Home Sick
Description: A Buffy/Spike centric fic.
Disclaimer: The characters from Buffy are not mine, sadly. They belong to the good people at Fox, the WB, UPN and of course the God of all things Buffy, Joss Whedon.
Spoilers: For season six, through Older and Farther Away.
Rated: PG
Feedback: Yes Please!
************************************
Spike came bursting through the kitchen door, the blanket over him starting to smoke.
“I so am not in the mood for this right now,” Buffy told him.
“You’re always in the mood, Luv,” he replied, taking off the blanket and casting it aside. He got a good look at her. “Good God Buffy, you look horrible.”
“Wow Spike, you really know the way to a girl’s heart.”
“That didn’t come out right. * You* don’t look horrible. No chance of that ever happening. You look like you feel horrible.” Spike corrected. “You’re all sniffly.”
“I’ve got a cold,” she explained.
“Poor thing,” he said. “Whadda you say I help you get rid of it the old fashioned way?”
“Old fashioned way?” Buffy asked, with a raised eyebrow.
“That’s right. It’s to bed with you missy.”
Well, he is a vampire, Buffy thought. Not like he has to worry about my being contagious.
Spike picked her up and carried her into her room, laying her down on the bed. “Get under the covers, Pet.”
She did as she was instructed.
He handed her the phone. “Now I want you to call in sick to work.”
“I can’t do that!” she protested.
“You can and you bloody will. Can’t have you coughing on the mystery meat, can we?” he pointed out.
“Fine,” she said, dialing the number. He started to head down the stairs. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?”
“To make you lunch, silly,” he told her.
“Oh.” Apparently Spike and she had slightly different definitions of what putting her to bed meant.
Back in the kitchen, Spike put a kettle on to boil and opened a can of chicken and stars. He added a can of water to the soup and began heating it up, humming as he stirred.
“Spike? What are you doing?” A startled Xander asked, as he walked through the door.
“Making soup.”
“I can see that. What are you doing *here*? I was under the impression that your people slept during the day.”
“So I’ve got insomnia. Sue me.”
“Do vampires even like soup? What is this anyway?” Xander picked up the discarded can and examined it. “Chicken and stars, what are you two?”
“It’s for Buffy, not me. She’s sick. Besides, chicken and stars is the best thing for a cold, everyone knows that.”
“Like Buffy would eat something you offered her. How do I know it’s not poisoned or something?”
“Oh do grow up. I’m not about to off the woman I love. Now if I were making this for you, it might be a different story.” The soup was done. Spike ignored Xander and went up stairs.
“There you go Luv, Chicken Soup and a nice cup o’ tea.”
“There are little stars in this,” she pointed out.
“Sod the stars. Just eat up. It’ll make you well. Think of it as Jewish penicillin.”
Buffy gave a laugh. “This from the poster child for the Aryan race.” She sipped some of the soup. “Hey this is good.”
“Told you.”
“So.” Buffy asked, “you gonna tuck me in?”
Spike grinned. “That’s the plan.”
Buffy slipped into little kid mode. “Do I get a story?”
“Er, sure. Why not?” Spike thought. “Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess.”
“Was she locked in a tower?” Buffy asked.
“No, she was not locked in a tower. Me storyteller, you story tellee. Got it?”
Buffy pouted. “Got it.”
“So, there was this princess, who had no bloody towers in her entire kingdom thankyouverymuch. She was kind and good and everybody loved her.”
“That sounds nice.”
“But on the other side of the kingdom lurked an evil prince. He killed and maimed and enjoyed every second of it.”
“Ok, not liking the prince so much.”
“Hold on, I’ve only just started. One day the prince saw the princess from afar, and fell madly in love with her. He felt torn. ‘How can I love something so good when I am so evil?’ he asked. ‘And how could I possibly ever make her love me back?’”
“He did a spell on her, didn’t he?”
“No, he didn’t do a sodding spell. That would have been evil, and he didn’t want to corrupt his perfect golden angel.”
“So the princess was blond huh?”
“Yes, with the cutest little bob, and gorgeous green eyes. Now shut up. The prince decided the only way to win his lady’s favor would be to turn good himself, and redeem himself from his past sins. He stopped maiming, he stopped killing. He even began joining the princess in her crusades, but still she did not notice him.”
“Poor little evil prince.”
“Tell me about it. One day, a spell was put on the princess, putting her into a deep unwakable sleep. The prince thought his life was over, but he did not return to his evil ways. The princess had forever changed his heart.
“One day the spell was lifted. She awoke and met his eyes, for the prince had stayed by her side through it all. For the first time, the princess caught a glimpse of who he was, who he really was. She grew to love him too, though she dare not tell her subjects for fear they would not understand.
“The two of them met in secret, stealing kisses in the shadows.” Spike was silent.
“And?” Buffy prompted.
“And what?”
“That can’t be the end of the story,” Buffy complained.
“No it’s not. But I don’t know the ending of the story. Yet.”
“Do you think it will have a happy ending?”
“Don’t know,” he admitted. “I hope so.”
Buffy had finished her lunch and set it aside.
“You had better get some rest now. You need to get your strength back.”
“Does that mean you’re leaving?” Buffy asked.
“No. I’ll stay until you fall asleep.” Spike pulled her blankets high up around her. True to his word, he stayed with her, until she finally drifted off. Spike leaned down, placing a kiss on her forehead. “Sweet dreams, Princess.”