World of Hurt

By

Anessa Ramsey

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Buffy, Season 7 through 'Dirty Girls'; Four years past X-Men (the movie) cause Rogue is 20.

Pairing:  Spike/Rogue

Feedback:  Absolutely!  Good or bad, let me know.  No flames.

Distribution:  Want. Take. Have.  Just drop me a line to let me know where it's going.

Disclaimer:  I own nothing.  Everything Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon.  Everything X-men belongs to Marvel.

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It's a world of hurt

Nothing works

It's a lonely little planet made of dust and dirt

Who'd have thought that in the midst of all this

Something as beautiful as love exists

And when I hold you and you hold me

Heaven doesn't seem like such a mystery

Darling, in a world of hurt

You make me feel so good.

~ 'World of Hurt' by Ilse DeLange

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         Spike sighed, moving around the basement quietly.  He'd been trying to stay out of Buffy's way since the run in with her two nights ago.  Rogue had been pleasant, introducing herself using her real name, letting them know that she knew what Buffy was and that she herself was human.  Xander had been rendered speechless at the fact that a beautiful girl like Rogue wanted to be with the evil undead because she liked him.  He smiled at that thought.  Anything that shut the whelp up was a good thing.

         He couldn't get her off his mind.  She came to him at all hours of the day and night, plaguing his dreams.  Whenever they met he wondered if she was having the same dreams.  They were driving him out of his mind with the need to touch her. 

         He was meeting her tonight and they were going to a new club that had opened up near the outskirts of town.  He'd heard it was more of a rave scene than the Bronze, which catered to the teen crowd who liked music as much as they liked talking.  Apparently at the new club, talking was out of the question.

         He stiffened, jerked from his thoughts by the sound of the basement door opening.  He didn't even have to smell the air to know that it was Buffy coming down the stairs.  The Potentials who weren't in the hospital were resting and Buffy was trying to hold everything together, even as it was coming apart at the seams.

         She sat down next to him on the cot in the same spot Faith had occupied just the day before.  He liked the rogue slayer.  She was a lot like him, and didn't feel the need to be perfect.  He knew she fell into the friend category, even though Buffy had been seething with jealousy when she came upon their little tete-a-tete.

         "She not completely human you know." 

         Spike just nodded, knowing that she was referring to Rogue.  "She's a mutant."

         "You know."

         "Of course I do.  She told me when I told her I was a vampire."

         "Oh."  She looked away.

         "You thought you were telling me something I didn't already know, hoping that she was keeping secrets?  That's rich slayer.  I never asked you to interfere in my personal life.  You don't have that right anymore, seeing as you're not a part of it."

         "I'm just trying to watch out for you Spike.  You're my…" she broke off, not sure what to classify him as. 

         He finished the statement for her.  "Don't call me friend, slayer.  I'm not.  I'm not your love, lover, or friend.  All I am or ever have been to you is a punching bag or sex toy.  Don't try to bring other words into now that I'm all soul having.  I'll never be your friend."

         She sighed.  He was so angry with her.  "But you'll be her friend?  Her lover?  Her love?"

         "She accepts me as I am, no calling me names or requests that I change to be worthy of her.  She takes me as I am.  So yeah, we're friends.  We may become lovers…I don't know yet.  Probably.  Love?  It's possible.  I could easily love her.  She touches me in a way you never did, with soft hands and gentle caresses."  He ignored the way she flinched slightly at his words.  "You honestly thought that all that rough and tumble was going to make me your devoted slave, didn't you.  You thought that I'd put up with the bruises and broken bones like a good little whore without snapping.  And then you're surprised when the toy you've played with so much breaks.  That would be funny if I hadn't been the toy.  Things with Marie, they're different.  I don't know what it is yet, but I want to find out."  He pulled on his plain white t-shirt that contrasted with his black leather pants and the duster he slipped his arms into.

         "You're going out?"

         "The First is trying to kill us all.  So yeah, I'm having fun where and when I can.  Marie and I are going to that new club on the edge of town."

         "Oh."  She turned to go, not sure what to say.  Not sure if there was anything between them left to say at all.  She didn't think there was.  "Have fun," she murmured, scurrying up the steps, slamming the door behind her.  Spike ignored the slight burning sensation in his stomach that he'd come to recognize as guilt.  He left a few minutes later, ignoring the look in Buffy's eyes as he walked out the door to wait for Rogue.

         Rogue watched Logan carefully.  He'd been more protective than usual lately and she was determined to meet Spike.  She glanced at his face and made sure that he was asleep.  Storm was asleep next to him.  Carefully she pulled on her boots and laced them up to her knees.  She grabbed the hotel room key and walked out the door, making sure that it didn't make a noise when it shut.  Logan nudged Storm and both of them sat up.  "Is this the first night she's actually snuck out?"

         "Yeah.  Most nights she just says she's going to the Bronze.  She's back a couple hours later.  There's this guy…"

         "Wait, you never said anything about a guy."

         "She meets him every time."  He was practically growling with anger.

         "Logan, you're jealous."

         He didn't say anything.  "We've got to follow her.  There's enough going on right now as it is.  We don't need her getting in trouble now that we know Magneto is in town."  He was up and out of bed, heading for the door.  She sighed.  There was no stopping him.  She rose to her feet and followed.  If he was going to spy on Rogue, she was going to tag along to make sure that he didn't do anything he'd regret, like piss Rogue off.

         Rogue smiled when she reached the Summers' house.  She was meeting Spike there and she was pleased to see him coming out the front door as she walked up.  He wasn't smiling.  "You okay?" she asked when he walked up and draped his arm around her shoulder. 

         He pulled her close and let his hand fall to her waist.  "Good now."  He kissed her quickly and they walked toward the DeSoto which he'd just gotten up and running again.  They got in and were soon headed for the outskirts of town. 

         "He's good looking," Storm teased with a smile on her face and they followed the classic car at a distance on Scott's motorcycle.  They saw the warehouse in the distance, rising up from the dark land.  Rogue was making her way towards the entrance, her hand gripping Spike's tightly.  The guy at the door looked Spike over carefully then allowed them to pass.  Logan and Storm followed them, and when the guy at the door made to stop them, Logan growled and released his claws.  The guy let them in without another word.  He was too busy peeing his pants. 

         Spike and Rogue lost themselves in the beat, their bodies grinding together with the pulsating music.  Lights blinked and danced around them, making them dizzy.  People were moving wildly, letting their minds drift.  The smell of alcohol and pot filled the air, but they didn't care.  They were just there to dance.  He could feel every inch of her that was pressed against him.  Their hips seemed to fit together perfectly and they rubbed against each other, coming closer and closer until his leg was between hers and her arms were around his neck.  They worshipped each other with their movements until the only part of them that weren't touching were their lips.  Spike remedied that quickly and they were drowning.  Everything that was going on around them seemed to disappear until all that was left was them and the feelings they evoked in each other. 

         Storm watched them from where she stood next to Logan by the bar.  The couple they were watching had been dancing for almost an hour straight.  "She looks like she's having fun."  She watched as they broke their kiss, the music changing again to a very fast pace song.  Rogue and the handsome guy she was with began dancing wildly, laughing as they moved, kissing quickly every so often.  Whoever the guy was could kiss Rogue.  The thought hit her suddenly.  She'd been so excited to see Rogue happy that it hadn't really registered before.  It did now.  "She's touching him."

         Logan nodded.  He hated that this guy, whatever he was, could touch Rogue.  He used to dream about being able to touch her the way that this stranger was.  "Yeah.  Wondered when you'd notice."

         "How?"

         "I don't know.  I haven't figured it out yet, but there's something not right with him.  He smells…different."

         She just raised her eyebrows slightly at his use of the word 'different'.  She was about to suggest they approach Rogue when she noticed that they had disappeared from the dance floor.  They scanned the club, not seeing any sign of the bleach blond hair that the guy dancing with Rogue had.  They walked outside, hoping that she was heading home with him and not in trouble.  A loud shout echoed out into the night from the side of the club and they raced toward the sound, praying that it wasn't Rogue in trouble. 

         As they rounded the corner they came face to face with a group of about ten men and women who were circling around the blond guy with murder on their mind.  Rogue had been pushed out of the way into a pile of cardboard boxes.  Storm and Logan barely got a glimpse of the faces of the people that Spike was currently fighting, but it was enough.  They joined the fray, Logan using his claws to tear into the attackers.  "Helps if you use those things to behead them.  Won't hurt 'em too bad if you don't," he heard Rogue's date say to him as he twisted the head off of one of the women.  Logan watched stunned as the attacker turned to dust right before his eyes.  "Stake through the heart works too."  Logan finally got a good long look at the attackers and saw that their faces weren't human.  "What the hell?" he shouted, ripping his claws through the neck of a woman attacking Storm.  Her powers were useless against them and She had to use hand to hand combat to hold them off until Logan could get to them.  Rogue was doing the same, turning them over to Spike rapidly as he got rid of two more.  Soon they were the only ones left standing and Rogue knew that the time for avoiding her friends was over.  She was going to have to explain everything.

         Well, she would have, if Logan hadn't latched hold of her arm and begun dragging her away from the building, Storm at his side, telling him not to overreact.  Spike was right behind them, not willing to let anything happen to her.   She pulled her arm from Logan's grip and ran back to him.  He placed himself in front of her and stared at Logan defiantly.

         "Kid, you don't want to mess with me.  She's going with us so you should just step aside."

         "'M not a kid.  Pro'lly older than you, mate.  And Rogue's not going anywhere she doesn't want to.  So you and yer chippie here can just sod off," Spike growled, his eyes flashing yellow then back to blue. 

         That little flicker of gold in his eyes caught Storm's attention.  "What are you?"

         "Could ask the same of you, luv.  Your hair doesn't exactly scream normal…not with that beautifully dark skin of yours.  And he's no poster boy for normality either, what with those claws that come out from between his knuckles.  Those must come in handy in a fight.  I'm guessing your mutants, much like Rogue here."  He pulled a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his pants and stuck one in his mouth, lighting it and inhaling quickly with stolen breath.

         Rogue moved up to stand beside him.  "You can trust him Logan.  Really."

         "How can you be sure, Rogue?" Storm asked.

         Rogue nudged Spike not taking her gaze from her friends.  Spike let his game face fall into place then quickly returned to his human one.  "You'll find most people in Sunnyhell aren't exactly normal, or alive."

         "You're one of those things we fought back there."

         "The word you're looking for is 'vampire' mate, and yeah, I am."

         "Vampires don't exist."

         "You might want to tell that to the ten that we fought back there.  They seemed to fall to dust real fast once you decapitated them."

         Storm glanced at Logan and saw that he was having a hard time with this.  Vampires.  And Rogue knew.  "So how come you were fighting them?"

         "Long story, ducks.  I'll tell ya if you want to sit down and hear all about it sometime."

         "How old are you?"

         "Got turned when I was goin' on twenty six.  Spent the past hundred and thirty years as a vamp."

         Storm's eyes widened.  She could just imagine what he'd seen and done in all that time.  "That's why you can touch Rogue.  You're not really alive."

         "Got it in one."

         Logan was really growling now.  "Can we skip all this and get to the part where we leave and Rogue comes with us."

         "Rogue's not going anywhere with you, mate.  She's going to stay right here and we're going to finish our date."  The challenge was issued with a cocky grin from Spike and a glare at Logan from Rogue.  She wasn't going anywhere and he wasn't going to make her.