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DISCLAIMER: Sometimes they own me.
SUMMARY: PG. I had Dawn and Willow torturing Angel in Twilight Zone. Guess which
vampire’s turn it is now?
WORDCOUNT: 1944
SLOW TORTURE
by Leni
”Hey!”
Willow half opened her eyes and turned to her right, where she knew the bright red digits
would determine the fate of whoever had dared interrupt her sleep. If it were a reasonable
hour, Willow might be able to do the mature thing and forgive them.
03:04
Otherwise she'd just murder the culprit. Slowly. "This is stupid," she mumbled
against her pillow, remembering the hours of research and practising she'd endured before
finding rest in her comfy bed. Still sleepily, her head found that perfect spot on her
pillow. Oh, it was so comfy. "Mmm, sleeping." Again, why had she wanted to
leave?
"Cheater!"
Her eyes opened again, wide and startled for the second before they hardened dangerously.
She spared a quick glance to her bedside clock before sitting up. 03:13 Willow's mouth set
in an annoyed line as she set the covers away. Who did they think they were? Just because
it was their free night, that didn't give them the right to...
A hand touched her side softly. "Willow? Why are you awake?"
Willow felt like screaming. This was what she earned after being raised in a silent house
where the drop of a pin would have startled her parents. Not to mention all the years of
waking up at the slightest noise because it could be - and mostly was - an enemy.
Being a light sleeper was a bitch and she was going to make sure she wasn't the only one
suffering tonight.
"Willow?" the voice insisted.
But she didn't want to take it out on her lover. Oh no, there were far more deserving
people downstairs. "Nothing, love," she whispered, "it's just you-know-who
doing you-know-what."
A sleepy chuckle answered her. "Again?"
As if to confirm it, a new voice came through the wall. "Cheater? What proof do
you have?!"
Both sighed and Willow shook her head at the absurdity of the situation. "I'll take
care. You just go back to sleep." She took the following silence as an assent and
looked into the darkness for her slippers. When she didn't find anything, she tried
searching blindly for them under the bed. Her toe bumped with a soft surface and she
smiled. Step One was over. She got up slowly, trying not to disturb her companion further
and grabbed her robe. Tip-toeing across the room and stifling a cry when her knee found
the corner of chair, she finally got to the hall and closed the door soundlessly behind
her.
--
“What proof?!” Dawn stared at him as if he’d grown two heads. In truth
Spike had only grown cards in his sleeves. She gestured to the offending piece of clothing
and glared.
He shook his arm carelessly and let the cards fly back to the floor. “These?”
Dawn nodded slowly and promised herself she wouldn’t throttle him, not even if it
could only do good in the current situation.
“As if you’d never known I used them.”
Dawn’s eyes narrowed. “Spike!”
He actually looked surprised. “Oh. Well, think of it this way,” he said easily
as he collected the cards and pocketed them.. “You are one of the best. Every time
you won, you did it against some extra help.”
“You shameless cheater!” Dawn said in indignation, throwing her hand in his
face. Or aiming at it anyway, their light weight didn’t let them get so far. That
only made her stand up and look around in search for something appropriate. Her eyes fell
on her purse and she unconsciously smiled.
Spike backed away when he noticed her expression. “Now, Dawn, no reason to get
upset,” he tried to placate her. It fell on deaf ears as she advanced further.
Determined on getting to her dresser, Dawn never noticed the ambush until it was too late.
She yelped when two arms fastened hers to her body. “There. Game over,” he
whispered.
Dawn calmed down immediately, and Spike made the mistake of loosening his grasp. As soon
as she could, Dawn pushed him away from her, almost making him topple onto the bed.
“Keep dreaming, Spike.”
He smirked. “So you finally learned that move,” he taunted her. Dawn’s
expression darkened and her hand flew to the first object nearby (a pink umbrella) to
shoot it in that smirk’s direction. Her victorious smile hadn’t even started
when the umbrella froze mid-air.
Two sets of eyes went to their door and the sight greeting them made both wince in
anticipation.
“I’m exhausted, I’m furious and I’m supposed to be sleeping,”
Willow began testily, another flick of her fingers let the umbrella fall back to the
floor. “It’s three in the damn morning, what the hell did you think you were
doing?”
Dawn’s memory immediately took her four years into the past and she adopted the
behaviour which had saved her then. Her lips trembled and she pointed a shaky finger at
Spike. “He started it.”
Both witch and vampire stared at her in surprise. Willow was the first to roll her eyes.
“Oh please.” She glared at the younger girl. “It was your voice
which woke me up in the first place.” Her gaze locked on Spike when she noticed the
smug smile crossing his face. “But I’m sure it was your fault.”
He just crossed his arms over his chest and refused to answer.
Willow shrugged. “Very well. I don’t care what happened here. I don’t care
if you’re too wound up because you didn’t go on patrol tonight. I’m going
back to sleep and if you wake me up again, I swear,” She pointed to the umbrella in
the middle of the room and snapped her fingers. The only thing left were pink flutters of
cloth falling to the floor. “That won’t be your only lose.”
Dawn nodded. When Spike didn’t say anything, she nudged him in the ribs. He just
rolled his eyes again. “Alright.”
Willow turned around.
“But next time your other half tires you out enough to bitch this much for lack of
sleep, stick it someplace else, witch.”
Dawn gulped and gaped at him. “Are you nuts?” she hissed angrily. Luckily Willow
didn’t react as she had expected. The redhead merely turned very slowly and, her eyes
fixed on the blonde, smiled sweetly. “You said something about cheating, Dawn?”
Dawn nodded wordlessly, suddenly more scared by that calm behaviour. She’d known
Willow enough to recognise when she was at her worst. A mad sleep-deprived version of her
sister’s best friend just couldn’t be good.
“Seems he wants to see what the other side looks like, huh?”
Dawn wondered at the words and then shook her head in denial. “No. It was just cards.
See?” She fished into Spike’s pocket for the proof.
Willow sighed. “All this for a silly game?”
“I have more sense than to cheat on Dawn with you in the house, Red.” That only
earned Spike a hard elbow in his side and another of Willow’s killer glares.
“Do you remember the old rules, Dawn?” Willow asked after some tense moments.
The girl began shaking her head but suddenly another old memory came to her rescue. She
grinned and a mischievous look came to her eyes as she looked at Spike. “Oh
yes.”
Spike looked between the two women and didn’t like what he found. He quickly decided
to cut his loses. “If it’s about sleeping on the couch, I’ll do it.”
He didn’t even add the obligatory ‘But you’ll miss me’ before trying
to leave the room. But a still grinning Willow got in the way, just as Dawn took his hand
to keep him in place. Now it was Spike’s turn to look nervous.
“The last time was the Poker Disaster of ’99,” Willow continued the
conversation.
Dawn smiled. “I remember. Xander tried to smuggle a couple of aces under his
sandwich.”
Willow chuckled. “He thought he was so clever.”
“He almost got us,” Dawn confirmed. “Bad thing he couldn’t move
quicker than Buffy’s eyes could see.”
The grin got wider. “Too bad indeed.”
Spike really didn’t like the situation at hand. He had just wanted to have a little
fun with Dawn, when had Willow gotten into the mix? “I don’t see...”
“You see, Spike, back in ’97 those three made some ground rules.”
Willow smiled in remembrance. “Rule one: Loser brings the snacks.”
“Rule two: No mention of Apocalypses, vampires or other demons,” Dawn listed.
“Unless they were playing along, of course.”
“And the third rule, cheaters had to do whatever the others chose.”
Spike now saw where their smiling reminiscences were heading. He tried to shake Dawn's
grasp off. “Though luck, crazy birds, I don’t play by any rules.” He stated
when his girlfriend didn't let go.
“But you were playing with me, love,” she said with a small pout.
“I refuse to do...”
“Spike,” Willow warned, ”you really have no option.”
Spike took a step towards the redhead and cocked his head to a side. “Bring your
worst, coma girl, nothing I can’t take.”
Willow bristled at the nickname she’d gained after staying unconscious for a week in
a recent battle. Her eyes narrowed and she was deciding what incantation to use when
Dawn’s hand on her arm stopped her. Had the girl known how wicked her grin looked at
that point, she wouldn't have been surprised when Willow agreed to let it go. Dawn just
saw the small nod and smiled self-confidently. She knew just what button to push.
“Scared?”
Spike snorted in denial.
“Then I dare you.”
“You are crazy.”
“It wouldn’t be the worse thing in the world. Willow is too sleepy to stay
around for more than ten minutes. Come on, I double dare you.”
“Not in your lifetime, Dawn.”
Dawn didn’t relent. "I triple dog dare you."
Spike turned to her in confusion. “You... what?”
"You can’t back away from that, Spike.”
“Sure I can!” he retorted.
“No, it’s the rule.”
“Right after the one saying that ‘dibs’ can only hold for a month,”
Willow confirmed.
Spike stared at the two women. “You aren’t in primary school, you know?”
Dawn’s lips tightened. “Do it or I’ll tell them about that Thursday.”
Spike glared at her. “Are you still threatening me with that?”
“Is it still working?”
He was silent for a long moment and then just passed his hand through his hair in
frustration. “What the fuck do you want?” he asked irritably.
Dawn and Willow smiled to each other.
“Your boyfriend, your decision,” Willow offered.
The brunette studied said boyfriend dispassionately from head to toes. “I think
I’d like a repeat of Xander’s performance,” she mused aloud. Then clapped
her hands excitedly. “Yes, that’s what I want. It’s been such a long
time!”
Willow’s eyes had brightened at her friend’s choice. “Didn’t we tape
it?”
“Yes, mom lent us her recorder. I still can’t believe we lost it in Sunnydale
too.”
Willow shook her head in regret but immediately brightened. “Didn’t Giles give
you a camcorder for your last birthday?”
Spike tried to leave the room as the women went through Dawn’s dresser in search for
the gift. Sadly - for him - he wasn't stealthy enough. Willow only mumbled something
mid-search, smiling wider at the string of curses leaving Spike’s mouth next. They
laughed in triumph when they finally found it, and turned to the vampire with twin grins
on their faces. Willow flicked her wrist to unfreeze him.
He crossed his arms over his chest, as if they could protect him from their obviously
devious plan, and sighed in defeat. “What is it?”
It was Dawn who said the fateful word just as Willow pushed the red button.
“Macarena.”
The End
02/10/04
Feedback.
Please? But if you’re wondering, yes, it’s meant to be silly. I’ve
just had the scene around my head all week.
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