139

Cross My Heart

"Whatcha doin'?" Andrew ambled up to where Willow and the twins were playing with numbers.

"Playing with magic squares," Willow replied. The twins were doing their level best to ignore him. They thought he was a git.

"What kind of magic?" Andrew was a little miffed. Willow never taught him any magic.

"Not that kind of magic," Willow explained. "Didn't you play with magic squares in math class?"

Andrew assumed a look of haughty dignity. It was something he'd put a lot of practice into. "Math is far too serious to be used in such a frivolous manner," he intoned. "To play with it diminishes the respect in which it is held."

Willow rolled her eyes, and the twins giggled, much to Andrew's discomfiture. "Lighten up, Andrew," she suggested.

"I still think he's a brainless prat," Alaric stated.

"I bet daddy would think so too," Ariel added.

"Hey!" Andrew protested. "Your dad and I were like this." He crossed his fingers. "The best of buds, comrades at arms, ready to fight for each other's lives at the drop of a hat."

"I think you're fibbing," Alaric declared, although his voice lacked some of its customary conviction. It was difficult to pick out the truth from the myriad of images in Andrew's head.

"We could ask daddy the next time he and mummy call us," Ariel suggested. She couldn't figure out which of the assorted tales drifting about in Andrew's mind was the truth either.

"You do that," Andrew challenged. He still had a little bit of bluster left. "You ask him and you'll find out it was exactly like I told you." The whiny edge of his voice had gotten so sharp one could almost cut paper with it. Andrew turned and walked away, head held high, still trying to maintain his dignity.

&&&&&&

Spike eyed Wesley, and more to the point, the laptop computer he carried, suspiciously. "She's in bed recuperating, Watcher," he stated bluntly. "So don't you be trying to put her to work."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Wesley replied. He had a feeling that Rose would, however. "But when I got on the computer this morning, I noticed that the children had sent her an e-mail. I thought she'd like a chance to read it and reply to it."

Spike opened the door the rest of the way and let Wesley in. "Just what the doctor ordered," he remarked with satisfaction. "Hearing from the kids ought to cheer her up no end."

"The thought had occurred," Wes murmured. "Where do you want me to set this up, Spike? Here, or in the bedroom so that Rose doesn't have to get up?"

Spike thought fast. He didn't want Rose getting up until the doctor gave her the go ahead, and maybe even not then. But she hadn't exactly been dressed for company when he'd gone to answer the door, and he had no reason to expect that that had changed.

"Could you hang about here for a minute or two?" he requested. "Got to go get her decent."

"I can wait," Wes answered, suppressing a grin. He wondered if Rose was already climbing the walls from the coddling Spike insisted on heaping on her whenever she was feeling amiss. Luckily for Rose, it didn't happen too often.

Spike halted in his tracks half-way to the bedroom. "How long can you wait?" he asked. "Because I've got a little errand to run, and I don't want to be leaving her on her own." He wasn't sure exactly what Rose would get up to if he left her alone, but he wouldn't be surprised to find her up, dressed and hard at work, or something equally unsuitable to her weakened state.

"Is it important?" Wesley queried. "If it is, I'll certainly make the time. But if you just want to go get her a get-well present or something, there are other things I could be profitably spending my time on."

"You might call it a stay-well present," Spike replied. "I want to get her a cross. And I'll bloody well make sure she don't leave the place without it on."

"How are you going to get it here?" Wesley was impressed by the depths of Spike's devotion that he'd put Rose's safety before his own personal comfort.

The vampire gave him a pitying look. "I can tell you never buy Fred any pretty little trinkets," he commented. In truth, he didn't get that much for Rose. Jewelry didn't interest her overmuch. "I can buy it without having to touch it. And bring it home all safe and sound in a little velvet box without burning my delicate hide."

"I'll stay with her while you run your errand," Wesley replied. The comment about him not buying nice things for Fred stung. All things considered, he might want to make a little shopping trip on his lunch break. Angelus might be concentrating on Rose right now, but who knew when or where his fancy might turn.

&&&&&&

Stenslow was busy at his desk when Angelus walked in like he owned the place and sat down, giving Stenslow a genial appearing grin.

"Hi, Cariadoc." Somehow that didn't sound right. "How in the hell did you wind up with a name like Cariadoc?"

"Did you come here to discuss my parent's fascination with history, or did you come to conduct some business?" Stenslow snapped.

"Just a friendly little visit." Angelus leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on Stenslow's desk. "I've got things pretty well shaken up at Wolfram and Hart for the moment. I was considering extending the field of play to Havoc & Associates."

"We are not in need of 'shaking up'," Stenslow grumbled. "What we are in need of is profits. Profits that have dropped seriously ever since Angel took over as CEO of Wolfram and Hart. Why do you think I went to the trouble of having your soul removed?"

Angelus looked thoughtful. "And what exactly do you expect me to do for you?" he asked. "By the way, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that Dru is no longer in the country. Did she hurt you much?"

"I've had worse," Stenslow admitted reluctantly. "As to what I would like you to do for us, why I would like you to put Wolfram and Hart back on its former business footing."

Angelus gave him a pitying look. "Doing business with demons and other evil types and just raking in the bucks like anyone else, huh?" He shook his head. "I think I like the current clientele better. There's much more scope for mayhem when you have relatively decent people for clients."

"Would you care to elaborate on that for me?" Stenslow had an inkling of what Angelus was hinting at, but it didn't seem to promise much in the way of profits.

"Are you really that stupid?" Angelus asked. "I'm talking about convincing people to compromise their morals. A little bit at first, and then more and more, until eventually, they're as amoral as.., well, you."

"Very amusing," Stenslow commented dryly. "But where do the profits come in there? I can foresee a landslide of them in the future under your plan. But I do have more immediate concerns."

"Well then you should have done something about my soul years ago, shouldn't you?" Angelus pointed out. "It's not my fault that you have no vision. But I'm in a pretty good mood right now, so I'm willing to listen to any suggestions that you might have."

"You are?" Stenslow could barely contain his elation. He shuffled through the papers on his desk. "I have a list somewhere here."

"I just said I'd listen," Angelus reminded him. "Whether or not I actually do anything depends on how I feel about what you have to say." He gave a nasty laugh. "Even if I agree with some of them, there's no guarantee that I won't change my mind by the time I get back to Wolfram and Hart. I might even be lying about agreeing with you. Are you still willing to take a shot?"

Stenslow sighed. He should have known that it wouldn't be that easy. But he had to put his proposals in front of Angelus. Maybe, just maybe, some of them would strike him as amusing and he'd play along.

&&&&&&

Spike was walking through the parking garage of the mall, taking care to stay out of the stray patches of sunlight and thinking of little more than his self-imposed errand. He was in no way prepared for a voice from behind one of the support posts to hail him.

"Psst! Vampire! Over here." Curious, Spike followed the sound, and found himself face to face with the Q'xlzr demon.

"I'd have thought you would have left town," Spike remarked. "What are you up to?"

"I be hiding," it explained a little redundantly. "I no see boss vampire doing much shopping. Mall good place for I to hide. What vampire be doing here?"

"I need to get something for Rose," Spike answered. "Want to come with?" It was in the back, and not too far back, of his mind that if any handling of the merchandise was required, the little blue gray demon could do so with impunity.

"Rose okay?" It was nearly a standard question from the Q'xlzr. It and Rose went back quite a ways, and there had been many a time when it had known Rose not to be okay. It was about to find out that once again, she wasn't.

"The son of a bitch bit her," Spike growled. Just thinking about it was enough to set his blood boiling again. And made his hands itch for a stake and the opportunity to plunge it into Angelus' black heart.

The Q'xlzr's ears stood straight on end. "Boss vampire bite Rose?" Its expressions were hard to read, other than the convolutions of its auditory appendages, but at a guess, it was completely aghast.

"I told you before," Spike said, with forced patience. "The bugger doesn't have his soul. That makes him evil. He likes doing nasty things like that. Especially to people like Rose."

"Why Rose?" the demon whined. It didn't like to hear about bad things happening to Rose. She was the first people that had ever befriended it.

"Because she's.., nice," Spike replied, thinking that the designation fell far short of the mark. "She's everything that soulless bastard isn't."

"If boss vampire be after Rose," the Q'xlzr remarked. "Then why are you being here? You ought to be looking after Rose. Keeping Rose safe."

"That's what I'm doing now," Spike answered. "And I didn't leave her alone. The Watcher's watching her." He gave a humorless laugh at his unintentional play on words. He was finding it more than somewhat remarkable that he was able to walk through the busy mall with the Q'xlzr at his heels and scarcely a soul gave them more than a passing glance. He saw his destination. "Here we are."

"How is getting pretty keeping Rose safe?" the blue gray figure at his side demanded. "Vampire should be guarding Rose."

"And I will be," Spike promised. "Just as soon as I get back with this. And it's not just for pretty. It will help protect her from the ponce."

"What be ponce?" the Q'xlzr asked.

&&&&&&&

Since Giles had allowed it, the twins had taken the rest of their lessons in the library. But despite the fact that they checked every time that Oz permitted it, there was still no reply from Rose.

"It's eight hours earlier there, guys," Oz reminded them for the umpteenth time. "It's still morning back home. I'm sure that she'll send one back as soon as she can."

At the moment, they were seated at dinner in the dining hall. And, as was becoming habit, the twins were looking at what was on their plates with expressions of disdain. They were eating, however, since Oz had declared that he'd ban them from the library himself if they made a fuss at every single meal.

The moment they were finished, they got back to the subject uppermost on their minds.

"Can we go back to the library, Oz?" Ariel asked. She hastily wiped her mouth.

"Please?" Alaric added. "We just know that mummy wrote back to us. We want to see."

Oz checked the time and did a quick mental calculation. "Okay," he agreed. "We'll go check. It's late enough now that she might have seen your message."

The twins ran on ahead of him, and while they were silent, Oz could swear that he could almost see the excited mind to mind chatter that had to be going on.

Alaric beat Ariel to the computer chair and immediately called up the messaging system. "There it is!" he shouted triumphantly, shooting Oz an 'I told you so' look. "I knew mummy would write to us."

"Quit hogging and let me see too," Ariel demanded. "Can we write back to her right away, Oz?"

"I don't see why not," Oz replied. At least if they were in daily contact with their mother, the bout of homesickness he'd been dreading might not hit so hard.

"She says she's fine," Alaric announced. "I think she's fibbing." Neither twin used the word lie much. It was always a fib.

"She doesn't want us to worry about her," Ariel remarked. "Look, she promised to make us our favorite dinner when we get home."

Oz realized that his optimism may have been premature when Alaric turned to look at him with a disconsolate expression on his face. "I want to go home now."

&&&&&&

When Spike relieved Wesley of guard duty, he walked into the bedroom to see Rose, still propped up with pillows, tapping away at the laptop.

"Here now," he said severely. "What do you think you're up to? I told Percy that you weren't to be working."

"Yes, I know," Rose replied absently. "He told me. But honestly, Spike, I'm not really doing anything." She raised her head to look at him. "Am I allowed to know what was so important that you had to run off like that?"

"Had some important shopping to do," Spike answered. He pulled out the little velvet covered box. "Here, luv. I want you to put that right on and get used to wearing it."

Rose opened the box out of curiosity more than anything. She didn't know what she expected, but what she saw didn't make the list. "But, Spike, it's..,"

"I know what it is," Spike interrupted. "And it's a way to help keep you safe from Angelus, that's what it is." He gave her a wolfish grin. "Just so long as you don't wear it to bed, babe."

Rose obediently fastened the chain around her neck, the intricately wrought Celtic cross coming to rest just above the neckline of her shirt. "It's beautiful, darling. But I still worry. What if I forget and hug you?"

"There's both of us to remember," Spike pointed out. "And if we both forget, I'll remember soon enough when that thing starts burning a hole in me."

The doorbell rang.

"Bloody hell," Spike growled. "Why is it that every person in the sodding place has to stop by when you're not well?" It was just talk. He knew why. Or, at least, he thought he did.

It was Lorne. "Listen, guy," he began in a nervous rush. "I know that you took the day off to look after the blossom. But Angelus is raising almighty hell saying that you're supposed to be sparring with him."

"Piss on him," Spike said rudely. "What's he gonna do if I don't show?"

"For starters," Lorne answered. "He says that he's going to begin killing off employees if you're not there in fifteen minutes. And kill one every five after that until you show."