Days in the Sun
February 1st, 2008 – Wedding (3)
All three Summers children were in bed, the younger two already asleep, Lisa having obtained the right to read a little longer, when Spike joined Xander in the living room. He accepted the bottle the brunette handed out to him with a grateful and appreciative nod. One thing was sure, he had had a very positive influence on the human’s taste. It had taken time, because they didn’t actually have these male bonding sessions very often – no often than the girls taking a night out, actually – but on that regard, Spike could die a happy vamp, having irreversibly converted his human friend to the joys of imported beer.
“All clear on the kiddies front?” Xander asked perfunctorily.
“Fine. What about yours? Not afraid to leave him with a sitter?”
“I’m actually more worried for the sitter than for Jessie,” Xander admitted with a chuckle.
Raising their bottles in a silent toast, they each took a swig and then released twin sighs of contentment.
“So, what’s your trouble with Buffy?” Xander inquired after a few seconds.
Startled, Spike frowned at him. How did he know?
“Nothing’s wrong with the Slayer,” he lied.
The human shook his head but did not comment any further, choosing instead to take another swig. Spike observed him for a little while before deciding that, maybe, he could help.
“Asked her to marry me,” he said through almost clenched teeth. “Girl said yes. Then changed her mind. In less than two minutes from one extreme to the other. Won’t even talk about it anymore.”
As he glared at the gaping human, Spike was surprised to realize that his bottle was now empty and exchanged it for one of the full ones on the coffee table.
“OK,” Xander finally said. “Somehow I can’t quite picture the mother of your children changing her mind about that for no reason. So you must have done or said something to really, and I mean really, piss her off.”
If possible, Spike glared harder.
“I didn’t do anything!” he claimed, annoyed. He had been expecting support, not blame.
“Humor me, will you? What did you say and what did she answer?”
Spike grumbled but complied.
“Pop the question. She says yes, then wants to know why I asked. Tell her. She says no. She leaves.”
“And when she asked why, what did you tell her exactly?”
“The truth. That mom Joyce had said Buffy dreamed of a nice wedding and that got me thinking.”
The inquisitive look on Xander’s face suddenly became full of something that looked way too much like pity and Spike’s annoyance increased exponentially.
“What?” he snapped.
“Mate, you’re a piece of work, you know that, right?” the human said with an exaggerated sigh. “One would think that after being around women for so long you’d actually have learned a thing or two.”
“It’s not like Dru… not like she was human or sane or wanting to get married. How am I supposed to know what’s in the head of a woman who was born a hundred years after I became a vampire?”
He was stunned by the catch in his throat when he had said her name. He hadn’t said it out loud for quite a long time and never thought of her unless he was writing for Buffy. Xander was looking at him, curiosity plain on his face, and the vampire braced himself for the question he felt was coming.
“Any news about her, since you brought up the subject?”
“She’s dead.”
There was a surprising lack of emotion in Spike’s voice, but the truly strange thing was that he said more without prompting.
“I staked her. Three years ago. She came to get me back and I wasn’t really agreeable. So I staked her before she could hurt them.”
For a few seconds the human was silent, and Spike almost thought he could see sympathy in his eyes.
“Pretend I’m dumb,” Xander said at last, opening himself to an all too easy pun, “and explain to me why you didn’t agree to go back to your killing ways with a beautiful as well as immortal woman?”
“Harris…” Spike growled warningly.
“Come on, Fangboy. Indulge me.”
Spike deliberately allowed his eyes to take a golden hue, showing to the mortal that, even if he was answering, he wasn’t happy. Xander did not react and just took a swig of his beer as he waited for Spike’s answer.
“I killed Drusilla because I love Buffy and will love her until the day I’m ashes, be it tomorrow or in a thousand years. Because I have no interest in doing anything that doesn’t relate even in the remotest way to her or our children. Because my life is meaningless if she’s not a part of it.”
“And when she asks you why you want to marry her, all you find to say is that her mom talked you into it? God, you’re hopeless!”
It took a second for the words to sink in. Then, finally, Spike understood his mistake, and cursed himself in just about every language he knew.
“I really screwed up this one," he muttered dejectedly, angry for not getting it sooner.
“Now the question is,” Xander said with a small grin, “how well can you grovel?”
“He said that?”
“Men!”
“Oh, that’s ground for cursing. If I was still a vengeance demon, I’d give you a nice wish, I swear.”
“Thanks, Anh, but I can still torture him by myself if I want to.”
“One more proof that men just aren’t worth the time!”
Laughter
“Yeah, easy for you to say, Will.”
“So, you said no?”
“Yes. I said no.”
“But you really wanted to say yes, huh?”
“Yes… of course.”
“And you will?”
“When he figures out a better reason for marrying me, sure.”
“Ah, but you can’t agree too fast, you have to torture him first. He must pay!”
“I second that!”
“Me three!”
Giggles
The characters and names used in these stories do not belong to me. All copyrights remain with Fox and Mutant Enemy. No profit is made from this fanfiction.