32

Bubble Bubble

As Rose departed for the kitchen, Spike waited for the onslaught a bit anxiously. How in hell was he going to explain things to them? How could he tell them that as a newly turned vampire, and even long after, he thought of Dru as his salvation, and wouldn't have accepted a soul as a gift? That he thought that Drusilla was the one, and that their love was eternal? That in his wildest dreams he'd never imagined how much in love he could be, or how loved, until he met Rose? Wouldn't have believed it if someone had told him that he'd have a family, or how happy they'd make him.

He had become so preoccupied in his musings that he'd almost forgotten the presence of the twins until he felt a tug at his pant's leg.

"Are you going to play with us, daddy?" Alaric asked.

Spike blinked in surprise. He'd thought he was going to be in for another session with the Inquisition. "You don't want to talk, then?" he inquired cautiously.

Ariel shook her head. "You already answered everything," she replied. "Just now, in your head," she added, when he looked a little perplexed.

Spike looked at them and realized that he was off the hook, for now. "Okay," he said in a mock growl. "Who thinks they can take me?"

Giggling, the children shoved at him, and he fell over, making it look like it was from their efforts. Then, they swarmed over him.

&&&&&&&

It was just full dark now, but Drusilla had been here some time, gliding from shadow to dusky shadow. Hiding round and about Wolfram and Hart. She wasn't quite sure what she was waiting for, yet, but the voices had told her that it was the answer to her problem, so there she and Henrietta stood.

&&&&&&

Barry Parish was a janitor at the law firm. Indeed, he had been one nearly all his adult life, and had no ambition to better his situation. It was easy work, and brought in enough to pay the bills if he didn't get extravagant. Pushing a broom suited him, and he couldn't imagine doing anything else. He'd finished with his work for the evening, and was heading out for the bus stop, a car being a luxury he didn't run to. He had little on his mind, except what he was going to nuke for dinner and what was on t.v. for the night. He certainly didn't expect to be accosted by a vampire.

"Just who we were waiting for, isn't it, Henrietta?" Barry looked around to see who she was talking to, but couldn't spot anyone.

"Yes," Drusilla went on. "I think he'll do quite nicely, dear." She waved her fingers in front of his face and caught his eyes with hers. Barry's expression went blank.

"Tell us, cleaning man," Drusilla ordered. "Do you know the one they call Rose? Spike's girlfriend?"

Barry nodded. "Her office is on my floor," he replied tonelessly.

"Very good," Drusilla said approvingly. "I need you to go back in there and fetch me something of hers. Something not too big, or noticeable, but it has to be something that she has handled. Something with her psychic signature on it. Do you think you can do that for us?"

Barry nodded again, zombielike. "Good," Drusilla said. "Now run along and get what I asked for."

Barry headed off in a shuffling walk. It had very little to do with his current mindless state, it was his usual method of locomotion. Come to that, the mindless state was very little out of the ordinary.

&&&&&&

Spike emerged from the children's room where he had been saying his good-nights, Rose already having done her turn. He went into the living room to see the glass doors to the spacious balcony they had open, and Rose standing there, gazing out on the city below.

"You shouldn't be out here, babe," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her protectively. "Not all by yourself, at any rate."

"Not even just out on our balcony?" Rose queried, snuggling back into his arms. "Drusilla can't fly, can she?"

Spike laughed, and kissed her cheek. "No, luv, she can't fly," he assured her. "'Cept maybe in her head. But a really determined vamp could probably climb up the side of the building. And I wouldn't put much of anything past Dru when she's got what's left of her mind set on something." He pulled her back into the refuge of the apartment, and shut the doors.

"Aren't you being just a little overly cautious?" Rose asked. Since he still had his arm around her, she took advantage of his proximity to kiss him.

Spike took what was meant to be a quick peck and made it last a while, lingering over it, savoring the taste of her lips. "I might be," he admitted, when he let Rose come up for air. "But humor me please, sweetheart? I love you too much to be able to stand the thought of something happening to you. Of Dru happening to you." A thought struck him. "I think that's the first time you've even gone out on that balcony. Why the sudden urge for fresh air ? That is, if you want to call the air in L.A. fresh."

"I don't know," Rose replied. "I'm just feeling a little restless, for some reason. Like the walls were closing in on me."

"Touch of cabin fever, I expect," Spike remarked. "Probably comes from having our night out interrupted."

"I don't need to go out to enjoy being with you, love." Rose initiated another kiss, one that was most decidedly not intended to be a quick peck. Without breaking contact, Spike swept her up in his arms and carried her off to the bedroom.

&&&&&

"Here we are," Drusilla announced upon her arrival at the fortune teller's shop. "And here's what you asked for. This is his." She placed the lock of hair on the table. "And this is hers." An expensive gold pen joined the hair.

"This spell," the witch murmured. "Do you want it to act immediately? Or something a little slower and more natural looking?"

"I don't like it," Dru mused. "But I think we ought to go slow. If it happens too fast, they'll suspect right away, and that would ruin my lovely plan. But if it takes a little time, no one might ever guess that it's a spell that made it happen."

The ersatz gypsy set about casting the spell while Drusilla (and Henrietta) watched with interest. When it was finally cast, she looked up at the vampire, not knowing what to expect.

"Of course, you won't be telling anyone about this, will you?" Drusilla asked.

The fortune teller shook her head.

"Good," Dru approved. "I didn't really want to have to kill you. It might cause questions to be asked. Besides." She put her hand over her mouth and gave a delicate belch. "I'm quite full at the moment."

&&&&&&

"You never cease to amaze me, babe," Spike murmured. "It's always so good." He collapsed on top of her, gently. "I could stay here all night, inside you."

"It might make sleeping a little difficult," Rose remarked playfully.

"Who said anything about sleeping?" Spike asked with a wicked grin.

Rose smiled at him lovingly, then received a start. For a brief moment, Spike's face blurred, and appeared to be another face. One nearly as familiar, and almost as dearly loved, although not in the same manner.

Spike felt it, as close as he was, and attuned to her as he was also. "Something wrong, pet?" he asked solicitously.

Rose shook her head, but it was more in confusion than a negative. "I don't know," she admitted. "Just an.., odd feeling. My eyes got all blurry." She felt lower than low, lying to him, but to tell him what she had seen, and whom, just as they had finished making love, would not only not be diplomatic, but she was pretty sure that Spike would be hurt by it.

"Hmm." Spike didn't seem entirely accepting of her explanation, but he didn't question it either. "If your eyes keep going blurry, luv, we may have to take you to an optometrist."

&&&&&&

A conference was called in Angel's office the next morning, but one member of the inner circle was conspicuously absent. "Harmony," Angel said over the intercom. "Where's Lorne?"

There was a crackle and some clicking, as if Harmony was having trouble remembering which button to press, then her voice came back to him. "He called in sick. He's got some sort of bug, and he's feeling so bad he's not sure if he'll be back in for the rest of the week."

Angel sighed. He'd wanted the Pylean to do readings on Spike and Rose first thing today. Now, it seemed like it might be the better part of a week before that could happen.

"We'll pass round the hat and get him a get well gift later," Spike drawled. "Probably ought to let the ladies pick it out. What's the fuss that required the big meeting?"

"One of our janitors was found dead in a garbage dumpster this morning," Angel said. "Vampire bites on his neck."

Spike sat up straight. "You think it's Dru?" he asked. "It's not like she's the only vamp in town."

"Drusilla's in town?" Wesley looked offended. "When were you going to get around to telling the rest of us?"

"Who's Drusilla?" Fred inquired. She looked around, feeling like she was the only one who didn't know.

"Drusilla is a psychic that I drove insane and then turned," Angel muttered, shame-faced. "Then one night, she met a crying, slobbering, broken-hearted poet..,"

"Here now," Spike protested, looking daggers at his grandsire.

"And she turned him." Angel gestured towards the fuming Spike. "They were together for over a hundred years. And now, it seems, she wants Spike back."

Fred looked appalled. Wesley, maybe a trifle bored, since he already knew it all. Gunn looked a little sheepish.

Wesley caught the look on the lawyer's face. "You knew too?" He was starting to sound pissed.

"Met her the other night when Harmony and I had the kids," Gunn mumbled. "I didn't say anything about it because I thought maybe they just wanted to keep it in the family."

"We're family," Fred stated firmly. "You should have told us."

"We should have," Angel admitted. "Maybe I was just kind of hoping that Drusilla would go away on her own."

"And she might," Rose said hopefully. "I mean.., eventually.., when she realizes that she isn't going to get what she wants. Won't she?" The last was said in a small, uncertain little voice.

"'Fraid not, babe," Spike replied, giving her a squeeze. "Once Dru gets something in her head..,"

"She never gives up," Angel finished. "I've got all the usual informants out, trying to get a line on where she's staying, but so far, no luck."

"It always seems to start that way," Wesley remarked. "But we do seem to manage to pull it out."

&&&&&&

Later, Wesley walked into Rose's office to find it in uncharacteristic disarray. "Looking for something, Rose?" he queried.

"My gold pen," Rose muttered. "The one you gave me for Christmas. I always put it away in the desk drawer, but it isn't there."

Wesley was a little surprised, Rose was methodical almost to a fault. But he was not unduly concerned. "With what's been going on lately, you might have just been so preoccupied that you mislaid it," he suggested.

"I wouldn't mislay a gift from a friend," Rose protested. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, disarranging it. "But I don't seem to be able to find it."

"I'm sure it will turn up sooner or later," Wesley soothed. "I hate to ask, Rose, but have you got the quarterly budget done? Accounting wants it turned in today."

"You do not," Rose shot back. "You absolutely love the idea of someone other than you doing it." Then, she broke down and gave him a smile. "Here it is, Wesley. Do you have any more boring administrative chores to waste my time with?"

"Now that you mention it." Wes pulled a hand out from behind his back and laid a stack of papers on her desk. "And don't worry about the pen, Rose. It's just a thing. If it doesn't turn up, I'll get you another."

&&&&&&&

Rose went into Angel's office, feeling an unanticipated tingle of expectation. She wondered at it. It wasn't as though she hadn't been there many times, including just this morning. And all she was doing was delivering a report to him. No big deal. So why did she feel this way?

&&&&&

"Well, I'll take the two of you on a trial basis," Spike allowed. He thought that the two vampires might bear watching at any rate. "But I can't finalize hiring you until you have your final screening, and we can't do that till next week."

"But we'll still get paid, right?" Den asked anxiously.

"Oh, you'll get paid," Spike agreed. He had yet to determine with what coin, though.