Disclaimer: I own nothing; Joss is God, etc..

II. To Allay A Lady

Dublin, Ireland – Autumn 1881

Enough was enough. This time he had clearly crossed the line. She had brought him into being! Did he really think he could get away with everything? That she would keep putting up with this? Why, no – not even for him, Angelus. In fact he knew that all too well. He just seemed to.. forget about it from time to time. Not that it made a difference.

Three nights. Three full nights and days he was roving about with Dru now. This widely exceeded the limit of her tolerance. Darla was seething with anger; something she rarely allowed herself and even then only when she was sure to be alone. Today however she'd rampaged through half of the mansion when she realized sunrise was nearing and those two obviously had no intention of getting back any time soon.

While the sun started it's daily cycle she grasped the first vase in reach, smashing it into the nearest wall in a freshly approaching wave of rage.

It missed Spike - who just happened to return from his hunt in this very moment - by millimetres; making him freeze on the spot, indeed slightly shocked by the unexpected flying object and the mess presenting itself to him when his eyes scanned the entrance hall. By the time he had left earlier the huge room had been neatly organized; every exquisite piece of furniture at its very own place, just as the costly vases and paintings. Right in this second though total chaos reigned the place.

A mixture of glass shards and fragments from what Spike believed had once been a mahogany chair now decorated the dark marble floor; a pretty little side-table had changed its position much to its disadvantage and the rest of the room didn't exactly remind one of the former state of order either.

There was no need to ask what had brought forth this furious outbreak. After all, he himself had left mere hours ago because he had to blow some steam of, so he wouldn't eventually do exactly what the lady of the house obviously had. Granted, the Scotch might have had a hand in it as well; not the alcohol itself, of course, but the sheer act of solemnly downing a few glasses did the trick sometimes. Anyway, her reaction surprised him nevertheless. Spike couldn't remember having ever seen her so angry, not to mention displaying it so plainly when normally she was oh so roofed to keep her self restrained. Well, looked like everyone psyched out at some point.

Even though the young vampire felt with her, he wasn't quite sure how to react to this. The last thing he wanted – and that he was rather sure of – was to make himself a target for her fury. The possible outcome of such a stupid mistake was simply bound to be unhealthy. Yet in the end he decided against leaving her alone with her hurt pride and – as he assumed – her disappointment as well. One reason being that he knew just to well what she was going through, the other one that he much preferred the thought of still having a house to come back to by the end of today.

"Should be more careful, luv. That was bloody close." Despite the serious situation his words were accompanied by a wink and a lopsided grin; a simple attempt at shifting her attention towards him. Well, it worked.. just not quite the way Spike had hoped it would.

"Oh, leave me alone! What do you even do here? Do I appear to you as if a 'nice little chat' is what I have in mind right now?" she hissed at him, even though – for once – he really was the last person responsible for the mess.

"Sorry to disappoint, luv, as coincidence has it I live here as well.. but yeah, I can see what you have on your mind." he simply observed, gesturing vaguely towards the chaos around them during the last part. "Did it help?"

For a beat she just gazed at him, seemingly irritated by either his question or his nerve to ask her something like that. Then, however, she lowered herself down onto one of the reaming armchairs, shrugging her shoulders in an almost ungainly manner. "No."

He gave an understanding nod, dropping down in the seat opposite hers. "Thought as much." he noticed in a faint voice "Tattered that boring little town a few miles down - arrant waste of time."

Now it was her turn to be surprised as she didn't expect such plain honesty. For a while she just looked at him.

"At least you don't have to clean up by yourself." she then suddenly stated so dryly that it prompted a soft laugh from him in spite of everything else.

"Aw, rubbish. Just leave it - I'll cope." he joked, pulling the smallest of smiles from her. "Nah, seriously.. at least that bloody ignorant might come to see some sense then." It was a simple musing, more to himself than her, his mind back on the original topic of conversation. "Doesn't even realize what he has, the basket. I mean, earnestly, look at you."

The meaning of what he had just said only dawned on him when Darla raised her eyebrow in surprise for the second time in just minutes. Need to cut down on the Scotch, clearly came to his mind, the little and completely vain fact that alcohol had absolutely no impact on him any more completely escaping him for the moment, just because he really couldn't think of another reason for his bold honesty. Of course, it wasn't as if he'd never spoken about her like that, but since then he'd learned a lot about life as a vampire – and in his right mind he clearly wasn't suicidal enough to even think in that direction aloud. Be that as it may, he had now and all he really hoped for was that those words would never leave this room or he'd most likely be a dead vampire.

During Spike's silent pondering Darla had done nothing then survey him in silence and slowly he was starting to see another outbreak of fury coming – this time about him being out of his mind and them having had this conversation. It never did come though. On the contrary, instead of the lecture he had expected all he received from her was a bewildering smile, slowly stealing itself onto her lips.

"So, I take it.. you still fancy me, William?"

This was about the last question on earth he had expected – at least in this.. content?! hoping?! tone of voice. For a moment he considered his options, only to came to the conclusion that it was already too late now anyway, meaning it probably made no difference what he answered – well, for her ego maybe, and that had suffered enough already he thought, so...

"That a serious question? Who wouldn't fancy you, luv."

In spite of what he had thought her smile instantly vanished.
"Angelus, for example. Or he wouldn't prefer 'playing' with Dru."

The name being mentioned alone had Spike rolling his eyes.
"What d' you expect? He's a stupid idiot. Sorry, princess, but you could do much better."

"In that you're completely right." she agreed and an undefinable smirk came to her lips...

To be continued in Chapter 3