Summary: Willow wakes up in a motel with Spike. Can she trust him to tell her the truth?
Note: I don't know when this would take place, but it was an interesting idea huh? Tell me what you think.
Willow woke up and looked around blearily. Rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands she wondered where she was. She wasn't at home and she didn't remember spending the night at Buffy's so where was she? Tidbits of the night before passed through her mind and she remembered drinking a lot. Then a hazy memory of a fight with . . . who was it . . . Xander and then she had walked home.
From there she didn't remember. Wait . . . She didn't even remember making it to her house.
Still unsure she looked around. It was a motel room. Not the best money could buy, but not the ones that were rented out by the hour on the outskirts of town. She lay on the bed wearing . . . just her underwear? Across the small room there was a TV and a VCR. A small card table and three chairs were set up near the TV. A very tiny kitchen type thing was about three yards to her right and the door that lead to what she decided was the bathroom was closed.
She suddenly got a fleeting picture of herself catching a ride with someone who she knew, but really didn't trust. And from the looks of what she was wearing might never trust again. From the bathroom she could hear water running and decided to find out who had brought her here and what had happened the night before.
Still a bit tipsy from drinking all that she had she wobbled her way to the bathroom and turned the knob. It was very steamy inside, to the point where she couldn't see any thing. Trying not to fall into the toilet and also trying to find the shower she slipped and landed on the floor hard.
The next thing Willow knew was that her head hurt. "C'mon Pet wake up." A very British voice said.
Something soft touched her forehead and she opened her eyes slowly. The face in front of her became clear very slowly and when it did she froze in fear.
"Spike?" She said wanting desperately to run away, but afraid he would catch her and harm her.
"Yes." He said coolly.
"Please . . . I . . . drunk . . . don't kill me." She begged rolling off the bed.
"I had no intention of killing you. Now the person who did this to you yes, I have plans for him."
"What are you talking about?" She asked backing against the far wall.
"The person who left you in this motel room drunk. I'm guessing that you two slept together and he left." He said walking casually towards her.
"But you were in the shower . . . " She started.
"Yes, but only because I was dirty and you were asleep." He explained.
"You mean it wasn't you who . . . you didn't pick me up last night." Willow said confused.
"Even I have morals. Not very strong ones but I have them nonetheless." He said indignantly.
There was something charming about this side of Spike. He wasn't trying to kill her and he wasn't taking advantage of her in her nearly nude state of dress. In fact he was being an all around gentleman.
"Why aren't you going to kill me?" She asked edging towards the bed again.
"Well for one thing I'm dressed in only my jeans if you haven't noticed and when I kill things I prefer to be fully dressed. And another thing you aren't so bad to have around. Even if you are drunk." He said shrugging.
"I'm not?" Willow said absentmindedly as she did notice he was only in his jeans.
'Damn he's good looking.' She thought to herself. Now that was a bad thing. She really needed to stop thinking of night creatures as attractive. First a demon, then Oz, and now Spike.
" . . . And you were a good listener though you were drunk." Spike finished not knowing Willow hadn't been paying any attention to him.
"Oh." She said looking up.
"Well I think I'll go finish getting dressed and you can do the same. I have an extra shirt and a pair of black boxers in the duffel bag by the door." He said going back into the bathroom.
"Where are my clothes?" She asked making her unsteady way to the bag indicated.
"I don't know. You weren't wearing anything when I found you. It was Hell getting anything on you at all. I looked around and found a skirt but it was covered in puke so I didn't think you would enjoy that."
Willow blushed at the thought of him seeing her naked. Then even more when she thought of throwing up all over her new skirt. Hey there was another fact. She had been wearing a new skirt. Now if she could remember where she had been wearing it to they would be in good shape. What were the chances of that?
Quickly she put on the boxers and the T-shirt. Feeling much better she sat on the edge of the bed and wondered what she should do and where exactly she was.
"Hey Spike, where are we?"
"Well to be honest Pet, not far from LA. That's why it was such a surprise to find you here. So far from home I mean."
"Oh."
Looking at the phone she considered calling Buffy and having her come down and get her. But Buffy would bring stakes and ask questions. Probably kill Spike before hearing the whole story. What was the whole story? She really shouldn't get Buffy involved before she knew what was going on.
Then she thought about calling Oz. Now that would be really smart. Get her boyfriend all mad so that he came down here with stakes and killed Spike before hearing anything but her location.
She could call Xander. What had she and him been fighting about last night . . . puppies . . . no . . . pigs . . . still didn't sound right . . . maybe . . . wolves . . . werewolves? That was it. They had been fighting about something about Oz. Something that had to do with him being a werewolf. Whatever. She wasn't going to call Xander.
Her parents were very much out of the question. Hold on they were out of town in . . . Nebraska. Well a lot of good they were doing there. Giles wouldn't be much better than Buffy considering her would bring her along.
There was always Angel, but she really wasn't in the mood for him to get all pissy with Spike when he had been so nice so far. Well at least since she woke up. Besides he didn't have a car. Plus he might get emotional on her.
"How am I going to get home?" She asked looking at the bathroom door, which was open, but only a crack.
"I'll drive you as soon as it gets dark." He said opening it the rest of the way and coming out looking for the entire world like Billy Idol. She almost laughed. Almost.
"What do we do until then?" She asked sitting cross-legged.
"Well we can watch TV. Or we could . . . I don't know Pet what do you want to do?"
"Could you tell me exactly how you found me here in this place?" She asked.
"Well," He started sitting beside her; "I was driving to LA, because Dru left me again. It was getting light out and I was tired of driving so I stopped here. They gave me a room key and I came in ready for a hot shower and a long day's sleep. You were sitting in the shower naked with the cold water running. I recognized you and decided not to kill you because . . . to be honest I wasn't in the mood for it. So I picked you up and dried you off. You kept mumbling about wolves and puppies and a football. I knew you were drunk so I helped you get your underwear on and put you to bed to sleep it off. Then I went to take a shower." He explained.
"Oh, I wish I could remember what happened last night. I had planned to stay in. I don't even remember why I went out. All I remember is that I drank a lot of . . . tequila and then Xander and I had a fight about Oz being a werewolf. Then I walked home for some reason and someone picked me up. I get the impression that I knew them. Then I remember waking up and not knowing where I was."
"Where- the- Hell- is- my- car- syndrome. Don't worry you'll remember soon enough. Don't rush it though. I'm surprised you don't have a hangover." He laughed.
"It was my first time drinking. I'm surprised I don't have a hangover either." She said glumly.
Spike laughed again and shook his head.
"Why don't we watch some TV."
"Okay."
Sitting on the couch Spike picked up the remote and turned on the television. Still wary Willow sat next to him and tried to keep far as far away as possible from him.
"Look at that, Johnny Quest." The vampire said pointing.
"I used to watch the old ones when I was little. The new ones aren't quite as good." She said frowning.
This was fun. She was sitting here discussing cartoons with a vampire that was nearly as old as Angel was. Great. Wonderful. A story to tell the grandkids.
"My favorite is the dog." Spike said.
"I like Hodgy." She admitted.
"He got a little annoying with all the Sheemsheemshabeem stuff."
"I though it was cute."
'Oh great insult the vampire.' She scolded herself.
"Dru did too."
"Never mind."
"Hey you never gave her a chance. At heart she was a truly wonderful inhuman." He said honestly.
"She had a doll called Miss Edith who told her things. Spike the moon talked to her." Willow cried.
'Even better insult his one true love'
He rolled his eyes and turned away. Suddenly Willow heard a choking sound and realized he was crying. Not the wimpy way Angel did, but horrible heart tearing, gut wrenching sobs.
"Don't cry. I'm sorry." She tried unsure of what to do.
It wasn't that she didn't want to help him, but the thought of getting that close to something that could end her life in a millisecond wasn't to fun sounding.
"No you're right. She was a loon. Crazy bitch." He sobbed turning to her.
"Well okay. But you loved her right." Willow said touching his shoulder gently.
"Of course I did. She was beautiful and didn't mind I wore combat boots in the house. In fact she loved it and said it was manly. But she was totally nuts. I guess a woman would have to be to fall in love with me." His voice was full of self-pity.
"No, no, no you have plenty of qualities a woman would like." She said.
"Like what?" He asked sniffing.
'Oh great Willow. You got yourself into another pile of shit.' She thought as she racked her mind for something to say.
"Oh . . . uh . . . well for one thing you are just completely . . . uh . . . handsome and smart." She stammered.
"You think so. Thanks. Now all I have to do is find some female vampire that thinks that too. Do you have any desire to die whatsoever?" He asked seriously.
"Not really.
"Damn."
"Hey look at that Johnny fell down a hole." He said suddenly pointing at the TV.
"Yeah."
A few hours later they were still watching the cartoon network. Smurfs was on. Willow was ready to throw up. Something about Smurfette bothered her. Maybe the fact that she was the only female in the whole colony. And Papa Smurf was just a sick old man. Spike seemed to be enjoying himself. He was down in front of the TV cheering them on as they defeated the bad guy.
It was . . . well not exactly amusing, but more odd to see a blood-sucking fiend that had threatened to kill her more than once watching Smurfs. A while before he had wanted to watch Blues Clues and Willow had drawn the line there. She did not watch a blue dog put paw prints on things and then watch some poor demented man chase after them.
"Go Papa Smurf." Spike shouted as the show ended.
"Spike can we watch something else?"
"I like Smurfs and they have another episode coming on."
"No I think I don't like them very much."
Growling he took the remote and changed the channel. "Cooking, construction, Barney, Don't get the next five channels, Oh . . . Bonanza, Matlock, Matlock, Columbo, Ohh an old war movie." He said flipping through the channels and finally stopping.
"This is boring." She mumbled.
"What would you rather be doing? Making out with that Xander friend of yours?" Spike snapped.
"Maybe. Anything is better than watching Smurfs with a killer vampire."
"Hold on here, when did we start insulting each other?" He asked.
"I don't know I think the tequila just caught up with me."
"Go lay down and take a nap." He ordered pointing at the bed. Reluctantly she went to the bed and belly flopped onto it. It creaked under her weight, but held in place. She didn't want to move but knew she was going to have to roll over eventually.
Groaning she pushed herself onto her side and watched as Spike turned off the TV and flipped the lights off. With the blinds pulled the room was very dark. Even though, she could still see him stretch out on the couch with a sigh. Closing her eyes she tried to sleep.
It's hard to sleep when you're in the same room with the person who kidnapped you and threatened to shove a broken bottle into your face.
"Spike?" She called thoughtfully.
"What?"
"Would you really have shoved that bottle into my face?" She asked.
"What?"
"When you kidnapped me. You threatened to shove a bottle through my face into my brain. Would you have?"
"Probably."
"Oh."
That was comforting. At least he was honest. An honest vampire? Silence once again filled the room. Willow wanted desperately to sleep off the headache she could feel coming on. Burrowing into the pillows she squeezed her eyes shut very tight and pretended she was home. In minutes she was asleep.
"Love? Pet?" Spike called shaking Willow to wake her up.
"Wha?" She moaned sitting up and looking around.
"Time to get up and eat something." He told her.
"Oh God it wasn't a dream I really am stuck in a motel room with you." She cried putting her head in her hands.
Right at that moment her life sucked worse than it usually did. "Get over it and come eat." He ordered sitting at the card table. Reluctantly she stood up and when the room didn't tilt she took a deep breath and went to see what he had made. Macaroni and cheese. How original. Not only did this vampire watch Smurfs he liked to eat Macaroni and cheese.
"You know what you are a contradiction to everything you stand for." She said stuffing her mouth with food.
"How's that?" He asked though his mouth was full.
"You act all tough and big and say stuff about killing Buffy and the rest of my friends, but yet you watch things like the Smurfs and when you could easily just grab me and take a bite you make Macaroni and cheese so I can eat. I am amazed." She said between bites.
"The thought of drinking you dry is appealing don't get me wrong, but you and I have a truce more or less and I don't think it would be . . . honorable for me to be nice to you at first and then suddenly change and kill you. Maybe I have gone soft like Dru said."
"Where is she for that matter? I thought you went to get her back."
"The crazy whore tripped and fell on a tree branch while I was gone. Stupidlittlebitchymmhhnjkkk." The last part was so mumbled Willow couldn't understand it.
"Oh. Sorry."
"Just curious, but are you still going with that werewolf?"
"Yeah."
"But you were kissing with that pansy Xander."
"I know. Oz and I had some problems for a while and then he decided to forgive me and we started dating again."
Willow blushed talking about it. She still remembered how stupid she had felt waiting for Oz in her living room wearing that dress. He must have thought she was such an idiot. But he was still a gentleman about it. He just wanted it to be special.
"You don't sound to enthusiastic about it." Spike said.
"Well I'm still afraid that I'll do something wrong and he won't like me again. I mean I still get uncomfortable when we're together. The last time he came over I spilt ice cream all over the place"
"It was an accident."
"We weren't even eating ice cream though."
This was fun. Now she was sitting here telling her mortal enemy about her love life.
"If he didn't like you he wouldn't have forgiven you."
"True." She sighed looking at the empty bowl where the food used to be.
"Well I guess we can just leave the dishes in the sink. I'm not doing them." Spike said picking up the plates and the bowl and dumping them in the sink.
"What do we do now?" Willow asked.
"I don't know." He said sitting back down. They sat in silence for a while.
"I think I'll take a shower." Willow said and made her way back to the bathroom. Once inside she locked the door still not trusting Spike. It had been a long morning and she still had hours before she could go home. She wondered what Buffy was doing and if she had tried to call. Had she been there that night? Yes she had. Well there was another fact. There was something else. Something about Buffy telling her to slow down with the drinks. That was Buffy for you, always looking out for her best friend.
As she turned on the water had a sudden flash of memory. In it she was kissing someone who was kissing her in return. But who? And why? Damn this whole memory loss thing sucked. Shedding Spikes clothing she climbed into the water and relaxed. With a sigh she poured some shampoo into her hand and lathered her hair. As she did she had other flashes of the kissing and she remembered losing her clothing as the kisses deepened. Maybe she wasn't quite as innocent as she had once thought.
Quickly she rinsed her hair and turned off the water. Drying took a matter of seconds and then she put Spikes shirt and boxers on again. They were actually comfortable. Fleetingly she wondered if Spike would let her keep them. There was something else to tell her grandkids. That she got to keep a vampire's underclothes. Feeling much better than before she exited the bathroom.
"Feel better?" Spike asked from where he was laying across the bed.
"Yes."
"Good. Because I think I'll go finish the shower you interrupted earlier." With that he went into the bathroom. Shrugging Willow seated herself on the bed and looked around for something to do.
Her gaze came to rest on Spike's bag. She really hadn't had time to look through it before. Watching the door of the bathroom she pulled the bag onto the bed and unzipped it. Still keeping an eye on the door she pulled out all the clothes and looked in.
A comb, a gold chain, and . . . a teddy bear? Suppressing giggles she pulled it all the way out. The bear was small and not even a foot tall. Its fur was pitch black. The tag said it was a Russ bear. Those weren't cheap. As an after thought she looked at the nametag on the bottom of the bear. The name was Spiky.
She smiled and continued to dig through the bag. Just a pack of cigarettes and a small bottle marked scotch. Glancing at the door and unscrewed the lid on the bottle and sniffed it. It smelled kind of funny. Thinking for a moment she quickly took a sip. It burned like Hell and took her breath away. It felt like fire in her.
"Damn" She gasped as she coughed and screwed the lid on. 'Note to self, scotch tastes just nasty."
"Well," She whispered because her throat still hurt, "Spike is a very interesting guy. He has a teddy bear and scotch in the same bag."
"What are you doing with that?" Spike cried from the doorway of the bathroom.
"Uhhh . . . " She started looking down at the bear in her hand.
"Give me a second." He said and ducked back inside the room to finish getting dressed. Minutes later he came out and took the bear from her.
"So Spike. Why do you keep a teddy bear in your bag?" She asked giggling.
"It was Dru's. She took it when we raided a hallmark store in Texas. I told her that it was a bad idea, but she thought the night watchman was cute and wanted to play with him so we broke in and she found the bear. I haven't had the heart to throw it away yet." He said looking at the stuffed animal fondly. Willow just laughed.
"Hey stop that." He cried indignantly.
"You . . . are so . . . unvampiric." She gasped between laughs.
With a growl he threw the bear across the room and stalked to a chair at the table. Nearly flipping over backwards he sat in it. This was great. Now she was stuck in a motel room with a brassed off vampire. 'Watch your neck.' She thought.
"S . . . sorry." She whispered.
"You know I could just grab you and drain you and never know the difference. You are just another meal to me. Just another human." He growled.
"Please." She begged unsure exactly what she wanted.
His scowl deepened and she was scared that at any minute he would change and show his demon. That would be bad. Well, more than bad. She would be dead so that would be . . . greatly unwanted.
"I really am sorry."
"Good."
"I didn't mean to hurt you feelings."
"What feelings?"
"Well you got mad, so I figured that you had feelings, because you need feelings to feel something that will make you mad. Because mad is a feeling and you have to have feelings to feel it."
Spike looked at her and cocked his head to one side curiously. Willow was sure he was going to attack her at any moment. Instead he burst out laughing. His entire body shook with his mirth to the point where he did fall over in his chair. She slowly walked over to where he was.
"You sounded so ridiculous just then." He chuckled trying to sit up. Willow found herself giggling as well.
An hour later they were watching TV again. "Now watch, watch . . . See the punch never hit him. It went beside his face and he fell down." Spike said as the watched an episode of the Twilight Zone.
"This was before they mastered the art of special effects." Willow groaned rolling her eyes. It was strange, but she had become comfortable around Spike. He hadn't threatened to kill her again and every now and again she forgot what he was.
"Excuse me but I was around when TV was invented. Don't you think I know that?" He said snidely.
"Sorry. I forgot."
"Not a good thing to forget when in the room with your mortal enemy." Willow thought for a moment and decided that that was a good point.
"Are you hungry?" She asked after a moment. Spike just looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
"I don't think so." She cried jumping off the couch.
"Well you asked."
Shrugging she went to kitchen type room and went through the cabinets. After a minute she found a box of lucky charms. Opening it she scooped out a handful and stuffed it in her mouth.
"Now watch, this guy is on shows today making more money than anyone."
"Hey isn't that William Shatner?" She asked with her mouth full.
"Yeah, this is the episode with the demon on the wing of the plane."
"Oh."
Suddenly Willow got a mental picture of herself and someone else lying on the bed. She was looking straight at their face, but she couldn't remember whom it belonged to. Everything else was so clear. Why couldn't she remember the face? Shaking off the image she sat down next to her new vampiric friend. Or should she say fiend? Whatever.
"So when are you going to take me home?" She asked shoving another handful of cereal in her mouth.
"In about three hours. That's when the sun sets."
So she watched TV for awhile until her eyes closed and she fell asleep. "Come on. You are harder to wake up than I am." Spike called shaking the red head that had her head on his shoulder.
Meanwhile Willow was in the middle of a dream where she was walking down the street. It was dark and she was feeling lightheaded. She knew she should be at home, but it was so much fun to be out at night and not care.
A car pulled up beside her. Turning she waved at the person inside. The car was a black blur so there was no color to it or identifying marks or anything. The door opened and she climbed in.
With a start her eyes opened and she was once again in the hotel with Spike. "That's three times I've found you asleep." He said.
"Sorry."
"It's all right."
"What time is it?" She asked yawning.
"Time for you to go home." He said taking her hand and helping her up. Quickly she gathered the skirt that was hers and . . . well that was all she had that belonged to her.
"Uh Spike do you want me to give you back your clothes?" She asked.
"No you can keep them." Wow. A souvenir of this wonderful day. Joy.
With that done Spike grabbed his bag and returned the key to the owner while Willow waited by the car. The car seemed familiar, but that might be because she had seen it before when Spike kidnapped her and Xander. The ride home was quiet and dim. The blacked out windows allowed for very little light to get inside. And there wasn't much time for conversation as Spike was playing his heavy rock music so loud Willow thought her eardrums were going to burst.
Finally they pulled up in front of her house. "Here we are." He said turning the music off.
"I guess we have to be enemies now." She said glumly.
"Well, I guess not. I really don't have a desire to kill you. If you ever want to become a vampire look me up."
"I will." She said understanding his way of saying he liked her a little.
"Oh and can we keep the Smurfs thing between us? I mean it wouldn't do for everyone to know about that." He asked chewing his lower lip.
"Sure."
Then she got out of the car and went to the house. Waving one last time she pulled the extra key from under the mat and unlocked the door. Closing it behind her she took a deep breath and made her way upstairs to her room. After changing clothes she picked up the phone and dialed Buffy.
"Willow?"
"Yeah." Willow said smiling to herself.
"Where were you? I've been calling all day and there hasn't been any answer."
"Hangover."
"Oh. You were drinking pretty heavy at that party last night. I told you to slow down, but you were so intent on showing Xander that you were a woman I think you over did it." Buffy said her voice heavy with worry.
"Well, I'm better now. Do you remember who brought me home?"
"We did. Xander drove us home and you weren't talking to him."
Ever so slowly Willow remembered. She had ridden home with Buffy and Xander. They had taken her to her house. She had gone in. Then remembering that she hadn't done the shopping she needed to she had gone to the local all night store. That was when someone had picked her up.
"Willow? Are you there?" Buffy called breaking Willow out of her reverie.
"Sorry. Thanks. I gotta go now. Bye." Willow said
"Bye."
As she hung up the phone she started to remember everything. The car had had blacked out windows and a thick English voice had come from the drivers side. Remembering her fight with Xander about still being innocent she accepted a ride from this familiar enemy. They went to a motel far away from town. Once inside he had spoken softly to her. Ever so gently. And then she had . . . had . . . Oh God; Buffy wasn't the only one who slept with the undead.
But now she remembered the face of the man with her. The man who had done this. Spike.
Looking at the skirt at the foot of her bed she had a thought. Carefully shaking it the little black bear fell out.
Somewhere near LA Spike looked back on what he had done. 'Damn man you have gone soft. Some demon you are. You shag the Slayer's best friend and never even get a drop of her blood.' He scolded himself.
With a growl he turned up the music as far as it would go and tried to think of other things. Nasty things. It didn't work.