Willow tugged at the edge of her blouse, feeling horribly nervous. For a brief moment, she entertained the notion of running home to check her hair one last time. She shifted from one sneaker clad foot to the other, and made yet another sweep of the room with her eyes.
'Calm down! It's only Spike...' Willow blinked at that thought, a smile blossoming on her face. 'That certainly is something of a change - clam down 'cause it's only a vampire...' Willow snickered before her nerves killed off the sound.
Deciding that merely standing and fidgeting was giving her far too much thinking time, Willow ventured further into Spike's home. The fledglings weren't there, so Willow knew that at least one worry had been struck off her list. Most of the time, Spike had told her, the young ones stayed in the deeper levels of the mansion.
'Until night, when they go out hunting...' Willow's mind shied away from that thought. Spike hadn't been about to give up on fresh, human blood even beneath the onslaught of Willow's resolved face. At least he had promised her that his meals would be left alive. He hadn't been able to promise her that his minions would follow the same path.
Willow's aimless wandering came to a stop at Spike's desk. She glanced down at the book opened on it and smiled in pleasure. It was the colouring book she had presented him with. The picture was of a girl, dressed all in black. The only other spot of colour was the intense red of her hair.
"Like it, pet?" Spike laughed as he silently glided up behind her.
Willow jumped, her hand flying up to rest against her pounding heart. "Don't do that!" she chided him. Spike only grinned wider. "I didn't think that you'd actually use this," Willow continued, gesturing down at the book.
Spike shrugged, grasping Willow's arm and escorting her to the door. "You gave it to me, luv, didn't you? Of course I'd use it! Besides, you were right. There isn't anything to do in her during the day, except converse with the fledglings. And if that was at all satisfying, we wouldn't be having this conversation now."
"Well what do you know! Mom was wrong. The guy in my life only wants me for my _brains_!" Willow giggled. Her internal warning system went off, and Willow stopped short. "Not that I want you to want--" She shook her head. "You are--" Willow looked up at him, her face flushing.
"Don't worry, Willow. I'm not about to say anything blush worthy." Seeing that Willow still looked flustered, Spike steered the discussion in a different direction. "I thought that it was time we did something fun for a change."
"We're going to the Bronze?" Willow asked, remembering Cordelia's rants about said club being the only slightly interesting place within miles of Sunnydale. She found herself disappointed at the possibility of sharing her time with Spike with a horde of teenagers.
Spike tended to think of the club as more of a buffet than someplace amusing. He wisely refrained from telling the young woman on his arm that. Willow was tough, but his feeding habits were still something that left her queasy. "I was thinking something more along the lines of me, you, and a lot less teens," Spike told her.
"Oh! Good!" she said, nodding happily. "And where would this ever so magical place be?"
"That, pet, is a surprise."
Willow had learned that Sunnydale and surprises tended not to mesh well. But as strange as it sounded, she trusted the vampire. "Lead on, Spike."
"_Wow_" Willow breathed, her eyes shinning brightly in the moonlight. "This is _very_ nice, Spike." She leaned back against him, peering up into the star studded sky. "I didn't think the fair was opening until tomorrow."
Spike shrugged, his arm comfortably wrapping around Willow's shoulder. "It isn't. But I haven't lived a century or so without learning a few things... like how to bribe the manager."
"You know, you never stop surprising me," Willow said seriously. "Colouring books, daring rescues, and Ferris wheels. You're a man of many aspects..."
Drusilla had always loved Ferris wheels. She would laugh and reach out towards the stars before snuggling up against him. He had thought he couldn't be happier than at those moments. What he felt with Willow, drifting up towards the night sky, was something different but just as stirring as what he had felt with Dru. It was amazing to realize how deeply the girl had wormed her way into his heart so that she rivaled Drusilla in importance.
More than that, it was terrifying. Dru was one of them, she knew of blood and death. Thought twisted and corrupted by Angelus' games, Drusilla would be with him forever. Willow was so very different from him. She was innocent, the very thought of violence leaving her upset. And despite the unusual friendship they had formed, Spike knew that Willow would leave him behind eventually. Her life would call out to her, urging her to leave Sunnydale and it's demons behind for the existence she deserved. And then, time would claim her and she would leave while he continued on.
Spike's arm tightened around her shoulders, and he was pleased to feel that she didn't stiffen beneath the increased pressure. She was recovering nicely. Even the nightmares had stopped plaguing her most nights, something which Spike had discovered during his nightly visits to check in on her before he began to hunt.
"With as long as I've lived, you've got to diversify or you'll bore yourself senseless," Spike said easily, his tone light despite his heavy thoughts.
"Now all we need is some cotton candy..." Willow suggested.
"Whatever my lady desires," Spike said gallantly as the great white Ferris wheel continued to drift.
Drusilla hissed into the night air, the bright stars dancing overhead. They were singing. Always singing. The song was different tonight. The sparkling gems in the sky were mocking her. Laughing.
She closed her eyes against their brightness, and a stream of red rushed past her closed eyelids. Dark as blood in the night, shinning like fire beneath the sun. Innocent eyes with a core of steel.
Long nails dug into the flesh of Drusilla's palm as the visions continued to flash past her eyes. _Her_ Spike was being drawn into something he shouldn't be. Drowning in sweetness.
Drusilla's foot pounded against the sidewalk angrily. "Spike's been a naughty boy," she informed the stars icily. "But his princess is going to make things all better..."
Drusilla shook her head sorrowfully. She'd left him for the summer, and her poor, confused Spike forgot who he belonged to. She would have to make sure that he didn't forget again.
Arm in arm, Spike and Willow wandered down the street, their voices joined in an off-tune song. Annoyed faces peered out at them from the houses they passed, but Willow studiously ignored them. This was the most fun she'd had in ages, and she wasn't about to stop just because other people couldn't appreciate a good song when they heard one.
It seemed strange, not trying to escape attention at night. Usually, if she had no choice but to be out after the sun set, Willow's progress home was made in the utmost silence - even with Buffy accompanying her. With Spike at her side, though, no Sunnydale vampire with half a brain in it's head would dare even think about snacking on her.
"Shhh..." Willow said. "We're almost at my house. You wouldn't want my mom to hear us... She'd probably try to analyze us both, and then take a fit that I'm out so late... and that you're... you..." Willow's buoyant expression faded slightly as she brought up her mother.
'Of all the times for the bloody woman to actually be home,' Spike grimaced. There would be no sitting out on the porch and talking for them that night. "We certainly must avoid _that_ then, mustn't we, luv?"
"Mm hmm... Mom could scare away even the meanest of vampires!" Willow reluctantly disentangled her hand from Spike's and began trekking up her driveway. Her progress came to a sudden halt as an enraged shriek tore through the air.
Spike's head snapped up, his eyes widening in recognition. "_Dru?_"
"Dru?" Willow mouthed, her heart constricting painfully before plummeting. 'Spike's insane girlfriend Dru? I thought she was with that Chaos Demon... Why couldn't she have _stayed_ there?!'
"Get inside," Spike said warningly. "Now!" he commanded when Willow hesitated, her worry plain on her face. Willow reluctantly headed into her house beneath Spike's stern gaze.
Despite the worry clawing at her, Willow made sure to close the door softly so as to not awaken her parents. From there, she hurried to the window, and warily pulling back the curtains, glanced outside.
Spike and Drusilla were talking animatedly. The female looked enraged, unerringly pointing one long red nail straight at Willow. Spike's reply was cut off when Drusilla's pale hand snapped into his face. A moment later her lips were passionately pressed against his.
Willow choked, the curtain drifting out of her shaking hand and obscuring the view before her. By the time she regained her composure, the two vampires were gone.
~End~