TITLE: Tunnel Blockage
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"Tara?" Willow whispered softly to the girl lying beside her.
They were up on the roof again, in their favorite spot, curled up on
a soft comforter and covered with a light blanket.
The early evening sky had just started to show stars, and it had
been Willow's intent to relax here with Tara as they often had
before and just enjoy it.
But that had been before she had blown all that a few minutes ago,
by bringing up everything that Buffy had told her two days
previously about Spike, his non-active chip, and the blonde Slayer's
budding feelings for the cocky vampire.
Tara had taken it well, considering that she hadn't been told about
it right away and Willow worried that it would cause her to feel
left out of the group again. This was reinforced by the way Tara
just lay there beside the worried witch and was silent.
She nudged her wiccan friend and love, and repeated her name,
softly.
Tara turned her face toward Willow and smiled. "It's ok. I'm just
enjoying the evening."
"Oh......Ok.......But I coulda' sworn that you were kinda’ mad at
me, maybe?" There were at least six stars showing and Tara had yet
to point them out, and give any of them a ’Tara’ name.
Tara patted Willow's leg under the blanket. "You don't need to
worry about it, honey. I know that you waited to tell me until
Giles was told."
She smiled impishly at Willow. "And I'm not afraid of Spike, if
that’s bothering you. He and I get along just fine. He’s such a
gentleman, always opening doors and looking around dark corners
before letting me go ahead. I've always had the feeling that down
deep he's a big softy, at least where women are concerned."
Willow grinned and relaxed a little. "Yeah. I get that from him
too, sometimes. One of these days, one of us should tell him about
that."
Tara giggled. "Yes. But from a distance, right?"
Willow snickered, then after a seconds' thought, said "Yeah. Oh
yeah. A really big longgggg distance!" She wondered if the
vampire had a phone in the crypt.
She reached and put an arm around Tara's waist and they continued to
enjoy the approaching evening.
Twice he'd put out his hand to unlatch the door and go outside, and
twice he'd stopped.
Of course the first time, it was still daylight outside, but now the
sun was gone and still he smoked and stalked back and forth like a
caged animal, or a caged.....vampire. Which was more or less the
truth and it was bugging him a little bit more than he wanted to
admit.
Here he was, sans chip at last, through whatever act of fate, but
was he free? Free to 'slash and bash' as Dru had put it?
Hell no. Here he was, in the same hole in the ground (well it 'was'
one when he went down below, for sure) and singing the same song.
Of course he knew, that the Slayer stood in his way as she had for a
long time now. But sometimes he missed some things about the old
days and wondered if he was capable of returning to his former life.
It seemed to have lost some of it’s appeal, though.
He loved Buffy, and Buffy, he knew, cared for him. But things
weren't going as he'd hoped, after that last little confab at her
house. He'd been so certain that she was as smitten by him as he
was of her. He'd seen the yearning for 'something' in her eyes.
But bloody hell! It had been two whole days (well, nights, for him)
and she hadn’t come to visit. And he was so sure that she was about
to give in that his pride wouldn’t let him be the one to go to her.
He sucked hard on the rapidly dwindling cigarette as if it was a
pulsing vein, and blew the smoke out quickly, in frustration.
His plans for wooing the Slayer were moving at a snail's pace, and
it was getting on his nerves.
But he hadn’t intended to be the one to come calling first, and now
here he was waiting for enough steam to blow off, so as not to growl
and snap at Giles and Xander.
He was fully aware that they would be at the Slayer’s house when he
arrived.
Who's bloody stupid idea had this been, anyway?
Oh yeah.....of course. Buffy's. But if she hadn't told him that
Joyce had agreed on it's merit, Spike would have balked for sure, no
matter how hard Buffy might have batted her eyes at him.
Especially when he found out he'd be facing the Watcher, and Xander
Harris, like some kind of inane gauntlet!
He threw his spent cig to the floor of the crypt where it joined a
growing pile, and reached into the rear pocket of his jeans
searching for his lighter. His hand came back out with a slightly
crumpled photo of Buffy.
He smoothed it out a bit, and smiled, fondly. 'Must be one of the
ones I snitched from her basement', he thought.
He stood there, looking at it for a moment longer, and then tossed
it to the floor and stomped on it once hard, with his Doc’,
resisting the urge to grind it just a little.
"That's right, Slayer. I'm wearin' my favorite, my 'only' boots and
they are bloody well gonna be good enough for your delicate
sensibilities!"
Of course, he immediately felt guilty about it.
‘Well shit, Spike. It’s not like she asked you to dress up like the
Poof……just eyed the nail polish, is all. Don’t be such a wanker.’
He bent and snatched the picture back up, brushing the dirt
from it, and crammed it back into his pocket.
He knew that he would dress like Bozo the Clown or even worse,
Dracula, to gain Buffy's favor. It was disgusting.
He looked at the door again, sighed, and lit another cig.
Xander Harris was mad, and he didn't want to take it anymore, but
Buffy had threatened to knock him silly if he caused any trouble
tonight.
And he remembered how hard she had hit him during her workouts, even
while protected by a padded suit which he did not want his body to
resemble unless he was wearing it. So he was doing the only thing
he knew how to do, without getting bruised.
He walked up and down and called Spike everything nasty he could
think of that was uncomplimentary and at least a little bit vile.
He was memorizing the best ones to use in the future.
Giles, seated in the living room, removed his glasses and pinched
the bridge of his nose with his fingers, sighing loudly and
dramatically, but the dark haired figure beside the front door
continued to stomp back and forth.
"Xander! Will you please come in here and sit down, and act in a
civilized fashion?!"
"No! I'm not feeling too civil right now, 'G' Man." The young man
continued to worry the carpet.
"Then I shall be forced to arise and assist you to your seat."
Xander glanced at the normally cool and calm Watcher and saw that he
was dead serious.
Muttering a last insult to Spike's whole vampire lineage, he came
and sat down on the couch beside Giles, who quickly scooted over a
bit when he thought the lad was going to put his head on his
shoulder.
At a safer distance, Giles replaced his glasses and looked at
Xander's set expression. "Really, Xander. You did promise!"
A huge sigh from Xander. "Yeah, but I lied. I'm 'liar guy'."
"Well, from this moment forward you shall be 'supportive
friend.....guy'. We have all given our word that we 'will' behave
ourselves, not that 'I' would misbehave, but rather try to guide
her, and...."
Xander interrupted him, his lower lip actually trembling.
"But 'G' Man. They're going on a 'date'. The world as we know it
is going to end when Spike walks through that door!"
"I have asked you repeatedly, 'not' to call me that!"
Xander took in Giles' expression and swallowed. "Oh, alright, don't
go all 'Ripper' on me. But I can't believe you're just gonna sit
there."
The Watcher was 'just sitting there', but his posture was anything
but relaxed. He'd had to force himself not to bring his bag of
weapons into the house, and at the last moment had left them in the
car.
Which was one reason he couldn't relax. The one stake he'd stuck
inside his jacket was poking him in the ribs.
There was no way he'd be in the same room with an un-chipped Spike
and not have some sort of protection for Buffy and the others, if
not for himself.
No matter how hard Buffy had pleaded with him to believe her, and
even with Willow and Tara's affirmations, he hadn't yet seen for
himself that Spike was changed.
As soon as he'd been told that the chip was inactive, he'd
recommended that they go and stake Spike then and there, before he
could trick them all into thinking that he was trustworthy.
But his Slayer had approached him, put her arms around his waist and
laid her head against his chest. She then proceeded to tell him what
he hadn't wanted to hear.
That she was beginning to care for Spike.
That Spike had pledged his love and his loyalty to her and her
circle of friends, and that she believed him, but was proceeding
with caution.
That Giles should be willing to admit that enough time had passed
since Spike had been 'handed back his weapon' for them to all
realize that he had indeed begun to change, and should be given a
chance to prove it.
Which brought them to tonight, and the reason why Xander now groaned
at one end of the couch as Giles sat rigidly at the other. But he
'had' given his oath to Buffy, which for him came before his vow to
any Watcher's council, and now it seemed, ahead of his own common
sense.
He would stick by it.
He and Xander were acting as 'father' and 'brother' figures for
Buffy, and would be helpful to Spike's reformation, even if it
killed the both of them. Literally.
'If', however, the bugger even 'seemed' to be wrong, be it a trick
of the light or otherwise, the Watcher was going to stake first, and
ask questions later.
AUTHOR: Barb (Once Bitten Spike) Stewart
PART: 1 of 6
DISCLAIMER: Joss owns em’, I’ve just borrowed these
characters so they’ll be too busy to get into trouble. If I
owned Spike he would be too occupied at home to even be
on the show, let alone here.
DISTRIBUTION: You like, you got. I’d like to know
about it tho’.
RATING: Still pretty much PG 13 but wants to be naughty.
HEY stop that snickering! I was raised by prudes!
SPOILERS: Bits from the old shows, but mostly Fifth Season
up to and including ‘I Was Made To Love You‘. Although
there will be references, possibly, to more current episodes.
There is one major thing that happened on the show and doesn’t
happen in my story universe.
PAIRING: B/S…..Spike’s efforts are slowly paying off.
FEEDBACK: I’m the original feedback vampire.
SUMMARY and NOTES: This is the third story in the Tunnel series
(originally just a short story…really!). I figure if the worst
happens and he gets rejected at least Spike will be safe in the
Tunnel. (Ok, there’s not really a tunnel) Buffy/Spike proceed to the
next step in their ‘relationship’.
DEDICATION: To everyone who enjoyed the first two, and asked for
more. I *do*, by the way, like the *old* Spike, too……but this new
one is so much fun to write about! Also to all the other fan-fic
writers of whom I am a BIG fan.
AND to the gals at ONE-GOOD-DAY who give good warm fuzzies.
dru! i hear you growling out there. just hush, like a good girl,
and read the story with the rest .
TSK! Old girlfriends can be so ‘testy’!
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Inside the crypt, Spike kept walking back and forth in front of the
doorway, smoking a cigarette, and glaring at the door as if it were
his worst enemy.
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Meanwhile, just inside the Summer's house, a figure paced up and
down beside the front door in almost an exact copy of his foe's.