The next evening Spike woke at sunset and the first thing he
noticed was the fierce pounding behind his eyes. Slowly the memories of the
previous day and evening came to him and he groaned. He sat up on the side of
his bed fully dressed and held his head. He stood and made his way over to a
table by the wall and poured a drink.
"Bloody hell." He groaned. It had been so long since he'd gotten
smashed he had forgotten how bad a hangover could feel. He changed his shirt
and climbed upstairs. The crypt was still in ruins. He emitted a large long
sigh, and then resigned himself to the daunting task of setting things to
rights.
A few hours later, things were shaping up. He stopped to stare at his smashed
telly and tried to decide on his best option for pinching a new one. Maybe
Xander would give him his old one since he was setting up house with Anya. It
was worth an ask.
He heard a whooshing sound behind him and turned quickly to find Halfrek
standing behind him. "You might want to issue a little warning before
dropping in for a visit next time, pet. You were lucky to catch me when my
reflexes were buggered."
"William, it is you, isn't it? You don't seem very surprised to see
me!" Halfrek was slightly taken aback. She took pride in eliciting more of
a startled reaction.
"Well, there you go. People seem to have a nasty habit of dropping in on
me whenever. Manners aren't quite what they were in Victorian England."
His eyebrows rose. "That is you under all the demon-face, innit it
Cecily?" He already knew the answer.
"Right you are William. It's been a long time." She waved her arm
elaborately across her face and transformed to her human guise. "How odd
that we should meet up again after all these years. The constable found your
body in an alley and your mother had a burial. I had no idea."
"It's not like I thought anyone would miss having me around. No, I moved
on. After settling some scores, that is." He smiled fondly at the memory.
"Ah yes." The demon nodded. "I did happen to lose a few friends
after you died, particularly Ronald. He was killed rather gruesomely. Your handiwork?
"
"What can I say? He gave me the idea himself. Compared my poetry to having
a railroad spike through his head. Thought I'd oblige the overstuffed poofter.
So," he gestured toward Halfrek "how did you come to take up such an
interesting trade?"
He sat on the sarcophagus, lit a cigarette, and motioned for Halfrek to have a
seat. She fussed with her manicure as she began, "I was called in the same
manner as most vengeance demons. I had suffered quite a bit of mental anguish
over my treatment at the hand of my parents. They were cold, and repressive.
They only saw me as a means for marrying into wealth." She paused and
looked up at Spike. "You have to know that's why I couldn't take you
seriously William!" At his look of indifference she stood and paced around
the room as she continued. "Anyway, I began looking for magical ways to
retaliate. D'Hoffryn found me and offered me immortality in return for the use
of my gifts. I found freedom from society's restrictions, much as you
did." She smiled happily at him.
"Freedom." He twisted his lips. "Right. I thought I was free
until some scientists decided to monkey around in my noggin. Wired me up with
some plastic bits." He grinned ruefully. "Freedom is a relative
concept." He exhaled and snuffed out his cigarette.
"Oh, but William, you are free!" Halfrek gushed. "Your good
friend Xander saw to that."
Spike was clueless. "What are you going on about?" He scowled. His
head was still pounding dully.
Halfrek continued airily, "As a wedding gift I granted Xander his most
sincere wish. He is such a wonderful fellow. He didn't wish for riches for
himself or eternal beauty for Anya. Instead, he wished that you would be free
of the chip in your head. You must be his dearest friend for him to and bestow
such a gift upon you. Of course, he is completely unaware of the gift."
She wrinkled her nose happily at the memory. "I wanted it to be a total
surprise. You can tell him!"
"He wished my chip gone...?"
"And now it is!"
*****
Anya was checking her inventory while Willow was at the table working on a
research paper. Xander was bugging both of them. "So, Will, when you saw
Buffy this morning, did she seem all right to you?"
"Sure. We just had breakfast and listened to Dawn talk about boys again. I
think the girl is boy-wonky. Buffy and I were never like that."
Xander rolls his head in disbelief. "Oh! And I suppose Owen, Angel, Scott,
Angel, Parker, Riley, Angel and Oz would agree with you."
"Hey! Only one of those were mine." She grinned. "Besides, girls
are fun to talk about too."
"Speaking of that," Anya interrupted "When are you and Tara
going to quit moping around and get back to having lesbian sex?"
Xander quickly jumped in. "Sensitive subject, honey. Rule #8..."
"Oh sorry." Anya didn't really look or sound sorry, "I keep
getting the sensitivity rules confused. There are at least five."
The bell on the door rang and Buffy and Dawn entered. "Hey guys."
Buffy waved and looked around. Anya smiled in greeting as Willow returned the
wave. Xander stiffened and looked at his fingertips.
Buffy plopped down in a chair looking tired, "Another week at the
Doublemeat behind me. You know they all seem to blend into each other. I think
I'm getting into a rut." She pulled her mouth into a little pout.
Xander snorted and snidely commented, "Maybe you need to find something to
spice up your boring little existence."
"Well, yeah. Maybe." Buffy wondered what brought that on. "Hey,
you were supposed to call me last night."
"I got sidetracked." Xander bit out.
"He was twenty-five minutes late picking me up, and in a terrible mood
too." Anya interjected. "Be glad he didn't call."
Buffy was mystified, "I just wanted to know if everything was all
right."
Xander couldn't hold it in any longer. "Oh yeah, everything is just peachy
keen. Nothing strange going on around here. Nope. Nobody keeping any secrets
from their best friends. Nobody doing anything nasty with anybody nasty. No
sir! Right as rain."
Anya, Willow and Dawn looked astonished and gave him confused stares.
Buffy was suddenly furious… and panicked, "Back room Xander. Now!"
Xander stood without looking at anyone and stalked back to the training room,
followed closely by Buffy. The other three women exchanged bewildered looks.
Raised and muffled voices could be heard through the door.
"What was that about?" Dawn wondered aloud.
Anya shrugged her shoulders. "It beats the gee-willikens out of me."
She returned to her counting.
More muffled arguing could be heard. Dawn jumped at the sound of a hand banging
the wall. There was silence for a beat, then softer discussion. Finally the
door opened and Buffy emerged, followed by a somewhat subdued Xander.
"There is something I need to go do," Buffy sighed. She turned to
Dawn, "I'll be back soon. I promise."
"OK. Whatever." Dawn plopped down on a chair and opened a schoolbook.
Buffy had calmed down and did her best to smooth things over with her sister.
"I'm really sorry Dawn, but I have to take care of this right now. I'll
see you all later." Dawn didn't look up. Buffy picked up her bag, and with
one last glance at her friends she left.
Three pairs of curious eyes turn to gaze at Xander.
He threw up his hands defensively. "What? I don't know! We just talked.
That's all. Now she's gotta go."
The girls continued to stare at him.
He looked around desperately looking for something to distract all the female
attention. He picked up a deck of cards, "Anyone for a round of
poker?" He asked hopefully. "Anyone?"