Destiny Has a Way of Catching Up
Author: Chelsea
Disclaimer: BTVS characters are regretfully not mine.
Rating: PG
Summary: Buffy is still dead, Willow is in Oxford when someone she knows is killed by a vampire.
Spoiler: The Gift, other than that, it's all AU.
Note: Thoughts are in italics
Special Note: A huge 'thank you' to my beta reader Kate. You are awesome.
Willow walked out and closed the door behind her. She looked around and frowned. Growing up in Sunnydale had meant sunshine and warm weather, but this…this was depressing. She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up and over her hair, creating a slight barrier between her head and the rain.
After nearly two years, Willow had grown accustomed to the constant drizzling. The rain no longer bothered her except on days like this when she had woken with a headache. She had debated about taking the day off, but then there were only a couple more weeks before the end of term, and if she wanted to do well…
Surprisingly the light rain and brisk walk had helped to alleviate her headache. By the time she walked into the classroom, that unpleasant incident of the night before had faded into a distant memory. She pulled off her hood and carefully arranged her hair, making sure that no one could see the gash on her forehead. She started to walk toward the back of the classroom but was stopped when a hand grabbed her.
Willow looked down and was surprised to see Brooke, a girl who had never paid her any attention before. "Did you hear?" Even underneath all that make up, the girl was surprisingly pale.
Willow glanced at the seat by the corner in the back row but decided against it. She sighed and sat down next to Brooke. "Hear what?"
"Drake." There was a slight tremor to Brooke's voice. "He was killed last night." At the stunned look from the red head, she continued. "By a vampire."
Willow flinched but she managed to control herself. "There's no such things as vampires."
"He was drained Willow." Brooke choked. She glanced around nervously then added, "Wasn't he with you last night? I remember seeing him walk out with you last night."
Willow frowned. "He…walked me home, but then he left." Her mind was running around in a million different directions. Drake is dead? Drained?
Before Brooke had a chance to say anything else, the door opened. Three men walked in together. Willow recognized the first man as their professor, but the other two? Both men were wearing trench coat and dark slacks, and carried with them a note of authority in their long strides.
She was still pondering when her professor glanced around the room and finally his gaze settled on Willow. "Miss Rosenberg, can you come here please?"
Willow swallowed but stood up and walked to the front of the room.
"Miss Rosenberg, let me introduce you to Inspector Lawson and Inspector Green from Scotland Yard." Her professor looked at the red head, silently asking her what he couldn't do out loud. "The two gentlemen would like to have a few words with you."
"Miss Rosenberg," Inspector Green shook her hand and then added softly, "Perhaps it would be more appropriate if we talk outside. We wouldn't want to interrupt your lecture, Professor."
Willow thought about standing her ground and demanding to know what they want, but instead she nodded slowly then headed back toward the desk that she was sitting on earlier and grabbed her backpack. She ignored Brooke and the curious looks from her other classmates and walked out of the room with the two men.
A few minutes later she found herself sitting across from the two men in a corner table in one of the coffee shops just outside of campus. She noted absently that the place was empty, too early for the many tourists who liked to wander around Oxford. She took a sip of the hot coffee, feeling slightly better.
She looked at the men, both of whom were busily stirring sugar into their coffee. While Inspector Lawson was young, tall, blonde and looked at Willow like she was a criminal, Inspector Green was middle age, short, bald and smiled a lot. I don't need two guesses to know who's playing the good cop and who's playing the bad.
She looked up when she heard the flicker of a lighter and saw that Inspector Lawson had just lit up a cigarette. Willow frowned again, images of another blonde with a cigarette in his hand flashed across her mind. "Would you mind not smoking in front of me?"
Green grabbed the cigarette from Lawson and stubbed it out in the ashtray. "Sorry, nasty habit that boy has. So I take it you don't smoke, Willow? May I call you Willow?" Again the smile was plastered to his face.
Willow nodded her head in consent. "No I don't smoke." She answered briefly.
"So Willow what can you tell us about Drake Spencer?" Green asked.
Willow shrugged. "I really don't know him all that well. You will probably find a lot more if you ask his teammates."
"That's right. He's the captain of the rowing team, isn't he?" Green asked again while Lawson just stared at her. "We heard that the two of you were at a party together last night."
"We were at the same party, but we didn't go there together." Willow glanced at Lawson sharply when he pulled out a mini tape recorder and turned it on. "Am I a suspect?"
"No, of course not. It's just a formality. You were the last person to see him alive, naturally we're hoping that you can provide us with a few leads."
"You were seen leaving the party with him last night. You want to tell us about that?" Lawson asked, glaring at her.
"He left at the same time that I did."
"So where did you two go afterwards?" Lawson again.
"No where. He walked me home."
"He walked you home? Come on Willow, I thought you said you didn't know him that well." Lawson said sarcastically.
"I don't. We were going in the same direction, that's all." Willow was starting to get annoyed, and her voice projected her feelings quite clearly.
"And you normally just go home with someone you didn't know?" Lawson raised one eyebrow at her.
Willow was fast losing her temper. "I did not GO HOME with him. He WALKED me to my place, and I do know him, although not well. He's in my Art History class."
Green intercepted. "Pay no attention to the boy Willow. What time was it when you left?"
"I guess it was a little after nine. I only lived several blocks away, so I guess it was about 9:15 when I saw him last."
Willow glanced at her watch pointedly. "As you can see, I had an early class which I'm missing thanks to you gentlemen."
Instead she just sighed. "I've told you all that I know. He left me by the door and I haven't seen or heard from him again."
"Well, the thing is his death is kind of strange. There was barely a drop of blood in him when he was found. Do you know if Drake was into any satanic rituals?" Lawson said, took out his cigarette and then put it back again.
"I told you, I hardly knew him." Willow ran one hand through her hair, pushing it back. She regretted it immediately when she saw both men staring at her.
"How did you get that nasty wound on your forehead?" Green asked, no longer smiling.
"I fell and hit the corner of a table." The lie came easily. "Look, I'm really tired. Either arrest me or I'm leaving."
The two men glanced at each other. Finally it was Green who spoke. "Thank you for your time Willow, but we would like to ask that you please stay around just in case we need anything else from you."
Willow nodded, stood up and walked out without a backward glance.
Lawson watched her walked down the street, away from campus. He turned back to his partner. "What do you think?"
"Why does all our suspects always look so innocent?" Lawson questioned, finally able to light up his cigarette as he watched the red head disappeared around the corner.
Once inside her apartment, Willow tossed her backpack onto the bed and powered up her laptop. She waited impatiently for it to start. She logged onto the net and searched for the day's headlines. She found the article on Drake and read it. He was found dead in an alley a couple of blocks from her apartment. He was beaten severely, drained, and there were two holes on his neck. Willow swallowed and closed her eyes. God, she thought she had left that part of life behind her, but now…
A little window popped up on her screen and she saw to her surprise that it was Giles on her instant message. She answered.
"How are you Willow?"
"Everyone is fine Will. Dawn is doing really well in school. Xander and Anya are busy preparing for the wedding. You are still coming to that aren't you?"
"Yes. I promised Xander I'll be home this summer. Giles…someone I know was killed last night. It looked like he was killed by a vampire."
Silence. "Is it safe?"
"She's doing great, trains hard, and works well with the group."
A long pause. "Giles, have you heard from Spike?"
A longer pause, "so he's all better?"
"Yes Will. He left a couple days ago."
Willow felt her heart beat at triple the normal rate. "Do you know where he went?"
Silence. "Willow?"
Willow was starting to shake. "Giles, I got to go now. I'll talk to you later."
"Willow?"
"I'm fine. Really, I just have a few things to do."
Goddess Spike, please tell me you didn't do this?
She logged out of her laptop and sighed. She stood up and walked over to the window. No blonde vampire lurking around. She then did something that she hasn't done in two years; she sent out a telepathic message. "Spike, are you out there?"
Spike shot up from the makeshift mattress that he was on and looked around in wonder. "Willow?" His excellent night vision enabled him to search out the warehouse even in darkness, but no, she wasn't there. But he knew it wasn't a dream, he had felt her calling to him just as that day two years ago when she had told him to go get Dawn. He pulled out his cigarettes and lit one up with unsteady fingers. He had missed her, more than he ever thought it was possible to miss anybody. Two years in the life of a vampire is just a blink of the eye, but the past two years has seemed like the longest period of his undead life. Now he was there and she knew it. All of a sudden the frown was replaced by a smile. His Red was finally coming back to him. He had known two years ago when he went to see her that one day she would come back to him. But she had her demons to slay and so had he.
He remembered that last time he had seen her vividly. She had cried over him and seemed reluctant to let him leave, but… their relationship was complicated enough without him trying to look for things that weren't there. There had always been an awareness, but there were always others in the way as well. He wasn't immune to her when he kidnapped her a couple of years ago, but he was head over heels in love with Dru at the time, and she was torn between the wolf and the idiot. Then Dru was gone, the wolf was gone, the idiot had found someone else, and he could feel the sparks ignite, but neither one did anything about it. Instead she had moved on to the blonde witch and he had convinced himself that he was in love with the slayer.
He had worked aggressively that first year for Angel's Investigation. Surprisingly Angel had welcomed him with open arms. Spike didn't understand it, but he wasn't about to question him either. Angel had needed to hear about Buffy, and Spike had obliged. Strangely enough, talking to Angel about Buffy and seeing his reaction to her death had helped him to finally put his ambiguous feelings for the Slayer to rest. Sure, he had loved her, but it wasn't the same kind of love that he had felt for Dru. He finally acknowledged that even had they been together, it would never have lasted a hundred years. But still, not being able to save the Slayer had not sat well with him and he was frustrated and angry, so leaving Sunnydale had seemed to be the only option.
A year later, unknown to everyone else except Angel, he had had the chip removed. He had been chipless for almost a year. Once the chip was removed, he had felt the need to hunt again; he was a demon after all. But strangely enough, living among the humans for the last three years had re-established the kind of bond that he thought was lost forever once he was turned over a century ago. Now there was no longer any desire to kill.
He had spent the next year waiting for Willow to come home, but she never did, not during the holidays, not even when Xander and Anya had gotten engaged. Finally it was Angel who told him that instead of sitting around brooding, he should just go and bring her home. Now he was in England. He had even caught a glimpse of her last night. She knew he was there, and she was coming. He took a seat on a crate and patiently waited.
With her head pressed against the window, Willow sighed. It has been two years, two years since Buffy had died, two years since she had left Sunnydale, six thousand miles away, the width of the Atlantic between them, and yet she hadn't been able to shake the past.
Willow had felt the overwhelming need to run after Buffy had died. For five years she had stood by Buffy and fought the Hellmouth, then Buffy had died, and all of a sudden, nothing seemed to make sense any more. What was she fighting for? Everyday she woke up from a nightmare of watching her friend die over and over again. She had blamed herself for her friend's death, thinking that she should have been there to protect her. Buffy had saved her on numerous occasions, and yet, Willow wasn't there for her when she was going through the biggest fight of her life. Worse still, there was no one for her to turn to for comfort. Dawn had latched onto Giles as her lifeline, and Giles had used Dawn's dependency on him to get over the Slayer's death. He became her father figure, but singularly hers. He was so concerned with Dawn, he had let everyone else to struggle on their own. Xander and Anya had leaned on each other; the two had mourned together, leaving the others alone. Willow had looked to Tara for support, but Tara had not been able to handle the many changes. Her encounter with Glory had left her bitter and confused, and so she had gone back to what was familiar, home. Spike had left for LA straight after the burial, he had told her that he needed to be with family. And so Willow was left to deal on her own. Finally she decided that the only way to end the nightmare was to end her tie to Sunnydale; with a little help from Giles, she had found herself sitting on a plane bounded for Oxford.
Ever since setting foot in England, she had tried to be normal. Desperate to leave the past behind her, she no longer practiced witchcraft and there was no reason for her to research demons and their rituals. Instead she had thrown herself into her academic studies. She spent the last two years doing nothing but study. Her social life was non-existing. She had a handful of friends but no one that she was closed to. She did keep in contact with the Scoobies through emails, but even that had been few and far in between. Now…her past had resurfaced.
Spike, was he back to being a demon? How long had the chip been out? She could still remember the last time they had talked. It was the night before she left for England. He had driven up from LA and just showed up at her doorstep without any notice. Shocked was an understatement as she stood there and stared at him.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He had asked once she had invited him in.
"Tell you?"
"That you were leaving. I had to hear it from the Watcher." There was a note of accusation in his voice.
"Oh, well…I am…leaving that is, tomorrow to be exact." She knew she was babbling again, but she couldn't help it.
"Why?"
She had pushed away from him when the tears were dried. "I'm sorry…crying all over you like that…must be this leaving thing."
"It's just that it's so hard, you know? Her dying? She was supposed to be the strongest, the indestructible one. I kept seeing her jumping off that platform. I could have done something. I should have been there for her."
"She had no choice Spike. You never do when it comes to someone you love." She said quietly. "I'm a witch Spike. I was able wreck havoc with Glory's brains. I should have been able to stop this. I should have been able to get Dawn off that platform before…I shouldn't have asked you go up there. I should have been the one. I could knock Glory across the room, I should have been able to knock that demon doc off the tower. But I didn't go up there because Tara needed me. And now Buffy is dead." Her voice was so low that if he didn't have exceptional hearing, he wouldn't have been able to hear her.
"Damn it Will, stop that."
She continued to mumble. "She said I was her big gun, did you know that? She was depending on me and all I did was stood there and watch her die."
"You can't be sure of that, and I…I will never know if…"
He had put his arm across her shoulder and pulled her back to him. "You know Red, we could all go on forever and blame ourselves for what we could have done. If I weren't so cocky and taken more precaution I could have gotten Dawn away from that demon. Do you think I haven't been blaming myself? But I had the time to reflect and I realized that everything happened for a reason. We can't spend the rest of our lives wondering what could have been."
"I put Tara ahead of Buffy. That's why she died." She had said stubbornly. He had grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.
"That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard. And believe me in the last one hundred twenty plus years I have heard a lot of stupid things. Admit it Will, you sent me up there because you believed that I had a better chance of getting Dawn off that tower than you did. And I let you down."
She had looked at him wide eyed. "Goddess no Spike. You didn't let any one of us down. I'm…" and she started to cry again.
He had let her cry for a while, his own eyes clouding with tears. The two had stayed huddle together, taking comfort from each other. Finally the tears had stopped, and they had wiped away each other's tears, smiling ruefully. "We are a pathetic lot aren't we Red?"
He pulled his cigarettes out and she was about to object to him smoking in her house, but then decided against it. What did it really matter, she was leaving the following day. So instead she said. "Yeah, that we are."
After that, they had spent the whole night just talking. He had told her about his life in LA. She was glad that he had mended the fence with Angel. Then he had told her about England, and she had listened.
Finally he had stood up and pulled her up beside him. "I've got to go. The sun will be up soon." He had looked at her seriously. "I won't be seeing you off at the airport. The sun gets in the way and all."
Willow smiled, the first genuine smile that she had since Glory had found out about Dawn. "I'm glad you came." The words were out before she could think about the wisdom of them. "I mean…I hate to just leave without saying goodbye. I mean…you are…you are part of the Scooby now. You are...you are my friend."
He stared at her and decided to let it slide. He wasn't ready and neither was she. "Will I ever see you again?"
"One day you are going to have to stop running you know." He had told her quietly.
"I'm not running." She had denied vehemently.
"Yes you are, but I'm not going to push that right now. Hell, I'm still running, but I admit to that, and I know one day I will stop." His tone was surprisingly gentle. "Take care Willow, and I will see you again." He promised.
Willow came back to the present and sighed. She hadn't seen him or any of the Scoobies in the last two years. She hadn't been home at all. Last summer she had traveled throughout England, going to everywhere that he had told her about. She had walked down the narrow streets of Bath and heard his voice. She had stood before Stonehenge unimpressed until she remembered what he had said, and sure enough the herd of sheep was just a stone throw away. And then it was like he was standing right next to her, and the mystery and grandeur returned. She had went into the church in Salisbury and seen it through his eyes. She had walked into that little tobacco shop in Strafford just to see that little drawing hanging over the register. She had braved the cold wind of Dover simply because he told her how much he had loved to roam along the white cliffs. She even went into London, browsed through all the Turners at the Tate Gallery and pretended that he was right next to her. She had walked across the Chelsea Bridge to look for the house that he used to live in and had no idea why she bothered. Finally at the end of summer, she had concluded that instead of running away from the past, she had ran to find his past.
Finally she abandoned the window and walked to the other side of the room. She reached toward the end of the bookshelf and pulled out a book that she had packed on impulse. A book that she thought she would never use again. She hesitated briefly, then sighed in resignation. It didn't matter how fast or how far she ran, the past would always have a way of catching up. She flipped through the spell book to find what she was looking for. She pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen out of her backpack and wrote down the ingredients that she would need to perform the spell. She pulled on her jacket and put her wallet inside one of the pockets, grabbed her keys and left.
She was back in an hour. It had taken twice as long as she had hoped. She had spent the first half an hour just trying to lose her tail. As soon as she saw his reflection in the window when she turned the corner, she had known that he was sent there to follow her. It wasn't too difficult to lose him; after all she had lived there for the past two years. She knew every dead end, every alley, and every shop that had a backdoor. And then she had spent a little time wandering just making sure that there was no one else following her before she continued on to her destination. She flashed him a smile when she saw him waiting outside her building as she got back. The man had blushed and walked away. Willow shrugged. It didn't really matter, she was sure that someone else would be dispatched to replace him.
She shrugged out of her jacket and took off her sneakers. She then walked barefoot into the bathroom and ran her herbal bath. The somewhat familiar smell made her smile. Perhaps it was time to stop running. She was a witch; there was no denying it.
She came back into the room and tried to move everything out of the way. She finally decided that her pentacle would have to be much smaller than the desired nine feet in diameter. She then finished casting the circle. After she was satisfied, she faced east and started to chant.
She moved onto her locator spell, trying to find out where Spike was. She wasn't going to wait for him to come to her, especially with the cops watching outside her building. She hoped to be able to find him before the cops did. The spell worked perfectly; she saw him. He was at an abandoned warehouse less than a mile from where she was.
Willow looked at the time, two o'clock. Plenty of time before sundown, so he should be there for a while. She looked outside and saw a man leaning against the storefront window of a bookstore watching her building. Willow shook her head. Did they think so little of her that they thought she wouldn't figure it out?
She slipped outside and closed the door to her apartment, but instead of heading down the stairs, she ran up a flight to the roof. The buildings on her block were all connected, so all she did was hop from one building to the next until she got to the end of the street. From there she climbed down the fire escape and continued on her way without being spotted.
Spike pulled open the door to see her standing there. She hadn't changed in two years. Her hair was still that same vibrant red, except longer, now hanging half way down her back. Her casual sweatshirt and jeans hung on her, her face dominated by those wide green eyes of hers, and she was nervous.
"Willow." He said softly, and Willow shivered. Her heart was beating so fast she thought she was having a heart attack.
Without even knowing what she was doing, her hand came up in its own accord and gently touched his face. "Spike." Then she snapped out of her trance and tried to snatch her hand away, and was surprised to find it trapped beneath one of his. He kept her hand on his face for a moment and then gently kissed the palm of her hand. "I've been waiting for you."
"You heard?"
"I heard." He started to walk back further into the warehouse, and Willow was following him without even knowing it.
"Spike, what are you doing here?"
"I…um…spoke with Giles. He told me about the chip."
"I know." She sat down beside him on one the crates. "How did you…"
Spike smiled at her note of indignation. "He's a thousand year old demon luv. There isn't anything he hasn't seen or known about."
Another smile, "No brat, I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to keep my promise."
"I promised that one day I'll see you again, didn't I?" At her bemused nod, "And since you refused to go home, I guess it meant I have to come and see you."
"Well, let's just say that I got tired of waiting."
Willow felt warm all over in spite of the chill inside the warehouse. But there was something she had to ask. "Spike, a guy I know was killed last night."
He sighed. "He hurt you luv." He said simply, made no attempt to deny it. He knew she didn't agree, but she had to accept him for who he was, demon and all.
"You…you killed him?"
"You were there?"
Willow smiled; remembering the night before. Melissa, one of the few friends that Willow had, was having a twenty-first birthday bash last night. Willow had not wanted to go, but Melissa had begged. She had made a short appearance and decided to slip out after a while. Drake had followed and offered to walk her since they were heading in the same direction. It was only after they were outside and he started to slur that Willow realized he was drunk. Not knowing what to do, she simply picked up her pace. But once they were outside her building, he had insisted on walking her upstairs. Willow lost her temper and told him to go home. That's when Drake had grabbed her and Willow was glad of the karate classes that she had been faithfully going to everyday since her arrival in England. With a quick twist of the wrist, she had brought him down to his knees. Thinking that was the end of it, she had started to walk away when he had pushed her and she fell against the edge of the iron railing. When he made a move to grab her again, she had punched him on the nose and then kicked him to the ground. Without a backward glance, she had let herself into her building and slammed the door behind her. "Well, I…um…sort of gave up witchcraft since coming here, so I thought I needed some other kind of protection."
"I'm glad."
"It doesn't matter Red. I saw. My demon demanded vengeance."
She bit her lip. "Are you killing again?"
"Oh."
"It isn't like that." He sighed and picked up her hand. "I have a lot of respect for her, but I've also came to the conclusion that it was the challenge, the chase that I was after. It wasn't her Willow."
Willow shook her head. "It doesn't really matter; it's all water under the bridge. So you killed Drake because?"
"Dammit Will, you know why." He said. "He hurt you. No one hurts what's mine."
"Don't you ever doubt it."
"What luv?"
"Go home."
"Look Spike, I don't want you to go, but I'm the only lead the cops have to Drake's murder. If they see you with me…"
"I can take care of them."
"I'm not leaving you here." He said stubbornly.
"It's just for two weeks. I promise I won't stay another day longer than it's necessary."
"Compromise Will, I'll leave you alone for the next couple of weeks, but I'm not leaving England."
"No buts, either I stay or I'm taking you with me now." He said seriously.
"I don't think they'll let me leave the country right now."
For the next two weeks Willow lived on in fear but nothing happened. The cops were still watching her, but that's all they did, just watched. Spike had kept his promise and did not contact her in any way, shape or form. Willow read the news everyday, but there were no more vampire killings even though a few people had reported to have been bitten in different parts of England. None of them was able to give a description of the so-called vampire.
She had kept a low profile and refused to answer any questions from her classmates, merely stating that she didn't know anything. On the day of her graduation she caught a glimpse of blonde hair and knew without doubt that he was there. She looked for him afterwards but he was gone. Instead to her annoyance she found Green and Lawson waiting for her.
"Congratulations Willow." Green offered her his hand which she took reluctantly.
"Thank you." She said quietly. She eyed Lawson who was standing there looking bored. "I'm sure you gentlemen didn't come all the way out here just to see me graduate, so?"
"Well Willow, we just wanted to let you know we have found a real suspect for Drake's murder." Green said as he ran a hand through his head, patting down non-existing hair.
"Oh?" Willow felt her heartbeat quickened, but outwardly she was calm.
"Yes, this person has been perpetrating similar activities but without the killing in northern England, so our focus has now shifted to that area." Green said.
"So you think he just passed by here by chance?"
"Yes. That's exactly what we think. Spencer was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Our study on this person has confirmed that he is a classic sociopath. Either he truly believes himself to be a vampire, or he just wanted to see himself in the papers. You won't believe the kind of psychopaths that we have to deal with everyday in our line of work Willow. But he isn't as clever as he thinks; we're on to him and we'll catch him one of these days." Green said confidently, then looked at Willow apologetically. "We know that you've been frustrated by our antics, what with us watching your home and all, but you know it's procedure." He still has doubts about her, but all their investigation on her had come up empty. And with the new lead, well maybe she is just who she says she is.
"Of course." Willow said, not even bothering to hide her sarcasm.
"Well Willow, we just want to come and let you know what's been going on."
"That's very considerate of you two."
"So Willow, what are you going to do now?" Green asked with a fatherly smile.
"Well I've done what I came here to do, so I guess I'm going home." Lawson caught the wistful note in her voice when she said home.
"Good luck Willow." He offered her his hand, and Willow decided that he wasn't all that bad after all.
Willow stepped out of the custom area and searched the room. She didn't have to look far; he was standing there waiting for her. Spike had taken the morning flight while Willow took the afternoon flight. They had agreed to meet up in San Francisco. Willow walked into his embrace; she was finally home.
End