Spike ambled through the cemetary. He was drunk, again. This time not because of Dru and not because of the chip itself. This time because of how the whole affair with ADAM had turned out. He was back at square one. The Slayer wanted him dead and he had nothing to bargain with, so he was actually having to help the Slayer and her merry band of misfits so they wouldn't stake him. What else was there to do but get drunk?
Being inebriated and all, Spike's vampire senses weren't quite up to par as he made his way back to the crypt. This was why he didn't notice that he was being followed. He did, however, notice the searing pain in his shoulder when he was hit with an arrow.
"Bloody hell, you blighter better not be human!" He spun to face his attacker but no one was there. "Of course."
He turned back around to pick up the bottle of liquor he'd dropped and muttered some very Spike phrases. He resumed ambling through the cemetary, without thinking about the fact that this time he was headed in another direction.
Cupid smiled from the shadows. If Mischief was already playing her part with the witch, which he assumed she was, then the game was officially begun.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Willow couldn't quite recall how she ended up alone at Giles' doing research. Tara had been with her but left earlier. Buffy and Riley were on patrol. Xander was at work. Giles was at the magic shop. If they've left me all alone, the threat can't be too pressing , Willow reasoned. She was ready to call it a night and go home, but she didn't want to leave Giles' place unattended when both he and Buffy should have already been back. She was lost in thought when there was a thump at the door.
Willow set down the book she had been reading and cautiously approached the door. "Hello?" she called. The muffled reply from the other side of the door was indecipherable. Great. Think, Willow, think. Willow picked up a statue looking thing off of Giles' desk. When in doubt, bravado. "This is Sunnydale. I'm not opening that door until I know what's on the other side of it!"
The reply was still muffled, but this time the muffle had a British accent. Had Giles been attacked on the way back from the magic shop? Statue-weapon still in hand, Willow cautiously opened the door. Spike's blond head tumbled over the threshold.
"Well, yeah, you're British, too." She peered out into the apartment complex's courtyard and didn't see anybody else.
"Red?" Spike looked up from his vantage point, confused. "What am I doing here?"
"You tell me. I'd say you were drunk and forgot how to get home."
Spike crawled over Willow's feet into the apartment and managed to stand. "But I was almost home..." As he stood, Willow noticed the small golden arrow sticking out of him. She couldn't help it; compassion kicked in.
"You've been shot! Why didn't you say something?" She moved toward him to inspect the wound.
Spike looked indignant. "I've been shot? Who shot me?"
"You really have to cut back on the drinking, mister." Willow paused, thoughtful. "Though maybe right now it's good that you don't know what's happening. That'll make getting that thing out of you easier." She tugged Spike into Giles' bathroom and had him sit on the toilet. He made quite a fuss as Willow manuevered his duster around the arrow and off of him. She wasn't sure if this was because she was hurting him or that he now had another hole in his favorite piece of clothing. She decided it was a little of both when she had to remove his shirt and the complaining was considerably less. Spike's mostly passive acceptance of what Willow was doing ended abruptly when she began pouring rubbing alcohol over the wound. He shot off the comode and had her pinned to the wall before she knew what was happening.
"Bloody hell, witch, what was that for?" he roared. Then he paused and looked around the room. "Why am I in the watcher's bathroom again? And where's my shirt?"
Willow was suddenly worried. Spike wasn't just drunk. She was sure he had been drinking; she could smell it on his breath, which was now uncomfortably close. But this was more than drunk Spike. Something had been done to him. All the more reason to get that arrow out of him.
"Uh, Spike," Willow said calmly. "Let me go." His eyes darted around the room and then met hers. When they did, his grip loosened. She nodded and he let her go. Willow held her hands up where he could see them and talked slowly and reassuringly.
"Somebody has done something to you and it's making you feel funny. I'm going to help you, but you have to trust me." Willow put her hand gently on Spike's chest to guide him back to sitting down. Nice chest, Willow noted absently. No! No, bad chest. Very bad chest. The chest of a bad guy. A guy who would kill you in a heartbeat. One of yours, not his, because he's a vampire. A VAMPIRE. With really nice arms. Willow took a deep breath. Spike sat back down on the toilet. He looked agiated but was also willing to let Willow help him.
"Okay, brace yourself against something. This is going to hurt; don't take it out on me."
As Willow closed her hand around the golden rod jutting out of Spike's back, she reflected that sometime in the last fifteen minutes, the night had gotten really weird. The only times she had ever been alone with Spike he had either been threatening to kill her or outright trying to. And now he was half-naked, at her mercy, and in Giles' bathroom, again. Life on the Hellmouth has some funny twists.
"One, two - " Willow yanked on three. Spike growled and gripped the edge of the tub. Then a change took place in his demeanor, like he suddenly sobered up. Willow looked on, apprehensively, the arrow she's removed still in her hand.
"Something's not right," Spike said. He stood up and faced Willow, leaning over her. "Did you do something to me? Another one of your spells?"
"No, I helped you. You were - " Willow was cut off when Spike grabbed her hand holding the arrow.
"What's this, then?"
Spike's accusatory tone and mention of her magic mishaps started to piss Willow off. "Well, screw you, too, bleached undead guy!" Some part of Willow's mind registered I'm yelling at Spike. This is new. while the rest of her mind was busy working up a good tirade. "I didn't have to help you. Maybe I should just put this back where it was - " Both Willow and Spike looked down to where their hands were joined. The arrow had disenegrated in Willow's palm, and the dust fell through their hands.
" - or not." Willow started to pull away from Spike, but he held fast. She looked at his face. His expression was hard to decipher. It wasn't hate or disgust, of that Willow was certain. They remained in this silent regard for another moment or so before both decided to break it.
Spike's "Look, Red," came out at the same time as Willow's "Spike, why," and both were interrupted by Giles' "Willow?!" as he entered the apartment through the still open front door. The pair in the bathroom parted, oddly reluctant, as Giles found them.
"What is going on here?"
The mood or whatever it was, was broken. Willow began to babble about finding a wounded, disoriented Spike and tending to his wound. Spike put his t-shirt and duster back on. Giles, still a little suspicious over finding a half-dressed vampire alone with Willow asked to see the offending arrow.
Willow smiled weakly. "You can't, exactly."
"And why not?"
"It sort of, uh, disappeared after I removed it."
"Disappeared?"
"She's not lying, mate. The thing crumbled in our hands."
Giles raised an apprehensive eyebrow at Spike's use of the term our.
"Is that so?"
"It is. I think I'll be on my way." Spike's tone was brusque and he pushed past the two of them to leave. But before he left, he looked back at Willow and said gently "Thanks for your help." Willow nodded mutely and he was gone.
"Well," Giles stammered. "That was, unusual, I suppose. I'm sorry you had to deal with him all by yourself."
Willow waved her hand in dismissal. "No, it's okay. But. . ." she trailed off, in thought. "It was strange. I don't think he knew why he had come here, or even where here was. And he was different, calmer. Well, mostly. And with the thing just going poof! Weird." She made an effort to shrug off the events of the evening. "Hey, what took so long at the magic shop?"
"Hmm? Oh, uh, I, well - " Giles seemed confused. "I'm not sure." He started to say something else, when Buffy came through the door.
"How was patrol?"
"Didn't even break a nail." Buffy looked to Willow apologetically. "I would have been back sooner, but I kind of, um, got lost. You ready?"
Willow looked from Buffy to Giles and she thought of Spike's words. Something isn't right. She was starting to think that statement held a lot of worth.
"Yeah, let me just get my laptop."
After Buffy and Willow said their goodnights to Giles, Buffy asked Willow "I passed Spike on the way. Was he here?"
"Tell you on the way."
The girls set off for their place, totally unaware of the female figure
in the shadows. Mischief smiled enigmatically. So far, so good...