What's up with her?

Disclaimer: I do not own Spriggs.

"Hey, Triple M?"

"Yes, Willy, what is it? You wanna know where Spriggs is again?"

"Yeah, haven't seen her all day."

"Maybe she's keeping away from you because you want to KILL her."

Willy pondered for a moment. "No. That's not it. We've been at this for 5 years and she's always come at me."

"Maybe she's tired."

"What?"

"Perhaps she's tired of fighting you. Couldn't it be that she doesn't want to fight anymore." Willy thought about that, then got a stroke. "Aww, crap. Meme, get the defibrillator."

Later, Meme found Spriggs in the kitchen, drinking coffee. "Hey, Spriggs. You know that Spriggs is looking for you?"

Spriggs just scoffed. "He just wants to kill me again."

"Well, yeah. But that never bothered you before. I had the feeling you were enjoying his attention." Spriggs just looked at her. Meme could tell from that look that Spriggs was both pissed and hurt. "What did he do?"

There was a hint of tears in her eyes. "You know a bit about the people deployed here. Tell me, is Willy married?"

Meme couldn't believe her ears. "What?"

"Well, once he said he had a wife and nine kids. Then he said he was gonna give my head to his wife as a wedding day present. He said such things multiple times, up until recently. Yesterday, he said I wasn't as pretty as his wife."

"He said that?"

"Yeah, in one of his mad raves, but it still hurt."

"Why? I mean it's Willy. Why would you care? Unless...are you...?"

"In love with him? Of course!" She threw her arms in the air. "What did you think?"

"I don't know. I just didn't think of the possibility that someone might actually...like him. Let alone love him."

"So, he's not married?"

Meme was silent for a moment. "I don't know. I'm gonna have to check up on it." Meme said as she watched Spriggs wipe a tear from her cheek.

Willy was looking for Spriggs, his mini-gun spinning in case he found her, when Meme smacked him in the back of the head.

"OWW! Meme, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Me? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Me? What the hell is wrong with Spriggs? She won't show up."

"That's because you hurt her, dumb-ass."

"What?"

"Just tell me. Are you married or not?"

That ultimately confused Willy.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Are you or not?"

He was silent for a moment. Then he spoke in a still slightly confused voice. "No."

"Then why do you keep talking about this wife that doesn't exist?"

Willy then knew what she was talking about. "I'm a raving maniac. I keep saying all kinds of stuff without thinking about it."

"Including "my wife is prettier than you, Spriggs"?"

Willy was once again confused. "Did I really say that?"

"Yes, and it hurt her."

"Why?"

Meme just looked at him as an answer. Then Willy understood.

"No."

"Yes, so you should apologize."

"This can't be. She can't...no...I...I..." Before he could get another stroke, Meme gave him another electroshock. "Can't I just kill her?"

She hit him again. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? What did Spriggs do to you to hate her so much?"

He looked at her. "I got transferred here because I'm full of rage. I was a team killer and could never control my temper. Not long after I got here, I got hit by Spriggs on her Mongoose and things kind of unraveled."

"I see. And there is nothing else? No other feelings?"

"Uhh, no."

"Alright, then I'll put it like this. Apologize to her or she'll never participate in this sick game of yours again." Willy was already off. "I wonder how long until he realizes he still can't find her."

Spriggs had moved on from coffee to beer, when Willy came in, unarmed and in simple attire. "Willy? How'd you find me?"

"Meme told me where you were. Listen, I'm sorry if anything I said affected you and, just so you know, I'm not married. So, will you forgive me?"

"No."

"What?"

"You're just saying that so that I'll fight you again. I'm ready to believe what you're saying but I won't accept an apology that isn't actually sorrowful."

"I'm full of sorrow at not being able to fight you anymore?"

"Try again?"

"Alright, what do you want?" He fell to his knees. "I'll do whatever it takes, but please, fight me."

There was a moment of silence before Spriggs spoke. "Date me."

"What?"

"I want to go on a date with you. Something really romantic, not just a rushed something."

Willy thought about that a bit, then stood up. "Okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'll set it up. Tomorrow night."

"Great. But you're not allowed to yell at me or try to kill me until I allow you to."

"Deal." They then went their separate ways.

The next evening, Triple M was helping Willy getting dressed, who was wearing a black coat over a white shirt and black pants. His short blonde hair was combed and he shaved off his three-day beard.

"Is it really necessary to get so fancy for a date with the person I hate more than anything else?"

"Look, Willy, it's either this or never even talking with Spriggs again."

"Alright, let's do this."

He walked to Spriggs room and knocked on the door. She then came out and Willy's heart literally skipped a beat. She was in a beautiful violet dress, her scruffy long brown hair was nicely arranged and she wore make-up that made her face radiate.

Willy didn't know what to say. "Ah...ah...eh..."

"Meme gave me a make-over. Do you like it?"

"I...I...I...It's...very..."

Spriggs waited a moment and spoke up again. "Can we go now?"

"Ah, yes. Let's go." They went on.

"So, what are we gonna to tonight?"

"First of all, I made you a nice dinner. Italian vegetable soup at first, then steak with a side of potatoes, and as dessert, apple pie. And, of course, I had the little guy make us an excellent wine."

"Wow, that sounds great, and afterwards?"

"I had the little guy get us "Titanic"."

"Oh brilliant. Romance and a high death count."

"Yes, exactly. And, tonight is one of the few nights when the sun actually sets so I thought we'd go up on a hill and just look at the stars. There's also a meteor shower and..."

"Man, I never thought of you to be so romantic."

Willy was stumped. "Yes, well, I just thought you might like it, and I'd do anything to get to fight you again." When he looked back over to her, she was just smiling at him and he blushed slightly.

Later, after the dinner and the movie, they were lying next to each other on a hillside and looking up at the stars.

Then Spriggs spoke up. "You know, usually, I'm not into this kind of stuff, but tonight really was wonderful."

"So you weren't crying when Jack froze to death and Rose was stuck on the cabinet, whistling?"

Spriggs blushed. "No, no. I had something in my eye."

"Oh sure."

"Shut up." He laughed and after a while she started laughing as well. "Hey, Willy?"

"Yeah?"

"It's a little cold, may I...come closer?"

"Uhh, sure." She then turned to her side, laid her arm around him and pulled herself closer. He then wrapped his arm around her.

"You know." She started. "I wanted to apologize, back then. But when I turned around, you were already up and screaming bloody murder, waving your gun around. After a while, I gave up trying and gave in. I'll be honest, these past five years were the best years of my life. I was an excellent soldier, and that was my problem. I was constantly looking for a challenge and almost turned against my comrades. So they sent me here. Two years I was stuck on this boring rock. Nothing to do. No challenges to overcome." She looked at Willy. "Then you showed up. An aggressive maniac, who made killing me his life. I didn't want it to end. It was a challenge I never wanted to overcome. I wanted us to fight forever. I don't know what I would do without you."

Willy looked at her. "And I don't know what I would do without you. All this time I've been wanting to kill you, I never thought about what would happen if that day were to actually come. I guess I would...feel lonely."

"So you're not going to try to kill me anymore?"

"I don't know. I'll have to think about it."

"Can I give you something to think about?" She pulled his face towards her's and kissed him. After overcoming the surprise, he kissed her back.

The next day, Triple M walked into Hammer as he did an inventory.

"Hey, Triple M, I heard Spriggs and Willy went on a date last night. Does that mean their done fighting?"

"I don't know. Willy did only do it so he could continue fighting her, but it could be that, during the date, she..."

"SPPPRRRIIIIIIGGS!"

"You were saying?"

M sighed. "Never mind." They walked out and watched as Willy chased Spriggs with his rocket launcher.

Beep Beep

"Oh yeah? Try saying that to my face."

M sighed again. "Yup, some things never change."

R&R