A Friend When You Need One.
By James Carmody.
Disclaimer: Buffy, the entire series, and all characters belong to Joss, and him alone, until he decides otherwise- I will not accept a single red cent for this work or any other works of mine in this kind of series, until I establish a contract; which I haven't yet. This is just for fun- enjoy!
Pairing: Willow/Spike platonic friendship (the kind of relationship Willow would go for with Spike)
Summery: Willow finds Spike hurt after a fight with Buffy (who's got troubles of her own) and she helps him out (because she's a kind-hearted young woman)- gentle fic, no sex (promise).
Setting: Sunnydale California; time period: just after "Gone".
Author's Notes: Dedicated to help comfort Picamix in regards to her health- in the hopes she gets better soon- good luck, Picamix! (she loves the Willow/Spike pairing) This is designed to be a kind gift to her, a 'get better soon' kind of thing. (based upon what I heard)
Chapter 1.): Someone in need of my help…
Author's Notes Chapter [beginning]: Willow is Jewish Willow here, Spike has an Anglican background; just to establish some background.
Willow was in a rather sour mood, the kind she tended to want to fight with somebody over- whenever she felt this way, that is… she had had a horrible squabble with Tara over the past few days, and the redhead was upset. Will was taking a walk down the street to cool off, it was a cold night, so she had her jacket on. She also had her hands in her pockets, and her shoulders were kind of scrunched up to hide and to keep warm.
As she passed by a store on a corner, she heard a quiet crying, and the voice was distinctly male "Spike?" Willow thought "Is that him that I hear?" she continued to think, and peeked around to see if he was indeed the one crying- she was concerned. The crying seemed to come from an alleyway near the storefront.
Concerned; Willow peaked around, and to her surprise- she was right. It was indeed Spike who was huddled up into a ball in the back of the alleyway, crying. The sight yanked on Willow's heart- he had clearly been beaten up, there were cuts nearly all over him for instance, and he was bruised., pretty badly, at that. As a hobby, Willow, when she was a little girl, had gotten into her parents' medical textbooks, and studied medicine to play doctor with her friend, Xander. Now these first-aid studies she had done for fun came in extremely handy: although these injuries weren't life-threatening, especially to a vampire like Spike- he was hurt, and she didn't like to see anything hurt- it hurt her that someone had hurt someone else!
For the first time in several days, ironically, Willow felt oddly happy, she didn't know why, she assumed it was because the ability to help someone else would get her out of the rut she had been in since her fight with Tara. Her girlfriend and Willow merely seemed to fight- that seemed like the only interaction they could do these days. If she talked to her parents; they'd tell her something that would only upset her: that her relationship with Tara is based upon lust, and thereby certain to fail. Didn't they understand?! Being with Tara, even in a strictly platonic fashion is the one thing that tended to bring any light into Willow's life! When she had introduced her girlfriend to her dad, there had been a tremendous fight between her and him (Willow and Ira Rosenberg, that is). In as many words, he had told her that she was no longer welcome in his house. Shortly thereafter, she moved in with Buffy.
As Will quickly checked both sides of the street to make sure nobody could see her, she snuck into the alley to tend to Spike. She could see he had been cut, and clearly beaten. But worst of all- his heart was broken; it was undoubtedly someone who he loved that had done this to him!
"Without any doubt, the worst pain here is his hurt feelings." Will thought as she hugged him in the alley "What with the betrayal of love and all." she reasoned, and trying to comfort him with kisses to remove his tears- she was kind of new at this- she asked him "Who did this? Was it Buffy?" she asked, getting angry at her best friend. Willow loved Buffy, but beating someone was extremely offensive to her! And William had clearly been beaten. As angry as Will was, she held him to comfort him, and it seemed to be working. "Come on, we've got to get you inside to tend your wounds." she told him. "No, Love, that is not necessary…" he protested, but these cuts looked distinctly like they'd been made by a box-cutter, and Willow was afraid, afraid that someone would do such a thing!
"She is just being nice, don't refuse the kindness of the Lady." William told himself firmly "Let her tend your wounds, then leave before you do something stupid to your help." was his next self-instructions. "Listen, I've been through worse." he said to her, trying to deflect her worry- ever the proverbial English knight- that was his self-image, especially after meeting Buffy- and now her best friend was tending the wounds that MONSTER had put on him in the first place! Boy was he both confused and mad! This didn't make any sense at all. "Did they get into a fight that I don't know about?" William wondered to himself.
As Willow snuck Spike back to the house at 1630 Revello Drive, she observed that he could clearly walk quite well, but he was still cut up, and his shirt was caked with blood- it seemed his own blood. "Buffy can't know about this, do you understand?" Spike asked her, and told her at the same time. As they reached the doorway, Spike looked apprehensively at her. "You have to come in so I can tend your wounds, Spike." Willow said, and that was the entry-code for him- he could now enter the home.
When they entered the house, William's shirt was gently pulled off of him, with Willow telling him that she had to check his wounds and clean them; however, as she did so, several of the wounds that had bled started to re-bleed, for the clots had attached themselves to his shirt, the bleeding was not serious, but the mere fact that he had been hurt in such a sadistic means enraged her! She proceeded to get a clean washcloth from the bathroom and ran tap water on it to clean his wounds to the best of her ability, and as she gently dabbed his injuries, she probed him with both questions and, quite incidentally, with magic to learn exactly how and who had done this to him.
Willow wasn't frankly concerned with the moral repercussions of using mysticism of this type right now- she was far more concerned with how this fellow had been hurt; and getting justice for him! What she learned shocked her beyond all reason: her best friend had slipped further into darkness than she had ever believed possible! It was indeed Elizabeth {Buffy} Summers who had done this to him!
She knew that her impression was probably being influenced by way of a lie- a mental lie, and a telepathic one at that, but she had to know for certain; so, as Willow fell asleep, she studied a book she had avoided for, well, ever since she had gotten involved with Tara- and Tara wasn't frankly opposed to it, she had grown up with it too: the Book of Esther in the Old Testament. What she was doing was attempting to consult with one of her heroines from history- specifically the history of her people, on how to deal with this situation, and the method of 'smoking out' the real truth and who the culprit really was.
The main reason why Willow had avoided that set of books was that some of the messages in it were upsetting to her, but she couldn't worry about that point right now; there was too much at stake for her to do so! She had just read and re-read the passage in it about where Esther sets her trap for Haman and tells the Persian Emperor of Haman's plot to massacre all of her people. Willow was well aware of the difference in degrees of offense, but she felt that she had to confront this attack on William now, and this offered the best promise of how to do so swiftly and properly. As she fell asleep she plotted and re-plotted to set up the stage for resolving this matter.
Author's Notes End Chapter: This was going to be a "one chapter story" but I just think that it'd be better as at least a two-chapter literary piece. In the next chapter, which will be called "Willow's Trap to Learn the Truth" or, more simply "Willow's Trap", she will discover who did what and how this happened, and it'll likely end rather sadly for the best friends- in a fight.