When in Rome (That name is really starting to tick me off! :-)!)
RL has been so much better I just got back from a week of digital video class, and had a fun weekend at an amusement park! Hopefully the joy has rubbed off.
13 Worth the Wait
Lucky Thirteen!
You know when people say they can just sit with each other in comfortable silence? That they can just look at each other and feel what the other is feeling, without saying a word, and the silence is a pleasant companion. This was not that kind of silence. Dawn sat in between a peeved Buffy, who would glare at her or Spike every few minutes, and a very pine-y Spike who huddled beneath Dawn's jean jacket to hide from the sun. She had tried to start up conversation a few times, but finally gave up when Buffy's stark, monosyllabalic answers, and Spike's pained striving for levity became too much for her to handle. Finally they reached the new club Lorne had bought. He was planning on turning it into the backdrop for a new scene of music, like Seattle or CBGB's was, because he could guarantee that all the artists that played in it would get famous since he practically ran the entertainment industry.
"Wait here." Buffy said getting out of the cab. "I'll get something bigger to cover you up with. No chance taking."
Dawn and Spike sat there for a minute in some more awkward silence. Finally she turned to Spike and quickly asked "What are you gonna do?"
Spike looked up at Dawn and raised an eyebrow. "Huh NibDawn?"
"About Buffy... You love her right? So what are you going to do?" She asked.
"I do love her you're right. I just don't no if that can be enough here." Spike answered, curtly.
"Look, I think she at least has feelings about you, too. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with this whole thing. Just try not to give up." Dawn said, as she slid out of the taxi.
Spike looked at her slightly awe struck "When did you become this smart and level headed?" He asked.
"Oh, I've always been this way." She said, nonchalantly. "Except when I ran away and told Ben I was the key. And when and lied and and ran away and made out with a vampire. And when I stole a shiney tooth brush. And when I ran away to try and stop Willow by going to Rack's. And when I thought I was a potential slayer and ran away to a vampire infested school... I told Buffy: "Let me wear heels" and she's all "No, no. You're already too much taller than me" but in retrospect it might've saved her a bit of trouble if she did." Spike laughed, and Dawn looked down and smiled. "Good luck." She said walking away.
As Dawn walked into the club, Buffy was walking out. Dawn gave her a big grin, and Buffy just raised her eyebrows and continued on.
"Here." She said throwing a blanket-like piece of canvas that had been used to protect the floor during the club's new paint-job into the car. "Got money for the taxi?" she asked.
"I guess" Spike answered, sounding like he wanted to say more, but Buffy interrupted.
"Okay, I'll be in the club. See you." And walked away.
The cabby looked back at Spike with a smirk. "I'm sleeping on the couch myself this week."
Spike flashed him an unappreciative smile. "Here's your money." He said handing him some bills.
"Wait a sec, buddy. This isn't enough." The cab driver barked.
"What do you mean. I looked at the meter when we arrived: it was $9.50, I handed you ten, you have more than enough."
"Sitting fee." He answered.
Spike sighed exasperatedly. "How much?"
"Another dollar." The cabby answered.
"Here, enjoy it. In fact, here's another ten. Buy the wife a gum ball." Spike said, handing him over money and throwing the blanket over his head, and running in to the building.
If Spike had been a bit short with the cab driver, he could hardly blame himself: if was feeling very wallow-y. It seemed as though what he feared would end more than anything, and, hoped would start more than everything, was truly over. Buffy wouldn't give him the time of day (well, the night time of day, he was fearing if he pushed it a little too much she'd give him the sunny day time of day). And then, as he stomped on a little spurt of flame that had sprung up on the canvas, he realized: what was really different? When was the last time Spike felt he had a chance with Buffy and actually did? Where love was concerned, Spike had no pride so what was there left to lose?
Spike walked in to the main room, with a small stage in the front, and a bar on the right.
"Okay, I'm going to flip one set of lights, and then another, and you're going to tell me which gives off a classier ambiance." Lorne was saying, first switching on blue lights which enveloped the place with a cool atmosphere, and then orange and gold lights which made the air seem tangible. Buffy was talking to Fred and Angel, sitting around a high little trendy table, and Gunn was telling Wes and Dawn an amusing story, Willow, Xander, Andrew and Giles hadn't yet arrived. Buffy noticed Spike arrive and tensened up, Fred and Angel noticed this and turned to see the source of discomfort. Angel gave Spike a smirk, and Fred crinkled her eyebrows, looking at Spike curiously.
"Be right back." Fred said, getting up and walking over to Spike, pulling him into the corner. "So what are you gonna do?" She asked. Spike looked at her confused, so she clarified, "Dawn told me... everything, I'm pretty sure. And there's no way your gonna be able to justify sleeping with your ex, so don't even try. Just go right for the sorry."
"What am I, the charitable case of the year?" Spike asked, exasperatedly.
"Look, I know how much you care about her, and Dawn seems to think she cares about you, so I wanna make sure you have a fighting chance, so if it can work, it will at least have a chance."
Spike gave Fred a small smile, it was nice having a friend, it wasn't something he was really used to. Thinking back on his whole life and unlife, Spike realized Dawn was probably his first friend. "So, just apologize."
"Right... you are sorry, right? Honesty is the most important part of relationships in general. You shouldn't apologize unless you mean it." Fred said quickly in her Fred way.
"I'll mean it when I say it." He said, then adding "And don't you think you should be honest as well?"
"What does that mean?" Fred asked, "I'm being honest."
"No, I mean to Wesley... about how you feel a bout him." Spike corrected.
"How-... Fine, I'll be honest if you'll be honest." Fred offered, sticking out her hand as if to bind the deal. Spike took it and they shook. "I'm ready if you are." She said.
"Okay, I'm gonna flip the lights again! Pay close attention!" Lorne said, returning the icy blue lights.
"You're on." Spike agreed, and Fred walked off to get Wes, and Spike over to interrupt Buffy and Angel's discussion, which was apparently about the irony of ancient munk-crafted fighting axes.
"Buffy, I have to talk to you a minute." Spike injected.
"Can't you see we're talking?" Angel asked, somewhat smugly, Angel and Spike's rivalry still as fierce as ever.
"Um, I think I'll take this, Angel. Be right back." Buffy said, getting up. Spike used all his might to refrain from giving Angel a snarky smirk as he turned to walk with Buffy to the corner of the room. When they reached it, Buffy turned to Spike. "The only reason I'm here is because that was the second most boring discussion of my life, beaten only by every time Giles filled me in on the history, appearance, mating rituals, and all that other boring stuff about the demon I was gonna have to kill that week. Okay? So don't talk to me."
"You see, I have to, Buffy. I don't really have a choice." Spike answered.
"No, I think you really do." Buffy said, cooly.
"No, Buffy, I love you. I have to say these things now. I love you, and I'm sorry about what I did to you, but I won't give up. You can turn me down now, and I'll ask you again tomorrow. You can go back to Rome, and I guess I'll just have to follow you there. I'm nothing if not a fool for love, and I've tried not loving you, but it never worked. It looks to me like these feelings are a forever kind of deal." Spike said earnestly.
"Even if I did love you, Spike, how do you know it would last? You would throw everything you have going for you here away?" Buffy asked, it becoming more apparent that her anger veiled vulnerability.
Spike looked over and saw Fred talking quickly with much traits resembling that of a spasmodic squirrel, in the way she often did when she was nervous, and realized how important she really was to him. "I couldn't throw that away. I guess I'd just have to go back and forth, Rome, L.A., Rome, L.A."
Suddenly Buffy's lungs felt icy, like the air had thinned and turned to crystal inside them. "Maybe, even if we love each other, which I'm not saying we do, but even if we did it wouldn't matter, because we have separate lives now."
"Did you ever get that thing where you think: I have to pee. And then that feeling won't go away if you never pee." Spike said.
"What are you talking about?!" Buffy asked, incredulous.
"I can't stop loving you, and I can't feel at ease without you."
"You're comparing me to having to pee? Now I believe you were a poet." Buffy said, shaking her head.
"God, Buffy, just thinking about you getting on a plane and leaving my life- I feel like I've swallowed battery acid, or that small little sharp toothed animals are eating away at my insides. I don't know how to breath."
Buffy was quite and scared "You don't really need to breath, you know." She whispered.
"Okay, do you have a feel for how the blue lights would be? Did you imagine that you were a patron? Did those lights make you wanna buy a drink?" Lorne called out, nobody answered, the room was silent. "Okay... Those are things to think about when I switch the lights!" He said, flipping the orange lights on.
Spike was looking into Buffy's eyes, but she didn't really see him. The wheels in her head were too busy spinning.
"I can't think of this, Spike, I don't know what I'm doing." Buffy told him, heartfelt-ly.
"You don't have to rush into any de-" But Spike couldn't finish his sentence, due to Buffy's lips being in it's way. It didn't take long for Spike to return the kiss.
Lorne looked out into the small crowd only to saw Wesley and Fred, and Buffy and Spike macking in their own corners. "I guess we'll go with the orange." He said dryly.
TBC
I hope this chapter can tide you over, I won't have regular computer access this summer!
RL has been so much better I just got back from a week of digital video class, and had a fun weekend at an amusement park! Hopefully the joy has rubbed off.
13 Worth the Wait
Lucky Thirteen!
You know when people say they can just sit with each other in comfortable silence? That they can just look at each other and feel what the other is feeling, without saying a word, and the silence is a pleasant companion. This was not that kind of silence. Dawn sat in between a peeved Buffy, who would glare at her or Spike every few minutes, and a very pine-y Spike who huddled beneath Dawn's jean jacket to hide from the sun. She had tried to start up conversation a few times, but finally gave up when Buffy's stark, monosyllabalic answers, and Spike's pained striving for levity became too much for her to handle. Finally they reached the new club Lorne had bought. He was planning on turning it into the backdrop for a new scene of music, like Seattle or CBGB's was, because he could guarantee that all the artists that played in it would get famous since he practically ran the entertainment industry.
"Wait here." Buffy said getting out of the cab. "I'll get something bigger to cover you up with. No chance taking."
Dawn and Spike sat there for a minute in some more awkward silence. Finally she turned to Spike and quickly asked "What are you gonna do?"
Spike looked up at Dawn and raised an eyebrow. "Huh NibDawn?"
"About Buffy... You love her right? So what are you going to do?" She asked.
"I do love her you're right. I just don't no if that can be enough here." Spike answered, curtly.
"Look, I think she at least has feelings about you, too. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with this whole thing. Just try not to give up." Dawn said, as she slid out of the taxi.
Spike looked at her slightly awe struck "When did you become this smart and level headed?" He asked.
"Oh, I've always been this way." She said, nonchalantly. "Except when I ran away and told Ben I was the key. And when and lied and and ran away and made out with a vampire. And when I stole a shiney tooth brush. And when I ran away to try and stop Willow by going to Rack's. And when I thought I was a potential slayer and ran away to a vampire infested school... I told Buffy: "Let me wear heels" and she's all "No, no. You're already too much taller than me" but in retrospect it might've saved her a bit of trouble if she did." Spike laughed, and Dawn looked down and smiled. "Good luck." She said walking away.
As Dawn walked into the club, Buffy was walking out. Dawn gave her a big grin, and Buffy just raised her eyebrows and continued on.
"Here." She said throwing a blanket-like piece of canvas that had been used to protect the floor during the club's new paint-job into the car. "Got money for the taxi?" she asked.
"I guess" Spike answered, sounding like he wanted to say more, but Buffy interrupted.
"Okay, I'll be in the club. See you." And walked away.
The cabby looked back at Spike with a smirk. "I'm sleeping on the couch myself this week."
Spike flashed him an unappreciative smile. "Here's your money." He said handing him some bills.
"Wait a sec, buddy. This isn't enough." The cab driver barked.
"What do you mean. I looked at the meter when we arrived: it was $9.50, I handed you ten, you have more than enough."
"Sitting fee." He answered.
Spike sighed exasperatedly. "How much?"
"Another dollar." The cabby answered.
"Here, enjoy it. In fact, here's another ten. Buy the wife a gum ball." Spike said, handing him over money and throwing the blanket over his head, and running in to the building.
If Spike had been a bit short with the cab driver, he could hardly blame himself: if was feeling very wallow-y. It seemed as though what he feared would end more than anything, and, hoped would start more than everything, was truly over. Buffy wouldn't give him the time of day (well, the night time of day, he was fearing if he pushed it a little too much she'd give him the sunny day time of day). And then, as he stomped on a little spurt of flame that had sprung up on the canvas, he realized: what was really different? When was the last time Spike felt he had a chance with Buffy and actually did? Where love was concerned, Spike had no pride so what was there left to lose?
Spike walked in to the main room, with a small stage in the front, and a bar on the right.
"Okay, I'm going to flip one set of lights, and then another, and you're going to tell me which gives off a classier ambiance." Lorne was saying, first switching on blue lights which enveloped the place with a cool atmosphere, and then orange and gold lights which made the air seem tangible. Buffy was talking to Fred and Angel, sitting around a high little trendy table, and Gunn was telling Wes and Dawn an amusing story, Willow, Xander, Andrew and Giles hadn't yet arrived. Buffy noticed Spike arrive and tensened up, Fred and Angel noticed this and turned to see the source of discomfort. Angel gave Spike a smirk, and Fred crinkled her eyebrows, looking at Spike curiously.
"Be right back." Fred said, getting up and walking over to Spike, pulling him into the corner. "So what are you gonna do?" She asked. Spike looked at her confused, so she clarified, "Dawn told me... everything, I'm pretty sure. And there's no way your gonna be able to justify sleeping with your ex, so don't even try. Just go right for the sorry."
"What am I, the charitable case of the year?" Spike asked, exasperatedly.
"Look, I know how much you care about her, and Dawn seems to think she cares about you, so I wanna make sure you have a fighting chance, so if it can work, it will at least have a chance."
Spike gave Fred a small smile, it was nice having a friend, it wasn't something he was really used to. Thinking back on his whole life and unlife, Spike realized Dawn was probably his first friend. "So, just apologize."
"Right... you are sorry, right? Honesty is the most important part of relationships in general. You shouldn't apologize unless you mean it." Fred said quickly in her Fred way.
"I'll mean it when I say it." He said, then adding "And don't you think you should be honest as well?"
"What does that mean?" Fred asked, "I'm being honest."
"No, I mean to Wesley... about how you feel a bout him." Spike corrected.
"How-... Fine, I'll be honest if you'll be honest." Fred offered, sticking out her hand as if to bind the deal. Spike took it and they shook. "I'm ready if you are." She said.
"Okay, I'm gonna flip the lights again! Pay close attention!" Lorne said, returning the icy blue lights.
"You're on." Spike agreed, and Fred walked off to get Wes, and Spike over to interrupt Buffy and Angel's discussion, which was apparently about the irony of ancient munk-crafted fighting axes.
"Buffy, I have to talk to you a minute." Spike injected.
"Can't you see we're talking?" Angel asked, somewhat smugly, Angel and Spike's rivalry still as fierce as ever.
"Um, I think I'll take this, Angel. Be right back." Buffy said, getting up. Spike used all his might to refrain from giving Angel a snarky smirk as he turned to walk with Buffy to the corner of the room. When they reached it, Buffy turned to Spike. "The only reason I'm here is because that was the second most boring discussion of my life, beaten only by every time Giles filled me in on the history, appearance, mating rituals, and all that other boring stuff about the demon I was gonna have to kill that week. Okay? So don't talk to me."
"You see, I have to, Buffy. I don't really have a choice." Spike answered.
"No, I think you really do." Buffy said, cooly.
"No, Buffy, I love you. I have to say these things now. I love you, and I'm sorry about what I did to you, but I won't give up. You can turn me down now, and I'll ask you again tomorrow. You can go back to Rome, and I guess I'll just have to follow you there. I'm nothing if not a fool for love, and I've tried not loving you, but it never worked. It looks to me like these feelings are a forever kind of deal." Spike said earnestly.
"Even if I did love you, Spike, how do you know it would last? You would throw everything you have going for you here away?" Buffy asked, it becoming more apparent that her anger veiled vulnerability.
Spike looked over and saw Fred talking quickly with much traits resembling that of a spasmodic squirrel, in the way she often did when she was nervous, and realized how important she really was to him. "I couldn't throw that away. I guess I'd just have to go back and forth, Rome, L.A., Rome, L.A."
Suddenly Buffy's lungs felt icy, like the air had thinned and turned to crystal inside them. "Maybe, even if we love each other, which I'm not saying we do, but even if we did it wouldn't matter, because we have separate lives now."
"Did you ever get that thing where you think: I have to pee. And then that feeling won't go away if you never pee." Spike said.
"What are you talking about?!" Buffy asked, incredulous.
"I can't stop loving you, and I can't feel at ease without you."
"You're comparing me to having to pee? Now I believe you were a poet." Buffy said, shaking her head.
"God, Buffy, just thinking about you getting on a plane and leaving my life- I feel like I've swallowed battery acid, or that small little sharp toothed animals are eating away at my insides. I don't know how to breath."
Buffy was quite and scared "You don't really need to breath, you know." She whispered.
"Okay, do you have a feel for how the blue lights would be? Did you imagine that you were a patron? Did those lights make you wanna buy a drink?" Lorne called out, nobody answered, the room was silent. "Okay... Those are things to think about when I switch the lights!" He said, flipping the orange lights on.
Spike was looking into Buffy's eyes, but she didn't really see him. The wheels in her head were too busy spinning.
"I can't think of this, Spike, I don't know what I'm doing." Buffy told him, heartfelt-ly.
"You don't have to rush into any de-" But Spike couldn't finish his sentence, due to Buffy's lips being in it's way. It didn't take long for Spike to return the kiss.
Lorne looked out into the small crowd only to saw Wesley and Fred, and Buffy and Spike macking in their own corners. "I guess we'll go with the orange." He said dryly.
TBC
I hope this chapter can tide you over, I won't have regular computer access this summer!