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Spike/Xander
Summary: Spike has a nightmare.
Categories and Warnings:
Sweet-N-Schmoopy
Warnings: If it's possible to die from sap, this fic will do it. I apologize in advance.
Notes: Unbetaed. I'm almost ashamed to post this.
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Time Has Told Me 'verse
The Trial
"You may enter, and begin the Trials." Gesture, disappear. Spike feels a weird sense of dj vu. Well, of course he does, he's done this before. He looks around for a demon, or flesh-eating beetles. He doesn't see any, so he steps a little further into the gloom. Suddenly a long table is in front of him. The light changes, and he can see who is sitting behind it.
Cecily, Angelus, Dru, Buffy, and Xander.
A cold feeling of dread settles into Spike's stomach. When in doubt, bluff. " '~llo, all. Didn't expect to see any of you here." He raises an eyebrow questioningly.
"You're on trial, boy." Angelus states. Drusilla giggles.
"Am I? What are the charges?" Spike doesn't like where this is going.
"Oh, my Spike. Always looking for the effulgent ones, only to have them shine on others." Drusilla strokes Miss Edith's hair.
"What she means is that you must prove to each of us why we should have loved you." Cecily sniffs haughtily.
Spike hasn't felt this sick since the first time he tried to feed after the soul. His stomach churns, and he tastes bile he doesn't think he actually has in the back of his throat. "Oh," is all he can say.
They all look at him expectantly for several minutes. Buffy breaks the silence. "Look, some of you may have eternity to sit in this cave, but I don't. Get on with it, Spike."
"For you, I let Glory nearly dust me. I went and got a soul. Then, I died for your cause." Spike's voice is rough. Buffy nods, and disappears.
Angelus clears his throat. Spike looks over at him. "I became a monster for you. I killed a slayer so you would look at me. I took care of Dru so you could traipse around after Darla." Angelus nods as well, and disappears.
"Don't keep me waiting, William." Cecily demands.
"I was a good man when you knew me, and I loved you. Your only reason for not wanting me was that I was unfashionable with your friends." There's no hostility in Spike's voice, which surprises even him. Cecily snaps open her fan, and also disappears.
Dru is dancing Miss Edith around on the table. She looks up at Spike. "Spike, you don't have to tell me. I was your golden apple. But you were not the prince for me." She fades away.
"Oh, I can't wait to hear what you have to say to me, fangless." Xander crosses his arms over his chest.
Spike looks at the dirt near his feet. "There isn't anything I can say, is there?"
Xander and the table fade into the blackness. The demon chuckles behind him. "You must now pay off your debt, vampire." She puts a taloned hand over his chest, and a fiery pain is the last thing he feels.
"Spike, baby, wake up. You're dreaming. It's just a dream, baby, just a dream." Xander's warm arms are around him. "C'mon, Spike. Come back to me."
"Sorry," he croaks out, his voice as rough as if he'd been screaming.
Xander makes a disbelieving noise. "Like either of us has nightmares because we want to." He kisses Spike's temple. "I love you."
"Do you?" Spike murmurs under his breath.
Xander wrestles him around until his head is on Xander's chest. "That dream again, huh?" He strokes Spike's hair. Fingers finding the mark under Spike's collarbone he traces it. "Well, you're stuck with me. I love you, and I'm not going anywhere."
Spike glances at the clock. "You're getting up in forty-five minutes, and going to work an hour after that," he says, dully.
"That's not what I meant, and you know it." Xander tugs on a curl. "Also, you're wrong. I'm not going anywhere today."
"I don't want you to lose your job because I'm an insecure tosser." Spike starts to pull away.
Xander refuses to let go. Spike could leave the bed if he wanted to, but Xander's not about to let him think he's okay with that. "I quit my job."
"Oh," again, it's the only thing he can say.
After a few minutes of silence, Xander continues. "Xander, how are you going to keep me in the extravagant style to which I've become accustomed?" He mimics Spike's accent badly on purpose, going for a laugh. Nada. Not even a derisive smirk. "Well, Spike, I'm glad you asked. You see, Angel has agreed to help me start my own custom carpentry business, so I can work while you're out with him, and our schedules will sync up a little more."
"I thought you liked your job." Spike replies, almost quietly enough for Xander to miss.
"I like construction, that's true. But I like carpentry as well, and if the business takes off and I can hire a few people, it might even bring in more money than site supervisor does. None of that is the important part, though." He tilts Spike's face up, and looks into his eyes. "You're the important part. We're forever, remember?"
Spike sighs and presses his forehead against Xander's. "I'm trying."
"Well, we'll give it a century or so to sink in, and then see how we're doing." Xander grins because Spike actually laughs at that. "I love you, and that's not going to change. Tell me."
Spike pulls back to look Xander in the eyes. "I trust you."
Xander kisses him. "Good. Wanna go back to sleep?"
"Be right back, gonna put the music on." Spike slides out of bed.
"Good idea." Xander yawns, and takes a sip of water from the cup beside the bed. He almost chokes on it when he hears the strains of a familiar song. "I didn't mean for you to hear that yet," he says to Spike as the vampire slides back under the comforter.
"You didn't tell me you could play guitar."
"Well, up until recently, I couldn't. Turns out Sosi's pretty good at it. He's been teaching me." Xander explains.
"Why didn't you want me to hear it?" Spike looks at Xander's chest, avoiding his eye, but at this point, Xander knows exactly what wounded look will be there.
"Spike, what's next Friday?" Xander asks.
"If you think I've forgotten our anniversary, you prat '" he starts angrily. His face clears suddenly. "Oh." Ever the poet, William "You didn't forget either, pet, yeah?"
"No," is all Xander says.
"All this for me?" Spike is starting to feel a bit awkward. "I didn't do that much for you."
"Baby, every day I wake up in your arms is a gift." Xander kisses the corner of Spike's mouth, and then his chin. "You're so good to me."
Spike doesn't want to feel reassured; it just sets him up for a bigger fall later. But he can't help but relax.
"I love you."
"I know," Xander replies.
The End
