When In Rome
7 Confidance
"Okay, okay" Spike took a deep breath "I can do this." he said leaning up to get out of the taxi Xander had just exited a little way down from the restaurant Buffy was in.
"No, I can't." he conceeded, sitting back down again.
"What?!" Xander asked, snapping his head around to look at his new friend. "You better, buster."
"No, I can't." Spike stubbornly refuted.
"Is our little Spikey-wikey a wittle scaredy-waredy?" Xander asked mockingly.
"No!" Spike angrily shot back "Maybe..." he sheepishly corrected before giving in and sighing "Oh yes, fine! I'm scared! I'm a wimp and a loser and I suck, not literally though, 'cause I have a soul now, and the First isn't brainwashing me."
Xander rolled his eyes, which he had two of. "Get up, get out, get in that restaraunt." He stated.
"It's not possible, sorry."
"You know," the taxi driver said turning around to face them both "this is costing you, it's on the door, see? 'parked or stuck in trafic: $.25 per minute', that means you owe me an extra quarter now, even though you already paid."
"Hey, mate, I'll give you more than a quarter if you just drive away right now." Spike offered.
"Don't even think about it!" Xander said grabbing hold of the door, "How about this, right now you just get out of the taxi, make small steps. Think about it this way: you're not getting out to go see Buffy, your getting out to get out of a taxi. I mean, with vampiric smelling the reek must be even worse for you."
The taxi driver looked at the two out of the corner of his eye, they were starting to scare him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy interupted Willow in the middle of her sentence "If Xander's not here soon I'm gonna just order without him. I'm really hungry."
"Me, too!" Dawn whined.
"Well talk about timing!" Willow said pointing for Buffy and Dawn to look up to where Xander was speaking to the hostess trying to find out where their table was. "Hey Xand" Willow called out "We're over here!"
Xander heard her and walked over to them, adding a "hey" as he got closer.
Buffy gasped. Xander assumed she was shocked by Spike's reappearance, and turn to give him a little nod before realizing Spike was, in fact, not there.
"W-W-What?" Willow stammered. "You-you-"
"Cool glass eye!" Dawn enthused.
"ActuallyÐ Xander started before inturrupting himself "One sec, we'll discuss this, I just... have to..." he paused, searching for an excuse to go outside and get Spike "go to the bathroom!" he finally spit out, after which he promptly ran outside.
"The bathroom's back that way!" Willow fruitlessly called out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xander walked outside to find Spike leaning on the side of the building smoking a cigarette.
"You know, if you plan on having anything lasting with Buffy you have to give those up. Second hand smoke kills." Xander quipped.
"Plan?" Spike asked laughing "You can't plan anything! And me and Buffy? I can't even get into that. Besides, I've been dead half a year to her, she's moved on. And her hair is different."
"Look, Spike, I'm not saying you two are going to be able to pick up where you left off. I'm not saying you'll simply fall into each other's arms and live happily ever after. I'm saying: the bond you two had can't be broken. Not by death, or time, or distance. Sure, maybe it will change, maybe it will alter, but it can't be broken. Remember; Buffy died. We all kept on loving her." Xander encouraged. "If you really did love her like you said you did, you wouldn't do this to her. You wouldn't keep her in the dark about this, she desearves to know."
Spike nodded "When did you become so eloquent? What happened to the whelp?" he joked "Who died and made you king?"
"I've always be king... of the cretins, but king nonetheless." Xander smiled, "No get your undead little british arse in there."
"Right." Spike agreed. "I need a mantra, I need you to give me a confidence building mantra."
"Uhh... 'A stitch in time saves nine'." Xander offered.
"What does that have to do with confidence?" Spike asked, scrunching his face up in annoyance.
"I don't know, it was the first cliche I could think of."
"Mantras and cliches are not the same thing." Spike said, sighing. "I see I'm clearly on my own in this. Right, so, 'Spike, you are a real neat guy. You can do this.'"
Xander burst out laughing, "Sorry, man." He said first, before admitting "But how could I not?"
Spike glowered at him, but it was obvious the whelp had grown on him. "You can do eet!" Xander said faking a spanish accent "You can do eet!"
"Humans." Spike sighed under his breath, following Xander in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy wrote out a list of questions she was going to ask Xander in her head. He'd been acting strangely, then he shows up with an eye, then he acts strange again. 'Something very strange was going on', she noted, before sarcastically reprimanding herself with a 'Nice work Percept-o gal'.
Xander was standing in front of her again. She opened up her mouth to begin her tirade, and forgot every last word of it. Spike was standing there.
TBC
7 Confidance
"Okay, okay" Spike took a deep breath "I can do this." he said leaning up to get out of the taxi Xander had just exited a little way down from the restaurant Buffy was in.
"No, I can't." he conceeded, sitting back down again.
"What?!" Xander asked, snapping his head around to look at his new friend. "You better, buster."
"No, I can't." Spike stubbornly refuted.
"Is our little Spikey-wikey a wittle scaredy-waredy?" Xander asked mockingly.
"No!" Spike angrily shot back "Maybe..." he sheepishly corrected before giving in and sighing "Oh yes, fine! I'm scared! I'm a wimp and a loser and I suck, not literally though, 'cause I have a soul now, and the First isn't brainwashing me."
Xander rolled his eyes, which he had two of. "Get up, get out, get in that restaraunt." He stated.
"It's not possible, sorry."
"You know," the taxi driver said turning around to face them both "this is costing you, it's on the door, see? 'parked or stuck in trafic: $.25 per minute', that means you owe me an extra quarter now, even though you already paid."
"Hey, mate, I'll give you more than a quarter if you just drive away right now." Spike offered.
"Don't even think about it!" Xander said grabbing hold of the door, "How about this, right now you just get out of the taxi, make small steps. Think about it this way: you're not getting out to go see Buffy, your getting out to get out of a taxi. I mean, with vampiric smelling the reek must be even worse for you."
The taxi driver looked at the two out of the corner of his eye, they were starting to scare him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy interupted Willow in the middle of her sentence "If Xander's not here soon I'm gonna just order without him. I'm really hungry."
"Me, too!" Dawn whined.
"Well talk about timing!" Willow said pointing for Buffy and Dawn to look up to where Xander was speaking to the hostess trying to find out where their table was. "Hey Xand" Willow called out "We're over here!"
Xander heard her and walked over to them, adding a "hey" as he got closer.
Buffy gasped. Xander assumed she was shocked by Spike's reappearance, and turn to give him a little nod before realizing Spike was, in fact, not there.
"W-W-What?" Willow stammered. "You-you-"
"Cool glass eye!" Dawn enthused.
"ActuallyÐ Xander started before inturrupting himself "One sec, we'll discuss this, I just... have to..." he paused, searching for an excuse to go outside and get Spike "go to the bathroom!" he finally spit out, after which he promptly ran outside.
"The bathroom's back that way!" Willow fruitlessly called out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xander walked outside to find Spike leaning on the side of the building smoking a cigarette.
"You know, if you plan on having anything lasting with Buffy you have to give those up. Second hand smoke kills." Xander quipped.
"Plan?" Spike asked laughing "You can't plan anything! And me and Buffy? I can't even get into that. Besides, I've been dead half a year to her, she's moved on. And her hair is different."
"Look, Spike, I'm not saying you two are going to be able to pick up where you left off. I'm not saying you'll simply fall into each other's arms and live happily ever after. I'm saying: the bond you two had can't be broken. Not by death, or time, or distance. Sure, maybe it will change, maybe it will alter, but it can't be broken. Remember; Buffy died. We all kept on loving her." Xander encouraged. "If you really did love her like you said you did, you wouldn't do this to her. You wouldn't keep her in the dark about this, she desearves to know."
Spike nodded "When did you become so eloquent? What happened to the whelp?" he joked "Who died and made you king?"
"I've always be king... of the cretins, but king nonetheless." Xander smiled, "No get your undead little british arse in there."
"Right." Spike agreed. "I need a mantra, I need you to give me a confidence building mantra."
"Uhh... 'A stitch in time saves nine'." Xander offered.
"What does that have to do with confidence?" Spike asked, scrunching his face up in annoyance.
"I don't know, it was the first cliche I could think of."
"Mantras and cliches are not the same thing." Spike said, sighing. "I see I'm clearly on my own in this. Right, so, 'Spike, you are a real neat guy. You can do this.'"
Xander burst out laughing, "Sorry, man." He said first, before admitting "But how could I not?"
Spike glowered at him, but it was obvious the whelp had grown on him. "You can do eet!" Xander said faking a spanish accent "You can do eet!"
"Humans." Spike sighed under his breath, following Xander in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy wrote out a list of questions she was going to ask Xander in her head. He'd been acting strangely, then he shows up with an eye, then he acts strange again. 'Something very strange was going on', she noted, before sarcastically reprimanding herself with a 'Nice work Percept-o gal'.
Xander was standing in front of her again. She opened up her mouth to begin her tirade, and forgot every last word of it. Spike was standing there.
TBC