"Ha! I won, Spike!" Sarah exclaimed as she put the last ball in a pocket.
The blond vampire put his cue down and sighed heavily.
She was right. He
had lost.
"Alright, you won," he grumbled.
"I wish Adam was here to witness that exploit!" Sarah went on.
"Is he gonna be alright?" Spike asked his Immortal friend very seriously.
"Oh yes," Sarah replied on the same tone. "He's handled this before.
Just
imagine how many times he must have been rejected during his first
centuries
he is quite old, you know-, before learning to make the difference."
"Difference between what?"
"What could be and what has to be," she answered. "What can be otherwise
and
what has only unthinkable alternatives."
"And with Red, which one of those two is it?"
"You ask him, I'm not in his mind!" Sarah exclaimed. "Luckily..." she
added
with a smile. "Anyway, I guess that this is only a 'could be'. Otherwise
they'd be together right now, instead of Willow in Tara's arms and
Adam
probably trying to break the record for the most painful hangover ever."
"It's such a shame," Spike remarked. "Red deserves better than an insipid
girlfriend. They would have been perfect together."
"They love each other," Sarah said. "Adam did not want to come between
them.
That's part of what makes him a good guy after all."
"What do you mean, 'after all'?"
"Well, he can be such a selfish bastard, and an annoying pain in the
ass,
you know."
"I can see why you two get along," Spike teased her.
"And I can see why you two became friends back then," she snapped back,
laughing.
Spike did not reply but simply took her hand and
flashed her his
trademark grin.
"Wouldst thou, fair lady, feel inclined to give thy poor servant the
great
honour of leading thy light soles along the delicious chords that emanate
from these renowned artists," he gestured towards the band, "only for
thy
delicate ear to catch?"
"I would be honoured, worthy knight, an thou couldst give me vows of
honourable love," Sarah replied with a smile.
"I am thine, as long as the moon doth rise, as long as the sun doth
chase
her, for fear that she would rival with him. No sun will rival with
thee in
my heart, strange and most kind angel; only thine, for eternity."
"I am contented. Thou mayst lead me upon the dance floor."
Spike let go of her hand and offered her his arm
instead. She seized it,
nodding her head and smiling slightly. The band started a new song,
with a
slow rhythm and very languorous chords.
Sarah put her arms around Spike's neck while he took
hold of her waist.
They danced close for the entire song, too comfortable to think about
moving
to kiss each other.
When the song ended, they lifted up their heads at
the same time,
stopping simultaneously as they got caught in the other's gaze. They
stood
immobile for some time before Sarah managed to pull herself out of
the
trance.
"Care to walk me back to the motel?"
"Sure, love, whatever you want." Spike grinned at her.
--------------
"You mean, she came all the way from Sunnydale only to tell you that
she was
over you and perfectly happy now?" Methos exclaimed.
Angel nodded and took a sip of tequila.
"That¹s very harsh," Methos admitted. "But I bet I can find worse
than that.
Let me think..."
The Immortal gulped down the rest of his whiskey,
probably in order to
help the thinking process. He gestured for the barman to bring him
another
one, which he did immediately.
"Ha! I've got one," he said triumphantly as he grabbed his new glass
of
whiskey. "Sarah and I! You can't believe how many times we broke up,
I mean
before the definitive separation. I think it was the fourth time. I
was out
with some friends of mine, in a less than virtuous bar, and we were
quite
drunk. There were cheap girls everywhere, sitting on our laps, teasing
us in
order to obtain some of our money. Sarah was really pissed off that
night
when she found me, for some reason, and she broke up with me in front
of my
friends, in front of the girls."
"Nothing particularly horrible in this one, Adam," Angel interjected.
"Wait a minute, that was the nice part of it," the Immortal replied.
"She
also reproached me, loudly might I add, about a few things. Amongst
which
were references to the couple of times when my sexual performances
were not
at their peak."
"And she talked about those times in front of your friends and the hookers?"
Angel asked.
"Yes, she did. You can imagine how it affected my reputation. My own
'wife'
- we pretended we were married - coming to tell me this in a brothel!"
The two companions laughed for a couple of minutes,
one of them
remembering the scene and the other one imagining it.
"You don¹t laugh often, do you, Angel?" Methos declared. "Willow
told me
about your 'brooding' habits."
Angel looked up at the Immortal, surprised at his suddenly serious tone.
"Let me give you a piece of advice," Methos went on. "All of us are
sinners.
But don't let your sins prevent you from living. That would be the
greatest
sin of all - forgetting how to live. You're a different person now;
you
don't have to pay for your previous self. Believe me, this is the only
way
to live. Not oblivion, but acceptance."
"I thought you were drunk," Angel said softly. Then he chuckled. "Why
are
you suddenly so wise, o old one?"
"I need more than a few glasses of whiskey to be drunk, o young one,"
Methos
replied on the same tone. "Accept your nature, Angel. Accept your duality,
Angelus."
Angel repressed a growl. No-one called him Angelus.
And Adam was
suggesting doing the very thing he had fought for so long. To accept
that he
was Angelus, as well as Angel. To do that, he would need time
and energy,
two things Angel refused to spare for his evil counterpart, despite
the
efforts of his demon. He looked up at the Immortal to see him stand
up.
"I have to go, now. Thanks for the drinks."