"So, uh. . . Are you and Angel getting along again?"

So much for that boundary crap. Still, Spike was never one-not since becoming a vampire-to go long without wanting to talk. Maybe being away from Angel was doing the trick, or maybe it was being away from L.A. (It was probably Angel.)

He looks at Andrew like he is an idiot.

"We never have gotten along. Toleration at best is all you're going to get from us."

That was a lie.

"Oh. . . Xander says that he bets you guys were, um, a couple back in the day."

Soul or no soul, if Buffy doesn't show up soon, if the conversation keeps heading in the direction that it is, he decides that he might kill him. (Or, really, a good thrashing.)

"He's just jealous that he can't hold down a girlfriend like I could."

'Could,' Andrew catches.

He looks uncertain, knowing that he might anger his guest but continuing anyway.

"He also says that she dumped you all of the time."

Spike's actually surprised by this, though he doesn't know why; of course they talk about him. With the amount of girls they've acquired, what better do they have to do other than gossip?

"You've heard about Dru?"

That's a name he hasn't spoken in a while.

Andrew nods.

"A little bit."

Spike sits back, processing this. It had been a while since he had had anyone to actually talk about these things with. Fred would have listened, but when did the bird have time? He feels like taking advantage of the situation.

'Might as well.'

"She was bored a lot of the time. Not with me-don't think that. She just. . . She was impatient with me a good deal of the time that she shouldn't have been. She did have good reason to be around the end though. I was so caught up with Buffy that I didn't-She wanted attention, and I didn't give it to her. Drove her off to other men. Not even men, some of them. Things. . . She blamed me for it, too. No wonder we didn't last . . . The times before that though, all of those were her. I was patient though. Bat-stir crazy, I'm sure you know. Half the time, I didn't even-She was brilliant though. Could read time in the stars. Skill of her level was rare, even in our world. We were monsters, the both of us, but she was brilliant. Gorgeous, too."

Andrew watched Spike carefully while he was talking. Pride, nostalgia, regret, they all played across his face-but there was a smile, too. Andrew himself had to smile; he didn't think that he would have actually received an honest answer.

Of course, it was a private discussion, which they both realized; it was as close to 'open' as Spike was going to come-which is why Andrew was hesitant to speak the next words out of his mouth.

"Sounds like you miss her."

There's a moment of silence between them.

He does, but he also misses how needed and wanted she could make him feel.

"Yeah."

He unpauses the game. They don't speak for a while.