Ame's Insanity (amejisuto) wrote in ames_weirdness, @ 2010-01-09 00:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | buffy tvs, damned!verse, spike/xander |
Everlasting Love -- Spike/Xander Rated NC17 4/5
Title: Everlasting Love
Author: amejisuto
Fandom: BTVS
Summary: Weird weather invades Sunnydale and Xander tries to bring the Scoobies together to figure out what’s happening, while at the same time he figures out that his vampire roomate has a crush on him.
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Written back in 2005 for the CoSoRaOb Ficathon. Prompt information below the cut.
Rating: NC17
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. No harm, no foul, no money made.
Warnings: Nerd bashing, male/male sex, swearing, violence, biting. All the good stuff.
Beta'd by kitty_poker1
Part Four
They all squeezed into Xander’s small kitchen. Xander figured Dawn wanted reassurance and in the back of his mind he did too. Tornados and waterspouts and sinkholes happened in other places, not right at his front door.
Once they were dry they all gathered around the kitchen table, drinking the hot chocolate gratefully before Xander started to make sloppy joes with fried corn and oven fries while Dawn dug through the cupboards before finding a brownie mix for dessert.
Spike moved through the apartment, gathering flashlights and batteries, candles. All the things they would need if the power got knocked out. Xander worried for a bit that the other man was avoiding them, but he soon came back into the kitchen and sat down at the table.
It was oddly quiet in the apartment. They had turned on the television but the local station was blacked out. The LA and Oxnard stations weren’t talking about Sunnydale except as a footnote on the seven o’clock news so they had turned on the radio. Schools in Sunnydale were closed tomorrow and everyone was being advised to stay away from the sink hole. Homes were being red-tagged due to possible mudslides on the east end of town and two people were dead due to weather-related injuries.
One of them had been one of Xander’s former classmates. Not a guy he really knew or liked but getting sucked down a storm drain was a frightening thought.
“Long-range models agree that yet another Pacific storm will approach the central coast of California Monday and Tuesday, and then move through Southern California Wednesday thru Friday.” Spike got up and flipped off the radio, leaving the room quiet.
“This isn’t normal, is it?” Dawn’s voice was the first to break the silence and Xander jumped at the sound of her voice, just slightly.
“Doesn’t seem to be, or if it’s normal we’re getting an extra topping of Hellmouth on it, Nibblet. We’ve been working to sort it out, it’ll be all right.” Spike reached out and patted the hand that wasn’t painting patterns in the ketchup with a fry.
“Partially it’s El Nino. A lot of the same stuff happened in 1968 and in 1998. But something seems to be making it hit Sunnydale extra hard. We’ll do a Scooby meeting about it tomorrow and you can help us research.”
“I can?” Her voice was so hopeful and once again Xander felt a stab of guilt run through him. That seemed to be happening a lot these days.
But it was Spike who answered her. “Less musty books for me to read the better.”
*****
Xander spent a much longer time in the shower that night than he needed to. There were just so many things going on that he needed to take care of that he wasn’t sure where to begin. Both he and Spike had started fixing Dawn.
Xander had spent some time working on the rocking chair, trying to soothe his nerves, while Spike had actually watched some teen movie with Dawn. He had listened as the other man carefully interrogated Dawn, finding out how many nights a week Dawn spent alone, what was happening in school. The things Joyce would have cared about. It wasn’t much, but it was a beginning.
She now had a key to his apartment and an open invite to use the apartment any time she was lonely or just felt like hanging out. Spike had even said he’d sleep on the couch to let the girl have his bed and had cleared a drawer in the small dresser for her.
There was the weather thing that they’d been working on the past couple of weeks but didn’t seem to get any further on. Xander was beginning to think it was something out of both nature and the supernatural but had no idea what.
Buffy and Willow were both needing help. Willow had gone deeper into magic and had found a way to de-rat Amy, and Buffy wasn’t there even when she was home. The problem was, there were only so many times he could try to help them. It was like the old joke of the guy praying for help in a flood but sending the two boats and the helicopter away. He could only try to help. He couldn’t force them to take it.
He finally left the relative sanctuary of the bathroom, pulling on fleece pajama pants and a warm fleece shirt. March was turning out to be just as dark and wet as February had been. Even after the hot shower he was worried about catching a cold after being soaked through to the bone for the second time in a month.
He pulled on a pair of socks to keep his feet warm and wondered if he was too old for slippers. Or maybe that was too young since the ones made for adults looked like they were for the over sixty set. He bet Giles didn’t have a pair of slippers yet.
He finally wandered back into the living room and flopped down on the couch. He turned on the television and eventually found the channel Spike had been watching earlier that day. This time it was Goldfinger, a title that never failed to make Xander snicker.
After a few minutes Spike came in, handed him a glass of juice and then sat on the far end of the couch. Xander waited for a few moments and then tried to sneak a few looks at the other man from the corner of his eye.
That Spike’s chip didn’t zap him when he’d held so tightly onto Dawn didn’t bother Xander. Which bothered him. Then there were the Looks, which in the past twelve hours or so had graduated to a capital letter Looks. In fact the type and frequency of the Looks had made Xander come to the conclusion that if Spike had tits instead of a dick he would have gotten the idea that Spike had a crush on him.
And knowing that vampires weren’t as picky as humans about which sex their partner was, that meant that Spike had some sort of feelings for him, be it like or lust. Suddenly Xander had an image in his brain that was so weirdly funny he couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing so hard he about fell off the couch.
“What the fucking hell are you giggling about, Xan?” Spike peered at him from his place on the couch. He’d taken a shower and for once hadn’t slicked back his hair and Xander got to see him all curly headed and cute. That just set him off more and it wasn’t until he’d almost stopped breathing and started hiccupping that he finally was able to pull it in.
Of course, trying to tell Spike what he’d found so funny just about set him off again. “I…it’s just, in my head, I could see us as eight year olds, you with your big blue eyes and curls and me with a note that says ‘Do you like me?’ with those little boxes that say yes, no and maybe. It just struck me as silly.”
He’d giggled through most of the explanation, and found himself having to bite the inside of his cheek at the shocked/amazed/frightened look that was on Spike’s face for just a moment before his regular sneer started to replace it. Xander didn’t give Spike a chance, he scooted closer to him on the couch and made his eyes as big as possible.
“So? Do you like me? Yes, no, or maybe?”
For a heart stopping moment Xander was afraid he’d read all the signs wrong, that all the Looks were really just looks. And while he hadn’t made a decision what to do yet he felt a moment of disappointment.
“Maybe.”
Xander nodded. He didn’t say anything else. The chip, the weather, any and all possible feelings could be dealt with later when both he and Spike weren’t quite so mentally and emotionally fried.
But he did scoot down further onto Spike’s end of the couch, until their sides were just barely touching.
*****
The next day was very surreal. They had both fallen asleep on the couch and they’d been found by a smirking Dawn, who had made blood and coffee. They had breakfast around the table together before heading out. Xander gave up on the walking like he promised and dropped Dawn and Spike off at the Magic Box before going into work. It was gray, but not rainy, and Dawn went ahead and held the door open so Spike could sprint inside to safety.
At work he put in for the vacation time he had been saving for a honeymoon. A week starting Friday, a week in a month and the third week in two months. The crew was going to be busy, both with the usual construction and fixing and rebuilding homes and businesses damaged by the rain. He hoped by spacing it out his absence wouldn’t make it hard for his boss. He just needed some time to deal with…everything.
One thing for sure, the thing with Spike, whatever it was, was going to happen quickly or not at all so he had to deal with the chip thing first. Both he and Spike had an odd history of falling in love fast and then never wanting to let go, which was in a way good, but it would get messy if Spike was going to go back to being the Slayer of Slayers.
Then again, if the chip had been out for a while he’d had plenty of chances to off them all and had done nothing. That would say a lot.
As he drove back to the Magic Box, bringing lunch for everyone from KFC, he wondered why he wasn’t freaked out about Spike. It wasn’t as if Xander had had affairs with men before, much less a male vampire. But for some reason…the expected freakage wasn’t there. He wasn’t even freaking over the lack of freakage.
Maybe it was because he knew Spike. Not in the carnal sense, but he knew that the vampire had a secret fondness for chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce, and that Spike liked to sneak and read books with small print and way too few pictures for Xander’s liking. Despite the fact that he played Sex Pistols and The Clash, Xander had even found an old cassette tape of Mozart under the couch.
It worked both ways. Spike knew that Xander liked long hot bubble baths, that the idea of ketchup on fish was as disgusting to him as it was to the Englishman, and that despite the fact that Xander could afford the name brand he liked the cheap root bear from the store.
It was something he had never had with Anya. Or Cordelia either, for that matter. He’d done his best to learn all about pleasing her but she had never done that for him. It was one sided. And if Spike already knew so much about him as just a friend? As a lover he’d be amazing. Because Spike would go all out for someone he loved, and Xander had always wanted that. Someone to love him with everything they were.
He felt slightly guilty for a moment, because he didn’t want to use Spike just for his own needs. It wasn’t fair to the other man. Then he realized that worrying about Spike’s feelings meant that he cared about him, that he worried about Spike enough to order the good blood for the house and to make sure that he was comfortable in the apartment by putting up good blinds and curtains.
As he pulled into a parking space on the street across from the Magic Box, Xander thought that maybe that was why he wasn’t freaking out. Maybe he was already in love with Spike, and just hadn’t realized it till now.
As he walked into the store Tara was bagging up a woman’s purchases. He nodded at her and then went into the back. Dawn was sitting on the couch, and she looked up hopefully at him and then frowned.
“Oh. It’s just you.”
Xander put on a fake pout. “It’s so nice to know you missed me, Dawn, really.”
“I missed you, does that count?” Spike had come from somewhere or other and moved up behind him, really close. He had pitched his voice low so only Xander could hear him and Xander couldn’t help but shiver. Then he calmly walked over to where Dawn was sitting and gave her comfort, acting as if nothing at all had happened, like he hadn’t just made Xander’s cock twitch and his heart rate to speed up. Bastard. Xander was caught in between annoyance and admiration. Spike had evidently decided to step up the pace.
In the end he just laughed and sat down beside him on the couch. Spike looked over at him and grinned. Then he nodded his head at Dawn. “Big Sis hasn’t shown up yet, hasn’t called the shop or left a message. You heard from her?”
Xander frowned. “No, not today. Don’t worry, Dawn. We’ll find her. Did anyone talk to Willow? Maybe she knows where she is.”
“I—I did. She didn’t say if she’d seen Buffy or not. Willow said she’d try to stop by, later on.” Tara had slipped quietly into the back, and she sounded nervous. He figured Spike had talked to her, that she knew that Xander was looking to start fixing the Scooby gang up before it became permanently damaged.
“Well, I brought lunch. KFC for everyone, and yes, I got extra drumsticks for you two.” He looked pointedly at both Spike and Dawn. Between the two of them he’d be lucky if he even saw a leg anywhere near his plate, despite the fact that he’d bought extra. It was worth it to see Dawn bounce and to get a real smile out of Spike.
Lunch was fun, even though Xander and Tara took turns running back and forth to the front of the store. It was busy, which was odd for a Monday. Spike said that it was just human nature; everyone was coming downtown to try to get close to the sinkhole, see it for themselves. It seemed as good a reason as any.
There really wasn’t enough time to sit down and talk, when three o’clock rolled around the Magic Box was invaded by about fifteen people and even Dawn and Spike came out of the back to help. Well, Dawn helped; Spike stood in the doorway and glared at people who tried to give any of “his” humans a hard time.
Xander caught him growling at a middle-aged woman that was trying to flirt with him, and couldn’t help but grin. Spike was getting jealous over him. Spike.
It gave him a sort of warm fuzzy feeling, right above the slow arousal that had started at the rumbling sound of the growl. Nice. Spike evidently thought so too because the next time he went near the man there was just a hint of a growl, right before he scented the air and then leered appreciatively in Xander’s direction. Tara caught their byplay and raised an eyebrow and Xander could see her suppressing a smile.
Okay, so they weren’t exactly subtle.
Finally it was getting dark and all the smart little humans cleared off the streets of Sunnydale and they were able to close the shop. Willow still hadn’t shown up, and Buffy hadn’t called and Dawn was torn between worry and anger.
Xander was leaning more towards the angry side. Because if Buffy didn’t notice her sister wasn’t home, well, that was all sorts of wrong. Joyce turning around in her grave type of wrong, and boy, now that he thought about it he was glad that Mrs. Summers was in a different cemetery than the one that had turned into a swimming pool last night.
Tara closed out the register while Dawn and Xander fronted the shelves and tidied up. They were done in a matter of minutes and gathered around the research table. Xander looked at the two empty seats and then Dawn’s big eyes and went and called the Summers’ house, hoping to get either Buffy or Willow.
“Hello?”
“Buffy!” So many things Xander wanted to say. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why shouldn’t I be?” Even across the room Xander could hear Spike’s growl and he fought the urge to start slamming the handset of the phone down repeatedly. Buffy had been one of his best friends going on six years now but sometimes…she was just way too self involved.
He turned his back to the others and hissed into the phone. “I don’t know, maybe because you haven’t seen your sister in a day or two? Or because there was a tornado and a sinkhole in town yesterday and no one knew where you were? What if you were lying dead in a ditch? What would Dawn do then? God, Buff…” He trailed off, his anger replaced by sadness.
“Xander…”
“We’re at the Magic Box. You need to get here. Bring Willow if you see her.” He hung up carefully and slowly before going back to the others. Dawn looked as if she’d been slapped in the face and he guessed she had. Spike was petting her hair, all but pulling her into his lap. Tara was biting her lip, as if she was afraid of what she was thinking.
He joined them at the table, not saying anything for a moment. Then he took a deep breath. “Before Buffy gets here there’s one thing we need to talk about. Spike, how long has the chip not been working?”
Spike’s head turned so quickly it was almost funny, and his eyes were almost impossibly wide. Nice, blue eyes. Xander smiled and whatever worry Spike must have felt seemed to disappear.
“Dunno, really. Started out about the time the wonky rain started. Was thinking it was something electrical in the air or something. Weather clears up and it might turn back on. Might not, don’t know. Haven’t gone on a binge if that’s what you lot are thinking. Might have had a nip or two off a couple of muggers and the like. Seems I’ve lost my taste for nibbling on the innocents, never know when they might be one of the Nibblet’s friends, or know Glinda or you. Bloody chip, left me with fucking brain damage.”
Spike was grumbling but Dawn was throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tight enough that if he were human he’d be turning blue. Tara was giving him a congratulations which when you thought about was odd, and Xander found himself grinning goofily at Spike, as if he’d done some amazing trick, which Xander supposed he did. And something in the back of Xander’s brain relaxed and he felt something loosen around his heart.
They didn’t want to start the meeting until Buffy and Willow showed up so Dawn got on the phone to order something for dinner and Tara went along, saying she’d make sure she didn’t go overboard. In reality, Xander figured she was giving them some privacy. She had that smile that said she approved and found their soon-to-be relationship amusing.
As soon as the girls’ backs were turned Spike grabbed Xander by the arm and dragged him back into the training room. Xander rolled his eyes. “You could just hold my hand or something, Spike, no need to act like I’m the bad guy on a cop show and you’re taking me in for interrogation.”
Spike stopped and leaned him against the brick wall. “You sure about that, pet? Wouldn’t you liked to be…. frisked?”
Xander found it hard to swallow, almost hard to breathe. It should be against the law for someone to have a voice that sexy, and then to add that sort of animalistic growl to it? Gibble. “Hell yes, I want to be frisked but preferably at home, with Dawn back with her sister or spending the night with Tara so I don’t have to worry about strange noises and smells.”
Spike was running his hands up and down Xander’s arms and chest, just touching. Almost as if it had been something he’d wanted to do but hadn’t dared. “Weird noises and smells? What the hell are you planning, Xan? Something kinky?”
Xander laughed. “Hopefully sex with a vampire is about as kinky as I’m going to get, at least in the near future. Fuck, Spike, you growl just a little and I get all…and I can just imagine what would happen when you growl and we’re both naked. We are going to be naked, aren’t we? That’s what this is heading towards, us doing naked things together and then having breakfast in the morning, right? Not just a one time thing?”
As he spoke Xander let his arms slip around Spike’s waist, pulling him close and enjoying the feeling of holding another body close. Spike leaned forward and sniffed near his neck and instead of getting nervous Xander tipped his head back and let Spike have access. In fact, instead of panicking Xander felt a tremendous rush, just knowing that this powerful creature could literally take his life from him but trusting him not to.
Spike rumbled in his chest, a happy sort of growl if Xander could tell correctly, and then he licked Xander from his collarbone up to his ear and then spoke softly. “Don’t do one time things, pet. I find someone who gives even half a damn about me and I latch on tight. If you don’t want that, Xan, best say something now. Pretty soon I’ll get to the point where I will never let you go, understand?”
Xander knew what he was implying, that if something happened to him on patrol or something he’d be turned. On one hand it was very frightening, but on the other hand it felt so nice to be wanted that much.
He leaned forward, pressing his lips to Spike’s and just…kissing. Showing how much he wanted the man in his arms. When they finally pulled apart Xander leaned his forehead against Spike’s and looked into the lust-filled blue eyes that could very quickly become an addiction.
“I took a week off for vacation starting after Friday’s shift. We’ll have nine days to…talk and do the emotional sap thing. Hopefully, by then we’ll get the wacky weather fixed, at least. The girls will take longer to fix but we’ll have time for us too. That’s okay, isn’t it?”
Spike stood up and ever so carefully adjusted himself. The sight of that and knowing that he was the cause made Xander’s mouth go dry and all the blood rush to his head. The one that wasn’t on his shoulders. Spike smirked at him and his answer was almost a purr.
“Pet, that will be perfect. So many things I can teach you in a week. Now come on, the Slayer and Red will be here soon.”
Xander was glad that Spike took him by the hand and led him back to the research table. The mental images his, gulp, new boyfriend had just painted made him temporarily blind.
*****
Xander found himself leaning against Spike as they both tried not to listen to Buffy and Dawn in the training room. Well, he was trying to not listen; Spike probably couldn’t help it. Buffy had come in and Dawn immediately went on the offensive, giving her older sister hell for everything from forgetting to sign a permission slip the week before to not noticing she wasn’t home during a tornado.
When Buffy tried to stop her and make excuses, Xander interrupted his long time friend and told her maybe for once she should actually listen to her sister. Tara had stepped up and told them both that the training room was open, and wouldn’t they be more comfortable in there.
So there they were, in the front of the shop, pretending that there wasn’t a whole lot of yelling and crying going on in the other room. Tara was making tea for the girls and getting out drinks and setting out paper plates for the pizza and breadsticks that had been ordered. Personally, Xander thought that she was avoiding talking to Willow, and in a way he couldn’t blame her. But it was obvious that Willow wasn’t going to stop without someone forcing her.
Xander wished Giles was here. Giles knew what it was like to go too far with magic and could maybe get through to Wills. He still had mixed feelings about the older man’s leaving. Not because of Anya so much as the fact that he left to force Buffy to “grow up”. Not only had it not worked but it had left everyone else in the lurch as well.
If he and Tara hadn’t stepped up to the plate the Magic Box it would have been closed or sold to someone else. As it was, Tara had changed to taking most of her classes early mornings or at night or over the Internet to keep the store open.
His eyes moved on to where Willow was sitting at the research table. She was dressed…oddly. Skin tight black jeans and a red silk blouse that showed a lot more of Willow that he ever wanted to see. Add in a bustier and she’d be dressed a hell of a lot more like vamp!Willow from that crazy universe that Cordy and Anya had created.
Spike must have felt his unease. He turned his head and whispered in Xander’s ear. “Don’t worry, luv, she’s just nervous about seeing Glinda I think. She’s nervous about something, at any rate.”
The feel of Spike speaking that close to his ear made Xander shiver, just a bit. Spike must have noticed it because the damned vamp deliberately inhaled and then blew a steady stream of air into Xander’s ear.
Xander gave a full body shiver and bit his lip. He stepped away from his infuriating vampire and gave him a glare. Tara must have noticed because she giggled and Willow was looking at him strangely.
Spike looked like the cat that ate the canary, of course. He’d have to figure out a way to pay Spike back for that…later.
For now, he leaned back against the counter just a few inches away from Spike and ignored him. “Willow, what were you up to yesterday that kept you from being home during the freaky weather?”
Willow's eyes flicked from him to Spike for just a moment before she seemed to get lost in herself. “Oh! It was so much fun, Xander. I went out to the beach and was there when the waterspout tried to form. I’d never seen one before so I sort of helped it along. It was so beautiful, with the lightning and the wind….”
Tara gasped and Xander went back to leaning against Spike, mainly to keep his vampire from jumping across the room and hurting the girl he used to claim as his best friend.
“Willow, you do know that due to that storm two people died, don’t you? I mean, if you hadn’t mucked with the storm pattern it might not have been as bad.”
“What?! No, all I did was play a little. No harm! It wasn’t me!” Willow sounded almost desperate to believe that she was innocent. Xander wasn’t so sure and Tara…
“You broke the Rede again, Willow! How could you? You’ve been warned -- Giles, Xander, me! We’ve all said you were going too far and now…Goddess, Willow! Do you realized what you’ve done? You’ve caused people harm!”
“What’s the reed?” Buffy’s voice was rough from crying and Dawn looked terrible as they came out of the training room. But they were holding hands and Buffy looked more connected than she had in a long time. Tired, thin, but there.
“The Wiccan Rede. It’s a law, sort of, a rule that most wiccans follow. Not all, but most. Basically, it says that as long as a wiccan does no physical or mental harm to anyone or anything they can work any type of magick. Most wiccans use that and the Three-Fold Law to judge whether to use magick or not. That last one states that whatever intent is sent out with magick is sent back to you times three. Remember that love spell I did in high school? That was the Three-Fold Law coming back to bite me in the ass. And when Willow’s spell went wonky and made Giles blind and me a demon magnet? That was another good example. I really don’t want to know what will happen this time. Knowing our luck, we’ll end up in a demonic version of Oz. The land, not the werewolf. Or the prison show on HBO.”
Xander was stuttering by the time he wrapped up his little lecture, basically because Buffy, Willow and Dawn were looking at him like he’d grown a second head. He even checked both his shoulders because, hello, Hellmouth. It could happen. Tara just smiled at him and he could hear Spike making impressed rumbles beside him.
He looked at the three girls, who were gaping at him. “What?!”
Buffy smiled at him for a moment. “You were channeling Giles there for a second, Xan, that’s all.”
He grinned. “No, if I had been channeling Giles I would have used much longer words and more complicated examples.” He turned to Willow. “So, are you the one who’s been playing around with the weather all this time? Or was that just a one time thing?”
She tried to lie, for just a moment, and Xander left Spike’s side and kneeled down in front of her. “It’s time for the truth, Willow. People are dead, other people are homeless and jobless and there’s been a lot of hurt. If this is your doing you need to stop it and start working to make things better.”
*****
Dinner ended up being a very quiet event, everyone gathered around the table in the first time since Xander didn’t know how long. Buffy and Willow listened as the others went over what research had been done, who they had talked to. Xander noticed that both women squirmed in their seats rather guiltily. He couldn’t help but think that maybe that was a good thing; if they were guilty they wouldn’t do what caused that guilt again.
Willow was very distraught about the two deaths. To tell the truth, Xander didn’t know if her playing with the winds the day before had caused it to happen or not but Willow thought so and hopefully that would be enough to stop her from using her magick so recklessly. Buffy had promised to take time out for her friends more, and to pay more attention to Dawn, but only time would tell.
One thing was for sure; they didn’t notice things outside of themselves enough to notice that Spike had his leg around Xander’s under the cover of the table.
“So if it isn’t magick making the weather go creepy, and while it’s El Nina it’s worse than usual and therefore isn’t natural, what is it? I gotta tell you, this weather is doing nothing for my hair.” Buffy’s joke fell flat but at least she was trying.
Tara shook her head. “I—I’m not sure. It’s something, there’s too much electricity in the air, but I don’t know what without some sort of scientific equipment or something like that.”
Dawn laughed. “Too bad this is real life and not cartoons. If it was a cartoon we’d just have to find someplace high up and the villain would be there with some device making things go crazy.”
Xander dropped the slice of pizza that he’d just picked up. He was having one of those things where an idea jumped into his head so fast it almost hurt. “That’s it! That can’t be it, it’s too easy. Unless you don’t think like them, then it would be hard.”
Spike pinched him on the arm and he came out from inside his brain. Everyone was looking around in confusion. “Care to put that sentence in something besides Xanderbabble, pet? The rest of us are confused.”
“Okay, what’s the most weird, unlikely, stupid thing that you can think of that could change the weather? Dawn said it, just a second ago. Some villain with a ray gun in his fortress changing the weather. Well, we’ve got three annoying little nerds who have watched way too many Superfriends episodes and think they’re the new Legion of Doom. This sounds like something the little geeks would do.”
Everyone looked at each other and couldn’t argue with his logic. Buffy finally asked what they were all thinking, though. “But…why?”
“Why not? To play with a big toy, to see if they could do it, to blackmail the State for a payoff of one million dollars. Who knows? It’s just worth a chance to see if I’m right. We can split up, search the town for things like antennae or extra wires. Maybe take a compass with us and see if anything affects it.”
“I could hack into the SCEP&G, see if anyone’s been draining the system or something. No magic! Just illegal hacker know-how.”
Xander smiled. “As long as you’re breaking common laws and not mystical ones I think you’ll be okay. Dawn can help you; from what I’ve heard she’s just about failing her computer class at school and needs the help. Dawnie, if she starts doing mojo, pout at her, okay?”
“Sure, Xander!” Dawn got up and started clearing the trash away from the table and Willow looked once at Tara and then went to get the laptop.
Xander looked at Spike and then leaned forward and took Tara’s hand. “You okay? If you need to go home, I understand.”
“I’m…okay. Really, Xander, it’s just, I want to help her but she hasn’t wanted it.” Tara’s face was hidden by her curtain of hair and Xander brushed it out of her face.
“I know, you can’t help someone unless they want it. Hopefully she wants it now. Maybe…I know that it seems mean but what if you got together the information on the storm from yesterday, the two people that died and all the property damage. It can’t all be blamed on her, but maybe it will make her stop and think.”
Tara nodded. “That might work. If it doesn’t we’ll just have to tie her up and have you argue ethics at her. That was really impressive, Xander. If you wanted to study you’d be a really great witch.”
“Thanks.” He smiled. “Even though I used to think a male witch was a warlock.” At Tara’s expression he quickly backpedaled. “I know better now, it was just all that misinformation from Bewitched, I swear! A warlock is an oath breaker, and a male witch is a witch. See! I actually learned something.”
“You’ve learned a lot, Xander. Thank you.” Tara stole a quick glance at Spike and then quickly kissed him on the cheek. Xander had barely enough time to look amazed when the shy woman did the same to Spike before disappearing into the back office.
Xander grinned at his vampire. Spike had a shocked look on his face too. Buffy, however, seemed to miss the entire thing.
“I guess I’m patrolling, looking for electric things. Xan, I know you worked hard today, so I’ll go with Spike if you want to go home and get some rest.”
There was growling and, surprisingly, it wasn’t just coming from Spike; Xander found himself growling under his breath as well. “Thanks, Buffy, but I’m okay. I only worked a half-day at the site before coming here. Besides, it would probably be better if we either stuck together or all three split up because we'll need to do look all around town. After last night I’m all in favor of staying inside the car too. I’m sick and tired of being wet.”
Buffy jumped up from the table and walked over to where her coat and weapons were piled up. “That’s a good idea, you can drive around in your car and Spike and I can check out the places that a car can’t get to! It won’t take too long and if the two of us find anything we can give you a call if we need you.”
Xander felt like banging his head on the table. Once again Buffy was blind. Here he was, nearly sitting in Spike’s lap. Or as close as he could scoot their chairs together and not actually climb on top of Spike. Because if he was going to be doing that, he wouldn’t be just sitting.
Spike must have sensed his momentary withdrawal from the real world, and the reason for it. He was sitting there chuckling under his breath and his leg was just moving up and down Xander’s, slowly. Damn it, he wanted to find the three little freaks that were making it rain so he could go home and learn how to be gay! Specifically how to fit their, as Anya would have said, interlocking parts together.
“Hello! Earth to Spike! Let’s go!” Buffy was waving her hand in front of Spike’s face and Xander realized she was close to losing it. Spike growled at her and shoved her arm away.
“Shove off, Slayer! M’not going with you, I’m going with Xan. You can come with us or you can go by yourself.”
Buffy lowered her head and looked at Spike through her bangs. Xander felt a moment of jealousy. “Why…”
Whatever Buffy may or may not have been going to say was lost in Spike’s growling declaration. “Because I want to be able to snog with my boy while we’re on patrol! That’s why!”
Part Five