Bleach, Willow and the Unseen

"I got something for you Spike!" Spike looked at Buffy's excited face in confusion; what could she have possibly gotten him that brought her so much excitement.She brought her arm from her back and chanted an overly enthusiastic 'ta da' Spike rose an disbelieving eyebrow at her.

"You brought me bleach?" Buffy nodded and threw the bottle at him, her face becoming mock serious.

"Spike you have to do something with your hair!" Spike looked at her and smirked, an old teasing gleam shining through his azure eyes.

"What if I said I wanted to return to my old roots...literally?"

Buffy narrowed her eyes at him. "What if I say Mr.Pointy will be really upset with you if you don't use the bleach?" Spike stood up, silently happy that he had finally had healed enough to wear his clothes again; well Buffy had gotten him the navy blue top but the black tight trousers were still his own.His posture was challenging and he wrapped his arms around his upper chest, a smirk firmly planted on his face. "And what if I say bring it on?!"

Buffy leapt at him without a second thought, her blonde hair swirled around her wildly, carried away by the wind the pair created. Buffy let out a laugh of enjoyment and managed to push Spike to the ground. Her hips straddled Spike and the point of her stake just touched the blue material of his top.A wicked smile formed on Buffy's face as she realized she had won.

She could feel something, a connection, a pull. Something deep within her was being pulled, and she found that all she could do was stare into Spike's endless blue eyes. Her whole body froze, and her bottom lip dropped slightly as Buffy was completely lost in Spike's eyes. It felt so good, their bodies being so close together!It had been so long...Spike abruptly growled and pushed her off of him as Buffy unknowingly began to grind her hips against him.Suddenly the playful light atmosphere left and Spike looked at her sharply.

"We can't do that again Buffy, if this...if all you've done is so that you can...we can..." Buffy shook her head in earnest. "It's not."

Spike looked at her sharply, trying to see truth in her lusting green eyes.What he found was sufficient as his sharp gaze softened until he was looking at her like normal.He caught sight of the bleach bottle on the floor, and bending down, he picked it up and with a grim smile on his face growled softly as he left. "Better be the right colour."

Buffy stood where she was for a moment, before slamming the door shut and rushing to her training room.She couldn't believe she had been so stupid!After everything that had happened she still couldn't help herself, could she?How could she still harbour blame on him for the attempted rape if she acted like that?Letting out another furious cry of anger she punched the bag so hard it went flying from its chains.

"OY NIBLET WILL YA BLOODY HURRY UP!" A non-committal sound came from the closed wooden door, but, Spike told himself, at least the shower had been turned off.He leaned heavily on the door, preparing for a long wait. He was totally unprepared, therefore, for the door to suddenly swing open. "SPIKE!"

Dawn squealed as he tumbled towards her; his whole body weight having rested on the door. Thankfully before anymore undue embarrassment occurred; Spike gripped the door frame and regained his balance.An odd feeling surged through him at seeing Dawn in nothing but a towel firmly wrapped around her chest and another white towel over her head; he felt protective of her all of a sudden..."Spike?What you doing?" Dawn's voice and very flushed cheeks brought Spike crashing back down into the real world, and suddenly wishing that the world would swallow him up. He dashed into the bathroom closing the door behind him. "How the bloody hell do I get myself in these things?" He muttered to himself.

"I can't promise you'll be wanted, but you will be needed," a sympathetic Giles told a worried Willow. It made his heart ache to see the lost look in Willow's eyes, and he wished he could make it better but he knew it was really only Willow and the rest of the gang who could truly repair the damage made. Giles put a warm hand on her shoulder, "You were hurt, you dealt with it badly but you've come out the other side.Willow, you're better for it." Willow sniffed and brought Giles into a hug, the comfort the Englishman gave her, tugging her pale lips into a smile.

"She should be coming now!Any minute!" An enthusiastic Xander told the group, as he waved his yellow crayon sign wildly.Dawn looked at it and frowned critically. "Why is it yellow?" Xander smiled at her brightly. "She'll understand...when she turns up!" Buffy looked as the last person disappeared into a flood of people, her worried eyes looked on as no other form emerged. "Xander she's not here." Xander shook his head, a look of fierce determination on his face. "No, she's just the last, you'll see! Willow's just lagging behind! Miss slow poke!"

Buffy closed her eyes, a pained expression on her face. Dawn nudged her arm and Buffy's eyes immediately snapped open; a look of disappointment came on to her features at not seeing the desired red head, and, breathing in deeply, she turned to Dawn. "Where's Spike?" "He's bleaching. Dawn, no one knows he's here, got it?No one but you and me." A look of argument came on to Dawn's face but Buffy hushed her. "You know what Xander thinks of Spike at the moment, if you really did lash out at him then Xander's going to kill him.No one knows, not yet."

Spike was about to head downstairs for the first time since his arrival, when he heard the door slam open and Xander's voice filling the opening hallway. "IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!YOU CAN'T JUST GO ACCUSING PEOPLE LIKE THAT!YOU CAN'T ACCUSE WILLOW LIKE THATBUFFY!"

Spike pressed himself flat against the shaded wall, his curiosity took a severe jolt when he heard Willow being mentioned.He had heard a lot about Willow recently. A small part of him felt appreciation for the witch, the utter destruction she had caused, and was capable of was enough to send his demon wild.Yet, a bigger part of him was saddened; he had always liked Red.Sure he had made fun of her on a few occasions, and last year they certainlyhadn't seen eye to eye; but he could remember that day when she had crashed the car with Dawn.

The broken look on her face was one he was all too familiar with. He had wanted really to help her then; but Buffy had needed him, and now, he admitted to himself, he needed help.The last he'd heard, Willow had been taken to England with Giles, and despite having less than fond feelings for Giles, he couldn't help but feel some respect for the man; for when he agreed to take Willow back home with him it could only at most been a couple of days after her attempt of murdering him. Spike listened hard; he was afraid to turn his head in case anyone saw him.

He could hear a faint heart beat more clearly than the rest, and he was about to risk a look when a voice rang out. "I know you're there.Look, go back upstairs and I'll find out what's going on. Buffy's doesn't want Xander to see you." Spike moved from the wall and nodded at Dawn. "Thanks Niblet." Dawn smiled at him once more before disappearing into the hallway, for the brief moment when the living room door was open Spike could hear an explosion of voices. Someone was having a very heated argument.

"All I'm saying Xander is she's changed; you can't do everything she's done and not get affected." "SHE'S WILLOW, BUFFY!NOT A DEMON YOU'VE GOT TO SLAY BUT WILLOW!I DON'T RECALL YOU WORRYING ABOUT ALL THE PEOPLE SPIKE'S KILLED!" Buffy's eyes flashed dangerously, and Dawn looked at her older sister intrigued; she wondered how much of Buffy's and Spike's break up was true. "DON'T BRING HIM INTO THIS!SPIKE'S DIFFERENT!HE'S GOT A SO-"

"CHIP!XANDER, SPIKE'S GOT A CHIP." Dawn quickly intervened, and not a minute too soon, as Buffy had slapped her hand over her mouth; in the heat of the moment she had virtually given the game away.She had almost told everyone that Spike had a soul. Xander, meanwhile, looked enraged; he pointed his index finger at Dawn, literally shaking with rage. "ARE YOU DEFENDING HIM?ARE YOU DEFENDING THAT UNDEAD SCUM BAG? AFTER WHAT HE DID?!" Alarm bells all rang through Buffy's brain and in her haze of panic she punched Xander square on the nose. "OHHH!!!"

Spike's smile faded as a shaken Dawn entered his bedroom; she had been crying.He could tell; he could see the tear trails and she had a slightly salty scent over her. Her face turned falsely bright, however, when she caught sight of his hair. "Now that's the Spike I'm used to seeing!You even used gel!" Despite Dawn's obvious upset, Spike couldn't help but chuckle at her antics, and he answered her, rolling his eyes. "Yes, William the Bloody used hair gel on his newly bleached hair!" A teasing look came onto Dawn's face. "Good 'cause the other look sucked." Looking mock-offended Spike carefully growled and, grabbing her around the waist, brought her to the carpet.He pinned her down effortlessly, grinning at her small efforts to free herself. "You got one chance Niblet." Dawn broke into a fit of giggles and barely managed to get out a muffled sorry so Spike would gently let her go.

But as Dawn sat up and wiped the tears of laughter from her face it reminded him that she had been crying before, and not from laughter. "What happened Niblet, what did the Boy say?" "Xander, Spike.What Xander said, and he didn't really say anything." Spike shook his head and knelt down in front of her. "Nice try Niblet, this time tell me everything." Dawn nodded, her playful attitude dying and she began to explain about Willow; although Spike knew what had mostly gone on hearing an eyewitness account made it all the more horrific. "And then basically Xander had a go at Buffy saying she cared more aboutCaptain Peroxide than she did her best friend. Willow was supposed to come home today.She didn't show." Spike gathered Dawn into his arms and stroked her hair, he was lost deep in thought...

Willow unlocked the door. "HELLO?ANYONE HOME?BUFFY, DAWN?ANYONE?" Silence greeted her and, with a sinking heart, she placed her keys into her jacket pocket and made her way upstairs.She walked to Buffy's room. "Buffy?Buffy it's me.Buffy, you in there?" Gently, Willow slid the door open, but Buffy wasn't there, curiously though her bed looked like it had at least been rested on.Frowning slightly, Willow closed the door and tried Dawn's room. No such luck.No one was home; the darkness of the night felt like it was choking her, and before long deep cries began to choke her throat. She slid down, her back against the wall and hoarsely let the cries out; burying her face in her hands, her straight red hair gliding over them like a curtain.

It was the cries that woke him up.Awful cries, not he feared horribly, too unlike his own.His mind flitted backward and forward between Buffy and Dawn, a headache forming at what possible event could have brought one of his girls down like that. He got the shock of his undead life when he saw Willow there.

"Willow?" He whispered disbelievingly. At the sudden voice Willow's head shot up, her eyes widened when she saw Spike. "Spike?What are you doing here?Did Buffy let you in?" Spike smirked at her attempt to question his motives. "Don't think you're on any fit moral high ground to question me, Red." At the nickname his eyes squinted and then a playful gleam went through them. "Not black now then, I see." He suddenly looked towards the stairs. "OY BUFFY, WILLOW'S HERE!" Willow ran to the steps. She looked at the empty steps and then frowned darkly at Spike. "That wasn't funny." Spike looked at Willow's dark look in open confusion. "But look Red, she's right here."Whilst saying this he motioned to a random area just behind his shoulder.Tears collected in Willow's eyes and she found she suddenly wanted to be alone; she fled down the stairs ignoring Spike's shouts of 'Red'.

"Not black now then, I see." He suddenly looked towards the stairs. "OY BUFFY, WILLOW'S HERE!" Buffy bounded up the stairs, adrenaline rushing through her, only to meet a deserted corridor. She was about to look into the room behind Spike when she heard him speak again. "But look Red, she's right here." Buffy turned around and, to her utter confusion; Spike began to wave his hand in her direction.

"Spike?" Buffy whispered; worry slowly beginning to flood through her. "RED!OH RED, DON'T GO!LOOK'S SHE BLEEDING HERE!WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? CAN'T YOU SODDING SEE HER?"

Buffy lost it, enough was enough. "SPIKE!" Spike jumped a foot in the area and spun around to face her, he was clearly annoyed. "Spike, no one's here but you and me.Willow didn't show; I just called Giles." Spike pinched the bridge of his nose. "She was here Buffy, right there!Why can't you see her?She couldn't see you!You couldn't see her... AHA!" Buffy grasped him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him back into his room.Her eyes were furious. "Look; Dawn's trying to sleep out there so keep it quiet.Spike what an earth is going on?"

Spike just sniggered. "I'm a demon."

Buffy's face screwed up in annoyed confusion. "Yeah, point?"

Spike smirked even more broadly. "I'mimmune."

Buffy closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. "Immune to what?"

"Mind magic, to that interpretation Wicca stuff, we demons are immune.You're the Slayer but you're still human." Buffy let out a deep breath. "Where's all this going Spike?" Spike came right up close to her; he raised his right hand and gently rubbed down her cheek. "It means Luv..." his voice deep and husky. "That Willow's here, but 'cause she's cast some Wicca jumbo, it's affected your perception. Hers and yours.It's separated reality; you're both in the house but it's like you're in separate dimensions.I'm the only one that can see you both." Buffy shivered at the tone of his voice, and at how close their bodies were. "Go to sleep Spike." She told him before pushing him away and closing the door shut, her whole body, unbeknown to Spike, trembling.

Hope you liked it Please review