Tara took time combing out her hair in the motel bathroom. She was feeling grateful for complimentary soap and shampoo even if she did smell curiously woodsy. It was another smack in face, the lack of toiletries. Another example of how unprepared she was to leave home.
But she wasn't there anymore and that was all that mattered.
Spike was asleep when she left the bathroom. The T.V was on and a Golden Girls rerun washed him in its anemic glow. He was bare to the waist as far as she could see and he was the best-built man she had ever seen. He was like a piece of art. Tara had realized when she was about eight that she liked girls the way other girls liked boys, but she could still appreciate beauty when she saw it.
The other bed looked a bit lonely now. She shook herself from that bizarre thought and climbed in. She watched television for a few minutes and realized that the Golden Girls episode was part of a marathon, so that must have been what he had been watching. She couldn't help the giggle that escaped.
The big bad vampire liked the comical adventures of little old ladies.
She gazed back at him and studied his sleeping form. He really was unusual. Everything she had ever read about vampires seemed strangely contradictory now that she had met one. She actually rather liked him, she was surprised to admit. She had only known him for one night and already he had made her laugh more than she had in the previous three months.
But she was just his employee, she reminded herself. She had a job to do and once it was over, he would leave her. It was a horribly sad thought to her, but, she reminded herself, he was a vampire. He killed people nightly for food. She couldn't stay with him knowing he was doing that anyway.
But somehow in the last few hours, he'd become her vampire.
Pushing these thoughts out of her head, she cracked open her mother's Book of Shadows seeking a suitable love spell to return Spike's mysterious Drusilla to him.
She didn't get two pages in before all the emotion and exertion of the previous night took its toll and she fell asleep.
* * *
They both awoke at sunset. Tara noted her own sleeping habits were soon going to mirror his. Strangely, it didn't bother her.
Spike mentioned something about going out for a bite before they left and Tara froze, knowing what he meant. She watched him wearily and he watched her back for a few seconds before slipping out the door.
* * *
Spike had found a perfectly good kill, a bulky twit stupid enough to be wandering through alleys after dark.
Spike had led him on a bit of a chase and his level of fear was perfect to give the blood that spicy flavor. He was to be a very satisfying meal.
But there was one problem.
He couldn't eat him.
As the wanker pleaded for his miserable little life, all Spike could see was Tara's fearful, disappointed face and he kept getting the overwhelming feeling he was letting her down.
The poor bird had been hurt enough for one lifetime.
He let the boy go and, cursing his own pathetic sense of humanity, went to find a butcher shop. He'd still to the bottled diet until he and the girl parted ways and make sure she knew it. Once she was out of his unlife things could return safely to normal.
With these thoughts comforting him, swallowing the swill didn't seem half so bad, almost like an experiment. Maybe he'd put on a bit of weight like the poofter seemed to. He could always use some more bulk after all. Even as toned as he was, people couldn't help but describe him as 'skinny'. Bloody unmanly that was.
* * *
Tara's enthusiasm for his new diet was almost frightening. She just keep turning around and smiling at him as they made their way to an Olive Garden for her dinner. Of course, he might pick at her plate a bit. Maybe order a few appetizers for them to share. And he needed to have a dessert at least.
Her smiles were giving him the strangest feeling of satisfaction.
He kept trying to shake it off but it just wouldn't leave. She was happy, so he was happy.
It was the closest to having a good time he'd had since before Prague with Dru. He wasn't sure he wanted it to end.
* * *
They had been driving with no real direction for two nights when something happened that started to change Spike's plans for the future completely.
They came to a county fair.
With rides. Spike loved rides, though he'd be loathe to admit it.
Tara, however gave him a more than valid excuse to stop. Her eyes shone when she caught sight of the ferris wheel and the cotton candy vendor.
"Want to stop and have a go, pet?" He asked, quietly willing her to say yes.
"You don't have to." She mumbled quietly.
"Come on, I could use the stretch. And they have deep-fried Mars Bars."
"Ewww." She grinned, "Well, I haven't been to a fair since I was eleven."
She laughed almost wildly when he took her hand and practically dragged her down the dirt road to towards the tents.
* * *
Tara was convinced she had never had as much fun as she was having right now. She was also convinced she never eaten quite this much in her life.
Her sides hurt from laughing at Spike's antics to win her a bear from one of the shooting games and her throat hurt from screaming on the rollar coaster.
Her feet were slightly sore, she was feeling a bit sick from all the sugar.
She was having the time of her life.
And Spike seemed to be right there with her. For the time being, all thoughts of their situation had completely fled their minds. Spike was running around like a child at, well, a carnival, and Tara couldn't believe he wasn't a boy her own age out with a friend beyond parental supervision for the first time.
* * *
She now had far too many stuffed animals, she thought sleepily, using one as a pillow and curling up in the back seat. He really should have stopped with the hippo. Or maybe the snake because she liked the snake, she thought, curling it around her and snuggling down.
* * *
Spike kept glancing in the rearview mirror to watch her sleep. It was a pretty sight and it kept bringing warm fuzzy feelings out of him despite his best efforts to supress them.
Guiltily, he remembered he was supposed to be finding a way to get Drusilla back. Not making friends with the witch he'd hired for that very purpose.
But traitorous thoughts kept on asking him why he was so eagar to get back to someone who had hurt him so badly. And why he wanted to leave someone who had only ever been nice to him behind.
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