"A kiss can be a comma, a question mark, or an
exclamation point."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willow woke up to a rock concert in her head in her
bed. Her head was pounding the way a Metalica concert
would be like in surround sound. " Argh……….. " She
could feel the warm sunshine shining on her body.
Keeping her eyes closed, she got up from bed and
experienced a wave of dizziness.
She promptly stumbled into bathroom. She was fumbling
for her toothbrush when someone handed it to her. She
murmured thanks before proceeding to brush her teeth.
[Wait. Did someone just give me my toothbrush?] Her
eyes fluttered open and met amused, blue ones.
Willow let out a shriek as Spike grinned at her. He
was sitting on the edge of the bathtub and laughing at
her. "Spike!" Willow squeaked, the toothbrush
forgotten as she stared at the blond vampire in * her
* bathroom. "What are you doing here, in…..in…….my
bathroom?"
"Hiding from the sun, pet." Spike answered, looking
totally at home in her bathroom.
"Why?"
"Because if I get caught in the sun, I'll go poof. You
know, vampire become dust in the sun?" Spike explained
slowly to Willow.
"I know that. I mean why are you in my house?" Willow
felt like throttling the vampire. [Why do I know that
he is plotting something?]
"I met you outside your house yesterday night. You
then got drunk and refused to let me leave. I believe
your exact words were Spike, please don't leave me. I
need you." Spike mimicked in a Willow-like voice.
"I did not say that. Even though I was drunk I still
remember what I did last night. You…you…bad vampire."
Willow threw a towel at him that he deftly caught in
one hand.
"Really, pet. So what did you do last night?" Spike
drawled out, playing with the towel.
"You scared me then I let you into my house. You gave
me some brandy to calm me down. I sat on the couch
and……" Willow broke off, her eyes widening as
everything she said and did came back to her. [I
licked him. Oh my goddess.]
"I don't remember after that." Willow mumbled, hoping
that Spike would let it go. Instead, Spike put his
hands on the wall of either side of her, moving in way
too close for comfort.
"It's okay, pet. I can jog your memory for you. You
said and I quote you: I think you're yummy. Like a cup
of coffee. You make me all dizzy with joy when you
smile at me. Do you get dizzy when I smile at you? I
wonder if you really taste like vanilla and honey. End
quote." Spike gave Willow a mischievous grin, leaning
in closer to her neck.
"I didn't….uh…..say vanilla and honey. I…..uh…..said
chocolate." Willow was getting breathless, her heart
pounding hard. [Is he going to do what I think he's
going to do? Oh my goddess, he has to be kidding
right?] She gulped.
"I don't think you'll taste like chocolate to me,
pet." Spike purred, his tongue flicking her pulse on
her throat, trailing a path up and down. Willow closed
her eyes in ecstasy and threw her head back, allowing
him wider access to her neck.
"Nope, not chocolate. Need to make sure." He murmured
against her neck, dropping little kisses randomly
before finding the spot near the hollow of her throat
and started to suckle it gently. Spike was rewarded
with a low moan and her fingers running through his
hair.
He didn't want to leave a mark on her yet so he kissed
his way up to the corner of her lips. "Willow, open
your eyes. Look at me. Who do you want?" Spike asked
as she opened her dark green eyes, filled with desire.
"I want……Oz?" Spike's head snapped back as he heard
the words on her lips. He looked at her in disbelief
and anger before his senses picked up something.
Someone else was there. The bathroom door was open.
He turned around and saw Oz staring at them. Willow
immediately broke free of Spike's arms and walked
towards Wolfie. "Oz?"
"Willow. " Oz, now with black hair stared at Spike. "
Nice to see you again, Spike. I've heard that you're
helping Buffy." Spike snarled as Willow ran out of the
bathroom and hugged Oz happily. Oz was still staring
at him with a weird expression on his face.
"What are you staring at? Never seen a vampire in the
bathroom before?" Spike growled and slammed the door
shut, not wanting to see * his * Willow in another's
arms, especially when that someone was her
ex-boyfriend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The greatest pain in life is not to die, but to be
ignored, to lose the person you love so much to
another who doesn't care at all..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike glared sullenly at the bathroom door. [I suppose
I could tell the Watcher that I have those premonition
dreams that the silly slayer has.] It bugged him that
all those dreams about Willow involved Oz. The same Oz
who was probably outside, hugging * his * Red;
touching * his * Red; kissing * his * Red.
Spike slipped into his game-face without being
conscious of it. All he was aware of were the
unpleasant images his over-active mind was churning
out. Growling unhappily at how slowly time was
passing, he didn't notice the bathroom door opening.
"Um……Spike?" Willow's voice broke through his mental
ranting.
"What? Finished shagging Wolf-boy." Spike lashed out
at Willow, venting his frustrations, anger and fear.
"I am not * shagging * him. I just want to tell you
that I'm going for a cup of coffee with him. So when
the sun sets, you can leave on your own." Willow
looked at Spike with a hurt expression before closing
the bathroom door and left the house with Oz.
Spike hit the tiled wall in frustration, heedless of
the pain in his knuckles, only the pain inside him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I don't know whether to smile because you're my
friend or cry because that's all you are"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So you and Spike are living together?" Oz asked the
minute they sat down in the Starbucks café.
Willow blushed before shaking her head.
"I….uh….got drunk yesterday so he sent me home."
"I see. You guys dating each other?"
"Uh….no."
"So you're interested in each other?"
"I…..uh….don't know. About him I mean. Because I'm
definitely into him but I'm not sure if he's into me
because he might be into Drusilla. And……he is quite
good-looking. Do you know that Buffy actually lusted
after him at one point. I mean I think he is sexy and
I think I'm lusting after him but does that mean I'm
interested in him?"
"I don't know, Willow. But what I saw in the bathroom
was……Wow" Oz gave a small smile as Willow flushed. She
took a sip of coffee to calm down but it only reminded
her of the whole scene in the bathroom.
"Oz, where have you been?"
"Around. I'm now living in Seattle. I settled there a
few weeks ago. It's a nice place. I came back to
Sunnydale to clear up a few things and also to see how
you were. I'm sorry for leaving just like that."
"I'm was sorry too. But now, I'm not. Not anymore.
I've learnt a lot when you were gone." Willow gave a
small smile of her own.
"I'm seeing someone new. She's….also like me. So……" Oz
admitted quietly. Willow waited for the usual pain in
her heart. There was nothing.
"That's…um…good. Oz, I have to go now. Spike might be
waiting for me." Willow stood up. "So, Oz, friends?"
and put her hand out. Oz gave a half-smile and shook
her hand.
" Friends. "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Love is like an hourglass: The heart fills up, as the
brain empties."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike went to Willy's place the minute the sun set. "
Willy, get me a drink."
Willy winced as he heard the familiar British accent.
[Not again. God, please don't let him ask me about the
disappearing corpses or the new nest of Chaos demons
or the headless vampire rumor.]
"Here's your drink." Willy fixed him a potent glass of
brandy. " I still don't know anything. I'm telling
you, the headless vampire is a silly rumor. "
"Who cares about a bloody headless vampire? My Red
left me for the soddin' Wolfie." Spike drank the
brandy in one gulp. " I tried seducing her and she
calls out Wolfie's name. Just like all the frickin'
nightmares except this one's real."
"Uh……Spike, you sure she left you?"
"Bloody sure. She said she was going for coffee with
the wanker." Spike spat the words out. " If I didn't
have this soddin' chip, I would tear him out, limb by
limb. Then, I toss what's left of him into the sea.
Just give me the chance I'll……"
" Spike." Oz settled in the seat beside him. Spike
looked up from his drink and did the first thing that
came to his mind. The blond vampire lunged for the
werewolf's neck. Both of them tumbled down to the
floor and started a fight.
Willy shook his head in despair as the patrons crowded
around the pair squirming on the floor. "Hey, Willy.
Bet you ten bucks the human's gonna win. " A patron
placed ten bucks on the counter.
"He's a werewolf, not a human." Willy groaned as he
heard the sound of glass shattering.
"Oh. In that case, I'm betting on Spike."