A/N: This is an AU story starting from 'The Initiative'
Willow laid on her bed listening to sad music. It wasn't fair! Why did Oz have to leave? Couldn't he have stayed?
She heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" she called out.
Spike opened the door to Buffy's dorm, triumphant. It was a little trick that he had learned in his 119 years as a vampire—just simply knocking on a door is the quickest way to get an invite. "Spike! What do you want? A spell? I can do that!" Willow said as she quickly jumped up.
Spike glanced away. How stupid could she be? Willow took this chance to make a mad dash for it. Unfortunately, spike was quicker and threw her against the dresser. He then walked up to her ready for a good meal. "I'll scream," Willow declared desperately wishing Buffy were in the dorm room with her.
"Bonus!" Spike replied.
Willow let the loudest scream she could muster and Spike covered her mouth and turned up the music on her CD player. "No!" Willow screamed as she fought Spike.
Spike leaned in to bite her and felt a sharp pain in his head. He sat up and grabbed his head in agony. "I don't understand," he said after a few minutes.
"It's me—it has to be," Willow stated sadly even though she was thankful that Spike couldn't follow through.
A small part of her wondered what it would be like to be a vampire. Would it help her to forget all about Oz? "No," Spike stated breaking her out of her reverie.
Willow shook her head. "Why else would my boyfriend break up with me just so he could go find himself? There has to be something wrong with me! No wonder no vampire has been able to--" Willow trailed off realizing whom she was confiding in.
'I should be trying to escape not telling my woes to an evil vampire' Willow thought.
" 'S not you, pet. Lotsa couples break up for no reason at all or 'cause of unfounded accusations," Spike replied.
Willow knew right away that he was talking about Dru. As she looked at him though, she could tell there was more to it than just that.
Commotion outside the dorm caused both Willow and Spike to jump off the bed. Spike quickly opened the door hoping it wasn't the Slayer. Instead he found the soldier boys waiting for him. He ducked and ran only to find more of them.
Spike attempted to fight them off but all he got was more head pain. "My head!" he cried as he felt a bag go over his head.
"Contain the civilian!" a voice ordered.
"Contain this!" Buffy shot back.
Spike used this interruption as a way to escape. After the soldiers left and Buffy was sure everyone was gone, Buffy said, "You okay Willow?"
"I'm fine," Willow replied as she rubbed her neck.
'I'm one of the lucky ones' Willow thought.
"Spike didn't--"
"No," Willow told her.
Willow and Buffy didn't talk anymore about Spike but instead the chose to talk about the commandos.
"Everyone is so lucky to be able to go home to a nice Thanksgiving dinner!" Willow commented as she sat on her bed.
"I thought you were against it," Buffy replied.
"It still would be nice to have one," Willow told her.
"So I'll fix one for all of us Scoobies," Buffy said.
"What about the Shumash Indian tribe?" Willow asked.
"I can juggle cooking along with slayage," Buffy told her.
Willow and Buffy began shopping for ingredients to make the perfect Thanksgiving dinner. Willow's thoughts began to drift towards Spike. How could an evil, undead thing be so understanding? She still wasn't able to figure that one out.
Willow was about to go in the local coffee shop when an arm grabbed her. "Evil! You're all evil again," she half-screamed through Angel's hand when she realized who had grabbed her.
'I guess most vampires move on quickly' Willow thought.
"No, I'm not. I'm here to see Buffy. My friend had a vision of her in trouble," Angel explained.
Willow let out a sigh of relief. She'd had too many close calls with vamps already. "She's over there. Go help her!" Willow told him as she pointed out Buffy.
"It's not that simple," he replied.
Angel's words pushed Willow over the edge. "Why are guys like that? They leave and say it's for her own good--" Willow ranted.
"Willow!" Angel snapped.
"Sorry. My stuff," Willow apologized.
"You know I would give anything to be with Buffy."
Willow smiled. At least Angel wasn't like Oz. 'Maybe one day I'll find someone who cares about me as much as Angel cares about Buffy.'
Spike kicked some rocks in the dark alley. It wasn't fair. If he couldn't feed then what kind of vampire was he? A homeless, hungry one—he had decided.
He had one option left. 'I just hope the watcher is in a good mood!'
As Spike knocked on the door, he knew his blanket only had a limited amount of time left before it disintegrated completely. "Spike. What do you want?" Buffy asked after she opened the door.
"Invite me in!" Spike begged Giles, who was next to Buffy.
"Absolutely not!" Giles replied.
"I've got information on those soldier boys," Spike told Buffy as he moved to a shady spot.
"Oh, really?" Buffy asked.
Spike looked in Giles' apartment and spotted Willow. 'She looks nice!' he thought.
'No don't think like that!' he immediately corrected himself.
"They put a chip in my head and now I can't hurt people," Spike explained. "Just ask Red."
Buffy turned around and looked at Willow. "Is this true?"
"Well, Spike did say he was going to find you after he turned me. But, yeah it's true he couldn't bite me," Willow replied.
'He looks so helpless' Willow thought even though she knew what he was capable of.
Giles invited Spike in and Buffy tied him to a chair. "Okay, Will watch Spike while I go find that Indian leader," Buffy told Willow.
"I'm going too!" Xander said as he struggled to get up, not wanting to be in the same room as Spike.
Anya also left with Xander. "I'm hungry!" Spike whined after Giles had left the room.
Willow frowned. Why did Buffy have to leave her with the vampire? "Well you're going to have to wait for Buffy to get back!" she stated.
"Do you know what happens when a vampire doesn't feed?"
"I'm guessing that they turn to dust after a while. But if that were true, all Buffy would have to do is capture vampires and wait for them to turn to dust," Willow replied.
"Living skeleton, red!" Spike informed her.
"Interesting," Willow replied.
'Angel's probably told Buffy all kinds of interesting facts like that!' she thought.
"You going to help keep me from becoming a living skeleton?" Spike asked.
