Title: Family and Friends 2/4

By: Chen

Disclaimer: All belong to ME (Grr! Argh!), not me.

Archive: Here.

A/N: Takes place a few hours after the last chapter.

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Spike had walked in after taking Tara home and was now sitting on the couch staring at nothing.

"Want to talk, hon?" Charlie threw the dishtowel she had been using to dry the mugs on the sink and made her way into the living room.

He opened his arms and Charlie came over to him, sliding easily into the offered embrace. They had their conversations like that ever since they had gotten rid of the old, brown atrocity and bought the new 'too large for the tiny living room' couch. Spike gave a deep sigh, and that too was part of their ritual. Charlie waited patiently while he tried to find the words that in his opinion, better would convey his feelings and thoughts.

"Who in the bloody hell does that girl think she is?"

Charlie let out a loud laugh that shook her whole body. "And you, a best-selling author. Couldn't you find a more eloquent way of saying that?"

"Oh, Charlie, you know that I can't bloody well control much of anything when it comes to her."

"Yeah. I do know and I was only teasing. It's okay to tease, right?"

Spike looked down at her upturned face and once again thanked the stars for finding this odd girl. His Charlie always knew what to say and never blew smoke up his... "Yes, it's okay to tease." He gave her a peck on the forehead. "I bloody well deserve it."

"Do you have any idea of how many 'bloodies' you have gone through in the last minute?" She settled her head once more on his chest. "It was not the first time you have seen each other since the party." She heard Spike snorting at the memory.

They had bumped into Buffy the very first time he had ventured out after the chipless freak out. The only way she had convinced him of leaving the house had been with an impossible to refute, logical argument that there was no way Buffy would be found at the university on a lecture night. Who would have thunk the Slayer was interested in 19th Century romantic poetry?

"You actually behaved better then, than you did today."

"Perhaps, because 'Hum, hello. Er, goodbye' didn't leave much leeway to act up?"

"Perhaps." Spike had been so shocked to see Buffy he had grabbed Charlie's hand and held on to it for dear unlife. Charlie hadn't been able to use the hand for a couple of days, triggering another 'I'm so awful' guilt trip that took much reassuring that 'no, he wasn't a disgusting, evil thing.'

"But don't you think it's time to get your act together? She isn't going anywhere and neither are you. You are bound to run into each other and it won't do for you to act like children. So she wasn't very nice to you about the book, but you were also pretty harsh with her. It's obvious you two still have feelings for each other." Spike feigned a protest, then remembered who he was talking to and didn't bother. "One of you will grow up eventually and all will be well. Until that happens, it pays to not piss off the Slayer, hon."

"All very wise words, luv. But it doesn't change the fact that just thinking of how callous she was makes my blood boil."

"Self-control. Embrace it. Make it your friend." Her tone of voice was suddenly dead serious. "Now more than never, babe. You know."

Yes, he knew. Finding out he no longer was the helpless, chipped vampire of yore had messed with him good. He had reacted like a git, running away, sure that nothing was left to him, but to go back to his old life. Charlie, soaked to the bone, her face a mask of resolution, had found him and brought him home. He shuddered to think what would have happened if she hadn't been there... If she hadn't been willing to go so far to bring him to his senses...

"Stop thinking about it. You wouldn't have done anything stupid. Make that too stupid, because you worried me sick and *that* was stupid."

"How did you..."

"Know what you were thinking?" Charlie turned around and faced him. "Didn't you know? I'm a powerful witch!" She tickled him, making him laugh. "I know you, William. You know me. It happens with people who are close." She messed his hair with the hand that wasn't pinned under his arm. "And I love you."

"I... love you too, Charlie girl." Spike drew her in a tight hug and felt his heart swell with a warmth that freed him of all the anger and fear that had been building up. He softly whispered into her dark hair, "I love you right up to the moon."

"I love you right up to the moon and back, William." Charlie answered back.

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He was standing in the sun and Charlie was about to scream for him to get into the shade of the nearby tree when she realized he wasn't bursting into flames. No, he was fine and smiling, calling to her. Charlie made her way up the hill, stopping to gather the long skirts in her hands.

"William, what a fright you have given me!" Coming to stand next to him, Charlie noticed how old fashioned his suit was. Come to think of it, so was her long, corseted dress.

"Oh, darling, I just had to come and see it. It's spring again – look at the field covered with blossoms!" He wasn't lying; the field before them was full of vibrant colors. The flowers seemed all to have come to an agreement to open at the same time, for not one was denying the warm sun.

Charlie's eyes filled with tears at so much beauty and she then looked at William.

"Is it not a wondrous sight? You have forgiven me for disappearing, haven't you?" He looked like a boy... so young, with large, pleading blue eyes.

"Don't be foolish, you know quite well I can never be cross with you for very long." They stood there in silence gazing at the field until the sun started to descend behind the far hills. A soft breeze passed them, and Charlie felt her skin prickle. The darkness was starting to cover the field and the flowers, making her whisper to William. "Shall we make our way home? I'm starting to feel cold."

"It will get much colder. Ice and night will come to all your hearts, won't it, Miss Edith? Then we'll dance on all the graves and the pretty boy will forever hold my hand and no one else's."

The dark woman that had materialized out of nothingness was a stranger to Charlie, but William seemed to recognize her and consider her a threat, for he placed himself between the dark lady and Charlie. "Go away and leave us alone. You don't belong here. You are not welcome."

Laughter, coming from the woman, echoed around them. The echoing sound, devoid of any mirth, was instead filled with an unsettling hysteric quality. Charlie knew they were in danger and without thinking, she stepped from behind William and faced the stranger. "You can't take him. He no longer belongs to you."

The lady stopped and looked straight at Charlie and a chill much colder than any remnant of winter made her shudder. "Oh, Miss Edith, she thinks our boy is all in a nice package now! Full of bows and silk papers!" She continued talking to the odd little doll, but Charlie no longer cared to hear what she had to say, and grabbing William's hand, she pulled him away.

When he turned to face her, she saw terror, where before there had been only peace. "You don't belong to me and you don't belong to her, do you understand?" It was so important to make him understand, she had to make him understand. "You belong to yourself, my darling William."

Hearing that, the lady threw the doll aside and shrieked, rapidly advancing towards them in full vamp face, her fangs bared. Charlie tried to stop her, but she was too strong and with one gesture of her hand, had the girl thrown out of the way and heaving for air on the ground.

"It's time you came back to me, my boy. Mumsy missed you. Your family has missed you." William wasn't moving a muscle as the lady approached him and started caressing his cheek. Raising her head, fangs ready, she plunged them into his neck.

"No!" Charlie screamed over and over again.

"Charlie? Luv? Wake up!" Spike was calling to her and as she looked around she saw they had fallen asleep on the couch.

"Are you all right?"

"Oh William, she was horrible! It was all so beautiful and then she came and made it all so terrible! I wish I had killed that bitch!"

He hugged her tightly, trying to calm the tremors that were shaking her body. Truth be told, he was also trying to control his own. He had woken up seconds before Charlie. In his nightmare, Drusilla had been draining him dry. Like the first time. Like the last time.

"She's evil. The dark lady is evil." Charlie had placed her head on the cushion, still holding tight to Spike's hands. It had been only a dream, but fear still stubbornly tugged at the edges of her mind. Fear that something was coming; something bad. This was Sunnydale, she told herself, slipping back into sleep. Something bad was always coming.

Spike lay down beside her and whispered the calming sweet words from long ago, but his mind was in turmoil.

The dark lady. Drusilla. Charlie had the same nightmare he had? No, it couldn't be possible, could it?

What the hell was going on?

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