Fic: Deciphering Fire, Pt 11 (of 11)
Apr. 14th, 2006 05:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wesleysgirlThis is it, folks. Final word count around 14,400.
Previous parts here or tagged.
Bit shuts the door again. "When did she get so..." Xander asks, but stops, unable to come up with whatever word he's looking for.
"She always has been," Spike tells him.
"You think she'll be okay in there?"
Xander looks at the door, but Spike says, "Already checked it out. M'not stupid." The windows all lock, and the bed is far enough away from them that Dawn'd have plenty of time to get out of there.
"Yeah, actually, you kind of are," Xander tells him.
"Fuck you," Spike says, not without humor.
"I was kind of hoping," Xander says, and tows Spike toward him and kisses him.
It's not desperate kissing like before, even though their hands are hard on each other's bodies as they undress each other. They're both stupid, really, letting their guards down like this, but it's been so long that Spike can't bring himself to care. He unbuttons Xander's shirt and peels it off him, getting his mouth on every bit of skin he can reach, warm and full of life. Can't let himself think about all the things that might have stood in the way of this moment, this one fucking perfect moment when he closes his hand around Xander's erection and holds it, when Xander's teeth bite down on his neck in just the right spot and makes him groan.
"Not listening to Bit, were you," Spike mutters.
"Shut up," Xander says. "Don't even... when we're -- " Spike's thumb rubbing over the flared head of his cock stops him from finishing what he was about to say, not that Spike needed him to. He knows what Xander was thinking -- that they shouldn't be talking about sex and Dawn in the same breath, which is bloody stupid considering she's in the next room and knows exactly what they're up to. "Oh, fuck, Spike," Xander breathes, shoving his cock into Spike's grip.
"That what you want?" Spike murmurs, kissing him. "You want to fuck me? Put this big gorgeous cock inside me?"
Xander moans softly and his hands finish pushing Spike's jeans down, settle on Spike's hips and tighten there. "God, yeah," Xander says.
Turns into a race then, with the rest of their clothes being shed in an awkward tangle. Spike doesn't care how it happens -- just wants Xan in him, filling him up, fucking him -- but Xander has other ideas and pulls him down onto the couch into his lap, cock poking hopefully against Spike's arse.
"Shh," Xander says, kissing him, touching him everywhere. "It's okay, baby. We don't have to rush."
Spike wants to protest, but hearing Xander call him that takes away any fight left in him and he lets Xander do whatever he wants. Lets Xander kiss him for a long time, opening his mouth up to taste. Lets Xander rub and pinch his nipples until they're pink and sore and each touch makes his cock twitch and leak. Lets Xander slide out from under him and kneel on the floor between his thighs and suck his cock until he's trembling, fists clenched, lower lip swollen from him biting it because no matter what he says he doesn't want Dawn to hear him whimpering.
"Stay here," Xander says, and Spike waits as Xander strides over to the tiny kitchen and opens cupboard doors. Waits and watches, because Xander -- Xander naked from behind, the line of his strong back and shoulders, the soft swell of his bare arse -- is worth waiting for.
Xander comes back, cock jutting out in front of him, with a bottle of cooking oil, and kneels down again.
"Some reason you're assuming I don't have lube in one of my pockets?" Spike asks.
"Do you?" Xander asks, twisting the cap off and pouring a handful of oil into his palm, then wrapping his hand around Spike's erection and stroking.
Spike curses and shudders at the sensation. "Fuck! Love..."
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Xander sets the bottle down and lets his other hand join the first until they're both slick and Spike is gasping and rocking his hips. Then he slicks his own cock and grabs onto Spike's hips, pulling him closer to the edge of the cushion.
On his knees, Xander lines up his cock and pushes slowly into Spike, so slowly that Spike doesn't know if he can stand it. "Xan... love. God." He thinks he can feel Xander's pulse in the cock that's inside him, stretching him wide, and he writhes, trying to get it deeper.
Xander gasps and grabs onto Spike, hard. "Okay, if you're going to do that, this is going to be over really, really fast."
"Then we'll do it again," Spike says, clenching around Xander's cock.
"No," Xander says stubbornly. "We're going to get this right the first time." He pulls out a little and slides back in.
Spike reaches up and touches Xander's face. "Not the first time, though, is it, pet."
"It's the first time this time," Xander says. "And this time's going to be different. Would you please stop distracting me?" He pulls out and thrusts forward again, cock sliding deep into Spike, and Spike clutches at the couch cushion and takes it, groaning.
He remembers how he surprised he was, the real first time Xan fucked him. Surprised at Xander's technique, at the way he could go on for what felt like hours, at the way his cock felt made for Spike. Made him mad for it, thinking about it all the time, what it was like to have that big cock driving into him. Made him come again and again.
He's shuddering now, the memory more than enough to take him to the edge, and Xander pulls him closer, keeps thrusting into him, kissing him, cradling the back of Spike's head with one hand. "Jesus," Xander mutters.
Spike licks at Xander's mouth, trying to distract himself from the inevitable. His cock is still wet with cooking oil, the base of it and his balls sliding against Xander's stomach; it's perfect because coming like this isn't easy, and Spike doesn't want it to be. Nothing else about the two of them being together's been easy. "That's it," Spike says encouragingly, knowing what it does to Xander. "Really give it to me."
Gasping, Xander does, moving faster, thrusts jabbing his cock into Spike. "You're so... jeez, fucking hot."
"So are you." Spike watches him, sweat beading along his hairline. "Christ, love." He's close now, so close.
"Gonna come," Xander warns him. Thrusts even harder. "Oh fuck. Oh Jesus, Spike, sweetheart, I'm -- " His head goes back, cords in his neck standing out like a fucking offering, but Spike doesn't need it. He just needs this -- Xander inside him, Xander coming in hot spurts that fill him up, and then Xander fumbles a hand onto Spike's cock and Spike comes, too, like fire and skies cracking open, like the end of the world.
When he's aware again, Xander's out of him and licking the fluid off his belly, hungry for it, and Spike groans. "Gonna kill me."
"You're already dead," Xander says, lifting his face and grinning. S'always been one of the things Spike loves about him -- that he'll just come out and say it, no worries about offending because it's the truth. "I really want to suck you off."
Spike stretches, settling himself into a more comfortable position. "Like I'd say no." And he watches Xander suck his cock, slow at first until he's hard again, then quicker, harder, until Spike's hands are tangled in Xander's hair and he's fucking Xander's mouth. He chokes out Xan's name when he comes, slow and desperate.
After, they lie on the couch together, tangled up, Xander half on top of Spike like a warm human blanket. Xander's head's on Spike's shoulder. It feels good there, right, and this moment's the best one Spike can remember in a long time. There's still a niggling worry that he's going to end up hurting Xander, but he tells himself firmly that worry's for other people. Not him.
Besides, won't let it happen, will he.
* ~ * ~ *
Xander jerks awake to the sound of loud, insistent banging like a fist against a door. A slayer's fist against a door, he realizes, just as Spike shifts underneath him and knocks him off onto the floor. "Spike!" Xander says, complaining and rubbing his bruised ass.
"Dawn!" It's Buffy's voice on the other side of the door, and Dawn flies out of the bedroom and unlocks the door, fingers fumbling with the deadbolt even as Xander looks around frantically for his clothes because he's naked and as much as being naked with Buffy was a fond daydream of his at one point in his life, that point is long past.
He manages to grab a shirt -- Spike's, he thinks -- and hold it in front of him just as the door flies open and Buffy comes in, hugging Dawn. Spike is casually pulling on his jeans with his ass to the door like he doesn't care who sees, and the half dozen or so slayers coming into the apartment behind Buffy get an eyeful. Buffy and Dawn are both talking at the same time, with Buffy's voice louder as the shock of discovering Dawn's pregnancy gets the better of her, then Buffy turns her head and looks at him and her eyes go even wider, if that's even possible.
"Xander, where are your clothes?" she asks, just as Spike turns around, zipping up his jeans. "Oh my god." She puts a hand over her eyes. "Dawn, please tell me you were sleeping in the bedroom."
The slayers, only two of whom Xander even recognizes, are snickering even as they lock the door behind them. Dawn smacks Buffy with the back of her hand. "Of course I was!"
"Well, good." Buffy looks at Spike. "Find Xander some clothes, okay?"
Spike grins and eyes Xander appreciatively. "Think he looks pretty good the way he is."
"You would," Buffy says, then makes a face. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that."
"It's okay," Xander tells her. "Believe me, I want clothes on me just as much as you do." The thing is, he pretty much can't move without exposing more of himself than he wants to. "Spike, come on..."
But Spike's still grinning, running a hand along his bare abdomen sensuously. He's having way too much fun with this.
"Asshole," Xander mutters. He does what he can to wrap the t-shirt around himself in a poor simulation of shorts and stalks out of the room and into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him with a slam.
Might as well use the facilities while he's there. While he's washing his hands, there's a knock on the door, and Dawn says, "Xander? I brought your clothes."
He opens the door a crack to the sight of her worried face. "Thanks."
"Are you and Spike fighting again?" Dawn asks.
"What? No." Xander shakes his head, wanting to reassure her even as she hands over his clothes. "I mean, yeah, but not for real. This is just... Spike being Spike. I still love him, even when he's a jerk. Okay?"
Looking relieved, Dawn nods and goes back to the living room. By the time Xander joins them again, Buffy's on the phone with Giles and Spike's getting ready to light a cigarette. Buffy gives him an impatient glare and glances at Dawn, and Spike sighs and puts the pack of cigarettes away. Xander throws his t-shirt at him; it lands in his lap.
"Uh-huh. Yeah. We're going to get them out of here and then we'll clean up." Buffy nods earnestly even though Giles can't see her through the phone. "Oh, believe me, we know. There were like a thousand of them on the roads between San Fran and here."
"What, police?" Dawn asks, and Buffy nods.
"I don't know, Giles, I think it's pretty well-contained. And now that the sun's up... yeah. I know. Okay, talk to you later." She hands the phone back to Dawn and stands up. "Right. We're out of here."
Dawn frowns. "I just need to get a couple of things. Hang on." She goes back toward the bedroom.
"Okay, but hurry up!" Buffy calls after her. As soon as Dawn's gone, though, she turns to Xander. "Did you know about this? With the-- ?" and she gestures to show a rounded stomach.
"Not until a couple of days ago," Xander says.
"Tried to tell her," Spike says, getting up and pulling on his shirt.
"And the magic thing? Even Giles doesn't know what that's about." Buffy crosses her arms.
Spike grins. "Didn't know about that until she killed the dragon."
"I guess that would come in handy," Buffy says. "It's fine," in the way that means it's not. "We'll deal with it later. Right now I just want to get her out of the city."
"This would be the part where you tell us what the hell is going on," Xander prompts.
Buffy shrugs. Somewhere along the line, and Xander's not sure when it was, she stopped caring why; learned to focus on finding a solution. The rest of it doesn't matter to her, not really. "Something about a crack in fabric's reality," she says, waving her hand. "It's different from a hellmouth thing, Giles says."
"So it was just our bad luck that it happened here and now." Xander sits down on the rickety coffee table -- he could build a better one in an hour -- and puts on his sneakers.
"Good luck," Spike says. "Otherwise Bit would have been alone."
"It was just a temporary thing," Buffy says. "Opens up, lets all kinds of nasties through, then closes again. Giles thinks it was just a fluke." She glances at the other slayers, who are standing back, quiet, letting them work things out. "Anyway, now we're here to clean up the mess." Looking at Xander and Spike again, "I want you two to go with Dawn."
"Where to?" Xander asks.
"I don't care," Buffy says. "Far enough away from here that I don't have to worry about her. It's not like she won't be able to come back -- probably by the end of the week, if things go like we want them to."
Dawn comes back into the room with a small bag over her shoulder, and Xander stands up and takes it from her without a word. She gives him a smile in return. "Okay," she says. "Ready."
"We have a car downstairs," Buffy says. "A couple of us will take you far enough for you to be safe -- an hour and a half should do it, probably. We'll leave you to take the car the rest of the way and head back here, meet up with everyone else." She stops and suddenly hugs Dawn again, tightly. "It's going to be fine," she says. "And once things are a little less crazy, we'll talk. Okay?" She pulls back and looks Dawn in the eyes.
Dawn gets a little bit teary at that, and seeing her cry is one of the few things that makes the back of Xander's throat get tight; he wants to comfort her, but he's reluctant to interrupt the whole sisterly moment they've got going.
He feels a hand touch his waist and turns his head. Spike is standing half next to him, half behind him, and he's there, filling up the empty space that's been there since he left Xander, and Xander knows -- knows, deep down, that everything's going to be okay.
They're together, and nothing else matters.
"Here, before I forget to give it to you," Buffy's saying, and Xander realizes she's holding out a credit card, waiting for him to take it. He does. "For the plane tickets," she says, when he gives her a confused look.
Oh. Right. They're going to have to get on another plane.
"Great," Xander mutters as they head out the door, but the understanding look Spike gives him -- because Spike remembers, he always remembers every little thing Xander says or does -- makes this okay, too.
Funny how he'd forgotten that's possible. It hasn't even been that long, in the grand scheme of things. He looks at Spike thoughtfully as they walk down the hallway, following Dawn and Buffy and the other slayers.
"What?" Spike says, almost irritably.
"What what?" Xander asks.
"Why're you looking at me like I've suddenly grown a third eye?" Spike shoves his hands into his pockets, which Xander is pretty sure he thinks makes him look bigger even though it actually has the opposite effect.
Xander stops, grabs onto him, and kisses him. By the time he's done, Spike's wide-eyed and shyly pleased, lips pink.
"What was that for?" he asks, voice surprisingly soft and gentle.
"You still haven't said it," Xander tells him, which is stupid, because he doesn't need to hear it, not really.
"Haven't said..." Spike shakes his head. "God, how I managed to fall in love with such a stupid bloke is beyond me."
The girls have all stopped walking, too, and are watching them. Dawn is delighted, and Xander wonders how long she's going to stay that way once Buffy finds out about the exciting new magic powers that seem to have sprung out of nowhere.
"Spiiiike loves me," Xander crooned. He starts to turn and Spike whaps him across the back of the head, but not hard. It doesn't even hurt. "Hey! What was that for?"
"You being an idiot," Spike says.
"Wow," Dawn says, hands clasped together like she's the maiden in a fairy tale. "They really are in love."
"God help us," Buffy says, and they start for the stairs, Xander rubbing the back of his head like it hurts and giving Spike little glances as they go.
He can't stop smiling.
End
Title comes from Pablo Neruda's Poetry:
Previous parts here or tagged.
Bit shuts the door again. "When did she get so..." Xander asks, but stops, unable to come up with whatever word he's looking for.
"She always has been," Spike tells him.
"You think she'll be okay in there?"
Xander looks at the door, but Spike says, "Already checked it out. M'not stupid." The windows all lock, and the bed is far enough away from them that Dawn'd have plenty of time to get out of there.
"Yeah, actually, you kind of are," Xander tells him.
"Fuck you," Spike says, not without humor.
"I was kind of hoping," Xander says, and tows Spike toward him and kisses him.
It's not desperate kissing like before, even though their hands are hard on each other's bodies as they undress each other. They're both stupid, really, letting their guards down like this, but it's been so long that Spike can't bring himself to care. He unbuttons Xander's shirt and peels it off him, getting his mouth on every bit of skin he can reach, warm and full of life. Can't let himself think about all the things that might have stood in the way of this moment, this one fucking perfect moment when he closes his hand around Xander's erection and holds it, when Xander's teeth bite down on his neck in just the right spot and makes him groan.
"Not listening to Bit, were you," Spike mutters.
"Shut up," Xander says. "Don't even... when we're -- " Spike's thumb rubbing over the flared head of his cock stops him from finishing what he was about to say, not that Spike needed him to. He knows what Xander was thinking -- that they shouldn't be talking about sex and Dawn in the same breath, which is bloody stupid considering she's in the next room and knows exactly what they're up to. "Oh, fuck, Spike," Xander breathes, shoving his cock into Spike's grip.
"That what you want?" Spike murmurs, kissing him. "You want to fuck me? Put this big gorgeous cock inside me?"
Xander moans softly and his hands finish pushing Spike's jeans down, settle on Spike's hips and tighten there. "God, yeah," Xander says.
Turns into a race then, with the rest of their clothes being shed in an awkward tangle. Spike doesn't care how it happens -- just wants Xan in him, filling him up, fucking him -- but Xander has other ideas and pulls him down onto the couch into his lap, cock poking hopefully against Spike's arse.
"Shh," Xander says, kissing him, touching him everywhere. "It's okay, baby. We don't have to rush."
Spike wants to protest, but hearing Xander call him that takes away any fight left in him and he lets Xander do whatever he wants. Lets Xander kiss him for a long time, opening his mouth up to taste. Lets Xander rub and pinch his nipples until they're pink and sore and each touch makes his cock twitch and leak. Lets Xander slide out from under him and kneel on the floor between his thighs and suck his cock until he's trembling, fists clenched, lower lip swollen from him biting it because no matter what he says he doesn't want Dawn to hear him whimpering.
"Stay here," Xander says, and Spike waits as Xander strides over to the tiny kitchen and opens cupboard doors. Waits and watches, because Xander -- Xander naked from behind, the line of his strong back and shoulders, the soft swell of his bare arse -- is worth waiting for.
Xander comes back, cock jutting out in front of him, with a bottle of cooking oil, and kneels down again.
"Some reason you're assuming I don't have lube in one of my pockets?" Spike asks.
"Do you?" Xander asks, twisting the cap off and pouring a handful of oil into his palm, then wrapping his hand around Spike's erection and stroking.
Spike curses and shudders at the sensation. "Fuck! Love..."
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Xander sets the bottle down and lets his other hand join the first until they're both slick and Spike is gasping and rocking his hips. Then he slicks his own cock and grabs onto Spike's hips, pulling him closer to the edge of the cushion.
On his knees, Xander lines up his cock and pushes slowly into Spike, so slowly that Spike doesn't know if he can stand it. "Xan... love. God." He thinks he can feel Xander's pulse in the cock that's inside him, stretching him wide, and he writhes, trying to get it deeper.
Xander gasps and grabs onto Spike, hard. "Okay, if you're going to do that, this is going to be over really, really fast."
"Then we'll do it again," Spike says, clenching around Xander's cock.
"No," Xander says stubbornly. "We're going to get this right the first time." He pulls out a little and slides back in.
Spike reaches up and touches Xander's face. "Not the first time, though, is it, pet."
"It's the first time this time," Xander says. "And this time's going to be different. Would you please stop distracting me?" He pulls out and thrusts forward again, cock sliding deep into Spike, and Spike clutches at the couch cushion and takes it, groaning.
He remembers how he surprised he was, the real first time Xan fucked him. Surprised at Xander's technique, at the way he could go on for what felt like hours, at the way his cock felt made for Spike. Made him mad for it, thinking about it all the time, what it was like to have that big cock driving into him. Made him come again and again.
He's shuddering now, the memory more than enough to take him to the edge, and Xander pulls him closer, keeps thrusting into him, kissing him, cradling the back of Spike's head with one hand. "Jesus," Xander mutters.
Spike licks at Xander's mouth, trying to distract himself from the inevitable. His cock is still wet with cooking oil, the base of it and his balls sliding against Xander's stomach; it's perfect because coming like this isn't easy, and Spike doesn't want it to be. Nothing else about the two of them being together's been easy. "That's it," Spike says encouragingly, knowing what it does to Xander. "Really give it to me."
Gasping, Xander does, moving faster, thrusts jabbing his cock into Spike. "You're so... jeez, fucking hot."
"So are you." Spike watches him, sweat beading along his hairline. "Christ, love." He's close now, so close.
"Gonna come," Xander warns him. Thrusts even harder. "Oh fuck. Oh Jesus, Spike, sweetheart, I'm -- " His head goes back, cords in his neck standing out like a fucking offering, but Spike doesn't need it. He just needs this -- Xander inside him, Xander coming in hot spurts that fill him up, and then Xander fumbles a hand onto Spike's cock and Spike comes, too, like fire and skies cracking open, like the end of the world.
When he's aware again, Xander's out of him and licking the fluid off his belly, hungry for it, and Spike groans. "Gonna kill me."
"You're already dead," Xander says, lifting his face and grinning. S'always been one of the things Spike loves about him -- that he'll just come out and say it, no worries about offending because it's the truth. "I really want to suck you off."
Spike stretches, settling himself into a more comfortable position. "Like I'd say no." And he watches Xander suck his cock, slow at first until he's hard again, then quicker, harder, until Spike's hands are tangled in Xander's hair and he's fucking Xander's mouth. He chokes out Xan's name when he comes, slow and desperate.
After, they lie on the couch together, tangled up, Xander half on top of Spike like a warm human blanket. Xander's head's on Spike's shoulder. It feels good there, right, and this moment's the best one Spike can remember in a long time. There's still a niggling worry that he's going to end up hurting Xander, but he tells himself firmly that worry's for other people. Not him.
Besides, won't let it happen, will he.
Xander jerks awake to the sound of loud, insistent banging like a fist against a door. A slayer's fist against a door, he realizes, just as Spike shifts underneath him and knocks him off onto the floor. "Spike!" Xander says, complaining and rubbing his bruised ass.
"Dawn!" It's Buffy's voice on the other side of the door, and Dawn flies out of the bedroom and unlocks the door, fingers fumbling with the deadbolt even as Xander looks around frantically for his clothes because he's naked and as much as being naked with Buffy was a fond daydream of his at one point in his life, that point is long past.
He manages to grab a shirt -- Spike's, he thinks -- and hold it in front of him just as the door flies open and Buffy comes in, hugging Dawn. Spike is casually pulling on his jeans with his ass to the door like he doesn't care who sees, and the half dozen or so slayers coming into the apartment behind Buffy get an eyeful. Buffy and Dawn are both talking at the same time, with Buffy's voice louder as the shock of discovering Dawn's pregnancy gets the better of her, then Buffy turns her head and looks at him and her eyes go even wider, if that's even possible.
"Xander, where are your clothes?" she asks, just as Spike turns around, zipping up his jeans. "Oh my god." She puts a hand over her eyes. "Dawn, please tell me you were sleeping in the bedroom."
The slayers, only two of whom Xander even recognizes, are snickering even as they lock the door behind them. Dawn smacks Buffy with the back of her hand. "Of course I was!"
"Well, good." Buffy looks at Spike. "Find Xander some clothes, okay?"
Spike grins and eyes Xander appreciatively. "Think he looks pretty good the way he is."
"You would," Buffy says, then makes a face. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that."
"It's okay," Xander tells her. "Believe me, I want clothes on me just as much as you do." The thing is, he pretty much can't move without exposing more of himself than he wants to. "Spike, come on..."
But Spike's still grinning, running a hand along his bare abdomen sensuously. He's having way too much fun with this.
"Asshole," Xander mutters. He does what he can to wrap the t-shirt around himself in a poor simulation of shorts and stalks out of the room and into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him with a slam.
Might as well use the facilities while he's there. While he's washing his hands, there's a knock on the door, and Dawn says, "Xander? I brought your clothes."
He opens the door a crack to the sight of her worried face. "Thanks."
"Are you and Spike fighting again?" Dawn asks.
"What? No." Xander shakes his head, wanting to reassure her even as she hands over his clothes. "I mean, yeah, but not for real. This is just... Spike being Spike. I still love him, even when he's a jerk. Okay?"
Looking relieved, Dawn nods and goes back to the living room. By the time Xander joins them again, Buffy's on the phone with Giles and Spike's getting ready to light a cigarette. Buffy gives him an impatient glare and glances at Dawn, and Spike sighs and puts the pack of cigarettes away. Xander throws his t-shirt at him; it lands in his lap.
"Uh-huh. Yeah. We're going to get them out of here and then we'll clean up." Buffy nods earnestly even though Giles can't see her through the phone. "Oh, believe me, we know. There were like a thousand of them on the roads between San Fran and here."
"What, police?" Dawn asks, and Buffy nods.
"I don't know, Giles, I think it's pretty well-contained. And now that the sun's up... yeah. I know. Okay, talk to you later." She hands the phone back to Dawn and stands up. "Right. We're out of here."
Dawn frowns. "I just need to get a couple of things. Hang on." She goes back toward the bedroom.
"Okay, but hurry up!" Buffy calls after her. As soon as Dawn's gone, though, she turns to Xander. "Did you know about this? With the-- ?" and she gestures to show a rounded stomach.
"Not until a couple of days ago," Xander says.
"Tried to tell her," Spike says, getting up and pulling on his shirt.
"And the magic thing? Even Giles doesn't know what that's about." Buffy crosses her arms.
Spike grins. "Didn't know about that until she killed the dragon."
"I guess that would come in handy," Buffy says. "It's fine," in the way that means it's not. "We'll deal with it later. Right now I just want to get her out of the city."
"This would be the part where you tell us what the hell is going on," Xander prompts.
Buffy shrugs. Somewhere along the line, and Xander's not sure when it was, she stopped caring why; learned to focus on finding a solution. The rest of it doesn't matter to her, not really. "Something about a crack in fabric's reality," she says, waving her hand. "It's different from a hellmouth thing, Giles says."
"So it was just our bad luck that it happened here and now." Xander sits down on the rickety coffee table -- he could build a better one in an hour -- and puts on his sneakers.
"Good luck," Spike says. "Otherwise Bit would have been alone."
"It was just a temporary thing," Buffy says. "Opens up, lets all kinds of nasties through, then closes again. Giles thinks it was just a fluke." She glances at the other slayers, who are standing back, quiet, letting them work things out. "Anyway, now we're here to clean up the mess." Looking at Xander and Spike again, "I want you two to go with Dawn."
"Where to?" Xander asks.
"I don't care," Buffy says. "Far enough away from here that I don't have to worry about her. It's not like she won't be able to come back -- probably by the end of the week, if things go like we want them to."
Dawn comes back into the room with a small bag over her shoulder, and Xander stands up and takes it from her without a word. She gives him a smile in return. "Okay," she says. "Ready."
"We have a car downstairs," Buffy says. "A couple of us will take you far enough for you to be safe -- an hour and a half should do it, probably. We'll leave you to take the car the rest of the way and head back here, meet up with everyone else." She stops and suddenly hugs Dawn again, tightly. "It's going to be fine," she says. "And once things are a little less crazy, we'll talk. Okay?" She pulls back and looks Dawn in the eyes.
Dawn gets a little bit teary at that, and seeing her cry is one of the few things that makes the back of Xander's throat get tight; he wants to comfort her, but he's reluctant to interrupt the whole sisterly moment they've got going.
He feels a hand touch his waist and turns his head. Spike is standing half next to him, half behind him, and he's there, filling up the empty space that's been there since he left Xander, and Xander knows -- knows, deep down, that everything's going to be okay.
They're together, and nothing else matters.
"Here, before I forget to give it to you," Buffy's saying, and Xander realizes she's holding out a credit card, waiting for him to take it. He does. "For the plane tickets," she says, when he gives her a confused look.
Oh. Right. They're going to have to get on another plane.
"Great," Xander mutters as they head out the door, but the understanding look Spike gives him -- because Spike remembers, he always remembers every little thing Xander says or does -- makes this okay, too.
Funny how he'd forgotten that's possible. It hasn't even been that long, in the grand scheme of things. He looks at Spike thoughtfully as they walk down the hallway, following Dawn and Buffy and the other slayers.
"What?" Spike says, almost irritably.
"What what?" Xander asks.
"Why're you looking at me like I've suddenly grown a third eye?" Spike shoves his hands into his pockets, which Xander is pretty sure he thinks makes him look bigger even though it actually has the opposite effect.
Xander stops, grabs onto him, and kisses him. By the time he's done, Spike's wide-eyed and shyly pleased, lips pink.
"What was that for?" he asks, voice surprisingly soft and gentle.
"You still haven't said it," Xander tells him, which is stupid, because he doesn't need to hear it, not really.
"Haven't said..." Spike shakes his head. "God, how I managed to fall in love with such a stupid bloke is beyond me."
The girls have all stopped walking, too, and are watching them. Dawn is delighted, and Xander wonders how long she's going to stay that way once Buffy finds out about the exciting new magic powers that seem to have sprung out of nowhere.
"Spiiiike loves me," Xander crooned. He starts to turn and Spike whaps him across the back of the head, but not hard. It doesn't even hurt. "Hey! What was that for?"
"You being an idiot," Spike says.
"Wow," Dawn says, hands clasped together like she's the maiden in a fairy tale. "They really are in love."
"God help us," Buffy says, and they start for the stairs, Xander rubbing the back of his head like it hurts and giving Spike little glances as they go.
He can't stop smiling.
End
Title comes from Pablo Neruda's Poetry:
I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names,
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire,
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.
And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.
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Date: 2006-04-14 10:54 pm (UTC)- Alida
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Date: 2006-04-15 01:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-14 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-15 01:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-15 03:16 am (UTC)Julia, off to do the rec
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Date: 2006-04-15 01:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-15 03:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-15 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-17 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-17 08:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-19 01:50 am (UTC)Thank you so much for this, WG! I am so pleased with the choices you made in response to my prompts. The Spander reunion/reconciliation was just what I'd hoped for, and your version of an older Dawn was a delight!
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Date: 2006-04-19 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-19 02:34 pm (UTC)Ooh, yay! Lovely ending!
Just delightful.
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Date: 2006-04-19 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-19 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-19 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-21 05:35 pm (UTC)xander's characterization was great, perfect. I loved Dawn. And poor confused pain filled Spike. I loved it all. Even the reunion between Buffy and Dawn was perfect. Sisterly, older Buffy but still Buffy - like begging Dawn to tell her she'd slept in the other room.
Thanks so much for writing.
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Date: 2006-04-21 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 12:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-26 09:21 pm (UTC)The reunion and their fresh realisation that they belong together was simply lovely. Loving, affectionate and tender.
I'd be quite interested to see what happens to magic-having Dawn and her little 'un. I notice the father wasn't specified. Hmmmm.
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Date: 2006-05-26 11:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 03:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 12:08 pm (UTC)