Pairing: W/S
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: Joss owns all the people and the places, I am making them do different things, is all.
Summary: Willow and Spike grow closer and make a decision.
spoilers: up to season 7
A/N: You asked for it and here it is!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey Willow," Dawn greeted as the redhead came quietly into the foyer and waved shyly. The youth dashed up the stair as Willow slipped off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack before stepping hesitantly onto the soft flooring of the living room. She stared down at the carpeting. It was not as plush as it once was, having been replaced numerous times in the last year few years by less expensive products. She turned as Buffy came thundering down the stairs.
"Hey Wills." It was the normal manner in which they spoke, casual and friendly, but underneath, there were questions.
"Hi." Another rounded wave as she glanced at her friend and then to the sofa.
"So.did you get any rest? Uh, Xander told me that you, you know, needed some time to yourself, which I totally get," she added in a rush, following Willow to the couch, where the redhead had taken a seat. Facing the young witch, Buffy perched on the edge of the coffee table, birdlike and misleadingly delicate.
"Yeah.I slept a lot." Which was an utter lie. She had been up until four a.m. talking with Spike. In a way, she was reminded of the late nights spent with Xander when they were young and still under the impression that life was what you made it. "Xander said I should come by."
"Well, I was worried."
"Hmmm," she bit back the urge to apologize. Last year this time, she would not have been worried, she was neck deep in Spike, and she had no reason to be worried now, unless she expected Willow to go evil again.
"So.I started my new job at the high school this morning."
Willow perked up. "Oh goody. How was it?" Something to talk about, think about, other than her past sins.
"It was good." She smiled. "Robin Wood, he's the principal, was very.nice. And he's very handsome.Oh a-and I'm a counselor. Which is way better than fry cook at the Doublemeat. And bonus.no grease smell. Go on.smell me."
Willow leaned up, sniffed and nodded. "Well you're certainly April fresh. Even though it's October." She frowned at the concept.
"Thanks!" Dawn came down and passed through to the kitchen without looking at either one of them.
"I.there's stuff I wanted to pick up."
"Oh.I was kinda thinking you could help me research. I mean, if you have something else."
"No.it's okay. I can stay a while. What's the sitch?"
"Well there's this girl, Cassie.."
~~~*~~~
She went looking for him, but he was gone. In the end, she did not need his help and was able to kill the demon that those emotionally retarded boys summoned. That was a week ago. It was unfortunate that Cassie died anyway, but it proved to her that when it was your time, it was your time and nothing she or anyone did changed that. It was comforting. Perhaps she would have a time one day.
After and early patrol and checking on Dawn she decided to do a little cleaning and headed to the kitchen. The dishes had piled up, neglected in favor of research and slayage. Tara and Willow had managed to keep things tidy, but Buffy found it all too tedious and her attitude rubbed off on her sister.
Willow was another thing she found tedious. She loved the redhead, always would, but the tension was thick and any cheerfulness seemed a pretense. Several times she resolved to march over to the hacker's home and demand to know why she was so somber. She had to forgive herself and move on, but, so far, it was not happening.
A knock on the back door had her frowning. She slid the curtain to the left and peeked outside. Xander.
"What are you doing out this time of night?" She asked as she opened the door. He crossed the threshold and she breathed easily. No one realized, but she did that often; worried that the vampire version of a friend was at her door.
"Walking. Thinking. Have you heard from Willow?" He got to the meat of the matter.
"Uh, not since she called...what.two, no three days ago. You?"
"No.It's not like her. I think I get her wanting to live at home for a while. It's gotta be hard facing people that you tried to kill. But, she shouldn't be isolated."
"A lotta things aren't like her and yet it's Willow."
"What do you mean?"
"Well she's always doing things we don't expect, Xander."
"So we should just expect the unexpected then?"
She smiled. "Yeah.we'll go by there tomorrow."
~~~*~~~
Willow overslept. She had planned to go to the campus and see her professors about getting back into class. Keeping vampire hours were taking there toll and her body's internal clock had been trumped by a late night of dancing, eating and drinking with Spike. The two had mugs hot chocolate when they got home, talking more about where they would go first when they finally left Sunnydale. Now they both lay sprawl across her bed where they fell asleep, like they had on previous nights, in the middle of a conversation.
Spike was only doing what came naturally. At ten in the morning, it was considered obscene for a vampire to be awake. He tried getting up with her, but found it made him cranky and more susceptible to soul-inspired broodiness. Pulling her closer, he snuggled her in his sleep, neither hearing the doorbell or knocking from below.
Buffy waited while Xander got the hidden key and opened the front door. The house was dark and quiet. The quiet part was normal. Willow rarely left the television on all night, using it mostly to watch rented movies anyway. It was the dark that bothered the couple as they stepped further into the gloom.
"This is not right."
"Open the drapes," Buffy order.
"These are new. The old ones were sheers." He did as told.
By mutual agreement, they headed up the stairs. Her senses were detecting a vampire behind the door, therefore she decided to skip manners and just open the door, stake in hand.
"What the." She stopped, taking in the view of the sleeping pair.
"Oh my God," Xander uttered, assuming the worst. "Not Willow."
The redhead in question turned over, her green eyes curious and full of sleepiness. "Hey guys.What time is it?" She asked before remembering that Spike was in her bed.
"What is he doing here? Are you evil?" Xander asked.
Willow extracted herself from the vampire, thankful that he slept like the dead. "We should talk downstairs." She stood, waiting for them the step away from her bed and start out, trailing behind. Her mind was yelling at her for trying to make it function without benefit of coffee.
"I need some caffeine," she announced. Once in the kitchen, she started the coffee maker. Buffy and Xander sat at the oval-shaped table, being as patient as possible.
"Okay.Spike is here because I brought him here."
"Wills, after what he tried with Buffy."
"How about after what I tried with you?"
They looked away.
"Right.He saved your life. Dawn's life. Took one hell of a beating for her when all you could give him was loathing. And he doesn't get another chance?"
"He's a demon, Willow. He can't be trusted." Buffy had her standard answers and she kept playing the tape.
"Which is why I did not tell you he was here. You'll never see it my way. His way."
"How long has he been here?" She was bothered by all this, but not for the reasons she tossed at her friend.
"Does it matter?"
"Are you sleeping with him?" Xander had his tape on repeat as well.
"No.I mean we were asleep, but." She frowned shaking her head. That they pried into her personal life like that without any hesitation or consideration for her privacy annoyed her. If she slept with him, it was her business. Surprisingly, she was not the first to tap that well, but it seemed as if she was not to be allowed the experience.
"Well, he can just go back to wherever he was all summer." She nodded, decision final and all hail the queen.
"He's staying here for as long as I do, Buffy."
"Not if I stake him."
The coffee was done and she poured herself a cup, not offering any to the others since they were leaving soon. She blew on it and then sipped the hot black liquid before turning and eyeing the blonde levelly.
"This conversation is over."
~~~*~~~
"I can't believe she just kicked us out."
Xander stormed along with Buffy as they headed over to the magic shop. He promised Anya that he would be there when the insurance adjuster came.
"Technically, she only kicked you out, Buff." When Willow announced that the conversation was over, the small blonde failed to see that the witch was completely serious. Therefore, she kept at it, trying to persuade Willow to get rid of the vampire 'before he did something awful to her'.
"Well, it was still rude."
"Technically, so is threatening to kill her houseguest."
"Shut.Up!"
The door was hanging on a hinge. Knocking was not required, but he did it anyway. "Ahn?"
"Back here," she called from behind what was left of the counter and display case.
"Hey.is he here yet?" He asked.
"No, and he's late, which is good since you are too."
"That was Buffy's fault," he defended.
Anya fixed the slayer with a curious stare. "Why are you making him late?"
"I.Willow..."
"Ohhhh don't even say her name right now, okay?" The vengeance demon put her hands over her ears and walked away.
"Ahn, that's not fair."
"No," She whirled on him. "What's not fair is that my shop is destroyed and she isn't even here to help with the clean up and can only say she is sorry and she tried to kill all of you and she makes you late when you do come to help me." She pouted.
"Okay.We won't get into all that Willow did. I'm here now."
"Okay." She smiled weirdly. "So what is Willow up to these days? She's not been around much since she destroyed everything that she used to steal."
"Ahn!"
She rolled her eyes. "Okay.borrowed.without permission," she added quickly.
"She's holed up with Spike." He offered, hoping to distract her from Willow-bashing.
"Spike? He's back?" Anya asked, genuinely interested for the first time since they had arrived. It made Xander tense up just a bit.
"Yep, and living in her house. Something's up. We found them in bed together," Buffy broadcasted.
"NOT in bed, as in sex, just sleeping in the same bed," he clarified before his ex went off on a tangent.
"Oh.that's too bad. He is very." She stopped realizing that there were limits to what she should share.
"Hello, I'm Mark Abrams."
The adjuster had arrived.
~~~*~~~
"She'll be back and I don't trust her. I want to leave now."
The argument had been ongoing since Buffy and Xander left. She ran upstairs and woke the sleeping vampire four hours ago and they were still going in circles.
"We can't. You know as well as I do that they are going to need us. Something's coming."
"Well, they can call on the cell and we'll come back if they need help," she conceded. It was more than she intended to give, but she was tired and Spike had a way of being terribly stubborn.
"No."
"Then let me tell them about your soul."
"No!"
"Damn it, Spike!" Tears spilled from her eyes before she could stop them. "If she drives a stake through your heart, it will kill me." Her voice was thick, distorting the tone. "I won't come back from that."
He sighed and sank onto the sofa. The girl had been good to him. Too good. He owed her a lot and had more than friendly feelings for her. "Where?"
"Spike?"
"Where do you want to go?"
She leaped into his lap, hugging him fiercely. "Thank you, Spike. Like you said before, we better go see Angel first." He rolled his eyes. "Then we can either stay in Los Angeles, since it's not too far, or find somewhere else a few hours away."
"Fine."
They went upstairs and began packing. Spike only had a few pair of jeans, four or five tee-shirts and a pair of sweatpants that he slept in. Willow had bought him a few cds and a portable player so he packed those as well, then helped her.
She decided that she only needed some clothes, some of her spellbooks, and her laptop. Within an hour, they were ready to go.
She took a last look around, wishing that she was never coming back. Sunnydale was her home and she made many good memories, but those of late were shattering the goodness that once lived in her. She needed to be away from the poison of the Hellmouth before she became too tainted. She and Spike had a chance to build a life together. Buffy's mission was not hers any longer.
"Well, I guess that's it."
"Yeah.suppose so." The sun was low enough that Willow's side of the street was in shadow. Spike had loaded the back of her car with their belongings and a few blankets in case they were needed. He stood on the porch smoking, knowing it would not be allowed in the car.
"Did you call Angel?"
"Uh.that would be no." He started for the car.
"Why not?"
Spike chuckled and opened the passenger door for her. "Let's just say I'd rather surprise dear ole Dad."