
“If you feel like that, maybe you don’t want to get married.”
At which point, Buffy crumbled, rushing towards Spike. “Oh Spike, I’m sorry," she cried. "l, I didn’t mean it.”
Spike met her halfway. “No, no, I’m a bad man. I’m sorry, princess. Take no notice of me. You're an angel for doing all this; it's such a big thing to organise.”
“It's okay, honey. Women are good at this sort of thing. Which is why you should leave it all to me.”
There was kissing. Xander turned away, horrified. “Oh, god, can I be blind too?” he asked the empty fireplace.
Buffy apparently heard him, because she broke away from Spike and wailed, “Why does nobody understand?”
Recapturing her hand, Spike bent down and dropped a kiss on her palm, before reassuring her. “Don’t worry, kitten,” he said. “They’ll come around.” He looked over at Xander and a speculative gleam appeared in his eyes. “In fact,” he suggested, “Did you ever hear about the Nisho clan? They practice polyandry. I'm suddenly seeing the attraction.
"Poly what?"
"After all," Spike continued. "Monogamy's for humans. A real demon..."
Xander caught on at about the same moment Buffy did. He opened his mouth to object, but Buffy beat him to it. "Eww! No! Not at our wedding. How could you? Don't spoil it, Spike. It's our special day."
"Night," Spike corrected, but he sounded regretful.
"And you," she added fiercely, turning on Xander. "Don't you dare try to steal my boyfriend, or I'll, I'll..."
Spike interrupted her, "Okay," he agreed. "I'm sorry. Whatever you say, Princess." He patted Buffy's hand and she was all smiles again, her jealous outburst apparently forgotten in a moment. Picking up a notebook and pencil from the table, she sucked the end of the pencil as she studied what looked like a list, before ticking off a few items from the top.
Spike continued to study Xander. "You look different," he observed.
"Yeah? Well, so do you. Last time I saw you, you were covered in spilt blood."
Spike gave another sigh, less regretful and more nostalgic. "Yeah," he said. "Good times. But the little woman here insisted I wash. Even took my clothes and cleaned them for me."
The reality of the conversation crashed in on Xander and he thought he might have staggered under the blow. "You're really getting married?" he asked. The day couldn't get much stranger, so having a civilised conversation with Spike was all part of the strange.
Spike shrugged. "Seem to be. She's keen, anyway. But, gotta admit, I look at you and I'm suddenly wondering..."
A memory surfaced from the back of Xander's brain. "Oh no!" he groaned. "Married. Yes, yes, that's it."
Spike perked up. "Yes?" he asked.
"Yes!" He took in Spike's hopeful expression and back-peddled. "No! No, no, no. Demon magnet. It's Willow!" Spinning on his heels, he ran to the stairs, "Giles!" he yelled, taking them two at a time.
Fifteen minutes later Giles was downstairs and had pieced the last few bits of the puzzle together. "She said she'd tried to do a spell to have her will done," he explained. "And now she's out there and she probably doesn't know what she's doing."
So they went looking for her, minus Giles. Spike and Buffy spent as much time arguing about their future together and then making up with too much tongue, as they did searching. Xander was almost relieved when the first of his previous pursuers appeared to give their thoughts a new focus.
Unfortunately, he didn't arrive alone and soon there were too many for even Buffy to handle. Spike pointed at a crypt. "That one's not locked," he shouted.
They ran and piled through the door, slamming it behind them. The demons followed and it was every man, woman and vampire to the barricades, until they broke through. Then it was every slayer to the barricades and kicking ass, while Spike and Xander did their best to dodge blows and keep out of her way.
Xander missed his footing on the earth floor and a moment later he was almost lifted off the ground by a large green thing with claws on its claws. It had one hand closed around his neck and the other pulled back, ready to disembowel him. He scrabbled at the arm that held him, dimly aware that Spike had jumped at it and grabbed the other arm, yelling curses as he tried to pull it away.
Struggling for breath, Xander was waiting for the life-flashes-before-your-eyes moment and regretting that there was so little to flash, when a crash of thunder, far too loud, accompanied by a blaze of lightning, both deafened and blinded him. The crypt was abruptly silent and Xander staggered back against the wall, blinking to clear the spots from his vision and drawing air down his mercifully clear throat. Spike fell over on his ass, his head hitting the sharp corner of a plinth with a dull thud.
When Xander looked around, the demons were gone and Willow was standing in a corner. She gave a little wave. "Hi, guys," she said, sheepishly.
Xander got his brownies. Giles got cookies and his sight back, while Spike and Buffy both got a very public attack of disgust. But Spike returned to Giles' apartment with them, without having to be threatened, and on the way Xander found himself walking by his side, while Buffy walked ahead with Willow. "You were going to marry her?" Xander asked. It was funny now that it was over and he was no longer fighting for his life.
"Just shut up about it, will you?" Spike growled. "It's not like I wanted to."
"But that wasn't going to stop you?"
"It was a fucking spell. Spells are like that. You don't question them."
When he thought about it later, Xander blamed the lingering effects of oxygen starvation for the stupidity which led him to continue to tease. There was no other possible reason for him to say, "Sounds like the voice of experience. Happened to you a lot, has it?"
Spike cast him a sly look along his shoulder. "Well, you should know, pet. Did you question it, at the time?"
"What?" Xander spluttered. He felt himself blush. "Oh! Umm..."
"Yeah, um," Spike agreed. "Glass houses, mate. And as I remember, that one was all you."
Mortified, Xander nodded. "Yeah, it was. And I learnt a lesson too - spells are a bad idea. Very, very bad. And they don't mend things."
"Not going to apologise, are you?" Spike asked. He sounded only mildly interested in whatever Xander's reply would be.
"No, I'm not," Xander snapped.
Spike grinned. "Good," he said, pulling a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting one.
They completed the rest of the walk back to Giles' place in silence.
Bewitched, Chapter 29
Some bits of dialogue borrowed and adapted from episode 4.09, Something Blue.
Pairing: S/X. I promise it will get back there... eventually.
Rating: This chapter PG-13
Summary: Valentine's Day arrived and Dru dipped her finger in the brew, giving it a stir. That was two years ago and the fall-out is still falling.
Word Count: 4,220
Betaed by
sparrow2000 and DJ, for which, many thanks. Thanks also to Sparrow for conflabbing on plot twists and forms.Comments: Are greatly appreciated, loved and cherished.
Disclaimer: here.
If you want to start from the beginning, the prologue is here, with a link to the other chapters, or you can find the whole thing, in reverse order, in tags, or in the correct order, in memories. There's a menu of links on the right hand side of my main journal page.
For anyone who doesn't want to reread, but can't remember exactly what this story was about, I've done a recap of the plot to date. That can be found here
Many thanks to
mwrgana for the beautiful banner.Chapter 28
Xander sat drinking his tea, across the desk from Giles, while Willow had her books spread out on the sofa behind him. He was supposed to be researching too, but since his research technique in this case was limited to scanning the pages for a particular combination of squiggles, he didn't think that slacking off for fifteen minutes would seriously hamper the search. Buffy, meanwhile, was in the bathroom, attempting to grill Spike for information on the commandos.
"Tell me again why you decided to chain him up in your bath tub?" Xander asked.
Looking up, Giles sighed and the way his lips twisted was more of a grimace than a smile. "Because the alternative was having him chained up in here and he was driving me crazy."
Xander nodded. "Yeah, okay. I get that."
Buffy was quite audible down the length of the short hallway and she was beginning to sound exasperated. The interrogation didn't seem to be going her way. "So... you saw their faces but you can't describe them," she stated (loudly).
Giles went back to his book, resting his elbows on the desk on either side of it and placing his hands over his ears. Xander sympathised.
In contrast to Buffy, Xander had to strain to hear what Spike said. The tone of his voice as well as his words seemed to indicate that he was enjoying himself. "Well, they were human," he said. "Two eyes each, kind of in the middle."
There was a crash and Xander half started from his chair, but Giles held up his hand. "Don't bother," he said, shaking his head. "That would be the other reason for the bath; it's difficult getting blood out of this carpet."
"She's beating him up? But he's chained, he can't fight back."
"No, I don't think it's deteriorated that far yet, but I’m fast running out of mugs. I'm simply grateful that the bath is enamel; I don't think plastic would stand up against the impact of crockery, let alone crashing chains. If those two don't kill each other soon, I might be tempted to lend a hand."
"Which one would you take out first?" Xander asked, and Giles' eyes crinkled in real amusement.
Any reply he might have made was forestalled by Willow standing up and coming over to the desk. "What about a truth spell?" she suggested. "I'm not positive it would work on a vampire, but we could try." She laid a book in front of Giles and pointed at a section of text that looked to Xander like a recipe in a cookbook.
Scanning the page, Giles began to smile more widely. "Yes," he breathed. "A truth spell, of course. Why didn't I think of that? Well done, Willow."
Studying Willow's face, Xander missed the happy glow she used to get whenever she received praise for her work. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her smile that happy-Willow-smile.
"Looks pretty simple," she said, craning her head around to read over Giles' shoulder. "Do you have everything?"
"I believe I might be out of motherwort," Giles replied, his voice preoccupied as he read, "but I think I have everything else to hand,"
Willow looked at her watch. "The Magic Shop's closed today, but I have no classes tomorrow morning. I could come back then. I'll get some on the way?"
Giles placed a bookmark on the page before closing the book. "If you wouldn't mind. That would be most helpful."
Picking up her bag, Willow nodded. "Alright. I'll be back in the morning with donuts and motherwort. I'd better get going."
Giles got to his feet. "I'm sorry, do you have a class? You shouldn't have stayed, but I am very grateful to you for finding this; I would never have thought to look in Philbert's."
"No problem." She slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder and walked to the door, saying, "Bye, Xander," over her shoulder. Giles followed her to see her out and she turned, leaning around him to add a shouted, "Bye, Buffy! I'll see you at home."
"Wait," Buffy yelled back. "I'll come with you."
A moment later, both girls were gone and the apartment was quiet. For approximately five seconds.
"Hey, someone come and put the telly on," Spike yelled. Xander looked around the room and sure enough the TV wasn't there any more. "You gave him the TV when you chained him in your tub?" he asked.
Giles shrugged. "It keeps him quiet," he said, taking his glasses off and laying them on the book. Xander took that as his cue to leave too. With a sympathetic grin at Giles, he made his escape.
Wednesday nights were always slow in the pizza delivery business and he spent much of his shift reading the paper. The construction project for the new cultural centre at UC Sunnydale seemed to be starting up again, after what the paper described as 'the unfortunate incident that befell Professor Gerhard, the original driving force behind the project'. The article skimmed over that, concentrating on the facilities that the new Cultural Partnership Centre would include, under its motto of 'Bringing Cultures Together To Learn From Each Other'. He wondered if the editor was on the payroll of the mayor. There was nothing obviously evil about their latest elected official, but there was no doubt that the Sunnydale cover-up was still in place, whether through design or habit.
The rest of the time he spent wondering what Buffy thought they were going to do with Spike. He could understand the need to get whatever information he had out of him, but what would they do after that? The idea of killing him when he was helpless felt wrong, but the alternative appeared to be keeping him chained up in Giles' bath tub and he couldn't see that working either.
The next afternoon, when he opened the door to Xander, Giles looked rumpled and tired. "My blasted house guest kept me up half the night, yelling," he explained. "Goodness knows what the neighbours think. Listen, Xander, do you mind keeping an eye on him for a while? I need to go to the magic shop and possibly to the university to pick up Willow. For the truth spell. She said she'd come over, but.."
"Sure, no problem," Xander said, although the prospect was strangely troubling. He'd been very carefully avoiding any contact with Spike, unless buffered by either Giles or Buffy.
"Great, thanks. There's blood in the fridge, mugs in the cupboard and straws on the side, if you would take him some?"
Giles didn't wait for a reply, he was out of the door before Xander had even opened his mouth. With a sigh, Xander went and found a clean mug. It had 'Kiss the Librarian' on the side and he'd never seen Giles use it, which was probably just as well. Pulling a carton of blood out of the fridge, he poured some into the mug and added a straw.
Pushing open the bathroom door, he took one step over the threshold and paused. Spike was indeed a sorry sight. His t-shirt and jeans were stained with what Xander assumed was blood. His hair was a mess, he had heavy chains around his ankles and wrists and Xander could see broken shards of crockery in the bath under his legs.
He didn't look up when Xander entered. "About time," he grumbled. "Hope you got it warm enough, this time." Then he did look up. "Oh," he said.
"No one said anything about warm," Xander replied. It was odd seeing Spike like this. He didn't look anything like the slick and sexy vampire who'd haunted Xander’s dreams in high school.
"Of course I want it bloody warm. What? You think it's not shit enough, that you have to feed it to me cold, as well?" He stared at Xander as if waiting for an answer, but Xander didn't have one. "What are you looking at?" he snarled.
Xander had waited years to be asked that question. For once his brain connected to his mouth and he felt a thrill of satisfaction. "Not sure, I think the label fell off."
Spike pulled a disgusted face. "Ha, bloody ha,” he replied, sarcasm dripping from each syllable. “That my lunch? Gimme it here."
Xander cocked his head to one side. With Spike being snarky, the momentary sympathy he'd felt, fled. “Here,” he said, thrusting the mug towards Spike.
Spike raised his arms as far as the chains would allow, demonstrating that he would not be able to lift the mug to his mouth, even if he could reach it. Xander let out a put-upon sigh and placed the mug between his hands, straightening the straw so that he could get his lips around it. Spike looked up at Xander from under his lashes as he drank making what Xander was convinced were deliberately disgusting noises – like a kid with a milkshake. When he’d finally finished, he released the straw. “Why are you here, pet?” he asked. “Where’s the Watcher?”
He didn’t sound snarky any more, but Xander wasn’t going to walk into any verbal traps he might be laying, so he made sure to sound disgusted when he replied, “I got to babysit, while he goes shopping.”
Spike frowned and the viciousness returned to his voice. “You didn’t go to college, did you? Got nothing better to do with your day than hang out with an old has-been librarian?" He sniffed. "Loser!”
Xander’s hackles rose. “He's not. And I’m not! And yes, I do have a job.”
Spike was their prisoner; there was no need to be cruel, but sometimes it wasn’t a matter of need. “You're one to talk about losers; I hear you’re impotent now,” he taunted, grabbing the mug out of Spike's hands and beating a strategic retreat.
Giles didn’t get back until almost six o’clock and Xander spent that time in the living room. Spike was quiet for the first hour and somehow that made Xander feel worse about being mean to him. After a while, though, he started yelling, wanting the TV on. Xander wrestled with himself for about two minutes, then obliged, casting the apartment back into glorious peace and giving Xander a direct demonstration that Giles had not moved the TV into the bathroom so he could watch his favourite shows whilst having a soak.
When Giles returned, he was alone. It was time for Xander to leave to go to work, but he hesitated, unsure what was wrong, but recognising that something was. Giles waved him off. “No, no, I’m fine. Maybe a little tired. And a little concerned about Willow. She seemed... Well, she’s usually so reliable. I’m afraid I didn’t really help.”
“I’ll look in on her tomorrow,” Xander offered, gathering up his jacket and stealing Giles' newspaper.
He didn't spend any time that evening thinking about Spike. Not a moment.
He also didn’t need to seek Willow out the next day, because she came to him. It was great having a place where friends came to visit. Xander poured them both a soda and ushered her into the living room. What wasn’t so great was that she was obviously upset, although it took a while to get to the reason she had decided was her problem. “I’m mad at Buffy,” she explained. “We were in the middle of a very important conversation and she ran off. It just shows – Spike's more important to her than me. She really should marry him and clear the air already."
“Spike?”
“Yeah. Giles called. He escaped, or something. I told her not to worry; she’d find him in no time. And she did.”
“He escaped?”
“Yeah." She looked up at Xander and her eyes widened. "Oh no! Not you too? Can we stop talking about Spike? I’m sick of talking about Spike. I’m sick of talking about Spike and soldiers and demons and not knowing what to do and not knowing how to make things right again. I just want everything to be right again.”
Xander put his soda down on the floor, got up from his seat on the end of the recliner chair and joined her on the sofa. He put an arm around her and pulled her into a hug, although she resisted. “Hey,” he whispered, “I know it's hard to see it right now, but I think what you're feeling is because of you and Oz, not because of Buffy or Spike, or anyone else." He gave her another squeeze. "I know it’s hard, but eventually you'll meet somebody else, and then it'll be better.
Willow had begun to relax into his embrace, as he’d hoped she would, but towards the end of his motivational speech she stiffened again and pushed away. “Yeah, ‘cause most relationships are so wonderful," she said scornfully. "I don't think so. I think we're all doomed to badness.”
“We're not doomed.”
“Oh, yeah? Where’s your evidence? Look at your bio. You’re alone. And when you do get a date it’s either an insect or a Mummy. Or Larry. And I know he's dead and I shouldn't say things like that, but he was a jerk too. Face it, you're just as doomed as the rest of us, except you’re a demon magnet.” With a sniff of disgust she got to her feet.
The thing about Larry was way harsh and Xander bristled. “Sorry I said anything," he snapped. "I was just trying to help.”
It was like Willow hadn't heard him. She started to pace. “You’re as bad as Buffy," she said. Xander could hear the angry tears in her voice. "All she thinks about is Spike. Oh my god." Spinning around she placed both fists on her hips and glared at him. "You dated Spike, too, in junior year.
Xander glared back. “I didn’t date him! It was a spell. A spell that went horribly wrong." Feeling foolish sitting down and having to look up at her, he stood. "And Giles got rid of it," he added. "All of it.”
As if she'd only just noticed his irritation, Willow abruptly wilted. “Yeah, I know," she said. "I’m sorry. I, I guess I’m cranky girl today. I, I... tell you what, I’ll just go.”
Xander tried to persuade her to stay, but it was clear she could tell he was having trouble meaning it. She put down her glass, which she had held on to all through their argument and gathered up her bag. Xander could read the signs: having vented at him, she was now determined to indulge in a fit of guilt. Although he felt bad about it, he was relieved to see her go. She was his friend and he ought to be able to be there for her, but a Willow who had decided that she'd done something wrong, was even more wearing than an angry Willow. When full of remorse, she had a tendency for over-the-topness. Xander let her leave and hoped for brownies. He knew he’d been right in his advice, but he also knew that that didn’t matter, if she didn’t want to help herself.
It was only in hindsight that the rest of the day made any sense. While he was running down the street, chased by half a dozen growling, scaly and occasionally snot firing demons, he had no time to think up reasons for why he found himself ambushed every time he turned a corner. He assumed it was a Sunnydale wide phenomenon, so he headed to Giles', to raise the alert and set the awesome Scooby machine in motion.
Arriving to find Buffy deep in quiet conversation with Spike whilst holding a pair of cake decorations, caused him to pause, but he still didn’t appreciate the true awfulness of the situation. With some difficulty he managed to get her attention and gasped out his news. In response, Buffy was characteristically blasé, but more so. And then it turned out that Giles was blind.
"Blind?" Xander asked, aghast. "Where is he?"
Buffy waved a careless hand and a small plastic man. "I think he went to bed. Said he couldn't take it anymore. I told him I'd get the Tagas Root tomorrow."
Her attitude was all wrong, more than verging on the weird. She set the plastic figurines aside and Xander saw them clearly for the first time. Before his brain could process the fact that the girl figure was wearing a long white dress, Buffy broke his brain. "He's really not getting into the spirit of our wedding," she said, walking over and slipping an arm through his, hugging it to her. "I asked him to give me away and he said yes, but..." She trailed off as a new thought apparently occurred to her and she almost bounced in her enthusiasm. "Oh, oh, Xander." She grinning up into his face. “Will you stand up for Spike?”
Spike took a step forward and for a moment Xander thought he was going to grab Buffy. “Hey!” he objected. “Don’t I get a say in this?”
She released Xander's arm and turned around. “But honey, you don’t have any friends, so who would you ask?” Spike stared at her, at Xander, then down at the floor. He muttered something, too soft for Xander to make out. Not that it mattered, because Xander was incapable of thought. Buffy apparently took it as agreement, because she was all smiles again and went on to her next point. “And we need to talk about invitations. Do you want to be William the Bloody, or just Spike? Because either way, it’s gonna look weird.”
Spike raised his head. “Whereas ‘Buffy’ has just that touch of classic elegance,” he suggested sarcastically.
Drawing herself up to her full height, Buffy glared right back. “And what’s wrong with Buffy?”
“It’s a terrible name,” Spike snarled.
Buffy threw a punch at his shoulder that didn’t look completely like fun. “Hey! My mother gave me that name.”
“Your mother. Right, well that explains it.”
“Don’t you dare start on my mother.”
“Like you show her any respect.”
“Well who was your mother, anyway?”
“My mother was a saint.”
“She’d have to be, to put up with you.”
“If you feel like that, maybe you don’t want to get married.”
At which point, Buffy crumbled, rushing towards Spike. “Oh Spike, I’m sorry," she cried. "l, I didn’t mean it.”
Spike met her halfway. “No, no, I’m a bad man. I’m sorry, princess. Take no notice of me. You're an angel for doing all this; it's such a big thing to organise.”
“It's okay, honey. Women are good at this sort of thing. Which is why you should leave it all to me.”
There was kissing. Xander turned away, horrified. “Oh, god, can I be blind too?” he asked the empty fireplace.
Buffy apparently heard him, because she broke away from Spike and wailed, “Why does nobody understand?”
Recapturing her hand, Spike bent down and dropped a kiss on her palm, before reassuring her. “Don’t worry, kitten,” he said. “They’ll come around.” He looked over at Xander and a speculative gleam appeared in his eyes. “In fact,” he suggested, “Did you ever hear about the Nisho clan? They practice polyandry. I'm suddenly seeing the attraction.
"Poly what?"
"After all," Spike continued. "Monogamy's for humans. A real demon..."
Xander caught on at about the same moment Buffy did. He opened his mouth to object, but Buffy beat him to it. "Eww! No! Not at our wedding. How could you? Don't spoil it, Spike. It's our special day."
"Night," Spike corrected, but he sounded regretful.
"And you," she added fiercely, turning on Xander. "Don't you dare try to steal my boyfriend, or I'll, I'll..."
Spike interrupted her, "Okay," he agreed. "I'm sorry. Whatever you say, Princess." He patted Buffy's hand and she was all smiles again, her jealous outburst apparently forgotten in a moment. Picking up a notebook and pencil from the table, she sucked the end of the pencil as she studied what looked like a list, before ticking off a few items from the top.
Spike continued to study Xander. "You look different," he observed.
"Yeah? Well, so do you. Last time I saw you, you were covered in spilt blood."
Spike gave another sigh, less regretful and more nostalgic. "Yeah," he said. "Good times. But the little woman here insisted I wash. Even took my clothes and cleaned them for me."
The reality of the conversation crashed in on Xander and he thought he might have staggered under the blow. "You're really getting married?" he asked. The day couldn't get much stranger, so having a civilised conversation with Spike was all part of the strange.
Spike shrugged. "Seem to be. She's keen, anyway. But, gotta admit, I look at you and I'm suddenly wondering..."
A memory surfaced from the back of Xander's brain. "Oh no!" he groaned. "Married. Yes, yes, that's it."
Spike perked up. "Yes?" he asked.
"Yes!" He took in Spike's hopeful expression and back-peddled. "No! No, no, no. Demon magnet. It's Willow!" Spinning on his heels, he ran to the stairs, "Giles!" he yelled, taking them two at a time.
Fifteen minutes later Giles was downstairs and had pieced the last few bits of the puzzle together. "She said she'd tried to do a spell to have her will done," he explained. "And now she's out there and she probably doesn't know what she's doing."
So they went looking for her, minus Giles. Spike and Buffy spent as much time arguing about their future together and then making up with too much tongue, as they did searching. Xander was almost relieved when the first of his previous pursuers appeared to give their thoughts a new focus.
Unfortunately, he didn't arrive alone and soon there were too many for even Buffy to handle. Spike pointed at a crypt. "That one's not locked," he shouted.
They ran and piled through the door, slamming it behind them. The demons followed and it was every man, woman and vampire to the barricades, until they broke through. Then it was every slayer to the barricades and kicking ass, while Spike and Xander did their best to dodge blows and keep out of her way.
Xander missed his footing on the earth floor and a moment later he was almost lifted off the ground by a large green thing with claws on its claws. It had one hand closed around his neck and the other pulled back, ready to disembowel him. He scrabbled at the arm that held him, dimly aware that Spike had jumped at it and grabbed the other arm, yelling curses as he tried to pull it away.
Struggling for breath, Xander was waiting for the life-flashes-before-your-eyes moment and regretting that there was so little to flash, when a crash of thunder, far too loud, accompanied by a blaze of lightning, both deafened and blinded him. The crypt was abruptly silent and Xander staggered back against the wall, blinking to clear the spots from his vision and drawing air down his mercifully clear throat. Spike fell over on his ass, his head hitting the sharp corner of a plinth with a dull thud.
When Xander looked around, the demons were gone and Willow was standing in a corner. She gave a little wave. "Hi, guys," she said, sheepishly.
Xander got his brownies. Giles got cookies and his sight back, while Spike and Buffy both got a very public attack of disgust. But Spike returned to Giles' apartment with them, without having to be threatened, and on the way Xander found himself walking by his side, while Buffy walked ahead with Willow. "You were going to marry her?" Xander asked. It was funny now that it was over and he was no longer fighting for his life.
"Just shut up about it, will you?" Spike growled. "It's not like I wanted to."
"But that wasn't going to stop you?"
"It was a fucking spell. Spells are like that. You don't question them."
When he thought about it later, Xander blamed the lingering effects of oxygen starvation for the stupidity which led him to continue to tease. There was no other possible reason for him to say, "Sounds like the voice of experience. Happened to you a lot, has it?"
Spike cast him a sly look along his shoulder. "Well, you should know, pet. Did you question it, at the time?"
"What?" Xander spluttered. He felt himself blush. "Oh! Umm..."
"Yeah, um," Spike agreed. "Glass houses, mate. And as I remember, that one was all you."
Mortified, Xander nodded. "Yeah, it was. And I learnt a lesson too - spells are a bad idea. Very, very bad. And they don't mend things."
"Not going to apologise, are you?" Spike asked. He sounded only mildly interested in whatever Xander's reply would be.
"No, I'm not," Xander snapped.
Spike grinned. "Good," he said, pulling a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting one.
They completed the rest of the walk back to Giles' place in silence.
Bewitched, Chapter 29
Some bits of dialogue borrowed and adapted from episode 4.09, Something Blue.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2010-01-23 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 06:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 06:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 05:00 pm (UTC)I could quote a whole bunch of stuff but I'm still in love with this line for reasons that I can't quite fathom, but it's fun to try to work out why.
"so he headed to Giles', to raise the alert and set the awesome Scooby machine in motion." That just makes me grin like mad every time I read it
Yay you for posting!
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Date: 2010-01-24 06:59 am (UTC)I don't know either, but it makes me grin to know that it does.
Speak to you later.
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Date: 2010-01-23 05:44 pm (UTC)Love to see you continuing with this and the minute I have the time I'm going to re-read the earlier chapters though I must add it was very thoughtful of you to provide that little condensed version.
Shakatany
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Date: 2010-01-24 07:04 am (UTC)Yeah, there was no way I was going to leave it unfinished, it just took a lot longer than I intended for me to get back here.
I'm glad you liked the recap. I know what it's like, picking up a long story after a break. I can never remember the details and spend the first while thinking "is this the story where... or is it the one where...?" when I'd rather be enjoying the new chapter *g*
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Date: 2010-01-23 08:21 pm (UTC)And the Spike and Xander interactions were just so much fun!
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Date: 2010-01-24 07:05 am (UTC)Thank you. I'm so glad you enjoyed that.
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Date: 2010-01-23 11:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 07:07 am (UTC)Yes, the demon magnet spell. *shakes head* Spells do strange things and you don't question them *grins*
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Date: 2010-01-24 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 07:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 05:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 04:28 am (UTC)I'm so glad life has slowed enough for you to fit this story in. It's a goodie. *squishes you*
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Date: 2010-01-28 05:41 am (UTC)Thanks, hon. I'm glad you like it. *squishes you back*
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Date: 2010-01-30 03:46 pm (UTC)Xander's He didn't spend any time that evening thinking about Spike. Not a moment after babysitting Spike made me grin. No, he's not thinking about Spike a bit.
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Date: 2010-01-30 05:57 pm (UTC)Thank you. Your comments are always a real pleasure to receive.