Willow stood nervously at the window as she waited for Angel to pick
her up. He’d spoken to Giles the night before, and the watcher was
in
agreement that Willow leaving was for the best. It was also decided
that the witch-turned-vampire was not ready to face the others, so she
would
join them after they’d said their good-byes. She hadn’t seen
Spike since she’d run out of the room the night before. Part of her
was glad she didn’t
have to see the disappointment she knew would be in his eyes as he
watched her accept her fate and follow Angel, but part of her wished he
would
refuse to let her leave… that he would show some sign of still caring
for her. But after the things she’d said, she knew that would never
happen.
Without even noticing it, she’d begun to weep softly as she waited
for the black convertible to turn down the street.
“Pet?” Spike’s question startled her out of her thoughts, and
she scrubbed furiously at the damp trails caused by tears running down
her face,
determined not to appear any weaker than he already thought she was.
“I guess this is it, Spike, isn’t it?”
“I guess so. I… I’ll miss you, kitten.”
“Don’t say that. It…”
“It makes me weak, I know. But I don’t care. I love you,
Willow. I’ve always given you anything you wanted or needed.
And if you need to go
away, I’ll give you that, too.”
“You won’t come with us?”
“No.”
“Why… why not?”
“I’m needed here. LA is Angel’s town. He may be able to
tolerate what I do here, but he wouldn’t put up with me hunting while living
under the
same roof.”
“Oh.” Willow turned back to gaze out of the window at the empty street.
“Besides, someone has to watch after Slutty and your other friends while you’re gone.” She looked up at him, incredulous.
“You… you’d do that?”
“For you, anything.”
“Do I have to go?” she asked him seriously.
“What do you mean, kitten?”
“Are you sending me away? Is that why Angel came, to take me away so you wouldn’t have to deal with me any more?”
“Of course not! The Poof came because he and the cheerleader thought
you were in trouble. Near as I can tell, she saw the Watcher doing
the
spell and you curled up crying, like I found you.” This time,
it was Spike’s turn to stare out the window. “Don’t you want to go?”
“I… I don’t know. I just don’t want you to be disappointed in me any more.”
“Disappointed? In you? Never! Pet, you’re stronger
than you give yourself credit for. If I felt a fraction of the guilt
that spell’s putting you
through, you wouldn’t have found me crouched in a doorway. Probably
wouldn’t have found me at all,” he joked. “Might have found a little
pile of
dust lying in a sunbeam, but that’s –”
“Don’t say that!”
“What?”
“Don’t talk about killing yourself. I don’t want to even think
about you leaving me. Not now, not ever. I wouldn’t survive.
Promise me, Spike.
Promise that you’ll never leave me.” Willow threw her arms around
Spike and buried her head in his shoulder. Spike returned the embrace
as his
eyes locked in understanding with those of the dark-haired vampire
standing outside. As Angel returned to his car and drove away, Spike
began to
gently stroke Willow’s hair.
“I promise, pet. I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you.”
Confused, she looked first at Spike, then at a set of taillights as they
turned the
corner and disappeared from view.