herself_nyc (herself_nyc) wrote in herself_nyc_fic, @ 2008-05-10 16:58:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | s/b fic, waiting around |
Fic: WAITING AROUND (pt 9 of ?)
"Luz, I didn't realize."
Her grand-daughter in law, with her two now wailing infants, had retreated to a bench under a trellis at the bottom of the garden. She had her back to Buffy and didn't look around when she spoke.
"Luz? Can I help you with them?" Buffy came closer, reached for one of the babies. Luz batted at her hand, as if it was a diving insect.
"Get out of here! I don't know you! I don't know you!"
She was in tears, edging towards frantic as the babies screamed.
Where the hell was Joe? He ought to be out here with bells on, rescuing his wife.
Buffy said, "I didn't know that you didn't understand. We always told you the truth. I thought you knew."
"Stories! You tell stories!" She shot up. "What is that man you brought here? What is wrong with him?"
"He's my lover. He's perfectly all right. He's just different. He and I, we're both a little different. I thought you grasped that." Her head was buzzing. She'd have liked a cold compress and a dark room. Being the matriarch of a family was a whole hell of a lot more stressful than facing an apocalypse. There were no weapons for the matriarch thing. "Come back inside, we can talk. SpikeWillisn't going to hurt you or the kids."
"What is he? What is he? What is he?" Wild-eyed, Luz seemed to be caught in a loop. Buffy laid a hand on her bunched-up shoulder.
"He's harmless. I promise you, he's harmless. He's a monster, okay? Monsters are real. But he's all right."
Luz dark brown look was a dagger. Joe appeared then, but instead of facing his wife, taking her in his arms, explaining, he grabbed up the baby carriers and started back towards the house. She dived after, screaming, and Buffy was treated to the spectacle of a tug-of-war before she pulled herself together enough to separate them with a maternal shout. The babies were going off like air-raid sirens. Luz was in a cyclone of tears. Buffy prodded Joe in the belly. "Will you please deal with this like a grown-up?
She went back into the house. Spike wasn't in the kitchen. Buffy feared he'd taken the car and left, but the keys were still where she'd left them beside her bag on the counter. Then she heard the screen chattering, and found him in the finished basement, a sitcom rerun blaring.
She snapped it off. "Why did you fang out up there?"
"Wasn't bein' aggressive. She asked me what I am, an' I had to show her."
"You had to."
"Yeah."
"Spike." She dropped onto the sofa beside him, not knowing who she was angry at.
"An' to answer your question," he said, as if she'd just asked it, "yeah, there were some people who knew us an' didn't know about me. But with Harris, it wasn't so important, what I am."
This surprised her. "It wasn't?"
"A lot less than you know. In the bedroom ... but like I said, never drew blood. Otherwise ... he wasn't part of the mission. Neither was I, most of the time, 'cept when I got called in, an' then I'd leave home an' join the fight elsewhere."
"Okay, yeah."
"Whereas you. You're the slayer."
"I'm the slayer."
"An' I'm the vampire you fuck." He took out a cigarette and lit up. "I'm a vampire. An' your family's supposed to know this stuff."
Buffy sighed. "Luz got the wrong end of the stick somehow." She plucked the cigarette from his hand, and took a drag herself. "But did you have to freak her out like that?"
"How else was she gonna believe it? She thought she was bein' pranked."
"God, maybe she's not too bright." Buffy took another puff and handed the cigarette back. "Or maybe she's just a regular person. I mean ... that's what a regular person would think, right? Someone sane?"
"Right."
"You're not 'the vampire I fuck.'"
"I am."
"You're my lover." She wondered, as she said it, if maybe he'd disagree. Because he didn't love her. God, maybe she really was just the vampire slayer he fucked.
"What d'you think, Buffy? Should we get out of here?"
"What's going on outside? Can you hear?"
"Yeah, he's explainin' it all to her. She's not sayin' much."
"Those poor babies. Done out of their nap."
"Lovely kiddies. Was quite enjoyin' 'em. S'been a long time since I got to hold a little one."
"Poor Spike." She threaded a hand through his arm, let her head drop against his shoulder. "I'm sorry this is weird."
"Not your bloody fault, is it?"
"Of course it's my fault. I went and had children with Angel."
"Was me sent you to him."
"That's right. Okay, it's your fault after all."
"Let's get out of here an' come back if that Luz calms down."
Next>