Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
PART 5
Willow was staring straight ahead, willing the car to go faster. The pain in her stomach had lessened by a fraction, but she was trying to ignore it. "Giles hurry."
"Um, not to say that your concern isn't warranted, but, why are you so worried about Spike... aside from the obvious bond issues, of course?"
Willow didn't know how to answer that. She didn't care for Spike... did she? Not wanting to look too deeply into her reasoning, she said the first thing that came to mind. "It's just the bond. What if he dies while I'm still bound to him?" she asked. That wasn't the answer, and she knew it. She would be upset if Spike died. Would mourn him. When had that happened? In the two years he'd been helping them, she'd gotten to know him... and like him. Just a bit.
Giles pressed harder on the gas pedal at her words, and came to a screeching halt in front of her house a few minutes later. They both jumped out of the car, racing up to the door. Willow had to take the time to unlock it, while Giles pounded on it, and rang the doorbell.
She got it open and ran inside, bumping into a surprised Spike. The two of them went crashing to the floor, landing in a heap at Giles' feet.
Willow winced in pain and rolled off of Spike, kneeling for a few seconds, trying to catch her breath. She saw blood on her hands and turned wide, frightened eyes toward Spike. He was lying on the floor, holding his stomach with one arm, his eyes closed.
"Spike?" She grabbed his arm, and shook him.
Giles leaned down and helped Willow up. "He's unconscious. Do you have some extra blood in the house?"
"I don't know." She started toward the kitchen to check, but Giles stopped her with a calm hand on her arm.
"Wait. Help me move him to the couch first. Are you all right?"
She nodded, and grabbed Spike's right arm. Giles grabbed his other arm, and they lifted him up, dragging him into the living room. They set him down in front of the couch, both of them panting and sweating. After a few minutes of struggling, and weird balancing acts, they finally got him onto the couch. Willow ran to see if there was any extra blood in the fridge. There wasn't.
When she got back to the living room, Giles was lightly tapping Spike's face. Willow had the feeling that he wanted to hit Spike harder, but was afraid of hurting her.
"There's no blood in the kitchen. I can go to Willy's--"
Giles stood up, taking out his car keys. "I'll go. Will you be all right on your own?" He paused at the door, waiting.
Willow smiled at the older man. "I'm fine. Go." He didn't move right away. "Giles, go. He needs to eat."
Giles nodded and left.
Willow went upstairs to get the first aid kit and a wash cloth from the pantry, and then headed back downstairs. In the kitchen, she grabbed a large bowl and filled it with water, carrying it carefully to the living room. She knelt down beside the couch and set the bowl of warm water in front of her. Dropping the cloth in the bowl, she opened the first aid kit, taking out the gauze and tape she'd used on herself earlier.
Taking a steadying breath, Willow slid her hands under the edges of his black t-shirt. The shirt was covered in blood, making it stick to his stomach and the wound underneath. She hesitated to pull it away, thinking it would cause him more pain, but then she realized that she had to do it. So she slowly pulled it up, exposing the wound underneath. A few twinges of dull pain itched along her own abdomen as she lifted it.
She drew in a breath and let it hiss out between her teeth. "Oh, yuck," she whispered to herself. "I don't do well with icky bloody things." Nevertheless, she exposed the rest of his stomach and sat back on her heels, examining the stake induced hole in the vampire's abdomen.
Wringing out the wash cloth, she set to work cleaning the area surrounding the actual wound. Spike didn't move once during her ministrations, which made her worry that maybe he was losing too much blood at once. Vampires could die of blood loss too, couldn't they?
Maybe he wasn't feeling any pain due to the simple fact that she seemed to be getting most of his pain for him. Her stomach was sore, and felt rubbed raw, but it was distant this time, not as painful as it had been at the Magic Box.
The wound was clean and she was pressing the last piece of tape to his flesh, when she felt him wake up.
"It's about time. I thought you were gonna sleep all day." She sighed and looked up at him.
His normally pale face was almost translucent, his cheeks, always pronounced, were now sunken in, giving him a shadowed and sickly look. "You look terrible."
He laughed a bit, but stopped and winced in pain. Holding his stomach, he sat up carefully, watching her clean up the mess of bloody water, and gauze. "Thanks. You're not looking so terrific yourself, you know?" He ran a finger down her cheek. "All those tears for me, love?"
Willow snorted. Now that she was here with him, where she could see him, and help if need be, she felt remarkably better. "Arrogant, aren't you? No. Those were from... something else." He didn't need to know about the particulars of the bond right then and there, did he? Giving him something to use against her, or Buffy, probably wasn't a good idea.
She took the bowl into the kitchen, aware that Spike was following her. She set it in the sink and washed her hands, avoiding the questions she knew he was going to ask. Turning around to face him, she jumped nearly a foot when she found him right behind her.
She rolled her eyes and side-stepped him. "Would you stop doing that?" she complained, sitting at the kitchen table. "Who staked you? Anyone I know?"
Spike joined her at the table, sitting down on the chair across from her. "Xander." He chuckled humorlessly. "Guess he had some issues to deal with."
"What?" Willow exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "Xander staked you? Is he stupid?" Spike opened his mouth to answer and she shot him a look. "Don't answer that. He's not stupid, he's just... he seems to have a problem with vampires. Can't get past that whole maiming and killing thing."
"Yeah," Spike said, sounding distracted, "some people just came seem to get past that."
Silence fell between them, each one caught up in their own thoughts. Giles came into the kitchen a few minutes later, carrying a brown paper bag. He unceremoniously plopped it down in front of Spike.
"Thanks," Spike mumbled, rising to heat up some of the blood.
Giles sat down. "Are you all right now, Willow?" He stopped and frowned when she put a finger to her lips, and shook her head frantically. "Um...?" Completely at a loss, he looked from Willow to Spike, who was leaning against the counter, looking curious.
Willow eyed the blonde vampire. Still curious. Damn. She really didn't want Spike to know the full extent of the bond. If he knew about it at all, Xander would most likely be dead right now... who's to say he wasn't? She spun around, staring at Spike, who simply stared back.
"Where's Xander?" she asked sociably.
Spike grinned and rolled his eyes, managing to look irritated and amused at the same time. "He left. Probably at Buffy's as we speak trying to convince her to let him kill me." His eyes darkened, and she knew he was thinking about how much he depended on them for his own survival. Being an independent creature, it wasn't something that sat well with him.
"Oh. Probably, yeah." She looked down at her hands, unable to look at him anymore without wanting to blurt out that he was sort of free now. Free to hunt and kill her kind. Oy. Bad idea.
Giles shook his head in confusion. "What does Xander have to do with this? And Willow, I'd appreciate it if you let me look at your stomach just to make sure you're all right."
"What's wrong with her stomach?" Spike asked Giles, downing a mug of blood before heating up another one.
Willow sighed and turned to Giles, answering his first question. "Xander was the one that staked Spike. I don't know why," she said, forestalling his questions.
Spike was sipping his second mug of blood slowly. "And your stomach?" He was watching her over the mug as he drank and she had the distinct feeling that he already knew, and was just waiting for her to say it first.
She shrugged and stood up. "Pain's mostly gone." She lifted her shirt a bit, showing Spike and Giles the fading bruises. Only they weren't fading. She frowned, looking down at the mottled skin that completely covered her abdomen.
"Good Lord, Willow," Giles said with a wince. "It's worse than before. And the pain is almost gone?"
Willow nodded, still staring down at her unrecognizable tummy. "Uh-huh. By the looks of this, I should be in some major pain." She looked up when Spike came up beside her. "Do you hurt a lot?"
Spike shook his head. "No. I have a higher tolerance than you do." His hand pressed lightly into her flesh. She hissed in pain and jerked away from him. "Also, that wasn't caused by me getting staked. That's something else altogether."
Willow sat down, lowering her shirt. "Is too. I felt it. It was like... something incredibly sharp was being shoved into my stomach. And I knew you were hurt." She pointed to his hand, which was unmarked. "You burned your hand, and something happened to your chest. Here," she settled her hand over her own chest. "Just above your heart. Um..."
She stood up and turned around, looking down her shirt. Turning back to face them, she lowered the lapel of her shirt just a tiny bit, enough for them to see the bruise there.
Spike sat down across from her again. "Yeah, I burned my hand closing the bloody curtains over the humongous window out there." He hooked a thumb behind him, indicating the living room. "Wasn't a bad burn though. Had worse."
"What happened with Xander? Why did he stake you?" Giles asked the vampire. His voice was almost accusatory, and Willow had to stop herself from griping at him for it.
Spike shrugged, grinning. "He's a bloody moron, what more reason does he need?" Both Willow and Giles glared at him, and he rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair. "All right, all right. He came here looking for Willow, and didn't like seeing me here."
Willow waited for more, but that was all he offered. "That's it? He didn't like finding you here, so he staked you? Why do I get the feeling there's more?"
"He didn't like the way I was dressed either." He grinned at Willow and winked. "I think he was defending your honor, or something equally as heroic as that."
Willow fell silent, hoping against hope that Spike took a hint better than Giles did, and kept quiet about their adventure last night. Her hopes were dashed when Giles' eyes widened, looking from her to Spike, then back again.
"And how exactly were you dressed?" he asked the vampire.
Spike shrugged, letting his eyes roam over Willow. "Who says I was dressed?"
Willow put a hand on Giles' arm, keeping him from jumping up and, by the looks of him, pounding Spike's face into a pulp. "Giles, nothing happened. When will you and Xander learn? He's taunting you."
Giles calmed considerably, but felt the need to threaten Spike anyway. "Understand this, Spike, normally I don't get involved in who the kids choose to be with, but if you even attempt to use this bond to get near Willow or Buffy, I'll kill you."
Willow was watching Spike, noting how tense his jaw was, how narrow his eyes became, and how much her palms were hurting. Raising her hands, she stared down at them. Little half moons of blood dotted the flesh of both palms.
"Giles, enough," she warned him, showing him her hands. "You hurt him, it hurts me... doesn't that kind of make it a moot point? Besides, he didn't kill Xander."
"Of course not. The implant--"
"Gives me his pain. He knew that when Xander came here... didn't you?" She looked toward Spike, who was rubbing a thumb across his palm.
"Yeah, so?" he asked impatiently. "Doesn't mean anything."
"I was there... sort of. I felt the implant go off. I also felt it stop. You could've killed him, but you didn't."
He stopped rubbing his hand long enough to glare at them. "Again... so? Didn't have anything to do with you. Or Buffy."
"Okay. Point being, you can't do it, and you know it. You kill one of us, it'll probably kill me, which might just kill you. Period. So you can't hurt us." She was as much telling Spike as she was explaining it to Giles.
"Right. Exactly. Thanks for the info." Spike stood up and left the room. She heard him go upstairs, and wondered if he'd gone to her room.
"Giles, we're safe. Tell Xander, and, um... could you keep this from Buffy for as long as possible? She has a lot going on right now, what with being newly alive and all. She doesn't need this to worry about too."
Giles considered her request for a few minutes, then nodded. "All right. I'll tell Xander and Anya what's going on and try to get them to keep quiet about it. And yes, I'll tell Xander to stop staking Spike, but once he finds out that you're still linked, he'll back off on his own." He stood up with a sigh and headed out of the kitchen with Willow right behind him. "I'll take Spike with me. Shall I get him, or do you want to?"
Willow wondered how best to tell him what she was about to tell him. She knew he was going to try to talk her out of it... maybe even physically drag Spike out with him. She wasn't sure what he'd do, but she was sure it wasn't going to be pleasant. Like the rest of the day has been, she thought dryly.
"My parents are going to be gone the entire summer. And with the bond being... unpredictable, I thought it might be best if he stayed here. Besides-- protection. Um, against... ooo! Humans too now. Okay, not a great thing, but he can make sure burglars, or... other evil people don't end up killing me in the middle of the night." Willow smiled weakly, knowing how pathetic her argument had sounded.
To her surprise, Giles laughed. "I actually agree with you. For now. When we find out more about this blasted bond, I might change my mind, but by then... who knows?" He tossed a glare up the stairs and patted her shoulder awkwardly. "Good night, Willow."
Willow smiled and walked him to the door. "Night, Giles, and thanks."
She locked the door behind him and was about to turn off the downstairs lights when she saw the big bloody stain on the tile floor. With a groan, she headed back to the kitchen, turning the water on to let it heat up. Mop, bucket and cleaner were all pulled out of the small closet by the back door and readied.
After cleaning the floor and her hands, she headed up to her room. Was Spike up there? Or had he left? Pushing open her bedroom door, she was a little disappointed to find it empty. And why is that? she asked herself. He's a nuisance of a vampire. A jerk. Oh, and evil, let's not forget evil.
He didn't kill Xander when he very easily could have.
No, but he practically forced himself on you last night. Seduced you. Didn't give you a chance to say no. Yeah, right. That was a laugh. She had plenty of time to say no, but didn't. She'd been enjoying herself, enjoying him, and the attention he paid her. Even Tara didn't make her feel like that.
Tara!
She hadn't talked to her in two days. Tara was probably worried sick. Willow sat in her desk chair and dialed her girlfriend's number.
Tara picked up on the fourth ring. "Hello?"
Willow smiled. "Hi, it's me. I'm sorry I didn't call you last night like I promised."
"That's okay." Willow could hear the smile in Tara's voice, that sweet, tender smile she had, that turned up the corners of her mouth, lighting up her whole face. "Did something happen during patrol?"
Willow chuckled ruefully. "Yup, and it's a doozy. Um, see... we were patrolling, and this demon came from out of nowhere, attacking us with magic. And Spike-- do you know what a bond is?"
"Yeah. Oh, Spike didn't get bound to Buffy did he?" Tara asked, sounding worried all of a sudden.
"Um, no," Willow answered, stalling for time.
She could hear Tara's relieved sigh across the phone line. "Oh, good. 'Cause bonds are dangerous. Especially when one of the bound is a vampire. So, what happened then?"
"Uh, the demon, a Litchock demon by the way, took off running, and Spike went after it." She paused, and took a deep breath. "And I was doing this spell, to knock it away from Buffy and Xander? And it ran before I could use the spell. So, I went after it."
"No," Tara whispered.
Willow nodded, even though Tara couldn't see her. She was close to tears, knowing she was about to drop a huge bombshell on Tara and not being able to reassure her about it. Any of it.
"Yeah. I didn't mean it to happen, Tara, it just did, and I figured it would go away, and I wouldn't have to tell you until afterwards. It went away, but it came back again... stronger than before."
She could hear Tara's breathing speed up, until she was almost hyperventilating. "You slept with him?" she asked, accusation and hurt pouring through the four little words. "I can't believe you slept with him," she whispered. "I-- I... um, I have to go... I can't-- I'll call you tomorrow..."
Tara hung up the phone and Willow calmly hung up her end as well. Tears gathered in her eyes, and she swiped at them, trying so hard not to cry, and failing miserably.
She went into the bathroom, and turned on the shower, needing to wash away the pain and the hurt she felt. The betrayal she'd heaped on Tara. The loss she already felt at losing her lover. She turned the water up as hot as she could stand it and undressed. Standing under the spray of steamy water, she felt a little better. She washed away the stress of the day, and dried off quickly. Not bothering to dress or comb her hair, Willow slid naked under the covers and curled up, crying herself to sleep.
Spike pushed open the French doors to Willow's room, and went inside, just beating the sun. He dropped his bag of clothes by the door, and checked to make sure the blanket covered the window completely. Undressing, he wondered why he'd come back.
She probably didn't even want him here. He was pretty amazed that Giles had left her here alone. But he had, there was only the single heartbeat in the house, and the smell of Willow. A clean, and freshly showered Willow. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent of her. Not her blood this time, no, just the pure smell of Willow. It was nice. Not overwhelming like other women got sometimes with their excesses of perfume and lotion and all that other crap they slathered on. No, this was all Willow.
She didn't wear perfume, he knew. Buffy did. She wore just the tiniest hint of Jasmine. Not an unpleasant smell, but it was forever there. Permeating his senses, stirring longings in him. Desire for her. Even when she wasn't around. Every time he smelled Jasmine, he turned, expecting to see her there, but it wasn't always her. Not so with Willow. He always knew when she was around. She was the only woman with that particular scent. It belonged to her, she owned it. It was a nice smell.
Naked, Spike climbed into bed beside Willow, spooning her lightly, not wanting to wake her up and have her kick him out. But almost as soon as he touched her, she rolled over and pressed herself against him. Every inch of her. Another familiar smell assaulted him. He leaned back a bit, tipping her face up to his. She'd been crying. He pressed her head against his chest again, and kissed her hair.
Damn she smelled good.
PART 5
Willow was staring straight ahead, willing the car to go faster. The pain in her stomach had lessened by a fraction, but she was trying to ignore it. "Giles hurry."
"Um, not to say that your concern isn't warranted, but, why are you so worried about Spike... aside from the obvious bond issues, of course?"
Willow didn't know how to answer that. She didn't care for Spike... did she? Not wanting to look too deeply into her reasoning, she said the first thing that came to mind. "It's just the bond. What if he dies while I'm still bound to him?" she asked. That wasn't the answer, and she knew it. She would be upset if Spike died. Would mourn him. When had that happened? In the two years he'd been helping them, she'd gotten to know him... and like him. Just a bit.
Giles pressed harder on the gas pedal at her words, and came to a screeching halt in front of her house a few minutes later. They both jumped out of the car, racing up to the door. Willow had to take the time to unlock it, while Giles pounded on it, and rang the doorbell.
She got it open and ran inside, bumping into a surprised Spike. The two of them went crashing to the floor, landing in a heap at Giles' feet.
Willow winced in pain and rolled off of Spike, kneeling for a few seconds, trying to catch her breath. She saw blood on her hands and turned wide, frightened eyes toward Spike. He was lying on the floor, holding his stomach with one arm, his eyes closed.
"Spike?" She grabbed his arm, and shook him.
Giles leaned down and helped Willow up. "He's unconscious. Do you have some extra blood in the house?"
"I don't know." She started toward the kitchen to check, but Giles stopped her with a calm hand on her arm.
"Wait. Help me move him to the couch first. Are you all right?"
She nodded, and grabbed Spike's right arm. Giles grabbed his other arm, and they lifted him up, dragging him into the living room. They set him down in front of the couch, both of them panting and sweating. After a few minutes of struggling, and weird balancing acts, they finally got him onto the couch. Willow ran to see if there was any extra blood in the fridge. There wasn't.
When she got back to the living room, Giles was lightly tapping Spike's face. Willow had the feeling that he wanted to hit Spike harder, but was afraid of hurting her.
"There's no blood in the kitchen. I can go to Willy's--"
Giles stood up, taking out his car keys. "I'll go. Will you be all right on your own?" He paused at the door, waiting.
Willow smiled at the older man. "I'm fine. Go." He didn't move right away. "Giles, go. He needs to eat."
Giles nodded and left.
Willow went upstairs to get the first aid kit and a wash cloth from the pantry, and then headed back downstairs. In the kitchen, she grabbed a large bowl and filled it with water, carrying it carefully to the living room. She knelt down beside the couch and set the bowl of warm water in front of her. Dropping the cloth in the bowl, she opened the first aid kit, taking out the gauze and tape she'd used on herself earlier.
Taking a steadying breath, Willow slid her hands under the edges of his black t-shirt. The shirt was covered in blood, making it stick to his stomach and the wound underneath. She hesitated to pull it away, thinking it would cause him more pain, but then she realized that she had to do it. So she slowly pulled it up, exposing the wound underneath. A few twinges of dull pain itched along her own abdomen as she lifted it.
She drew in a breath and let it hiss out between her teeth. "Oh, yuck," she whispered to herself. "I don't do well with icky bloody things." Nevertheless, she exposed the rest of his stomach and sat back on her heels, examining the stake induced hole in the vampire's abdomen.
Wringing out the wash cloth, she set to work cleaning the area surrounding the actual wound. Spike didn't move once during her ministrations, which made her worry that maybe he was losing too much blood at once. Vampires could die of blood loss too, couldn't they?
Maybe he wasn't feeling any pain due to the simple fact that she seemed to be getting most of his pain for him. Her stomach was sore, and felt rubbed raw, but it was distant this time, not as painful as it had been at the Magic Box.
The wound was clean and she was pressing the last piece of tape to his flesh, when she felt him wake up.
"It's about time. I thought you were gonna sleep all day." She sighed and looked up at him.
His normally pale face was almost translucent, his cheeks, always pronounced, were now sunken in, giving him a shadowed and sickly look. "You look terrible."
He laughed a bit, but stopped and winced in pain. Holding his stomach, he sat up carefully, watching her clean up the mess of bloody water, and gauze. "Thanks. You're not looking so terrific yourself, you know?" He ran a finger down her cheek. "All those tears for me, love?"
Willow snorted. Now that she was here with him, where she could see him, and help if need be, she felt remarkably better. "Arrogant, aren't you? No. Those were from... something else." He didn't need to know about the particulars of the bond right then and there, did he? Giving him something to use against her, or Buffy, probably wasn't a good idea.
She took the bowl into the kitchen, aware that Spike was following her. She set it in the sink and washed her hands, avoiding the questions she knew he was going to ask. Turning around to face him, she jumped nearly a foot when she found him right behind her.
She rolled her eyes and side-stepped him. "Would you stop doing that?" she complained, sitting at the kitchen table. "Who staked you? Anyone I know?"
Spike joined her at the table, sitting down on the chair across from her. "Xander." He chuckled humorlessly. "Guess he had some issues to deal with."
"What?" Willow exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "Xander staked you? Is he stupid?" Spike opened his mouth to answer and she shot him a look. "Don't answer that. He's not stupid, he's just... he seems to have a problem with vampires. Can't get past that whole maiming and killing thing."
"Yeah," Spike said, sounding distracted, "some people just came seem to get past that."
Silence fell between them, each one caught up in their own thoughts. Giles came into the kitchen a few minutes later, carrying a brown paper bag. He unceremoniously plopped it down in front of Spike.
"Thanks," Spike mumbled, rising to heat up some of the blood.
Giles sat down. "Are you all right now, Willow?" He stopped and frowned when she put a finger to her lips, and shook her head frantically. "Um...?" Completely at a loss, he looked from Willow to Spike, who was leaning against the counter, looking curious.
Willow eyed the blonde vampire. Still curious. Damn. She really didn't want Spike to know the full extent of the bond. If he knew about it at all, Xander would most likely be dead right now... who's to say he wasn't? She spun around, staring at Spike, who simply stared back.
"Where's Xander?" she asked sociably.
Spike grinned and rolled his eyes, managing to look irritated and amused at the same time. "He left. Probably at Buffy's as we speak trying to convince her to let him kill me." His eyes darkened, and she knew he was thinking about how much he depended on them for his own survival. Being an independent creature, it wasn't something that sat well with him.
"Oh. Probably, yeah." She looked down at her hands, unable to look at him anymore without wanting to blurt out that he was sort of free now. Free to hunt and kill her kind. Oy. Bad idea.
Giles shook his head in confusion. "What does Xander have to do with this? And Willow, I'd appreciate it if you let me look at your stomach just to make sure you're all right."
"What's wrong with her stomach?" Spike asked Giles, downing a mug of blood before heating up another one.
Willow sighed and turned to Giles, answering his first question. "Xander was the one that staked Spike. I don't know why," she said, forestalling his questions.
Spike was sipping his second mug of blood slowly. "And your stomach?" He was watching her over the mug as he drank and she had the distinct feeling that he already knew, and was just waiting for her to say it first.
She shrugged and stood up. "Pain's mostly gone." She lifted her shirt a bit, showing Spike and Giles the fading bruises. Only they weren't fading. She frowned, looking down at the mottled skin that completely covered her abdomen.
"Good Lord, Willow," Giles said with a wince. "It's worse than before. And the pain is almost gone?"
Willow nodded, still staring down at her unrecognizable tummy. "Uh-huh. By the looks of this, I should be in some major pain." She looked up when Spike came up beside her. "Do you hurt a lot?"
Spike shook his head. "No. I have a higher tolerance than you do." His hand pressed lightly into her flesh. She hissed in pain and jerked away from him. "Also, that wasn't caused by me getting staked. That's something else altogether."
Willow sat down, lowering her shirt. "Is too. I felt it. It was like... something incredibly sharp was being shoved into my stomach. And I knew you were hurt." She pointed to his hand, which was unmarked. "You burned your hand, and something happened to your chest. Here," she settled her hand over her own chest. "Just above your heart. Um..."
She stood up and turned around, looking down her shirt. Turning back to face them, she lowered the lapel of her shirt just a tiny bit, enough for them to see the bruise there.
Spike sat down across from her again. "Yeah, I burned my hand closing the bloody curtains over the humongous window out there." He hooked a thumb behind him, indicating the living room. "Wasn't a bad burn though. Had worse."
"What happened with Xander? Why did he stake you?" Giles asked the vampire. His voice was almost accusatory, and Willow had to stop herself from griping at him for it.
Spike shrugged, grinning. "He's a bloody moron, what more reason does he need?" Both Willow and Giles glared at him, and he rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair. "All right, all right. He came here looking for Willow, and didn't like seeing me here."
Willow waited for more, but that was all he offered. "That's it? He didn't like finding you here, so he staked you? Why do I get the feeling there's more?"
"He didn't like the way I was dressed either." He grinned at Willow and winked. "I think he was defending your honor, or something equally as heroic as that."
Willow fell silent, hoping against hope that Spike took a hint better than Giles did, and kept quiet about their adventure last night. Her hopes were dashed when Giles' eyes widened, looking from her to Spike, then back again.
"And how exactly were you dressed?" he asked the vampire.
Spike shrugged, letting his eyes roam over Willow. "Who says I was dressed?"
Willow put a hand on Giles' arm, keeping him from jumping up and, by the looks of him, pounding Spike's face into a pulp. "Giles, nothing happened. When will you and Xander learn? He's taunting you."
Giles calmed considerably, but felt the need to threaten Spike anyway. "Understand this, Spike, normally I don't get involved in who the kids choose to be with, but if you even attempt to use this bond to get near Willow or Buffy, I'll kill you."
Willow was watching Spike, noting how tense his jaw was, how narrow his eyes became, and how much her palms were hurting. Raising her hands, she stared down at them. Little half moons of blood dotted the flesh of both palms.
"Giles, enough," she warned him, showing him her hands. "You hurt him, it hurts me... doesn't that kind of make it a moot point? Besides, he didn't kill Xander."
"Of course not. The implant--"
"Gives me his pain. He knew that when Xander came here... didn't you?" She looked toward Spike, who was rubbing a thumb across his palm.
"Yeah, so?" he asked impatiently. "Doesn't mean anything."
"I was there... sort of. I felt the implant go off. I also felt it stop. You could've killed him, but you didn't."
He stopped rubbing his hand long enough to glare at them. "Again... so? Didn't have anything to do with you. Or Buffy."
"Okay. Point being, you can't do it, and you know it. You kill one of us, it'll probably kill me, which might just kill you. Period. So you can't hurt us." She was as much telling Spike as she was explaining it to Giles.
"Right. Exactly. Thanks for the info." Spike stood up and left the room. She heard him go upstairs, and wondered if he'd gone to her room.
"Giles, we're safe. Tell Xander, and, um... could you keep this from Buffy for as long as possible? She has a lot going on right now, what with being newly alive and all. She doesn't need this to worry about too."
Giles considered her request for a few minutes, then nodded. "All right. I'll tell Xander and Anya what's going on and try to get them to keep quiet about it. And yes, I'll tell Xander to stop staking Spike, but once he finds out that you're still linked, he'll back off on his own." He stood up with a sigh and headed out of the kitchen with Willow right behind him. "I'll take Spike with me. Shall I get him, or do you want to?"
Willow wondered how best to tell him what she was about to tell him. She knew he was going to try to talk her out of it... maybe even physically drag Spike out with him. She wasn't sure what he'd do, but she was sure it wasn't going to be pleasant. Like the rest of the day has been, she thought dryly.
"My parents are going to be gone the entire summer. And with the bond being... unpredictable, I thought it might be best if he stayed here. Besides-- protection. Um, against... ooo! Humans too now. Okay, not a great thing, but he can make sure burglars, or... other evil people don't end up killing me in the middle of the night." Willow smiled weakly, knowing how pathetic her argument had sounded.
To her surprise, Giles laughed. "I actually agree with you. For now. When we find out more about this blasted bond, I might change my mind, but by then... who knows?" He tossed a glare up the stairs and patted her shoulder awkwardly. "Good night, Willow."
Willow smiled and walked him to the door. "Night, Giles, and thanks."
She locked the door behind him and was about to turn off the downstairs lights when she saw the big bloody stain on the tile floor. With a groan, she headed back to the kitchen, turning the water on to let it heat up. Mop, bucket and cleaner were all pulled out of the small closet by the back door and readied.
After cleaning the floor and her hands, she headed up to her room. Was Spike up there? Or had he left? Pushing open her bedroom door, she was a little disappointed to find it empty. And why is that? she asked herself. He's a nuisance of a vampire. A jerk. Oh, and evil, let's not forget evil.
He didn't kill Xander when he very easily could have.
No, but he practically forced himself on you last night. Seduced you. Didn't give you a chance to say no. Yeah, right. That was a laugh. She had plenty of time to say no, but didn't. She'd been enjoying herself, enjoying him, and the attention he paid her. Even Tara didn't make her feel like that.
Tara!
She hadn't talked to her in two days. Tara was probably worried sick. Willow sat in her desk chair and dialed her girlfriend's number.
Tara picked up on the fourth ring. "Hello?"
Willow smiled. "Hi, it's me. I'm sorry I didn't call you last night like I promised."
"That's okay." Willow could hear the smile in Tara's voice, that sweet, tender smile she had, that turned up the corners of her mouth, lighting up her whole face. "Did something happen during patrol?"
Willow chuckled ruefully. "Yup, and it's a doozy. Um, see... we were patrolling, and this demon came from out of nowhere, attacking us with magic. And Spike-- do you know what a bond is?"
"Yeah. Oh, Spike didn't get bound to Buffy did he?" Tara asked, sounding worried all of a sudden.
"Um, no," Willow answered, stalling for time.
She could hear Tara's relieved sigh across the phone line. "Oh, good. 'Cause bonds are dangerous. Especially when one of the bound is a vampire. So, what happened then?"
"Uh, the demon, a Litchock demon by the way, took off running, and Spike went after it." She paused, and took a deep breath. "And I was doing this spell, to knock it away from Buffy and Xander? And it ran before I could use the spell. So, I went after it."
"No," Tara whispered.
Willow nodded, even though Tara couldn't see her. She was close to tears, knowing she was about to drop a huge bombshell on Tara and not being able to reassure her about it. Any of it.
"Yeah. I didn't mean it to happen, Tara, it just did, and I figured it would go away, and I wouldn't have to tell you until afterwards. It went away, but it came back again... stronger than before."
She could hear Tara's breathing speed up, until she was almost hyperventilating. "You slept with him?" she asked, accusation and hurt pouring through the four little words. "I can't believe you slept with him," she whispered. "I-- I... um, I have to go... I can't-- I'll call you tomorrow..."
Tara hung up the phone and Willow calmly hung up her end as well. Tears gathered in her eyes, and she swiped at them, trying so hard not to cry, and failing miserably.
She went into the bathroom, and turned on the shower, needing to wash away the pain and the hurt she felt. The betrayal she'd heaped on Tara. The loss she already felt at losing her lover. She turned the water up as hot as she could stand it and undressed. Standing under the spray of steamy water, she felt a little better. She washed away the stress of the day, and dried off quickly. Not bothering to dress or comb her hair, Willow slid naked under the covers and curled up, crying herself to sleep.
Spike pushed open the French doors to Willow's room, and went inside, just beating the sun. He dropped his bag of clothes by the door, and checked to make sure the blanket covered the window completely. Undressing, he wondered why he'd come back.
She probably didn't even want him here. He was pretty amazed that Giles had left her here alone. But he had, there was only the single heartbeat in the house, and the smell of Willow. A clean, and freshly showered Willow. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent of her. Not her blood this time, no, just the pure smell of Willow. It was nice. Not overwhelming like other women got sometimes with their excesses of perfume and lotion and all that other crap they slathered on. No, this was all Willow.
She didn't wear perfume, he knew. Buffy did. She wore just the tiniest hint of Jasmine. Not an unpleasant smell, but it was forever there. Permeating his senses, stirring longings in him. Desire for her. Even when she wasn't around. Every time he smelled Jasmine, he turned, expecting to see her there, but it wasn't always her. Not so with Willow. He always knew when she was around. She was the only woman with that particular scent. It belonged to her, she owned it. It was a nice smell.
Naked, Spike climbed into bed beside Willow, spooning her lightly, not wanting to wake her up and have her kick him out. But almost as soon as he touched her, she rolled over and pressed herself against him. Every inch of her. Another familiar smell assaulted him. He leaned back a bit, tipping her face up to his. She'd been crying. He pressed her head against his chest again, and kissed her hair.
Damn she smelled good.