Keeping Secrets

Disclaimer: All Buffy-type people belong to Joss and M.E. Sean belongs to Squirly Childe Productions.

Summary: Walking home after dark is usually an extreme sport in Sunnydale.

Reviews: Yes, please. Love reviews, adore reviewers. Readers Rock but Reviewers RULE!

A/N: WayWard Childe and I are thrilled about the reception to this fic. Thank you very much everyone!

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Tara picked up her speed as she became aware that she was being followed. She passed an alley and screamed as someone jumped in front of her. She could feel that there was more than one but tried to stay focused. The four men surrounded her and she found herself being forced into the alley, into the shadows. They backed her up against the wall. Panicked, she tried to remember a spell to use but her mind remained stubbornly blank.

"Well, what have we here?" The leader asked his cohorts. A rumble of approval sounded through the group.

"She's pretty." One of the others said as he reached out to caress her long dark blonde hair.

"Yeah, we're gonna have some fun. Aren't we, Sweetheart?" The leader said with an unpleasant smile.

Tara began to shake with terror. Her mind shut down as she braced herself for the rape she knew was coming.

Spike and Sean had just left the bar when they heard the scream. It sounded familiar to the vampire but he couldn't identify it. They ran in the direction the sound had come from. Sean vanished from Spike's side and reappeared in the alley where Tara was cowering against the wall. The four men were advancing on the terrified girl. Sean went to the end of the alley to guide Spike.

The vampire took in the scene in a flash. His preternatural speed had him directly behind the would-be rapists in seconds.

"Is this a private party or can anyone play?" The amused British accent reached through Tara's fear and gave her hope until she remembered the chip. These guys were human; Spike would be paralyzed with pain after just one hit.

"Go away and get your own girl." The leader growled without turning away from his prize.

Spike tapped him on the shoulder. "That wasn't nice." The vampire purred.

The brute turned; ready to strike out at the intruder. "I said…" His statement ended in a shriek as he came face to face with something he'd never seen before. Spike smiled, his fangs flashing in the dim light. The other three men turned as their leader went flying into the wall across the alley. He slumped to the ground unconscious.

Tara braced herself for the inevitable, closing her eyes. She knew that Spike would be incapacitated from the chip. The growl of pain she expected never came. Instead she heard the dull thud of fists and screams of human injuries. She opened her eyes to see Spike fighting the men who'd trapped her. His human face was back in place as he landed punches and kicks on the thugs.

There was something about him. Tara looked at Spike in dazed amazement. Then it dawned on her. He was hurting humans. As she watched he knocked the last one out cold and heaved him onto the pile of unconscious bodies on the other side of the alley. She had slid down the wall in helpless terror until she was slumped bonelessly on the grimy pavement. The blond vampire gazed down in fierce satisfaction at the mound of worthless humans before twisting his head to crack his neck. He tuned to look at Tara. The fear on her face as she watched him tugged at his unbeating heart.

Carefully approaching the traumatized witch, Spike knelt next to her. The dim light fell across his features, highlighting his sapphire eyes. Tara felt memory tugging at her. She gasped.

"William." She murmured, reaching a hand up to caress his face. She was transported back five years.

She was fifteen, he was sixteen. They were inseparable. They had known each other for years and had been that way for most of it. William and Tara were a familiar sight in their small town. You couldn't see one without the other. They had met in elementary school and had instantly become friends. Now that they were in high school, they were within only a year or two of announcing their engagement. He had asked her to marry him when he was only ten and she was nine. They knew each other so well they found themselves finishing each other's sentences. Tara loved looking at William. At sixteen he was maturing into the handsome man she'd known for years that he would be. His dark blue eyes sparkled behind wire-rimmed glasses. His leanly muscled body had grown to his full height of five feet eleven. He had curly honey colored hair that he tamed with hair gel. Tara loved the way his hair curled but he'd always been embarrassed by it. He had high sculpted cheekbones and a wicked sense of humor. What Tara had loved most about William was a secret known only to the two of them. He wrote poetry. He thought it was the most awful poetry in the history of the written word but Tara had loved it as much as she loved him. They were inseparable… until the day he died.

"I used to be but I go by Spike now." The confused vampire told her. She blinked at the nearly unfamiliar voice coming from the painfully familiar face. "Glenda, are you all right?" Spike asked.

The nickname snapped Tara back to the present. She pulled her hand back. "Spike! Your chip. It's not working. How? Why?"

Spike ducked his head. "I'm hoping you won't tell the Slayer, seeing as how I just saved you." He muttered.

Tara's wide smoky blue eyes took in the heap of would-be rapists across the alley from them. "Did you…um…did you…kill them?"

Spike glanced over his shoulder at his victims. Shaking his platinum head, he turned back to her with humor gleaming in his eyes. "Didn't even take a bite." He told her almost seriously.

Sean came over to them. "We need to leave. The police are on the way. Someone reported the scream. If you're okay, lass, we'll take you home now."

Spike extended his hand. "Well, Glenda? Can you stand up?"

She nodded tremulously. "I…I think so." She stammered as she let the vampire help her up. She continued to look up at him wonderingly. Spike was getting just a little nervous under her intense stare. His sapphire eyes met Sean's green gaze questioningly. Sean held his hands up to indicate he didn't know. Shrugging, Spike slipped an arm around Tara's waist and led her away from the sound of the approaching sirens. Fortunately they were close to her dorm and it only took a few minutes before she was unlocking the door to her room.

Spike leaned on the door and watched as she turned on a table lamp. "Are you sure you're all right there, Pet?" He asked. The concern in his accented voice warming her. She turned, expecting him to be inside.

"C…come in Spike." She stuttered.

Surprise raised the vampire's eyebrows at the invitation. He and Sean slipped through the doorway and the leprechaun shut it. Spike tentatively sat on the edge of a chair and eyed the girl as she flitted around the room.

"Glenda? Are you sure you're all right? Should I call Red?" Spike asked again. He wasn't sure how he could help.

Tara stood in front of Spike and looked him directly in the eyes for the first time that he could remember. There it was again, she mused, the feeling of familiarity.

"Spike, do you believe in reincarnation?" She asked.

A frown creased Spike's forehead. He tilted his head questioningly. "What are you going on about?"

She shook her head. "Never mind. Why isn't your chip working? Buffy isn't going to be happy."

The blond vampire closed his eyes for a moment before looking at her pleadingly. "Are you going to tell her?" He asked, avoiding the 'why' part of her query.

She frowned, considering his request. "Are you going to start killing again?"

"Hadn't planned on it." Spike answered her. She gazed into his wide-open sapphire gaze for a minute.

'I've never been able to resist those eyes.' She thought. Aloud, she told him, "If I find out you're killing humans, I'll tell her. But I still want to know how."

Spike cast a panicked glance at Sean. She caught it. "Spike! You made a wish? Do you know how dangerous that is? No offense, Sean, but wishing is never a good way to get things done." She lectured gently.

Sean nodded. "In most cases, lass, the wishing is a bad thing because they're usually for very selfish people. But once in a very long while I run across someone whose wish is so unselfish that it's a pleasure to grant them."

Tara turned back to Spike. "You made unselfish wishes?" She asked softly.

He shrugged. "Wasn't much I wanted for myself." He mumbled, ducking his head in apparent embarrassment.

Tara gazed at him in shock. Spike was shy! She couldn't believe it. Behind the bluster and 'big bad' attitude, Spike was shy. Again, memory threatened to overwhelm her. William had been shy. He hadn't needed to hide it though. She gave herself a small shake.

"I won't ask. I think I already know." She told him gently. He beamed at her.

Her heart clenched. That smile! She remembered that smile. How she'd missed it. She suddenly felt the need to think.

"I'm okay. I'm really tired now and Willow will be home soon." She told her visitors softly.

Sean nodded in approval. "You'll be fine, lass. You're a rare jewel, you are, and I'm pleased we were in time." He told her in his lilting Irish accent. He headed for the door. "We should be on our way, lad." He told Spike.

Spike stood up. He gazed down at Tara. "You're sure you're all right?" She nodded and gave him a slight shove toward the door.

"I'm fine." She insisted. "Go."

He let himself be shoved out into the hall with his diminutive buddy. The door shut on them and they looked at each other.

"I need a drink." The blond vampire stated, heading for the exit.

"A fine idea. I knew I liked you." Sean nodded and followed Spike.

The vampire stopped abruptly and looked down at Sean. "What just happened here?" Spike asked in bemusement.

"A lot more than you know, my lad. A lot more than you know." Sean told him evasively.