Fred Interrupted

Fred sat behind her desk; hunched over a set of books so thick they were large enough to rival that of an unabridged dictionary. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, one hand sliding her black-rimmed glasses up the bridge if her nose, the other held lightly onto a pen that was pinned between her teeth. She was completely withdrawn from all of the activity going on in the next room, partly because she didn't care.

"Dunno how you do it, luv." Spike's deep voice came from in front of her, making her jump. He had picked up one of the books and was staring at it intently. How had she missed come in? "Things are as big as the one's Percy has." He trailed off as he opened the book and skimmed over a few pages. "And just as dull." He said shutting the book and setting it back down on the table.

"I know," she giggled slightly. "Wait, why are you here? Is something wrong?"

"And what? I'm supposed to hang around Captain Kirk while he off's every employee here one by one? Not bloody likely."

"But I thought you liked-Angel's killing the staff? Again?" She switched subjects, realizing how irrelevant the first sounded. He waved it away as if to say 'no, but it wouldn't surprise me' and wandered around the room, occasionally picking up things and looking at them. She watched him for a moment.well; she watched something for a moment, at least. What was she doing? What had she been thinking to look at him like that? She shook her head and fixed her gaze on a small crack in the desk. Oh she prayed he would leave.

"Mind if I stay, pet?"

Oh hell.what could she say? "Uh...sure, Spike." She smiled weakly. Things remained painfully silent for the next few minutes with Spike just walking around, looking at everything in her office like they were terribly fascinating, and her, sitting there pretending to read. "So...um, Spike? How do you like it at Wolfram & Hart? I mean, I know you'd rather be with-" FRED! Shut up! You're rambling.

"I'm not gonna lie, it's not the best place in the world. Not by a bloody long shot. But it's better then hell, idn't it?" He shrugged. "I mean you lot are decent. Save for Angel o'course. Wesley keeps to himself, you never see Gunn anymore, and the green one, he's alright.is he gay?"

"Lorne? Oh god no!" She laughed. "Okay, so yeah, he does kinda' talk about things that none of us really understand. Aretha and Bonanza and all, but I'm not one to talk right? Locked up here in my office going over nothing but science things that would take me years to explain to you all-Not that you're stupid!" She covered her eyes with her hand. "I'll shut up now."

Spike raised his eyebrows, "Riiigght, pet." He smirked, turning back to one of her microscopes. He picked it up in his hands and turned it upside down, looking at it from every angle. It took her minutes to realize what he was doing

Oh, good lord.

She spoke quickly. "Um, Spike, can you- uh, don't turn the microscope over like that. I've already gone way over budget and if that falls-" He spun around, startled by her, he dropped the piece of equipment to the cold tile. He looked back at her apologetically.

"Oh." She sighed, pulling herself out of her chair. Her knee length khaki skirt flowed around her slim legs perfectly. Spike took this all in as she strode over to him and bent down to clean up the mess. Maybe if she wasn't wearing that damned lab coat he could see a bit more.

He knelt down next to her and began picking up some of the larger pieces. "I'd replace it--- " He started.

She shook her head "No, no...Don't worry about it." She reassured him, walking back to the trashcan and dumping in what remained of the microscope. "Besides, Angel could spare me a little extra cash.well, I hope so at least."

"Yeah, good luck with that."

"What?"

"Are you kidding me? Angel's about as giving as I am."

"But you gave you life-"

"-To save the world from eternal torment and darkness. I've heard it before, luv, and that's about all I ever did."

Fred frowned as she pulled herself back to her feet. She brushed her hands off on her jacket and pushed her glasses back up her nose for at least the hundredth time that day. "Well, I'm sure---"

She was cut off by Lorne poking his head in through her door.

"Hey there sugarplum! Angel-cakes wants to see you down in his office ASAP." He grinned. "Another one of his meetings, you know." He finished. "Oh, hey Spike." He turned back to Fred. "So, I'll see you down there?"

"Of course." She nodded, smiling a bit.

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Authors Note- I'm new. But I've got a faint idea of how this site works (much luv, Intense Whisper! You're my buddy!), so now that this chapter is up, you go and review. Be nice, this is my first.

Disposable Villain