In the Name of Love
By Tales of Spike
Spoilers: Story started just prior to As You Were and runs through to the end of Hells Bells. From there on the story goes AU, so Normal Again, Entropy etc. haven't happened and won't.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss and his friends own everything and everyone.
Dedication: To everyone that's still reading this far through. Only eight more chapters and an epilogue to go after this one.
Feedback: I'd really like feedback, I get all insecure without it and start to think no one's reading this crap I produce, so bring it on at Sandy.Osborne@blueyonder.co.uk.
Chapter 15
"Yeah, definitely, pervert. It is Quentin Travers isn't it?"
"Yeah, I take it you met him when you met Ronnie?"
"No, not as such, pet. Just second hand reports, none of them exactly glowing… We are talking about the same bloke though… The one I've heard about's supposed to be in his sixties?"
"That's the one. Like I said dirty auld pervert."
"But Ronnie thinks he's just bein' friendly?"
"Mm-hm."
"So how long has this been goin' on for?"
"Must be getting' on fer a year now. Ever since he made her his research assistant. Meb-be a month or two after she came back from America."
Their conversation was halted by the sound of the flat's outer door opening.
"Hi, Ronnie. Ye've got a visitor. Ah'll go stick the kettle on while you two get reacquainted."
Spike stood up to meet the new arrival, bouquet in hand.
She seemed to look him over from the feet up, taking in the new boots, the tight black jeans, the ultramarine silk shirt and leather jacket. She stopped in her tracks, when her eyes travelled up to meet his. "W- W-."
"Will. Yeah, I told your cousin it would be a bit of a shock."
Spike was quite shocked himself. He remembered a tweedy frump with thick black glasses obscuring much of her face. Instead he seemed to be confronted by a fairly pretty young woman, even if her body language intimated that she wasn't brimming with confidence. She wore faded blue jeans, form fitting at the top but flared at the bottom, boots with a small heel and a white peasant style top with pink embroidery. She had been in the process of taking off a blue denim jacket when she recognised her guest and the old glasses had been replaced by a much lighter pair not unlike Giles'. Her hair hung loose in waves and Spike was reminded of Buffy's before she had it cut. "These are for you. I just happened to be over here for a while, and after our last little talk, I thought I'd look you up." Spike did his best to reassure the startled watcher. "I'm doin' a bit of research and I thought you might be able to help… Here, pet, sit down, you look like you've seen a ghost. I'm not that scary, not anymore."
He moved in the direction the other girl had taken, calling out as he went, "Isobel, luv, d'you think you could find a vase for these? I think I've sent your cousin into shock. If she doesn't start speaking again soon, I'm going to have to get her to sit with her head between her knees."
By the time he returned to the living room, the watcher seemed to have recovered somewhat from her surprise. "W-What are you doing here?" Her voice was barely above a whisper and Spike found that he too lowered his voice in reply.
"Take it easy, pet, it's just like I said, I'm doing a little bit of research and I remembered you from when you came to talk about Buffy. I thought you might know something about what I'm looking for and it might save me a bit of legwork. I'm still buying my meals at the butcher's so you don't need to worry on that account. Just relax. I told your cousin we met when you were over in America, so when I was over here I thought I'd look you up. If you act like you're having a panic attack, you're going to get her all worried, and you know I'm harmless." All the while he talked to her, he maintained a steady eye contact. Drusilla may have been able to manipulate people's minds with her eyes, but Spike's eyes had magic of their own. By the time he finished his speech, he knew he had the watcher's trust.
"What is it you need help with? Mr Giles should have been able to get you most information you might require assuming you are continuing to assist the slayer."
"Giles has his uses, but this particular enquiry falls more within your realm of expertise. How much does your cousin know about what you do? Can we speak freely?"
"She doesn't know anything about the Council, just that I work as a researcher."
"Have you eaten tonight, pet?"
"Not yet, we were going to get take-away."
"Right then, pick a restaurant that'll let us in wearing jeans and that we won't need a reservation for and dinner's on me."
She moved over to the phone and pressed a single button, before engaging in a conversation in Italian.
"We have a table for one hour from now. They will send over Isobel's takeaway later. It's a fifteen minute walk so that gives us time to have tea before we leave."
* * * * *
"So, you know the contract I'm talkin' about."
"Oh yes. It came up for auction just after word got out about your incarceration. It went for a fraction of what it would normally raise, but then no-one expected you to escape, and it was widely supposed that you would be killed."
"But do you know who bought it?"
"Of course… I did."
* * * * *
It had taken Buffy most of an evening to read through the letters that Lorne had written on Spike's behalf. Apparently after Spike came round the first time Lorne had adjusted his chains so that he could move his hands more freely, and after that he had been able to spend a lot of the time reading. For a week or so he'd suffered from delusional spells, but these had gradually tailed off, and finally about two weeks after the operation, he'd been ready to fly to England.
The day after the letters arrived, Dawn was just home from school when the florists van arrived. She knew it wasn't anyone's birthday or anything, so it took her a few seconds to work out why the deliveryman was carrying two huge bouquets, but once she saw that one was made up almost entirely from bright scarlet roses she knew who they were from. She rushed to open the door. As she had thought the red roses were for Buffy, and the second bunch, which was made up of mixed white and purple flowers, was for her. She could barely wait until she signed for the delivery to open the card.
Hi pet,
Just a little something to let you know I miss you.
Spike.
She rushed to the kitchen and sorted out the flowers into vases, taking hers up to her room, since Spike had obviously chosen them to match the colour scheme there. Buffy's bouquet had to be split between two vases, as they didn't have a single vase that was big enough on its own. She left them on a table in the living room, tucking the card underneath one of the vases. Hey, and she did it all without dropping anything, spilling anything or cutting herself when she was trimming all the stems. She could barely wait for Buffy to get back from work.
It was mid-evening before Buffy finished work at DMP. Rather than going home, she decided to take a quick circuit round the cemeteries. If she did it now, she could spend the rest of the night at home with Dawn when she did get there. It wasn't quite dark yet, but the sun had slid down past the horizon so she figured she was just as likely to run into vamps now as later.
She was just over halfway round her patrol route when she came to the cemetery where Spike had his crypt. Vampires or any other nasties had been so few and far between as to be non-existent, and she was beginning to wonder if she was going to have to do a later patrol anyway. As she stood outside his home she noticed the blast marks on the door. She knew that if he hadn't warned her to stay away she would have gone in and sat on his sofa or lain on his bed. She would have spent a few minutes just to absorb what she could of his essence.
He'd been there for so long despite her efforts to make him go, that it had never occurred to her that she could possibly miss him now he was gone. She'd never suspected that she would feel incomplete without him. She couldn't believe she had become so used to him acting as back-up on patrol that fighting without him seemed strange. Even when he wasn't supposed to be there he seemed to show up whenever she was outnumbered, or outclassed or in danger of being hurt. She missed the way she'd been able to talk to him when she first came back, or even just sit together in silence. She hoped that when he came back they'd manage to reclaim that ease they'd once had.
She was so preoccupied with her thoughts she didn't notice the demon coming up behind her until he'd almost drawn level with her. She pulled her stake from her pocket and spun to face her opponent.
"Clem. It is Clem, right?"
"Hey, Buffy."
"Whatcha doin' round here?"
"Just thought I'd see if he was back. He's been gone a few weeks now."
"Nah, still busy places that aren't here. Don't think he's even on this continent any more, if all's goin' to plan."
"You've heard from him then, how's he doin'?"
"Don't tell anyone, but he got his chip out… Which way ya headed?"
Clem pointed back the way he'd come. Buffy decided that seemed like as good a direction as any for her to patrol in. She strolled in that general direction and Clem ambled alongside.
"He'll be pleased."
"What makes you say that."
"Well, he never thought you would trust him unless he could prove it was his choice not the chip."
"So you think that's why he had it done?"
"It's why he wanted it."
"So the whole cult of assassins some of whom are human, didn't have anything to do with it."
"Not when he first mentioned it to me."
"So you talk about all this stuff when you're playing poker?"
"Nah, sometimes we get a drink afterwards or sometimes I come over if there's something good on TV."
"So would you say you know him pretty well?"
Clem shrugged. The mismatched pair continued their conversation as they headed back towards Clem's home.
By the time she finally arrived home, she was tired and she was even prepared to admit she was missing him. She decided to forego the pleasure of cooking. She called up to Dawn as she took off her coat. "Hey, Dawn, what type of takeout d'ya." She paused as Dawn came barrelling down the stairs at full speed. "Want tonight? If I knew you were that hungry I'da picked something up on the way home."
"Not hungry." Dawn covered her sister's eyes before steering her through to the living room and flicking the light switch. "Surprise!" She removed her hand letting her sister see the flowers on the table. "The card's underneath the vase. Open it."
Buffy moved forward as if in a dream and pulled the card out.
Hello Love,
I know I shouldn't have, but it's the only money I've got and I couldn't resist spoiling you just a bit. I'll make it up to you when I get home.
I love you
Spike
"What's he say?"
Buffy smiled, hiding the card from her sister. "Hey! Personal… Did you sort out all the vases and stuff?"
"Mm-hm. And I did mine, come see, I've got them up in my room." She towed Buffy up the stairs behind her. "Anya called. He sent a bunch to her at the Magic Box too. Yellow roses. Yellow roses are for friendship, right? Anya said that all the different flowers used to have different meanings and people would know them, but it was sort of a Victorian thing and it died out, but her and Spike are both old enough to remember. Mm… Chinese, I think, and look aren't they gorgeous."
"Thanks, Dawn. They're lovely and it's really nice that everything was all fixed when I got in."
"No problem."
'And thank you, too, Spike, wherever you are and however you paid for them.' Just when she'd been feeling lost without him, he'd sent something to show he cared and he was still thinking about them. Not to mention making Dawn this happy.
"Why don't you get creative with a menu and a telephone. I'm going to go sit in the living room for a while." She picked the coat up off of Dawn's bed as she left the room. When she got downstairs she sat on the couch with her knees up and the coat draped over her like a blanket, just looking at the flowers he'd sent.
She stayed that way till she had to get up to pay the deliveryman for the food.
End of chapter 15