Disclaimer: Not mine, all Joss's because he's mean and wont share his toys
– just lets me borrow them from time to time!
A/N: Well it looks like there is enough interest in this story for me to keep writing it. Hopefully you won't be disappointed.
Chapter 2: School hero
Spike had begged, pleaded, even tried to bribe his mum into letting him stay off school today. Normally he didn't kick up such a fuss, school was school – you show up, attend the occasional class, hang out with your friends, wind up Snyder. Not much to it really. The only problem this particular Monday morning was that by now everyone would have seen the morning paper – 'LOCAL BAD BOY TURNS HERO!' Just thinking about it made him nauseous. Somehow local reporter Cordelia Chase had managed to dig up his whole life story and turn it into print in a story fit for prime time television, ending with his heroic rescue of a drowning damsel in distress. She made it sound like some kind of fairy story. That's why he was dreading school!
As he tried to sneak into school quietly he heard at least five warbling renditions of Bonnie Tyler's 'Hero', and probably just as many Chad Kroeger impersonations. He really wished that these people would A) learn to sing and B) learn to sing something good! By the time he reached his locker he had to check to see if his ears were bleeding.
"Hey hero!"
Spike groaned and banged his head on his locker door before closing it to see the grinning face of his best friend. "Quiet Whelp!" He grumbled at the snickering Xander. To look at them, you wouldn't picture them as friends. One was lean, athletic, dressed head to toe in black with a shock of bleached hair. Blue eyes one could get lost in, sculpted cheekbones, a smirk to die for and the scarred left eyebrow (that incidentally no one knew the cause of) to add that irresistible hint of danger. Had he paid attention he would have noticed that he usually had a string of girls desperate to be the one hanging off his arm. The other was slightly taller and of broader build, usually with a bag of chips in his hand. An unruly mop of brunette hair on his head, a cheeky little boy grin and usually wearing whatever he picked up off his floor that morning. He had his own charm that unfortunately few seemed to notice. Together they were a study in opposites.
"What?" Xander asked, the grin never leaving his face. "I'm just saying what everyone else is!"
"Well don't say it!" Spike insisted, pulling Xander along with him through the crowded halls towards homeroom. "I've had enough of people saying it."
"Your one strange man you know that Spike?" Xander shook his head as they took their seats next to each other "Most people would be loving the attention and adoring public! But not you – you go all moody."
"Forgive me if I like my privacy." Spike muttered, "Hell if I'd known it was going to do this much damage to my reputation I'd never have done it in the first place!"
"Now I know you're lying!"
Spike looked up to see his other best friend walk through the door and take her seat on the other side of him. "Shut up Red." He grumbled. She just giggled at him.
"Come on Spike, you know you can't resist a damsel in distress!" Willow teased.
"I can." Spike protested.
"Oh really?" Willow asked, rolling her eyes at him. "So it wasn't you who knocked Larry out for pinching my ass?"
"It wasn't like that!" Spike insisted, looking round furtively to make sure no one else could hear this.
"And you didn't threaten to beat Oz to a bloody pulp if he ever laid a finger on me without your permission?" Willow added. Xander raised an eyebrow at Spike who was turning every shade of red imaginable.
"He wasn't s'posed to tell you about that!" He mumbled quietly.
"Face it man," Xander said, laughing at his friend's embarrassment. "You're a knight in black leather armour!"
...
Spike breathed a sigh of relief as he set his tray down in the canteen between Xander and Willow who was seated in Oz's lap. All morning he'd had to put up alternately with people praising him or teasing him. Of course those who dared to tease him were quickly scared off. Especially the ditzy bint Harmony. She'd never gotten over his refusal to ask her out just after he'd arrived in Sunnydale, and so now took every opportunity to try and put him and his friends down. He also suspected that she'd been the one to tattle on him a few times – he knew for a fact it was her who'd spotted him sneaking the hosepipe through Snyder's office window that time! All he did this time was threaten to nail her puppy to a tree and she'd run off crying. He shook his head as he remembered. She'd actually believed he'd do it as well! He knew he wouldn't, he wasn't a monster!
"Hey man." Oz greeted, wisely keeping any 'hero' comments he might have had to himself. It wasn't too much of a surprise really. Oz rarely said anything at the best of times.
Spike glared at him. "What's with telling Red that I threatened to beat the crap out of you?" He asked, remembering homeroom.
"Sorry." Oz said simply. Unfortunately Oz's 'sorry' voice and his 'sarcastic' voice sounded very much like his regular voice so Spike couldn't tell which it was. He decided to let it go for now.
"Forget it." He grumbled and began pushing his lunch around his tray. Was this actually food?
"So you got interviewed by Cordelia Chase?" Asked Xander at length. As much as they all tried to make conversation about other topics, their friend's antics over the weekend were just too interesting to let go of. "That must have been cool!"
Spike shook his head. "Never spoke to her. She made up that pretty story all on her own." He told them, just a hint of anger showing in his voice. If he had had any input the story wouldn't have sounded half as tragically romantic. He stabbed angrily at his food. If he ever did meet Cordelia Chase he'd rip her head off for making him sound like such a nancy boy!
"Shame." Said Xander, oblivious to Spikes ire. "She's pretty hot!"
"You know her?" Spike asked with mild interest. She may have been on his shit list now, but she was still considered a celebrity.
"Oh yeah." Xander beamed. "We used to be like peas in a pod. She had quite the crush on me!"
If Spike had had any inclination to believe Xander he would have lost it the moment Willow started laughing. "In your dreams Xander!" She said between giggles. "She wouldn't even look at you!"
"But I did know her." Xander sulked.
"What's the real story Red?" Spike asked, pleased that he wasn't the only one suffering embarrassment today.
"She was a couple of years ahead of us." Willow told him when she was calm enough to speak "Xander used to follow her around like a little puppy dog. He was so love sick!"
Spike started to laugh along with Willow, and even Oz cracked a smile. They only laughed harder when Xander threw a bread roll at Spike's head in protest. There had been a time when Spike couldn't have imagined himself doing something as innocent as laughing with friends. Back in London he'd been part of a less than reputable gang causing mindless mayhem through some misguided need to rebel against anyone and everyone. When his mother had put him in boarding school in an attempt to curb his wilder tendencies he hadn't been able to fit in with the upper class elites he had met there and had acted out through boredom and isolation. They'd thought he'd had a problem with authority – really he just had impulse control problems and he got bored so quickly. Rupert was certain he had some form of ADHD.
But when Spike had come to Sunnydale he'd been surprised to find a group of friends who had accepted him as he was, an outsider like them! True he still got into trouble frequently, too frequently for his mother's liking, but even she had to admit that over the last two years his friends seemed to have curbed his more destructive side, and he never dragged them into whatever trouble he happened to be causing at the time.
"So what was the girl like?" Willow asked when they could all breathe again, the laughter having eventually died down.
Spike leaned back in his chair and thought about 'Jane'. He hated calling her that, it just didn't seem fitting. "She was pretty." He said at last.
"And?" prodded Xander. "We already knew that, it said so in the paper. What was she like as a person."
Spike shrugged. "Dunno. She didn't speak. She was only conscious for a minute. They don't even know her name yet..." He trailed off, a strange frown on his face and a faraway look in his eyes. When he was silent for a long time, Willow waved her hand in front of his face, getting no reaction.
"Guess she really was pretty!"
...
Spike was startled to find the hospital corridor in uproar as he approached 'Jane's' room that afternoon. He could hear muffled cries and nurses seemed to be running in and out every five seconds. Getting closer, he strained to hear what was going on.
"...just woke up..."
"...went crazy..."
"...won't settle..."
"...gave Marty a black eye..."
"...trying to get away..."
"...no one's going to hurt..."
Poking his head round the door, he saw the petite girl struggling with two orderlies while a nurse – the same one Spike had seen the other day - tried to inject her, a sedative probably. The curious thing was that despite her struggles she wasn't making a single noise save for the occasional quiet whimper when her fighting caused her to hurt herself. Curious as he was to find out what was going on, he was about to leave and let the staff get on with their jobs when the girl suddenly spun around in her fighting and her eyes locked with his. He saw fear and panic...and relief in those hazel orbs. As franticly as she had been struggling before, he was still now, holding his gaze.
Wondering what had caused this sudden change in behaviour the nurse turned to see what had caught the girl's attention. Seeing Spike she waved him in and gestured for the orderlies to let her go. They did so reluctantly. As Spike moved further into the room the girl's eyes never left his, she didn't even blink.
"How did you do that?" The nurse asked in an awed whisper. "She's been frantic ever since she woke up. You appear and she's calm!"
Spike shook his head, keeping eye contact even as he answered. "I've no idea!" He told the nurse quietly.
"Well I'm glad you're here if this is the result." She said. "Are you sure you don't know her?"
"Never seen her before in my life." Spike asserted. "I think I'd remember that face." He added with a smile.
The most startling thing happened then. The girl smiled back, and Spike saw the sun.
A/N: I know not a lot happened but I wanted to put in a little of Spike's background in. This is not going to be a high school story, I just needed a setting. Hopefully you're still with me. Please let me know what you think. Love you all!
A/N: Well it looks like there is enough interest in this story for me to keep writing it. Hopefully you won't be disappointed.
Chapter 2: School hero
Spike had begged, pleaded, even tried to bribe his mum into letting him stay off school today. Normally he didn't kick up such a fuss, school was school – you show up, attend the occasional class, hang out with your friends, wind up Snyder. Not much to it really. The only problem this particular Monday morning was that by now everyone would have seen the morning paper – 'LOCAL BAD BOY TURNS HERO!' Just thinking about it made him nauseous. Somehow local reporter Cordelia Chase had managed to dig up his whole life story and turn it into print in a story fit for prime time television, ending with his heroic rescue of a drowning damsel in distress. She made it sound like some kind of fairy story. That's why he was dreading school!
As he tried to sneak into school quietly he heard at least five warbling renditions of Bonnie Tyler's 'Hero', and probably just as many Chad Kroeger impersonations. He really wished that these people would A) learn to sing and B) learn to sing something good! By the time he reached his locker he had to check to see if his ears were bleeding.
"Hey hero!"
Spike groaned and banged his head on his locker door before closing it to see the grinning face of his best friend. "Quiet Whelp!" He grumbled at the snickering Xander. To look at them, you wouldn't picture them as friends. One was lean, athletic, dressed head to toe in black with a shock of bleached hair. Blue eyes one could get lost in, sculpted cheekbones, a smirk to die for and the scarred left eyebrow (that incidentally no one knew the cause of) to add that irresistible hint of danger. Had he paid attention he would have noticed that he usually had a string of girls desperate to be the one hanging off his arm. The other was slightly taller and of broader build, usually with a bag of chips in his hand. An unruly mop of brunette hair on his head, a cheeky little boy grin and usually wearing whatever he picked up off his floor that morning. He had his own charm that unfortunately few seemed to notice. Together they were a study in opposites.
"What?" Xander asked, the grin never leaving his face. "I'm just saying what everyone else is!"
"Well don't say it!" Spike insisted, pulling Xander along with him through the crowded halls towards homeroom. "I've had enough of people saying it."
"Your one strange man you know that Spike?" Xander shook his head as they took their seats next to each other "Most people would be loving the attention and adoring public! But not you – you go all moody."
"Forgive me if I like my privacy." Spike muttered, "Hell if I'd known it was going to do this much damage to my reputation I'd never have done it in the first place!"
"Now I know you're lying!"
Spike looked up to see his other best friend walk through the door and take her seat on the other side of him. "Shut up Red." He grumbled. She just giggled at him.
"Come on Spike, you know you can't resist a damsel in distress!" Willow teased.
"I can." Spike protested.
"Oh really?" Willow asked, rolling her eyes at him. "So it wasn't you who knocked Larry out for pinching my ass?"
"It wasn't like that!" Spike insisted, looking round furtively to make sure no one else could hear this.
"And you didn't threaten to beat Oz to a bloody pulp if he ever laid a finger on me without your permission?" Willow added. Xander raised an eyebrow at Spike who was turning every shade of red imaginable.
"He wasn't s'posed to tell you about that!" He mumbled quietly.
"Face it man," Xander said, laughing at his friend's embarrassment. "You're a knight in black leather armour!"
...
Spike breathed a sigh of relief as he set his tray down in the canteen between Xander and Willow who was seated in Oz's lap. All morning he'd had to put up alternately with people praising him or teasing him. Of course those who dared to tease him were quickly scared off. Especially the ditzy bint Harmony. She'd never gotten over his refusal to ask her out just after he'd arrived in Sunnydale, and so now took every opportunity to try and put him and his friends down. He also suspected that she'd been the one to tattle on him a few times – he knew for a fact it was her who'd spotted him sneaking the hosepipe through Snyder's office window that time! All he did this time was threaten to nail her puppy to a tree and she'd run off crying. He shook his head as he remembered. She'd actually believed he'd do it as well! He knew he wouldn't, he wasn't a monster!
"Hey man." Oz greeted, wisely keeping any 'hero' comments he might have had to himself. It wasn't too much of a surprise really. Oz rarely said anything at the best of times.
Spike glared at him. "What's with telling Red that I threatened to beat the crap out of you?" He asked, remembering homeroom.
"Sorry." Oz said simply. Unfortunately Oz's 'sorry' voice and his 'sarcastic' voice sounded very much like his regular voice so Spike couldn't tell which it was. He decided to let it go for now.
"Forget it." He grumbled and began pushing his lunch around his tray. Was this actually food?
"So you got interviewed by Cordelia Chase?" Asked Xander at length. As much as they all tried to make conversation about other topics, their friend's antics over the weekend were just too interesting to let go of. "That must have been cool!"
Spike shook his head. "Never spoke to her. She made up that pretty story all on her own." He told them, just a hint of anger showing in his voice. If he had had any input the story wouldn't have sounded half as tragically romantic. He stabbed angrily at his food. If he ever did meet Cordelia Chase he'd rip her head off for making him sound like such a nancy boy!
"Shame." Said Xander, oblivious to Spikes ire. "She's pretty hot!"
"You know her?" Spike asked with mild interest. She may have been on his shit list now, but she was still considered a celebrity.
"Oh yeah." Xander beamed. "We used to be like peas in a pod. She had quite the crush on me!"
If Spike had had any inclination to believe Xander he would have lost it the moment Willow started laughing. "In your dreams Xander!" She said between giggles. "She wouldn't even look at you!"
"But I did know her." Xander sulked.
"What's the real story Red?" Spike asked, pleased that he wasn't the only one suffering embarrassment today.
"She was a couple of years ahead of us." Willow told him when she was calm enough to speak "Xander used to follow her around like a little puppy dog. He was so love sick!"
Spike started to laugh along with Willow, and even Oz cracked a smile. They only laughed harder when Xander threw a bread roll at Spike's head in protest. There had been a time when Spike couldn't have imagined himself doing something as innocent as laughing with friends. Back in London he'd been part of a less than reputable gang causing mindless mayhem through some misguided need to rebel against anyone and everyone. When his mother had put him in boarding school in an attempt to curb his wilder tendencies he hadn't been able to fit in with the upper class elites he had met there and had acted out through boredom and isolation. They'd thought he'd had a problem with authority – really he just had impulse control problems and he got bored so quickly. Rupert was certain he had some form of ADHD.
But when Spike had come to Sunnydale he'd been surprised to find a group of friends who had accepted him as he was, an outsider like them! True he still got into trouble frequently, too frequently for his mother's liking, but even she had to admit that over the last two years his friends seemed to have curbed his more destructive side, and he never dragged them into whatever trouble he happened to be causing at the time.
"So what was the girl like?" Willow asked when they could all breathe again, the laughter having eventually died down.
Spike leaned back in his chair and thought about 'Jane'. He hated calling her that, it just didn't seem fitting. "She was pretty." He said at last.
"And?" prodded Xander. "We already knew that, it said so in the paper. What was she like as a person."
Spike shrugged. "Dunno. She didn't speak. She was only conscious for a minute. They don't even know her name yet..." He trailed off, a strange frown on his face and a faraway look in his eyes. When he was silent for a long time, Willow waved her hand in front of his face, getting no reaction.
"Guess she really was pretty!"
...
Spike was startled to find the hospital corridor in uproar as he approached 'Jane's' room that afternoon. He could hear muffled cries and nurses seemed to be running in and out every five seconds. Getting closer, he strained to hear what was going on.
"...just woke up..."
"...went crazy..."
"...won't settle..."
"...gave Marty a black eye..."
"...trying to get away..."
"...no one's going to hurt..."
Poking his head round the door, he saw the petite girl struggling with two orderlies while a nurse – the same one Spike had seen the other day - tried to inject her, a sedative probably. The curious thing was that despite her struggles she wasn't making a single noise save for the occasional quiet whimper when her fighting caused her to hurt herself. Curious as he was to find out what was going on, he was about to leave and let the staff get on with their jobs when the girl suddenly spun around in her fighting and her eyes locked with his. He saw fear and panic...and relief in those hazel orbs. As franticly as she had been struggling before, he was still now, holding his gaze.
Wondering what had caused this sudden change in behaviour the nurse turned to see what had caught the girl's attention. Seeing Spike she waved him in and gestured for the orderlies to let her go. They did so reluctantly. As Spike moved further into the room the girl's eyes never left his, she didn't even blink.
"How did you do that?" The nurse asked in an awed whisper. "She's been frantic ever since she woke up. You appear and she's calm!"
Spike shook his head, keeping eye contact even as he answered. "I've no idea!" He told the nurse quietly.
"Well I'm glad you're here if this is the result." She said. "Are you sure you don't know her?"
"Never seen her before in my life." Spike asserted. "I think I'd remember that face." He added with a smile.
The most startling thing happened then. The girl smiled back, and Spike saw the sun.
A/N: I know not a lot happened but I wanted to put in a little of Spike's background in. This is not going to be a high school story, I just needed a setting. Hopefully you're still with me. Please let me know what you think. Love you all!