A Burden Shared, gen, Spike-Jules friendship
Title: A Burden Shared
Author: tristen84
Characters: Spike, Jules
Rating: G
Genre: gen
Prompt: friendship
Word Count: 643
Warnings/Spoilers: Minor spoilers for 4x06 A Day In The Life.
Disclaimer: The characters nor the SRU are mine. I wish!
Summary: Missing scene for A Day In The Life. Spike and Jules have a talk about losing friends.
Special thanks to loisarahfor the beta :o)
A Burden Shared
Jules silently stared out of the passenger window of the SRU vehicle while Spike drove them to the next hot call. She had just talked a guy down from a bridge and had been forced to dredge up the memory of her best friend's suicide in order to connect with him. It had shaken her a little more than she cared to admit and was rather disconcerted to find that her mind kept wandering back to the tragic event from her past.
"Jules? You okay?" Spike asked, his gentle voice interrupting her thoughts.
She looked up at him quickly and gave him a small smile. "Yeah."
"You did great out there with Cary."
"Thanks. So did you. You should second more often."
"Thanks, but I think I'll stick with bombs. Easier to negotiate," Spike said and grinned when she raised an eyebrow at him. "They don't talk back."
"Ah." Jules smiled again, but felt it fade quickly. Soon she found herself staring out of the window, her mind wandering once more. After a few minutes, however, she became aware that Spike was glancing at her.
"I'm sorry about your friend," he said quietly.
Jules dropped her gaze from the window and looked down at her gloved hands. "Thanks."
"What was her name?"
Jules looked up, her eyes on the car in front of them but not really seeing it. "Kelly." She smiled a little to herself. "I still have a picture of her in my wallet."
"I'd like to see it some time," Spike said, his voice soft. "How old was she when she died?"
Jules looked away. "Seventeen. She was a few months younger than I was."
“Must’ve been really tough.”
“It was, but-“ she glanced back at Spike and sighed. "It's been eighteen years. It happened a long time ago."
"Doesn't make it any less tragic."
"No, it doesn't."
"Just a little easier to bear, right?" Spike said, taking his eyes off the road long enough to give her a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah, until you have to drag it all up again."
"Now, see, that's another thing I like about bombs. You don't have to drag up any painful memories to-" Spike broke off with a quiet gasp and Jules, startled, whipped her head around to look at him. The color had drained from his face and there was a sudden tightness to his jaw, but it wasn't until she noticed the stricken look in his eyes that she realized what was wrong: Lewis.
Jules reached over to put a hand on Spike's arm. "Spike, it’s okay," she said, and waited until his gaze briefly met hers. "Not so long ago for you, huh?"
"No," Spike agreed, his eyes vulnerable. Then he almost visibly gave himself a shake and Jules could actually see him pull himself together. He kept his eyes on the road but the pained expression on his face was chased off by his dimpled smile, even though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "You know, I was supposed to make you feel better, not the other way around," he said.
Jules gave his arm a little squeeze before she straightened, smiling. "Hey, we're a team. You had my back with Cary, and now I have yours."
The smile Spike gave her in return radiated both gratitude and relief. To her surprise, she felt her own spirits lift a little at the sight of it.
They both jumped when Greg's voice crackled through their radios. "Spike, Jules, what's your ETA?"
Spike was the first to recover, his voice all business. "Five minutes away, boss."
Jules adjusted her earpiece and sat up a little straighter. "Duty calls."
Spike nodded. “Yep.”
Jules was silent for a few seconds. Then she said, “Spike?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for asking about Kelly.”
Spike's cheek dimpled when he looked at her. "You're welcome."