Maybe Someday. Chapter 18.
Hello all! Normality is slowly returning. All guests have left and school started again today, so I'm enjoying the relative peace (the 4-year old doesn't start until Monday, but still). And I'm happy to say that the writing is going well. I have a chapter for you now and I finished Chapter 19 (the penultimate one) yesterday. So hopefully I should be able to finish the fic before the baby arrives (22 Sept). ::crosses fingers::
Anyway, here's Chapter 18 for your enjoyment. I'm afraid it has minimal plot and huge amounts of self-indulgence. So, um, I hope you enjoy, since I enjoyed writing it! As usual many thanks to my lovely beta kathyh. :)
Previous chapters can be found here.
(And feedback is a very neat thing, isn't it?)
Chapter 18
Like most of the night clubs in Rome, the one Buffy finally settled on for the outing was located in a basement. The difference was in the layout. The entrance was at street level and the double doors opened up onto a long balcony above the dance floor. Curved stairways at either end provided the only way down and Buffy had often thought to herself that the place was a virtual death trap if ever a fire started... But hey - it was a nice place with excellent music and the drinks were very reasonably priced. No pool tables, sadly, but Xander would just have to cope. And this way hopefully he and Spike wouldn’t start arguing. Thank goodness that Angel had said that he wasn’t coming, so it would only be four of them. And as long as Spike could keep his mouth shut about the past...
It turned out to be retro night, which was good since it would mean that Spike wouldn’t be too snarky. For some reason pop songs made him grumpy - more so than they used to. He’d muttered something about empath demons when she’d asked, but that was all he was willing to say.
Having miraculously found a table, Xander pulled out his wallet and threw it on the fake wood in a flash manner. “Right - what are you having?”
Spike looked at him with amusement. “No worries Harris - tonight is my treat.”
Somehow Xander managed to convey more astonishment with just one eye than most people could with two. “Your treat?”
Spike smirked and turned to the girls. “What can I get you?”
Buffy, laying down her coat on the table, shrugged. “Just a coke or something - I’m here to dance, not drink.”
Making her ‘thinking face’ Willow thought for a moment. “Maybe a tiny beer, just to bring a little pep to the polka!”
There was no polka, but plenty of dancing nonetheless - as well as a bit of drinking and talking - but when midnight came, Willow began to yawn. “Sorry, but I stayed up really late last night studying and stuff. I think I’d better head for a nice comfy bed.”
“I’m pretty wiped too,” Xander said. “I guess the two of us will take off.”
“We’ll stay a bit longer I think,” Buffy said vaguely, as she re- tied the bow on her little cardigan for the twentieth time that evening.
“So we’ll see you - Sunday?” Willow asked. “We’re going to London tomorrow.”
Casting a quick glance at Spike, Buffy bit her lip. “Probably won’t come until Monday... see you then, OK? Be safe!”
Hugs were exchanged and the two Scoobies slowly made their way through the writhing and bouncing crowd.
Spike’s eyes followed them. “Thought they’d never leave,” he said, pulling Buffy down on his lap for a deep kiss.
“Stop it! They’re my friends. And we’ve had a very nice evening haven’t we?”
“Going to get nicer still if I have anything to do with it,” he smirked. She tried to look at him sternly, but was distracted by the mixed humour and lust in his eyes.
Instead she lifted up her jacket to get at her bag and noticed Xander’s wallet next to it. “Oh - do you think he needs this? Or should I just hold onto it until I see him again?”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Screw Xander and his wallet! Well not literally of course, but I’m sure Willow could magic him up a new one if necessary. Now would you please concentrate on something not Scooby-related?”
“OK,” she said breezily and pulled out her lipstick, carefully reapplying the now somewhat smudged red colour. Then a new track was put on and she suddenly sat bolt upright.
“Oh My God! It’s - it’s that song from Dirty Dancing? You have to dance with me to this one!”
She jumped up from his lap, seeing the stubborn unwillingness in his eyes. But she knew that he would do just about anything for her - and tonight she had her clever secretary-to-vixen trick! First she pulled out the red lacquered chopsticks that held up her hair, making it fall freely around her face in golden-y, platinum waves. All those hours practising when she was 14 finally paying off big time. Then she swiftly shrugged out of the cardigan and did a little twirl so he could see just how small the dress actually was... she knew the wine-red colour suited her perfectly, and the cut of the dress was rather risqué - quite a deep cleavage and practically backless - attributes that had been cleverly hidden by the cardigan until now. Also of course it was very short, but there had been no way of disguising that. Although it might be more noticeable now...
In less than ten seconds the transformation was complete, and she saw him cave in instantly - his eyes slightly glazed over as he took in the new and improved her. Holding out her hand she smiled and fluttered her eyelashes. “You remember the words, right? Dawn told me that you watched it together.”
“Yeah - I know the words,” he said as he took her hand, a resigned look on his face. She smiled triumphantly as she pulled him out onto the dance floor, an old memory resurfacing. “I may be love’s bitch, but at least I’m man enough to admit it!” Only now he loved her...
Then the song started: “Love - mm mm mm - love is strange - yay yay...”
Willow and Xander were halfway down the road, when Xander discovered that his wallet was missing. They were talking about getting a taxi and Xander’s offer to pay was suddenly rendered pointless.
“Damn - I left my wallet behind.”
“Well as long as it doesn’t have your passport in it, you won’t really need it until Monday, will you? I’m sure Buffy will bring it.”
“Yes, and Spike might just pinch all my money first,” he grumbled, turning back.
“Why would he steal? He obviously has loads of money now... which admittedly is rather weird,” Willow said when she caught up.
“Oh it’s not about the money - it’s the principle of the thing!” Xander announced and Willow followed him, shaking her head.
A little ‘you-won’t-notice-us’ spell later and they were back in the club. As she picked up on the tune, Willow turned to Xander, a big smile on her face. “It’s that song from Dirty Dancing - remember when I forced you to watch it?”
But Xander wasn’t listening. He had walked over to the edge of the balcony and his eyes were caught by the couple in the middle of the dance floor. Everyone else had moved to the edges leaving a large space open for them, the crowd mesmerised. He vaguely registered Willow’s sharp intake of breath as she followed his gaze. Soon they were both as entranced as the rest of the room.
It was Buffy and Spike... but not as Xander could ever remember seeing them before. Not that they looked different exactly, apart from the fact that Buffy had somehow changed her clothes or something - she was wearing a little slip of a dress, the bright red making her stand out like a flame. And it really was very short... sometimes it was far too easy to forget that she was a friend and nothing more. Spike was all in black - as nimble and lithe as a panther. The shadow to Buffy’s light. The old saying of ‘opposites attract’ made solid.
But it wasn’t their looks that were so spellbinding. There were plenty of young ladies present that had made Xander turn his head earlier. It was something else - something almost uncanny...
The three of them - Buffy, Xander and Willow - had done a lot of dancing that night. Fun dancing, silly dancing - all manner of dancing where Spike plain refused to get involved. He had danced a few slow dances with Buffy, while Xander had determinedly looked at his drink, because the whole Buffy-and-Spike thing still wigged him out. Even just discovering that Spike could dance was something of a shock.
But nothing could have prepared him for what he was now witnessing. If he hadn’t known with absolute certainty that Buffy had only met Spike again Sunday night, he would have assumed that they had practised the choreography for months. Every step perfect, every move in sync, hands and bodies and feet in eerie harmony. The fact that the dancers were also long-time lovers was so obvious as to be almost indecent, which really didn’t help.
Not that they cared. Xander could see that they didn’t notice anyone but each other, like there was some kind of protective bubble around them, impenetrable from outside. And they shone... it was almost like seeing strangers wearing those well known faces. Buffy flirty and coy, a twinkle in her eyes that Xander hadn’t seen for years. Spike looked... happy. Not the quiet, understated contentment that had been there these last few days, but truly, properly, beamingly joyful. It was so odd, that Xander thought that maybe this was why the scene felt so particularly strange. Wanting to test out the theory on Willow he tore his eyes off the dancers to look at her, but found that she was staring at them so intently that he was sure she was doing some witchy thing or other. Suddenly she smiled and whispered to herself. “Of course...”.
Before Xander could ask what she meant by this, the instrumental part of the song finished, and the singing started again. Looking down he saw that Spike had moved to stand with his back to one of the pillars, and realised that they were going to act out the scene from the film.
“Sylvia?” Spike mimed, unable to keep a grin from his face.
“Yes Mickey?” Buffy answered, arms crossed defiantly and a superior look on her face.
“How do you call your Lover Boy?” Was it possible to cram more innuendo into a facial expression? Xander wondered idly as he watched transfixed.
“Come here Lover Boy!” she demanded, impatiently waving a hand at him.
“And if he doesn’t answer?” An eyebrow went up, questioningly.
“Oh - Lover Boy?” More honeyed this time, with a little smile thrown in.
“And if he still doesn’t answer?” A smile too smug for words; but Buffy obviously didn’t mind, as she slowly started walking across the floor, one hip at a time (“At least she’s not on her hands and knees!”, Xander thought, grateful for small mercies).
“I simply say - baby! O-oh baby! My sweet baby! You’re the one!”
As she uttered the last word, she put her hand on his chest and Spike’s face broke into a wide grin. The look that passed between them was so deep and loaded with meaning that Xander suddenly felt uncomfortable. It was almost worse than seeing that kiss the other night. They started dancing again, eyes locked together - that otherworldly synchronicity taking over. Why the hell was it so unsettling?
“Let’s go!” he said to Willow and she nodded, slowly taking her eyes off the couple.
When outside again, Xander looked at Willow and couldn’t help asking, “What was that?”
She shot him an odd sort of look, as though unwilling to answer, and then said: “Demons.”
“What? There weren’t any demons - or do you mean that there were demons hidden in the crowd making them do that freaky synchronised thing?”
“No... they could do the freaky dance because they are demons.”
Xander still didn’t understand what she was getting at. “Well Spike’s a demon of course, but Buffy...”
“Buffy is a Slayer. Which means that she’s ‘possessed’ or ‘imbued’ by the spirit of the demon. She has special powers, including an exceptional affinity with vampires. Usually she uses it for fighting, but tonight... we saw a different side I guess.”
Xander stared at her, trying to process what she was explaining. “Are you sure?” he finally asked.
Willow did that ‘I know everything!’ face he was so familiar with and nodded firmly. “I created all the new slayers, remember? I can do this thing where I tune into slayer-powers exclusively - always handy for finding Kennedy in a carnival - and when a Slayer is using her powers I can feel it very strongly. And in there?” she tilted her head towards the night club. “It was nearly knocking me out!”
Xander frowned, and then his mind jumped to the obvious conclusion. “Is that why... I mean... is that why she ended up with Angel and Spike and couldn’t get it to work with Riley?”
Willow shrugged and started walking. “Dunno - none of the other slayers are dating vampires, are they? Maybe it’s just a Buffy thing?”
“You’re probably right,” he answered, thinking that the pretty Slayer from Sweden - Kristina was it? - had been flirting really rather a lot the other night...
But his mind swiftly skipped back to its former thoughts, and then continued unbidden into areas it shouldn’t. He hesitantly turned to Willow: “Um... can I say something that’s going to make me sound like a complete jerk?”
“”Hey - you’re my favourite kind of jerk, so ask right ahead,” she joked back, but he didn’t smile.
“I was just thinking... and I know I shouldn’t - but... why does Buffy get a second chance? Twice? She kills Angel and Hey Presto! He’s back! Then Spike dies and what-do-you-know? He comes back too! It just... it just doesn’t seem fair on the rest of us.”
Willow had gone very quiet and Xander felt like kicking himself. He’d unwittingly brought up Tara and now Willow would be upset and it was all his fault for not thinking before he spoke.
But when she turned to look at him, her eyes were not sad, but pondering. “I - I know what you mean. I was sorta thinking the same thing earlier in the week. Only I’m not sure it works that way. As in a second-chance way. I don’t think she ever had a future with either of them, and I still don’t think she does. Unless of course one of them gets that shanshu-whatcha-ma-call-it Giles talked about, it could never be more than a temporary thing. Would you want Anya back as a demon?”
Xander frowned. He hadn’t thought of that. But still... a world where his loved one was alive - even if he couldn’t be with her - was surely better than one without.
It was a sentiment that Buffy shared wholeheartedly. As she walked home, wrapped up in her lover, she knew that her happiness could only be short-lived. That come Sunday night Spike would be off, fighting in a war more important that any relationship. Time was slipping through her fingers and there was nothing she could do.
Scene on youtube here
Chapter 19
Anyway, here's Chapter 18 for your enjoyment. I'm afraid it has minimal plot and huge amounts of self-indulgence. So, um, I hope you enjoy, since I enjoyed writing it! As usual many thanks to my lovely beta kathyh. :)
Previous chapters can be found here.
(And feedback is a very neat thing, isn't it?)
Chapter 18
Like most of the night clubs in Rome, the one Buffy finally settled on for the outing was located in a basement. The difference was in the layout. The entrance was at street level and the double doors opened up onto a long balcony above the dance floor. Curved stairways at either end provided the only way down and Buffy had often thought to herself that the place was a virtual death trap if ever a fire started... But hey - it was a nice place with excellent music and the drinks were very reasonably priced. No pool tables, sadly, but Xander would just have to cope. And this way hopefully he and Spike wouldn’t start arguing. Thank goodness that Angel had said that he wasn’t coming, so it would only be four of them. And as long as Spike could keep his mouth shut about the past...
It turned out to be retro night, which was good since it would mean that Spike wouldn’t be too snarky. For some reason pop songs made him grumpy - more so than they used to. He’d muttered something about empath demons when she’d asked, but that was all he was willing to say.
Having miraculously found a table, Xander pulled out his wallet and threw it on the fake wood in a flash manner. “Right - what are you having?”
Spike looked at him with amusement. “No worries Harris - tonight is my treat.”
Somehow Xander managed to convey more astonishment with just one eye than most people could with two. “Your treat?”
Spike smirked and turned to the girls. “What can I get you?”
Buffy, laying down her coat on the table, shrugged. “Just a coke or something - I’m here to dance, not drink.”
Making her ‘thinking face’ Willow thought for a moment. “Maybe a tiny beer, just to bring a little pep to the polka!”
There was no polka, but plenty of dancing nonetheless - as well as a bit of drinking and talking - but when midnight came, Willow began to yawn. “Sorry, but I stayed up really late last night studying and stuff. I think I’d better head for a nice comfy bed.”
“I’m pretty wiped too,” Xander said. “I guess the two of us will take off.”
“We’ll stay a bit longer I think,” Buffy said vaguely, as she re- tied the bow on her little cardigan for the twentieth time that evening.
“So we’ll see you - Sunday?” Willow asked. “We’re going to London tomorrow.”
Casting a quick glance at Spike, Buffy bit her lip. “Probably won’t come until Monday... see you then, OK? Be safe!”
Hugs were exchanged and the two Scoobies slowly made their way through the writhing and bouncing crowd.
Spike’s eyes followed them. “Thought they’d never leave,” he said, pulling Buffy down on his lap for a deep kiss.
“Stop it! They’re my friends. And we’ve had a very nice evening haven’t we?”
“Going to get nicer still if I have anything to do with it,” he smirked. She tried to look at him sternly, but was distracted by the mixed humour and lust in his eyes.
Instead she lifted up her jacket to get at her bag and noticed Xander’s wallet next to it. “Oh - do you think he needs this? Or should I just hold onto it until I see him again?”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Screw Xander and his wallet! Well not literally of course, but I’m sure Willow could magic him up a new one if necessary. Now would you please concentrate on something not Scooby-related?”
“OK,” she said breezily and pulled out her lipstick, carefully reapplying the now somewhat smudged red colour. Then a new track was put on and she suddenly sat bolt upright.
“Oh My God! It’s - it’s that song from Dirty Dancing? You have to dance with me to this one!”
She jumped up from his lap, seeing the stubborn unwillingness in his eyes. But she knew that he would do just about anything for her - and tonight she had her clever secretary-to-vixen trick! First she pulled out the red lacquered chopsticks that held up her hair, making it fall freely around her face in golden-y, platinum waves. All those hours practising when she was 14 finally paying off big time. Then she swiftly shrugged out of the cardigan and did a little twirl so he could see just how small the dress actually was... she knew the wine-red colour suited her perfectly, and the cut of the dress was rather risqué - quite a deep cleavage and practically backless - attributes that had been cleverly hidden by the cardigan until now. Also of course it was very short, but there had been no way of disguising that. Although it might be more noticeable now...
In less than ten seconds the transformation was complete, and she saw him cave in instantly - his eyes slightly glazed over as he took in the new and improved her. Holding out her hand she smiled and fluttered her eyelashes. “You remember the words, right? Dawn told me that you watched it together.”
“Yeah - I know the words,” he said as he took her hand, a resigned look on his face. She smiled triumphantly as she pulled him out onto the dance floor, an old memory resurfacing. “I may be love’s bitch, but at least I’m man enough to admit it!” Only now he loved her...
Then the song started: “Love - mm mm mm - love is strange - yay yay...”
Willow and Xander were halfway down the road, when Xander discovered that his wallet was missing. They were talking about getting a taxi and Xander’s offer to pay was suddenly rendered pointless.
“Damn - I left my wallet behind.”
“Well as long as it doesn’t have your passport in it, you won’t really need it until Monday, will you? I’m sure Buffy will bring it.”
“Yes, and Spike might just pinch all my money first,” he grumbled, turning back.
“Why would he steal? He obviously has loads of money now... which admittedly is rather weird,” Willow said when she caught up.
“Oh it’s not about the money - it’s the principle of the thing!” Xander announced and Willow followed him, shaking her head.
A little ‘you-won’t-notice-us’ spell later and they were back in the club. As she picked up on the tune, Willow turned to Xander, a big smile on her face. “It’s that song from Dirty Dancing - remember when I forced you to watch it?”
But Xander wasn’t listening. He had walked over to the edge of the balcony and his eyes were caught by the couple in the middle of the dance floor. Everyone else had moved to the edges leaving a large space open for them, the crowd mesmerised. He vaguely registered Willow’s sharp intake of breath as she followed his gaze. Soon they were both as entranced as the rest of the room.
It was Buffy and Spike... but not as Xander could ever remember seeing them before. Not that they looked different exactly, apart from the fact that Buffy had somehow changed her clothes or something - she was wearing a little slip of a dress, the bright red making her stand out like a flame. And it really was very short... sometimes it was far too easy to forget that she was a friend and nothing more. Spike was all in black - as nimble and lithe as a panther. The shadow to Buffy’s light. The old saying of ‘opposites attract’ made solid.
But it wasn’t their looks that were so spellbinding. There were plenty of young ladies present that had made Xander turn his head earlier. It was something else - something almost uncanny...
The three of them - Buffy, Xander and Willow - had done a lot of dancing that night. Fun dancing, silly dancing - all manner of dancing where Spike plain refused to get involved. He had danced a few slow dances with Buffy, while Xander had determinedly looked at his drink, because the whole Buffy-and-Spike thing still wigged him out. Even just discovering that Spike could dance was something of a shock.
But nothing could have prepared him for what he was now witnessing. If he hadn’t known with absolute certainty that Buffy had only met Spike again Sunday night, he would have assumed that they had practised the choreography for months. Every step perfect, every move in sync, hands and bodies and feet in eerie harmony. The fact that the dancers were also long-time lovers was so obvious as to be almost indecent, which really didn’t help.
Not that they cared. Xander could see that they didn’t notice anyone but each other, like there was some kind of protective bubble around them, impenetrable from outside. And they shone... it was almost like seeing strangers wearing those well known faces. Buffy flirty and coy, a twinkle in her eyes that Xander hadn’t seen for years. Spike looked... happy. Not the quiet, understated contentment that had been there these last few days, but truly, properly, beamingly joyful. It was so odd, that Xander thought that maybe this was why the scene felt so particularly strange. Wanting to test out the theory on Willow he tore his eyes off the dancers to look at her, but found that she was staring at them so intently that he was sure she was doing some witchy thing or other. Suddenly she smiled and whispered to herself. “Of course...”.
Before Xander could ask what she meant by this, the instrumental part of the song finished, and the singing started again. Looking down he saw that Spike had moved to stand with his back to one of the pillars, and realised that they were going to act out the scene from the film.
“Sylvia?” Spike mimed, unable to keep a grin from his face.
“Yes Mickey?” Buffy answered, arms crossed defiantly and a superior look on her face.
“How do you call your Lover Boy?” Was it possible to cram more innuendo into a facial expression? Xander wondered idly as he watched transfixed.
“Come here Lover Boy!” she demanded, impatiently waving a hand at him.
“And if he doesn’t answer?” An eyebrow went up, questioningly.
“Oh - Lover Boy?” More honeyed this time, with a little smile thrown in.
“And if he still doesn’t answer?” A smile too smug for words; but Buffy obviously didn’t mind, as she slowly started walking across the floor, one hip at a time (“At least she’s not on her hands and knees!”, Xander thought, grateful for small mercies).
“I simply say - baby! O-oh baby! My sweet baby! You’re the one!”
As she uttered the last word, she put her hand on his chest and Spike’s face broke into a wide grin. The look that passed between them was so deep and loaded with meaning that Xander suddenly felt uncomfortable. It was almost worse than seeing that kiss the other night. They started dancing again, eyes locked together - that otherworldly synchronicity taking over. Why the hell was it so unsettling?
“Let’s go!” he said to Willow and she nodded, slowly taking her eyes off the couple.
When outside again, Xander looked at Willow and couldn’t help asking, “What was that?”
She shot him an odd sort of look, as though unwilling to answer, and then said: “Demons.”
“What? There weren’t any demons - or do you mean that there were demons hidden in the crowd making them do that freaky synchronised thing?”
“No... they could do the freaky dance because they are demons.”
Xander still didn’t understand what she was getting at. “Well Spike’s a demon of course, but Buffy...”
“Buffy is a Slayer. Which means that she’s ‘possessed’ or ‘imbued’ by the spirit of the demon. She has special powers, including an exceptional affinity with vampires. Usually she uses it for fighting, but tonight... we saw a different side I guess.”
Xander stared at her, trying to process what she was explaining. “Are you sure?” he finally asked.
Willow did that ‘I know everything!’ face he was so familiar with and nodded firmly. “I created all the new slayers, remember? I can do this thing where I tune into slayer-powers exclusively - always handy for finding Kennedy in a carnival - and when a Slayer is using her powers I can feel it very strongly. And in there?” she tilted her head towards the night club. “It was nearly knocking me out!”
Xander frowned, and then his mind jumped to the obvious conclusion. “Is that why... I mean... is that why she ended up with Angel and Spike and couldn’t get it to work with Riley?”
Willow shrugged and started walking. “Dunno - none of the other slayers are dating vampires, are they? Maybe it’s just a Buffy thing?”
“You’re probably right,” he answered, thinking that the pretty Slayer from Sweden - Kristina was it? - had been flirting really rather a lot the other night...
But his mind swiftly skipped back to its former thoughts, and then continued unbidden into areas it shouldn’t. He hesitantly turned to Willow: “Um... can I say something that’s going to make me sound like a complete jerk?”
“”Hey - you’re my favourite kind of jerk, so ask right ahead,” she joked back, but he didn’t smile.
“I was just thinking... and I know I shouldn’t - but... why does Buffy get a second chance? Twice? She kills Angel and Hey Presto! He’s back! Then Spike dies and what-do-you-know? He comes back too! It just... it just doesn’t seem fair on the rest of us.”
Willow had gone very quiet and Xander felt like kicking himself. He’d unwittingly brought up Tara and now Willow would be upset and it was all his fault for not thinking before he spoke.
But when she turned to look at him, her eyes were not sad, but pondering. “I - I know what you mean. I was sorta thinking the same thing earlier in the week. Only I’m not sure it works that way. As in a second-chance way. I don’t think she ever had a future with either of them, and I still don’t think she does. Unless of course one of them gets that shanshu-whatcha-ma-call-it Giles talked about, it could never be more than a temporary thing. Would you want Anya back as a demon?”
Xander frowned. He hadn’t thought of that. But still... a world where his loved one was alive - even if he couldn’t be with her - was surely better than one without.
It was a sentiment that Buffy shared wholeheartedly. As she walked home, wrapped up in her lover, she knew that her happiness could only be short-lived. That come Sunday night Spike would be off, fighting in a war more important that any relationship. Time was slipping through her fingers and there was nothing she could do.
Scene on youtube here
Chapter 19