COMFORT, PART TWO

Author's note: I thought about another short story in the "Comfort" universe. Spike still is rejected by Buffy and her friends a year after Joyce's death. What will Willow do? An AU story set during season five.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, and consequently, I'm not making any money. If I did, Spike would have been treated MUCH better in the series, and in the comics.

"Wills, come on, we're late!" Xander shouted. He held open the door, his dark jacket and matching pants making him look totally out of place with their large size.

Willow checked her hair and slicked one stray piece back with her hand. "I'm coming." She said. The red headed witch checked her black dress in the mirror inside of the closet before going toward her door.

Her dress was not too long and not too short. It was sleeveless and very simply adorned with some pearls her grandmother had given her when she was little.

As Xander shouted for her to hurry again, Willow said more to herself than to him, "Sorry; I've never been to many funerals before…e-except for Mrs. Summers and my goldfish, Tyrone, and that one was in my robe in the bathroom…".

"Don't worry," Xander said. "You look great. But we need to be at Buffy's to pick up her and Dawn and if we're too late there'll be all kinds of badness."

"Xander," Anya's voice popped up from behind him, "I don't understand this custom." Willow and Xander turned to regard the former vengeance demon.

"We buried her, right? And it was uncomfortable," she said, rubbing her arms though it wasn't cold. "I mean, why is it important to visit her gravesite now instead of doing something fun?"

When Willow looked as though she was going to throttle Anya, Xander held his best friend back. "It's sort of honoring the dead," he explained. "You go to their grave and put fresh flowers there as a remembrance."

"But…" Anya protested, totally confused. "We already remember that she's dead, and we remember how we felt a year ago. So…".

"Anya, it's just important," Willow said, a little unkindly. "Let's just get this over with. We're already late, as Xander said."

Anya didn't retort but just followed her boyfriend and Willow. Presently, they reached Buffy's place, where Dawn, Buffy and Giles were. They all wore black, though Buffy's dress had a v neck instead of the straight neck Willow wore and Dawn's had peasant sleeves. Giles's tie was blue instead of Xander's red and black one. Each of the girls had flowers except for Anya.

Willow was looking at her friends but then her eyes strayed to the window as Buffy heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, Tara," Willow heard. Tara came in with her clutch purse and a vest over a white blouse. Her skirt was longer and made from a thin material.

"Hey," Willow greeted. She looked at the daffodils in Tara's hand and commented, "Nice flowers."

"Thanks," the blonde witch said. "Th-they were my mother's favorites, and I thought they'd brighten up the cemetery where Mrs. Summers is."

"A nice gesture," Giles agreed. "Shall we be off?"

Willow was staring out the window. The sun wasn't too bright since it was starting to set. She thought about Spike, and wondered if she should ask if he could meet them at the cemetery. Or, maybe, she thought, she could take her bike and ride over to his crypt to get him. The absurdity of the vampire on the back of her bike made her laugh for a minute.

"Willow, I think this is hardly the appropriate time to be laughing," Giles admonished.

"I…was…" Willow told the others, trying to come up with an appropriate lie.

She still wasn't sure she wanted to tell everyone about her friendship with Spike. Ever since they'd bonded over Joyce's grave and in the vampire's crypt, Willow occasionally checked up on Spike to see how he was, and the vampire did the same. There had been times when he'd even helped her secretly during nightly walks to her house by attacking other demons who might have grabbed her. But, each time she thought about revealing her friendship with the Master Vampire, Willow got cold feet. Spike, for his part, had not brought up the subject—an unusual feat for him—but let her do things in her own time; though, he thought about setting the record straight more and more as their friendship went on.

Knowing her friends were waiting for an answer, Willow said, "Uh, I was…thinking about when Buffy told us about Dawn putting her foot into a cake, and how she stuck it out and got some on Mrs. Summers."

"I did?" Dawn asked. Then, she looked at her older sister and said, "I so did not!"

"You so did!" Buffy rejoined. "I was there; I remember! You were a year old!"

"Well," Xander asked, wanting to get to the gravesite, "who's riding with whom?"

Anya took his arm in her hands and said, "I'm riding with Xander!"

Xander said, "Yeah, I kinda was knowing that you would, Ahn."

"Dawn and I can ride with Giles, if that's okay," Buffy said.

"Well, ladies, you can ride in the Xandermobile," the dark haired boy said as he crossed over to his car and held open the back door.

"B-but, not all of us are here," Willow suddenly found the courage to say.

Giles looked at all of the group and said, "Willow, I think you are mistaken…".

"What about Spike?" She asked.

Dawn put in her two cents. "She's right. I think he should be here!" She said. "He always liked Mom!"

"Oh, good plaaannn! I can just see him now, bringing some more dried up daisies just to get on her good side!" Xander yelled. "He didn't care about her; he only cared about saving his miserable hide!"

Dawn glared at him, while Buffy asked, "What daisies?" She looked at Xander expectantly.

"What. Daisies?" She asked, getting annoyed.

Then, Xander said, "He was bringing daisies to her grave, but then I stopped Deadboy Junior."

Buffy asked slowly, "You what?!"

"It was no big deal…" Xander started to whine as they stood by his open back door.

"You piece of slime!" Dawn yelled. Xander didn't feel the least bit sorry; he had always not liked Spike, and he was, though he didn't dare reveal it, slightly jealous at the way the Summers girls seemed to like him, especially Dawn. Meanwhile, Buffy's sister was ready to hit Xander, but the Slayer held her back.

"Look, Xander," Buffy said, "I appreciate you trying to protect me, but you don't have to do that. Normally, I'm not with the liking of Spike, but he did save us a few times, so, if he wants to visit Mom's grave after we're gone, I have no problem with it." She looked at Willow and added, "Though, I'm not with the wanting him to be here now."

Her eyes told her friend that the subject was closed as she got into the car. Dawn crossed her arms in front of her, her angry face clearly stating how she disagreed with Buffy and Xander's positions on the subject. In a huff, she entered the car. Tara followed, her arm touching Willow's shoulder in a quiet gesture of support, and Willow, frowning, entered the car.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Spike rose as the night beckoned his abandonment of sleep. He yawned a little and saw that he'd slept a little longer than he would have liked.

"Bollocks!" Spike exclaimed, putting his usual clothes on. A minute later, the vampire got in his car and drove toward Buffy's house.

He walked up and knocked on the door. "Pet…Nibblet?" He cried. There was no answer. He repeated his question.

When there was no answer again, the vampire kicked down the door. He walked into Buffy and Dawn's living room and, despite his excellent eyesight, turned on the lamp by the door.

Nothing was disturbed, he noted. Maybe, he reasoned, the Scoobies had gone on patrol. But he saw a stake on the table. Picking it up, Spike also saw something beside it: a book saying my diary.

He flipped it open, hoping that whomever wrote in it might have said where everyone was. Finding the last page, Spike saw an entry in his Nibblet's handwriting.

February 7, 2002: Today is a year since Mom passed away. I still can't believe she's gone. I miss her a lot, but I'm not crazy enough to do what I did last year to bring her back. Buffy and everybody are going to the cemetery to put flowers down. I really don't want to, but Mom is worth remembering and I have to be a big girl and try not to cry…

Spike finished reading the entry and threw the book across the room. "They din't invite me!" He shouted; then he repeated, "They din't invite me!"

He choked back his angry tears, then said to no one, "Thought at least some o' them were my friends! But they don't care about…!" He swallowed, all choked up at even Nibblet's and Willow's callousness. Of course, he could possibly forgive Bit; she was a child and still learning, after all, and Buffy might have told her to be quiet.

But, what had been Willow's excuse?

Spike assaulted the lamp by throwing it to the floor and then sank down beside it. Lowering his head between his knees, he let loose an anguished growl.

"Well, it's a free country, in't?" He said finally, raising his head and standing. "I'll go there myself, and then I'll tell 'em off right and proper!"

He got into his DeSoto and drove to the cemetery.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Can we go home now?" Anya asked as the last of the people with flowers put them down by Joyce's grave. "I'm getting cold."

Xander gave her his jacket. The former vengeance demon smiled briefly, but she still wanted to go home. She was still very upset at having to visit Joyce again, in a sense, and she wanted to snuggle with Xander. During her days with her powers, she had done her work and then gone on to the next job. There was no revisiting clients or the victims of her magic to see once more how they'd turned out. She simply didn't have time for that.

Anya decided to head back to her boyfriend's car. Tara was also getting cold. "I'm gonna get warm," she said to Willow, leaving for Giles' car.

"Buffy, I hate to tell you this, but…" Giles told the Slayer softly.

"I know…demons to fight; vampires to kill, blah, blah, blah," Buffy said, adding, "and a Hell goddess to get rid of." She put her hand on Joyce's tombstone, asking her mother, "wish me luck?" The Chosen One went back toward Giles' car, asking if he would leave early so she could change.

Dawn secretly vowed that she would talk to her sister about Spike. She'd wished that her honorary big brother would do the big, bad thing and just show up, but as everyone at the cemetery said their words or just spent a moment of silence with the deceased, Dawn's face fell when he didn't come.

She walked back to Xander's car, saying sarcastically, "Thanks a lot, Spike! I'm going home!"

Everyone chose their car to ride back in; Buffy in Giles', Anya, Tara and Dawn in Xander's.

Soon, Willow was the only one who stood by the cemetery. "Sweetie?" Tara asked before the door was closed, "aren't you riding with us?"

"I've got room for one more," Xander said.

But, the titian haired witch shook her head. "You guys go on," she said. "I want to say some more to Mrs. Summers."

"Wills, we can wait," Xander said. From Giles' car, Willow heard Buffy say, "Are you sure you want to do this? What about Glory?"

"I've been working on my teleporting," Willow said. "If I see anyone, I'll just pop back." At Tara's worried expression, she said, "Promise!"

Xander sighed as Willow put on her "resolve face". Giles started his engine, saying, "Are you certain?"

At Willow's nod, everyone else left.

"You know, they're right, Red," Willow heard Spike's familiar voice. "'Should be goin' home right now…with your friends." The last word was uttered with barely disguised fury.

"Spike, what are you doing here?" Willow asked.

"Thought I'd soak up the local colour," Spike said sarcastically. "Check out the night life."

He forced himself to sound casual as he asked, "How 'bout you?"

"Me…?" She asked slowly. Willow saw his golden hair moving forward as though he were nodding. Then, she saw him in the moonlight. The girl also saw that he was anything but happy.

"Well…" she faltered, not wanting to say where she'd just been. "I…".

Spike leaned forward, the cigarette he'd just fished out of his pocket between his fingers. He then lit it and took a puff, saying, "Lemme see if I can help you out, Pet…".

He blew out some smoke and eyed her critically. "You went for a night at the Bronze with your date an' it was a posh affair, right?"

Willow shook her head no. "Then, you went to dinner with your sweetheart, yeh?" He suggested, his voice growing softer and surprisingly, more venomous.

"No," Willow said softly, becoming more agitated.

"Then…" the vampire said slowly, "you came here, with your mates, an' din't invite me!"

Willow's face betrayed her guilt, but Spike went on. "I dunno why I din't suss things out before! You din't even want to tell them about us, so why would you want to pu' in a good word for me, right Red?! I thought we were friends; that's wha' you said, wasn't it?"

"Spike…" Willow said, her voice breaking.

"WASN'T IT?!" He cried.

Willow lowered her head, nodding.

His voice soft and full of sadness, Spike asked, "Then, why din't you speak up for me? I know I'm evil, know I'm the last person Buffy an' her mates would spend time with, bu'…this was important, yeh?" He sat down on a rock and looked away. Willow sank down beside him.

For a moment, neither said anything; then, when Spike took a long drag and threw away his cigarette, she said, "You're right. I should have told them, but…I'm still trying to figure us out, even after a year."

Spike looked at her. "Don't rightly believe you," he said slowly.

"I haven't known too many vampires," she said. "You're the first…" then she thought about Angel and said, "well, maybe the second…vampire I'm friends with. I didn't know how to, to deal, I guess. And, as a person who doesn't have many friends, I didn't know how to tell the others. I still don't."

"Well," Spike said after a long moment, "guess I don't know how, either. Not that I have many friends, bu' I know demons, an' they wouldn't be too happy if I said I had lots or even some human friends."

Willow allowed herself a ghost of a smile, glad that she wasn't the only one who was trying to make sense of a very different relationship.

Spike reached out and held her hand; then, he pulled her up as he rose from the rock.

They started to walk when Willow asked, "How long have you been without your parents?"

Spike looked at her, then he said, "Decades, you know that, Red. Why would you ask…?"

"Sorry…just, a feeling. This seems so personal to you," she said, venturing, "a-and not just because it's Buffy's mother."

He was surprised that Willow could be so deep. He thought that he was the only one who saw past all of the group's mental defenses, getting to the heart of the matter, but Willow seemed to know exactly what he was feeling just now, or at least, he reasoned, she had a glimmer of what was bothering him.

But, Spike wasn't quite ready to tell her everything, so he said, "It is." They made a left turn out of the cemetery, toward Willow's house.

"Just…Joyce was a great woman. You know, she always gave me marshmallows in my hot chocolate without me askin'?"

"Really?!" Willow exclaimed. "I didn't know you liked hot chocolate with marshmallows!"

"Yeh," Spike said. "I also liked it whenever she had Buffalo wings for dinner."

"I don't like them," Willow said. "They're too spicy."

"You haven't lived until you've learned to like them," the vampire told her. "Bu' you can always start with mild ones."

Willow brightened for a moment; then, she said, "There's a place not too far from my house. It's a new chicken place, and they serve all kinds of wings. My treat. And...I really am sorry for the way I treated you."

Spike thought a moment, and then decided he could do the big hearted thing and forgive her. Their friendship wasn't perfect, they both knew, and there were many things to work on, but he knew Rome wasn't built in a day, like his mum had been fond of saying, and that the best things took time.

"So...friends, again?" Willow asked timidly. Spike answered by taking her hand.

"Tell me how to get there?" He asked. She gave him directions and they walked toward the restaurant.

THE END