It'd been an accident, honest. Willow had been working on an art project for one of her classes, and knew it would be awesome if she used a bunch of those soda-can tabs in the project. And she knew which one of her weirdly quirky friends had a shoe-box in their closet full of tabs that they'd been collecting for years. Willow used to borrow tabs for art projects and for inventing weird games through middle school, and so she knew Xander wouldn't mind if she took a handful of them.
She'd knocked on his apartment door for five minutes before she'd remembered that he said he was working tonight. With a mental shrug - he probably wouldn't even notice that there were tabs missing - she used her key and entered his apartment.
She opened his bedroom closet and knelt, digging though a pile of clothes to find the heavy shoe-box of can tabs. Scooping up a few, she poured them in her pocket and was about to get up when she smelled something. It was almost like cigarette smoke, but why would Xander's closet smell like cigarettes? Xander didn't smoke... unless he was keeping a secret from Willow.
Curious, she lifted a few of the pieces of clothing to her nose, but she could tell right away that they weren't the source of the scent. Digging further into Xander's closet, her hand struck the edge of another box, this one much larger than the shoe box, completely covered with scattered clothing. She uncovered the box and opened it, and gasped at the contents.
Almost two dozen little plastic bags, all neatly labeled, most of them containing anywhere from one to nine cigarette filters. One held an empty bottle of black nail polish, and in a larger plastic bag was what used to be a black t-shirt, but was now the bloody shredded remains of a black t-shirt that she'd seen Spike wearing when it was shredded during a patrol. Another bag also held pages talking about 'William the Bloody' that had been torn from what must've been one of Giles' books.
She sat back on her heels, eyes wide and hands trembling. This wasn't good. She felt like she was in a horror movie, when you first see obvious signs of a stalker's obsession.
Willow shook her head sharply. Stalker? This was Xander! She'd known him forever. He was her best friend. There was no way that he could be some kind of psycho stalker.
Except that the proof was right in front of her. Deep in her heart she knew that if vampires were more photogenic, there'd be several pictures of Spike in the box too. Silently, she replaced the box and arranged the clothes over it, hoping that Xander wouldn't be able to tell that anyone had stumbled over his secret. With a heavy heart and a burdened mind, she locked up his apartment and left to think things over.
"""
Spike had been missing for a week, and Willow knew that Xander knew where he was. He was almost nonchalant when they first realized that Spike was AWOL. She knew Buffy thought he was just showing his disdain for the vampire, but since finding that box, Willow knew better. Xander should be frantic without the subject of his obsession, but he was as calm as ever, so she knew the vampire hadn't split of his own accord. She wasn't sure where he was keeping Spike, but it couldn't be too far away.
Plopping down on the couch next to Xander during a research party, she let a silly grin blossom on her face. Her nerves were all jittery and the butterflies in her stomach were doing gymnastics, but she used the on-edge feelings and made it sound like she was excited and peppy. "Hey Xan!"
"Hey," Xander smiled at her, and she almost faltered. How could her bestest Xander-shaped friend be a kidnapper and a stalker?
Steeling her will, she said, "There's a bake sale on campus on Monday, and I already volunteered to bring cookies, but there's no oven at the dorms and Giles' oven is broken from when Buffy tried to make Thanksgiving dinner, so I was wondering if maybe I could come over and use the oven at your place?"
"Oh man, I'm sorry Wills," he replied, "But my oven is on the fritz too. Did you try Buffy's?"
"No," Willow replied, "I'll stop by tomorrow and ask Joyce." Liar, she though to herself. Xander never used his oven, so why would it be malfunctioning? And even if it was, how would he have figured out that it wasn't working? No, it was far more likely that Spike was in Xander's apartment. An icy chill worked its way down Willow's spine, but she tried to ignore it and play the role of geeky innocent best friend for the rest of the evening.
"""
Adrenaline pounded though her veins as she drove up to Xander's apartment and parked. There was a fully stocked first-aid kit and a cooler with several bags of blood waiting in the trunk just in case. She hurried to Xander's apartment, pausing in front of the door. She whispered the words of a revealing spell, and felt slightly relieved when there were no protection spells or wards on Xander's door. She hadn't thought he was practicing magic, but then again she hadn't thought he was interested in Spike. She quickly unlocked the door and slipped inside, closing the door gently behind her. Xander was at work right now, a fact that she had verified right before coming over, but that didn't mean she wanted to dally or wake the neighbors.
Upon entering the apartment, one thing immediately stood out. Xander's bedroom door was closed. Xander never closed his bedroom door. Her heart pounding heavy in her chest, she approached the door and pushed it open.
She had been expecting it, but it was still a shock to see Spike trussed up like a turkey and chained to Xander's bed. Fear and nausea churned her stomach as she neared the bed. She took off the gag first, and then the blindfold. "Spike? It's me, Willow. Are you all right?" Spike didn't respond, glazed eyes staring into space. There were no visible wounds that she could see, and with only a sheet covering the lower half of Spike she could see quite a bit.
Willow turned to the bedside table where she saw a small silver key lying beside the alarm clock. Picking it up, she turned back to Spike and was about to unlock the chains when she heard Xander's voice.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."