Therapy
Disclaimer: Still too poor for the dentist, too obsessed not to play in the Buffy-verse regardless of pain.
Summary: Lorne's friend arrives.
Reviews: Yes, please. Ya'll were so nice with the reviews for the last chapter. Thank you. Readers Rock but Reviewers RULE!
A/N: I know it's short but they wouldn't tell me what's going on. Guess we'll find out soon. Still got the toothache and the pills are still making the world pleasantly fuzzy.
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Spike was on his fourth beer. With his vampire metabolism, it wasn't affecting him so he was rapidly considering a switch to something stronger. Since Lorne's surprising announcement that there was a choice to be made, Spike had grown increasingly restless. Xander gazed at the vampire with unreadable dark brown eyes, wondering what Spike would have to decide.
"What kind of choice?" Spike finally couldn't hold the question in.
"As soon as my friend gets here, we can explain." Lorne gestured to the server for another drink. All three men sat up as a petite woman approached. Lorne got up and bent low over her outstretched hand.
"Krista, darling, you get lovelier every time I see you." The Pylean cooed.
A grin lit her lovely face. "And you get more full of it every time I see you." Her voice reminded Spike of whiskey and sex, low and sultry. Its tones ran along his nerves like silk, soothing his anxiety. Her lavender eyes landed on Xander with obvious delight.
"Xander! I didn't know you were here." She jumped into his arms and kissed him soundly. He grinned at her enthusiasm.
"Lorne didn't tell me it was you he was expecting." The human told her.
She settled onto the bench next to Xander and let her gaze land on the vampire across the table. "Hi. I'm Krista. You know this human?" She slid an amused glance at Xander. He winked at her.
Spike smiled, a genuine smile for once. "Not that I'll admit to." He told her seriously. "Aren't you human?"
"You tell me." She teased.
Spike let his vampire senses extend and was surprised by what he found. "I've never met one before. Full-blooded?"
"Now you have. And no, my dad is human." Krista giggled; the sound was like bells in a breeze.
Spike's sapphire gaze absorbed her appearance. Her dark auburn hair curled gently around her face. Elegantly arched brows and thick black lashes framed her startling lavender eyes. His eyes tracked her delicate jaw line up to where he could just barely discern her tiny ears with their elfin points. She was a pixie. He switched his gaze to Lorne and arched his scarred eyebrow in question.
"Krista is a psychologist. She specializes in trauma victims." The green demon explained. He motioned for a server to take Krista's order, stalling for time to let Spike take in this new information. The vampire dropped his gaze to the table and his face closed in. His demeanor changed and everyone at the table felt his withdrawal.
Krista turned to Xander. "Who's the moody vamp?"
Xander's dark eyes watched Spike closely. "This is Spike."
The pixie glared at Lorne. "You should have told me."
Lorne's red eyes looked at her in apology. "I needed you to read him without preconceived ideas. You know the others. Everything they told you would have affected your initial impression. You know that." He explained.
Spike's head came up sharply. "The others?" His tone was low and ominous.
"Spike, Krista counseled all of us after…um…six months ago." Xander hesitantly explained. Spike went back to studying the table.
"Oh." Spike said quietly.
Krista reached across the table to touch the hand Spike had wrapped around his beer bottle. The vampire jerked and shoved both hands under the table. The pixie pulled her hand back. She glanced at Xander, whose eyes were intent on Spike. She looked back at the vampire.
"Spike. I want to help you." She told him gently.
"I don't need any bloody help." He growled.
"Yes, you do." Xander interjected. "We all did. Me, Giles, Faith, Willow, Dawn and even Buffy, we all needed Krista's help. She helped us. She didn't take away the pain. She helped us deal with our losses."
"But you're still mourning Anya." Spike stated dully.
"I'm always going to mourn Ahn. But I'm not burying myself in the pain. If it hadn't been for Krista, I would have crawled into a liquor bottle and never come out. I owe her my sanity." Xander leaned over the table to get closer to Spike, making sure the vampire was listening.
Spike nodded once but didn't give up his contemplation of the tabletop. "I don't need help." He repeated, turning his face toward the wall. A muscle ticked in his jaw.
"Spike. Out of all of us, you need the most help. If we had known Krista two years ago, do you think Buffy coming back would have been as hard?" Xander felt a moment of guilt at the flinch he could see clearly on Spike's profile.
An echoing flinch crossed Lorne's face. Having heard what Spike had gone through during that time frame, the Pylean knew how difficult it had been for the vampire.
"What do you know about that? To you, to all of you bloody Scoobies Buffy was just fine, no problems dealing with her resurrection. You don't know what I went through." Bitterness laced Spike's voice.
"Yes, we do." Xander's voice was almost inaudible but Spike's vampiric hearing caught it.
"What?" Spike's blue eyes sparked amber in his sudden anger.
Krista decided it was time to intervene. "Buffy told us everything, Spike." Her melodious voice was pitched to soothe Spike's nerves.
Spike gave up. His anger faded. He rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes. He wrapped his arms around himself and mentally retreated as far he could. He didn't want to deal with it any more. It was too hard. He'd been through a lot in his long unlife but now he just couldn't take it any longer. Having everyone know what he'd viewed as his private indignity was the last straw. Buffy had apologized for the entire ordeal but at the time it seemed as if it had happened to someone else. He wished he'd never been brought back. He wanted to be back in Heaven. He just wanted to be gone.
Xander bent his head. This was going all wrong. He was failing miserably in his role as Spike's caretaker. Raising his head, his brown eyes swerved over to meet Krista's lavender gaze. Her delicate features were drawn with tension. She could sense him slipping away. She'd never lost one and she wasn't about to start with some stubborn vampire.
"Spike." No answer. "Spike, look at me." Krista's voice compelled him to obey. He didn't appear to hear her his retreat was so complete. She glared at Lorne. "I can't reach him if he won't look at me." She snapped.
Xander had an idea. He glanced at Krista trying to convey his intent. She nodded. "Will." He began. "You have to let Krista help you. Buffy and Dawn need you. We just got you back and we're not about to lose you now." Xander's low voice vibrated along Spike's raw nerves. "Will, for their sakes, look at me." Spike's eyes opened a fraction almost involuntarily.
"I can't do it anymore." The vampire whispered.
"Yes, you can." Xander insisted. "You're the strongest person I know."
"I'm not a person. I'm a vampire." Spike's eyes opened fully and he glared across at Xander.
"That's not exactly true." Krista inserted.
The three males at the table gaped at her. "What?"
