Summary:       A few months later.  Spike's still keeping tabs on the Scoobies.  He's just getting his information from an unlikely source.      

Disclaimer:    Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own everything.  But I wouldn't mind leasing Spike from them for a couple of weeks :)

Feedback:     As always, appreciated.

Seeing spike Through Buffy's Eyes Chapter 5 - A Letter From a Friend

Slayer,

Sorry I haven't written in a couple of weeks.  Things have been hectic around here.  They finished working on the apartment over the bar, so I was able to move out of the rattrap where I was staying.  You should see it.  All black paint and chrome.  Just my style.  I took your suggestion.  Had them place a mirror over the bed.  Although what I need with a mirror, I'm not quite sure. 

I think you'll like New Orleans.  Especially the men.  And I know they'll like you.  When you get out, there's a job waiting for you at Slayers, just like I said before.  Truth be told, I could use you now.  And not as a bouncer, but thanks for the suggestion.  A comely wench behind the bar never hurt business.  Don't know how the clientele will take to a namesake at the taps, but who bloody well cares.  It's my place, my rules. 

Thanks for the Sunnyhell update.  I'm sure it would stop Peaches dead, or undead, in his tracks if he knew you were passing the information to me.  I'm glad the Nibblet's getting along better.  She was right.  Me leaving town was the best thing that could have happened to all of them.  Am sorry I missed the blow-up at the whelp's wedding.  Would have loved to rub that fiasco in his face. 

Ran across Dru and her new beau last week.  Must have latched on to the stupidest fledgling she could find.  She was talking in riddles as usual.  One of these days someone will explain to me why I stayed with the loon as long as I did.  Can't say I don't still love her, somewhere deep down.  I mean, we spent most of our unlives together, but she's nutty as a fruitcake.  I guess I've grown partial to a bit of sanity in my women.  Once she realized I wasn't jealous and I wasn't going to kill her boyfriend, they skipped town. 

So, the prison psychologist still trying to understand your fixation with demons and vampires?  Love to see his face if he met up with one of us in a dark alley.  Might change his tune.  At least for the last few minutes he lived.

Sun's going down.  Better run downstairs to open the bar.  Keep a level head about you.  Play nice with the other inmates.

Spike    

Faith finished reading the letter.  Who woulda thought?  A jailed Slayer and a chipped vampire – friends.  She looked around the walls of her cell and for the first time saw beyond them.  A future, even if it was in a bar in Louisiana, was better than no future at all.  Oh, Angel could always use her at the hotel, but going back to a Slayer's life wasn't something she thought she'd ever be able to do. 

Faith laughed as she thought of the expression on Angel's face when she told him what she WAS going to do.  Or maybe, she'd just disappear.  She hated keeping secrets from Angel.  He was the only person who never gave up on her, but she had made a promise to Spike.  And why she felt she needed to keep a promise to a vampire she'd only met once, and while she was in Buffy's body, she wasn't quite sure. 

Maybe because, like herself, he was trying to change.  Trying to improve who he was and how he lived.  He was as much an outsider in the world as she was.  Yeah, she'd always be indebted to Angel, but she felt a connection to Spike she couldn't explain.  Two semi-reformed murders.  What a pair they would make!  Maybe she should've slept with him when she was in Buffy's body.  She would trade her night with Riley for a night with Spike any day.  B didn't know a good thing when she had it.

Faith grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen from the desk in her cell.

Chip,

Tell me more about the men in New Orleans…  

TBC